iOS App of the Week Looks like there’s trouble a-brewing in the cosy iOS ecosystem. Amazon has just rewritten its Kindle app as an HTML 5 ‘web app’ in order to circumvent the restrictions of the App Store – not to mention the 30 per cent cut that Apple skims off the top of every sale.
It’s not the first to do so either. The Financial Times has already taken the same route, and other publishers and booksellers also seem to be looking into the HTML 5 alternative.
Get Kindle Cloud Reader from the web, not the App Store
From a user’s point of view, the HTML 5 version of the app doesn’t really look all that different. Yes, you start off by visiting a website, but the result is an app icon you can tap and run whenever you want to, just as you would with a native iOS app. Read the rest of this entry »
Review It took Amazon’s Kindle 2 a good while to escape from Uncle Sam’s backyard but less than three months more for the international version of the Kindle DX to arrive. Before we even laid hands on the DX we knew it was both bigger and more expensive, but is it any better?
The most obvious difference between the DX and Amazon’s lesser Kindles is the larger screen. Like the standard Kindle, the DX uses an E Ink display, but it’s a 9.7in unit with a resolution of 1200 x 824 rather than the basic Kindle’s 6in, 600 x 800 panel.
Amazon’s Kindle DX: the size e-book readers should be?
Though larger, the DX’s screen actually has a lower pixels per inch figure – 150 vs 167 – but the difference is indiscernible to the eye. In every way, the DX’s larger screen makes for a much better reading experience than that provided by any other e-book reader we have tested.
Because the DX has followed so hard on the heels of the Kindle 2, Register Hardware found itself with both devices in its clammy grip at the same time, allowing for a direct comparison. While the screens look the same in terms of contrast and shade, there’s no doubt that the DX changes pages with a far less obvious grey-to-black-and-back-again flash. Read the rest of this entry »
Review It was Amazon’s Kindle that really turned the idea of an e-book reader into a true mass-market proposition. Well, in the States, at least, because the first Kindle was only ever available to US-based buyers. Now, however, you can get an “international version” of the Kindle 2 in Blighty. More accurately, you can buy it from Amazon in the US and have it shipped to you in the UK.
Amazon’s Kindle: now over here
Look up the Kindle 2 on Amazon.com and you’ll find a headline price of $259 and since that’s about £155 in real money, you’re probably thinking it’s a bargain compared to the iRiver Story and Sony Reader Touch Edition, both priced on the wrong side of £200. But by the time you add shipping and import duty, the price of the Kindle is actually £207. Still cheaper than the competition, but not by as much.
Something else worth keeping in mind is that the International Kindle is not the latest version. In the US you can order the Kindle DX, which boasts a 9.7in screen in place of the standard edition’s 6in panel.
Before we dive in to the hardware, let’s deal with Amazon’s Big Idea: buying and downloading content over the air. Buy a Kindle and you get 3G or GPRS access to Amazon’s e-book store. There’s no up-front charge – the cost is built into the price of the book – and it means you no longer need to download books to computer then copy them over to the reader. Read the rest of this entry »
