Amazon is expected to launch a 7 inch tablet later this year running a highly modified version of Google Android with a focus on eBooks, music, movies, and apps that you can acquire from Amazon’s digital media stores. But the company hasn’t abandoned its apps for other Android phones and tablets. Amazon recently launched a major update to its Kindle app for Android.

The Kindle 3.1 app includes a new home page which offers quick access to books you’ve purchased, books on your device, and to the online Kindle Store — something Apple has prohibited the company from doing with its iOS app. There are also recommended titles at the bottom of the screen and tabs

The new Kindle app also offers in-app notifications when there are upgrades available.

Amazon Kindle for Android is available as a free download from the Android Market.

Amazon overhauls Kindle app for Android is a post from: mobiputing

One of the biggest complaints early reviewers have had about the HP TouchPad tablet is the lack of high quality apps available for webOS 3.0. In fact, some of the apps HP had promised would be available at launch didn’t make the cut when the tablet started shipping earlier this month. Take the Amazon Kindle app for the TouchPad, for instance.

The TouchPad hit the streets on July 1st. Nearly three weeks later, Amazon released a beta version of its Kindle app for the tablet last night.

You can find the new app in the webOS App Catalog, but there’s no mention of it on Amazon’s web site yet. The eBook app is also geographically restricted right now — you can only download it if you’re in the United States.

The folks at PreCentral have put together a detailed hands-on review. In a nutshell, there are a few bugs that have to be worked out (for instance, many users are seeing multiple copies of the same book), but overall the app provides a good experience for reading eBooks. You can also search books, take notes, or highlight passages.

If you’ve already used the Amazon Kindle app on another platform, any books you’ve already purchased will be available to download and sync with the TouchPad.

While an Amazon Kindle app doesn’t really set the TouchPad apart from the competition (there are similar apps for iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7, and BlackBerry), it does help the new tablet compete.

Amazon Kindle app now available for the HP TouchPad is a post from: mobiputing

Amazon has released a new version of its Kindle app for Android, bringing improved support for tablets running Google Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Appropriately, the new app is Kindle 3.0 for Android.

There are two key areas where the app has been redesigned. The first is the new grid view for your library which lets you see thumbnail icons of all your books instead of a the default list view which Amazon’s Kindle apps for smartphones uses. The new grid view option is also available on smartphones now, but it looks much better on a big-screen tablet such as the Motorola XOOM.

The other major change is the in-app Kindle Store, which has a much more app-store like feel.

When you visit the store, you’ll see a list of personalized recommendations at the top, a list of categories to the left, and links for the top 100 paid and free books in the center. There are also featured titles to the right.

You can purchase and download books in the app without using an external web browser.

The one thing Amazon didn’t tweak for tablets is the actual reading view. There’s still no two-pane viewing mode, which means that if you hold a tablet like the XOOM in landscape mode, much of the 1280 x 800 pixel screen is wasted. Unfortunately, I find it much easier to hold the XOOM in landscape than portrait mode most of the time, which makes reading an eBook using the new Kindle app a less than stellar experience.

Kindle 3.0 also adds support for the German language, a new layout for newspapers and magazines, and the ability to pause and resume content downloads.

via Engadget

Amazon Kindle 3.0 app adds support for Android 3.0 tablets is a post from: mobiputing

Amazon has launched version 2.5 of its Kindle app for iOS with a few key new features. First, if you’re running iOS 4 you can now download books in the background while running other tasks. You still need to start your download from the Kindle Store, and to be honest, most eBook files are so small that they’re done downloading before you know it, but this is still a good feature to have for times when your internet connection slows to a crawl.

Kindle 2.5 also adds support for free, copyright-expired books from Project Gutenberg, the Internet Archive, and other sources. Just visit the web site, click the download button for the Kindle version, and on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, select “Open with Kindle.” You can also use the File Sharing option in iTunes to transfer files from your computer.

Amazon has also made some bug fixes and improved image zooming.

The Amazon Kindle app for iOS is available as a free download from the App Store.

