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Sparkle (0)
I never thought I'd say this but I think I'm addicted to the Kindle iPhone app. I have two people to blame for this addiction... Erin Kotecki Vest and Honeybeast - in that order.
I'm lukewarm on the Kindle. I like owning books so that I can arrange them on my bookshelves, by color. I love my library. I really enjoy holding a book, smelling a book, turning the pages of a book. And, I fiddled with my mom's Kindle last October and I came away less than impressed. I was sure I would never, ever own one.
Then the rumors about a Kindle iPhone app started to fly and I pretty much ignored them. Who in their right mind would want to read a book on that tiny little iPhone screen? I mean I love my iPhone but a book? really? on that screen? No. I do not think so.
And then bad things happened.
I woke up to find @queenofspain saying she was downloading vampire books on her iPhone. (She's not the only one... @BigVixXen, @mat, @diannekrause. People are Twlight FREAKS, I'm telling you.)
I ignored Erin. Or tried to.
Not too much time had passed, there I was minding my own business in BlogHer Chatter and what do I see... Honeybeast trying not to fiddle with her Kindle for iPhone app. Silly me, I replied. And then Erin stuck her nose into the conversation and told me I should really download it - that I would like it.
I decided I'd download it, give it an honest try, and then come back to tell Erin just why I didn't like it. (There's nothing better than arguing with Erin.)
Unfortunately. She was right. (Yes, Erin. I said it out loud. You were right.)
I spent all day trying to decide which book I should download. I chose Chris Moore's Fluke. A book I have loved on audio and in print. A book whose Whaley Boys live on in my household every single day. And once downloaded... I could not stop reading it on my iPhone.
Now, instead of obsessing over my inbox, or the weather in Chicago, Redwood City, in Charleston, in Chicago, in Gainesville, or the stock market on my iPhone during every break I take from my computer I was reading Fluke. Smoke break - I read Fluke. Waiting for coffee at Starbucks - I read Fluke. Visit to the bathroom - I read Fluke. Addicted. Yes I am.
Remember that concern I had about reading a book on that little screen? It didn't bother me in the least. I left the font on the default and it suited me fine. I fiddled with it about half way through the book and made it smaller, I didn't like it any better and it seemed easier to flip a page than to adjust my eyes to the smaller font.
Flipping the page on the app was easier for me than the scrolling on the real Kindle. I've had my iPhone a long time and it's second nature to flip with my thumb (and no, I never had an aching thumb from reading for long periods.)
The bookmark functionality worked very well. I like that you can touch the right corner and "turn down the page" or to "unfold the page". I saved several locations that I thought I might use for my screenshot for this post and they were easy to scroll through, get rid of the ones I didn't want, save the ones that were still in the running.
No, the annotation stuff that's available in the Kindle isn't available here. Nor the text to speech (as far as I know) but that text to speech thing on the Kindle doesn't impress me so I am not feeling the loss.
I'm impressed with the idea of the synchronization available between the Kindle and the iPhone, so both devices can pick up where you left off on whichever device you were using. I can't try it myself but it's a brilliant piece of technology and I cannot wait for my mom to get her iPhone this spring so she can try it out and tell me how it works.
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