Kindle for iPhone Updated, Gets Some Color
I am probably the heaviest e-book reader on the planet. Those familiar with my work know that for a fact. I read at least one, and some weeks two e-books, all electronically and on multiple devices. I was excited recently to see that Amazon had produced an update for the Kindle for iPhone app. This app was pretty solid as originally released, but I found it lacking in one area that I am happy to say the company has addressed, at least partially.
The original version of Kindle was stuck with black text on white pages, and while this was good enough to use, I found it very restrictive. I read a lot of e-books in bed with the lights off, something e-Ink readers cannot do, and that color scheme is extremely bright in that scenario. The new version of Kindle for the iPhone addresses this somewhat with the addition of two “themes” labeled as “Text Color”. You can now choose to display the pages with white text on a black page or sepia text on a beige page. This makes it so much easier to read in bed, as I like to do. The pinch and zoom of images is new and nice to have, too.
Amazon has also revamped its mobile Kindle book site so that it is easier to use on the iPhone. This is important, as you still cannot browse nor buy books from the Kindle app itself. Hopefully, that will come at some point.
(via TechCrunch)
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That’s nice, but for my money, ereader continues to rule. Put it together with the S5, and you have a winner. I just love the portability of the ereader format, use it on all of my machines …
This will be a boon for dyslexics too, who often do better with low-contrast text.
Reading two ebooks per week hardly qualifies you as the planet’s premier ebook reader. Check the Kindle boards.
I agree that the new Kindle app version is a fine and much needed upgrade to the original. I’d love to see tilt scrolling as used in Instapaper Pro included along with more text and background colors.
You mentioned that “I read a lot of e-books in bed with the lights off, something e-Ink readers cannot do…” Maybe yours can’t but my Sony PRS-700 ereader can (chest out in a bragging sort of way). It has sidelights with two brightness settings so that I can read in the dark without disturbing anyone around me. There’s even an attachment for the Sony 500 series binder that provides light to the screen as well.
You got me there. :)
I bought the attachment for the PRS-505 (PRSACL1), but I must say that, even at the highest intensity, it doesn’t do a great job for me in the dark unless I hold the unit very close to my face … Ultimately, the 505 works best for me in broad daylight (and, admittedly, in that environment it blows away every LCD I’ve ever used in terms of rock-solid readability).