The Amazon Kindle was a major breakthrough for the e-book market, and was the first e-reader to gain real traction among American consumers. The success in the Kindle market sparked a renewed interest in e-books, and the Kindle platform has broadened to include smartphones and PCs.
Amazon released the Kindle for BlackBerry software (Beta), which allows BlackBerry users to purchase and download e-books directly from Amazon, and then start reading them instantly. Now you can read your Amazon e-books without having to tote your Kindle everywhere.
Ease of Use
The Kindle for BlackBerry application is very simple to use. Once it's installed, you can see the books available for sale by selecting the Shop in Kindle Store option. You can either search for a title, or search for specifics about a book. If you search for "0.00" you can actually find quite a large selection of books available for free, most of which are classics.
When you find a book you like and select it, the book information will appear. If you decide to purchase the book, click the Buy now with 1-Click button. Once the application authenticates your Amazon account, it will perform the purchase, and the book will automatically be delivered. After that, you can just start reading your new book.
Lists and Recommendations
From the main Kindle Store screen, you can browse books by Category, see the New York Times Best Sellers and Kindle Top Sellers, browse New and Noteworthy Books, or see Recommendations. The recommendations are based on what you have purchased and what you have browsed in the past, and the list is constantly being updated. These lists and the search feature make it exceedingly easy to find the book you're looking for.
E-Book Reading Experience
Reading books with Kindle for Reader could not be any easier. Once you open the book, you will notice that the text is crisp and easy to read. You can resize it by choosing Text Size from the options menu.
There are a couple of ways to navigate. You can use the trackpad, or, on touchscreen devices you can either touch the right and left sides of the screen to go forward and back, or you can swipe your finger across the screen to move forward or back. There is also a Fullscreen mode, which allows you to hide the header and footer information.
Users can Sync to the Furthest Location, which uploads information about how far you have made it through the book to Amazon. If you loaded the book on another Kindle reader, you would be able to pick up where you left off. The Bookmark function allows you to mark pages to return to, and the Go To feature allows you to jump from place to place in the book using the table of contents, go directly to bookmarks, and navigate directly to the furthest place in the book that you have previously read.
The interface feels a lot like using an actual Kindle, and it is easy to read books even on a very small screen. BlackBerry Torch, Storm, and Storm 2 owners will enjoy the experience a little more, because the screens of their devices are larger, and the touchscreen features make it feel a little more like you're reading a book. The application is very responsive, smartly designed, and easy enough for anyone to use. Since it is free and there are a lot of free books available, it is definitely worth trying out.
Pros and Cons
- Free application with a wide selection of free books
- Easy to buy and download books
- Easy to use
- Minimalist design does not get in the way of searching, buying, or reading books
Cons
- Not as easy to read books on devices with smaller screens
- Cannot add text notes to books