Kindle app for iOS adds Project Gutenberg books, background downloads is a post from: mobiputing

Amazon has launched a Kindle app for Windows Phone 7. The app has all the usual features, allowing users to read books downloaded from the Amazon Kindle store — and to synchronize your data including bookmarks and last page read across all of your Kindle devices.

The app lets you buy books or download free titles, adjust fonts, colors and contrast, and supports portrait and landscape mode.

Kindle for Windows Phone 7 is available as a free download from the Marketplace.

via Download Squad

Amazon Kindle app for Windows Phone 7 now available is a post from: mobiputing

Amazon already offers Kindle apps for Windows and Android, allowing you to purchase and read eBooks on a PC or phone. But the company has announced plans for new Windows and Android apps specifically targeted at tablets.

Android tablets will likely have larger, higher resolution displays than a typical Android smartphone, which means a redesign is in order. Windows tablets, on the other hand may have lower resolution displays than many desktop and laptop computers. But more importantly, the way you interact with touchscreen tablets is very different from the way you interact with a keyboard-and-mouse computer, so a user interface overhaul could come in handy.

Like other Kindle apps and devices, users will be able to download content they’ve already purchased from the Kindle store and synchronize data between devices. So if you start reading a book on your tablet you can put it down and grab your phone or a Kindle DX, or an iPhone or another device to pick up where you left off.

Amazon already offers an iPad-specific Kindle app which offers two-column viewing and other features not available in the iPhone and iPod touch apps.

The new tablet-friendly apps are due out later this year.

Amazon plans to launch Kindle app for Android, Windows tablets is a post from: mobiputing

Amazon has released a major update to its eBook app for Android. Probably the biggest change in Kindle for Android 2.0 is support for newspapers and magazines, with Amazon offering over 100 periodicals to choose from. But another nice touch is the fact that Amazon has finally integrated the Kindle Store directly into the app, which means you don’t have to flip back and forth between your web browser and Kindle app to purchase and read books.

Scan to download

Other changes include:

• Ability to share your reading progress via social networks, email, SMS, or other apps installed on your device
• Zoom on image and graphics
• Option to turn pages using volume keys
• Chapter titles now show up in the status bar
• You can move the app to your SD card on Android 2.2 and up.

With the new newspaper and magazine options, you can either purchase a subscription or pay for an individual episode. Subscriptions come with 14 day free trials.

Amazon Kindle for Android 2.0 is available as a free download from the Android Market.

You can find more screenshots after the break.

Amazon Kindle for Android adds newspapers, magazines, integrated store is a post from: mobiputing

Amazon has announced plans to develop a Kindle eBook app for Windows Phone 7. That’s hardly surprising, since Amazon currently offers several physical Kindle devices,PC and Mac apps, and software for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, BlackBerry, and Android. Still, it’s nice to see that the company doesn’t plan to give up on the whole cross-platform thing anytime soon.

The Windows Phone 7 app will allow users to read books and synchronize their settings with other Kindle devices. That lets you download the same book on multiple devices and remember the last page read so you can start reading on your phone and finish reading on your iPad, for instance.

The app will also let users shop for eBooks without leaving the app — which is more than I can say for the Kindle apps on some other mobile platforms, which dump you out to the web browser when you want to browse for or purchase books. Kindle for Windows Phone 7 supports landscape and portrait mode, multiple font sizes and background colors, and personalized recommendations on your home screen.

The app is due out later this year.

Amazon Kindle app for Windows Phone 7 on the way is a post from: mobiputing

Amazon has released an updated version of its Kindle app for iOS. One of the most significant changes is support for a two column view on the Apple iPad, which lets you see two pages side by side — just like you would with a real book.

Amazon is also using its Shelfari service to add a “Book Extras” feature which is available on the iPhone, and iPod touch as well as the iPad. The Book Extras provide information about characters, other books in the series, important places, and other annotations.

The Amazon Kindle app for iOS is available as a free download from the iTunes App Store.

