Amazon Kindle app review

Amazon’s Kindles are our favourite eReaders for several reasons, chief among which is that their technology doesn’t get in the way of a pure and fuss-free reading experience. This seamlessness extends to the entire Kindle ecosystem, where books, notes and reading progress are silently synchronised between owners’ Kindle accounts and all the Kindle devices registered to them.

The home screen is a clear view of the titles you own

While a dedicated E Ink Kindle reader is doubtless the best way to experience this, the Kindle app is the next best option for anyone who already has a smartphone or tablet. It’s available as a free download for the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, Android and BlackBerry devices and Windows Phone 7 – a uniquely wide range among the reader apps we’ve reviewed. There are also versions for the PC or Mac, and a browser-based version that should work on almost any other platform.

Install the app and the first step is to register it to your Kindle account, creating one if you haven’t already done so. Once registered, any books or other publications you’ve already purchased will appear in the Archive menu, from where you can choose to move them onto the device.

We noticed that the app was comparatively slow to load, taking almost 10 seconds to get past its splash screen on an Android phone or a first-generation iPad. On Android phones, the initial view is of any items already on the device, with a ticker of recommended content appearing underneath. As with the physical readers, it’s possible to browse and buy directly from the app.

Only titles stored on the device can be opened for reading. Kindle’s reading view is quite similar to other eReader apps; on Android it’s possible to customise it with white, black and sepia themes, and to change the font and margin size and line spacing. Navigation is via a slider at the base of the screen, a text-search box or a Go to menu, which includes quick links to the cover, table of contents or specific pages or locations. It’s also possible to navigate to notes or bookmarks added previously.

There are plenty of ways to navigate, including the useful go to menu

Things are quite similar on the iPad, although the terminology is slightly different; publications are kept on the Device or Cloud (rather than Archive) and the initial screen does without the recommended content ticker. At the top, buttons let you filter quickly between books or periodicals. On either device it’s possible to long-press a document’s text and add a note or highlight.

While there’s nothing exceptional about the app’s interface, it does everything well, and comes without the chintz of iBooks’ faux wood and books. Like the Kobo eReading App, it’s possible to publish extracts of a text or your reading progress to Facebook, or even Twitter, but the option is hidden discretely within the menu system; there’s no pressure to share if you’d rather sit down for a quiet read, or indulge in Fifty Shades of Shame.

Select bits of text and share them with your friends

All Kindle users get an email address to which they can send documents or images, and have them synchronised with all their Kindle devices. This service supports a wide range of file types, so you can use the Kindle app to view Office documents, text, HTML or PDFs as well as content bought in the Kindle store. What lifts this app above the competition, however, is its integration with Amazon’s huge store and any other Kindle devices you may have.

If you don’t mind only being able to buy content from the Kindle store, rather than independent booksellers, nothing gets close to the Kindle experience.