Amazon updates Kindle iOS app with 2-column iPad view, annotations is a post from: mobiputing

Amazon has pushed out an updated version of its Kindle app for Google Android. It still doesn’t support the audio and video capabilities that are available in the iOS version of the Kindle app, but it does add a few other features from the iOS app, including:

• 

  Scan to download

  Search for text inside a book

• Edit notes and highlights and synchronize them across multiple Kindle devices
• Look up words on Wikipedia or Dictionary.com
• Lock your phone’s screen orientation while reading a book

While Amazon says the latest version also includes a number of bug fixes, it did crash on me a few times when trying out the new search function — so it may not be entirely bug free. Still, the app remembers your last read page so the worst thing that will happen is that you have to open the Kindle app again and re-open the book you were reading to get back to the point where you left off.

In order to highlight text, make a note, or search for a definition or Wikipedia entry, just tap and hold your finger on a word in the text. You can either search by hitting the search button on your phone or by hitting the Settings menu and then selecting Search from “More.”

Amazon Kindle 1.1 for Google Android is available as a free download from the Android Market.

Amazon Kindle 1.1 for Android lets you search inside books is a post from: mobiputing

As much as I love the feel of holding a good book in my hand, there are a few things you can do with digital books that you can’t easily do with the old fashioned paper type of book. For instance, you can quickly search for text in the eBook, or highlight a word to look up its meaning in a dictionary. You know, assuming your eBook software lets you do that — which the Amazon Kindle app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad now does.

Here’s how it works, just fire up Amazon Kindle 2.2 on your iDevice and open a book. then press and hold any word, and a menu will pop up asking if you want to add a note or highlight the text. You should also see a definition of the word from the Oxford American Dictionary.

You can also click the Google or Wikipedia buttons to search for the word on one of those sites using the web browser. Or you can click the Full Definition button to see a more complete entry for the word from the Oxford dictionary, which has about 250,000 entries.

When you install the Kindle 2.2 app, it will automatically download the dictionary, which you can also open as a standalone eBook if you’re the sort of person who likes to read through dictionaries cover to cover in your free time.

The new app also adds the ability for searching inside of books on the iPad.

The Amazon Kindle app for iOS is available as a free download from the App Store.

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Amazon launched a new Kindle app for Android devices today. Like the company’s iPhone app, the new Kindle for Android app will let you find, purchase, download, and read digital books on your mobile device.

The mobile app synchronizes your last read pages, bookmarks, and annotations with other devices linked to your account. So if you have a physical Kindle eBook reader, an iPod touch or iPad with the Kindle app, and an Android phone, you can start reading a book on one device, put it down and pick up reading where you left off on another.

Kindle for Android lets you read in portrait or landscape mode, adjust text size,and background color. You can also search Amazon’e library of more than 600,000 free and paid books. You can also read the beginning of a book before making a purchase.

Newspapers, magazines and blogs are not available on the Android app, and you’ll need Android 1.6 or newer to use the app. While Kindle for Android is available in a number of countries, the book selection will vary by region. And it doesn’t look like the new audio and video capabilities that Amazon added to the iOS app today are available in the Android version.

With the launch of an Android app, Amazon now joins Kobo as one of the few companies with a decent cross-platform eBook reader that works on both iOS and Android and which offers a decent selection of book titles.

Purchasing books is easy if you already have an Amazon account — and you can even choose to purchase a title using the Android app and have it sent to another device linked to your account. When I logged in, I saw that I was able to download books to my iPod or PC, both of which also have Kindle software installed.

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Amazon has rolled out an updated version of the Kindle software for Apple’s mobile devices. The new app adds support for eBooks with audio and video content. This opens up the doors to all sorts of multimedia content.

For instance, the latest Kindle edition of Knitting for Dummies comes with 6 videos that can actually demonstrate how to perform different knitting techniques. And the new version of Rick Steves’: London 2010 includes 5 audio tours that you can use while navigating historic landmarks in the city.

Right now there are only about a dozen titles with audio and video features. But I suspect that list to grow pretty quickly — especially if Amazon makes the audio and video features available on other versions of the Kindle eBook reader. Right now the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch are the only devices that support all the new features. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see multimedia capabilities show up in the upcoming Android app. And then there are the Mac, PC, and BlackBerry versions of the Kindle eBook reader. As my buddy Dave Zatz suggests, maybe we’ll see a multimedia version of Amazon’s physical Kindle eBook reader soon as well.

It’s also worth noting that the multimedia titles take up much more disk space than text-only documents. This means you can only download them over WiFi, not 3G. And it also means that if Amazon does release a new Kindle device with multimedia support, it may include more storage space than current models.

The new Kindle app is available as a free download from the App Store.

Amazon adds audio/video to Kindle apps for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch is a post from: mobiputing

Amazon released a minor update to its Kindle app for iOS this week. Kindle 2.1 features a few tweaks that are aimed at iPad users, and one major new feature for iPhone/iPod touch users.

The iPad version gets bigger fonts and more font sizes as well as faster navigation between home and archived items.

The iPhone and iPod touch version now allows you to search for any term inside a book. If you ask me, the ability to search is one of the things that really gives eBooks a leg up on physical books, so it’s nice to see this feature making its way to the iPhone version of the Kindle App.

Amazon is also promising a few nifty features to look forward to in the next release, including search-in-book functionality on the iPad, Google and Wikipedia word lookup, and instant word-lookup in a dictionary with 250,000 entries.

The Amazon Kindle app for iOS is available as a free download from the App Store.

Kindle 2.1 for iPhone offers bigger fonts, in-book search is a post from: mobiputing

We already knew Amazon was working on a version of its Kindle eBook reader for Google Android. Now we know when it will be released… roughly. Amazon has announced that the Kindle App for Android is due out this summer — and it will have one major feature that’s missing from the iPhone and iPad versions. You’ll be able to purchase eBooks from within the Kindle app.

While the Amazon Kindle app for the iPhone lets you browse Amazon’s collection of digital books, when you actually want to purchase one, you’re taken to the Amazon web site in your web browser.  The Kindle Store for Android will offer a much more seamless experience. Want to buy a new book and read it? Just fire up one app, find the book you’re looking for, purchase and download it, and start reading right away.

The Kindle app for Android will let you synchronize your last page read and annotations with other Kindle devices. So if you’re reading the same book on a Kindle eBook reader, an iPod touch, a PC with Amazon’s Kindle software, or your Android phone, you’ll be able to pick up where you left off — which is a pretty useful feature.

Amazon says you’ll be able to read in portrait or landscape mode, and turn pages by flicking your finger or tapping on the side of the screen. You’ll also be able to create bookmarks, adjust text size, and tweak other settings.

The Kindle app will be free, although many of the books will cost money to download.

The app will require a device with Android 1.6 or later.

via TechCrunch

Amazon Kindle app for Android coming this summer is a post from: mobiputing

Amazon’s Kindle platform lets you purchase and read eBooks on an iPhone, BlackBerry, PC, or a Kindle eBook reader. So far there’s no app for Android. But as Kevin Tofel points out, it looks like a Kindle reader for Android could be coming soon.

The folks at Engadget got their hands on a couple of leaked documents from Dell for the company’s upcoming Dell Mini 5 tablet. The Mini 5 will be a 5 inch device with an 800 x 480 pixel display, an ARM-based processor, and Google Android. And if the slides obtained by Engadget are anything to go by, it will feature a suite of applications from Amazon including Amazon MP3, Amazon video on demand, and a Kindle eBook reader.

There’s already an excellent Amazon MP3 app for Android that lets you find, purchase, and download music. The Kindle and video on demand apps would be new. I suspect the Kindle app would look a lot like the iPhone app, which is to say it will be an excellent way to access the hundreds of thousands of eBooks Amazon offers, if not necessarily the best app for reading books if you care about things like changing the background color or dimming the display.

The video on demand feature could also be an awesome addition to the Android ecosystem. Right now you can watch YouTube videos on Android devices, but that’s about it for online video. Adobe Flash Player 10.1 for Android is in the works, so it’s possible that the Amazon video app will basically rely on Flash — the same technology it uses to stream video to desktop computers. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon develops a tool that lets you stream video without using Flash — much the way you can with YouTube videos currently. Odds are this would use fewer system resources.

It’s not clear if and when these apps will be available for Android devices that aren’t the Dell Mini 5. But

Amazon Kindle app, video on demand coming to Android? is a post from: mobiputing