5 ms·

Kindle for Android now available

36 points by andrewpbrett 16y ago

ydant 16y ago
Good, glad it came up here. I was looking forward to this, but I'm getting total corruption on all of my books. I tried uninstalling and re-downloading the books and tried more than 10 different books. All come up scrambled and crash the app like so: http://i48.tinypic.com/fcmmq8.jpg http://i48.tinypic.com/fcmmq8.jpg
- ydant 16y ago
  Apparently this is a bug in Cyanogen mod - http://code.google.com/p/cyanogenmod/issues/detail?id=1663#c35 http://code.google.com/p/cyanogenmod/issues/detail?id=1663#c...
jsz0 16y ago
Does anyone know why this app needs to read the Phone state? According to the Android documentation it's used for location, monitoring incoming calls, and SMS. I can't think of any reason Amazon would need that information to let me read books?
- mbrubeck 16y ago
  I would guess they need it to call TelephonyManager.getDeviceId as part of their DRM device authorization scheme: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/telephony/TelephonyManager.html#getDeviceId%28%29 http://developer.android.com/reference/android/telephony/Tel... Or maybe they change their sync settings (for "Whispersync") based on your network status.
- mitchellhislop 16y ago
  I bet it has to do with the whispersync. Also, it could be to cover their asses-people associate whispersync and data with phone sync.
doron 16y ago
Anybody knows why you newspapers, magazines and blogs are currently not available? I own a kindle, and the only reason i would really need a mobile reader is for the magazines.
- hexis 16y ago
  It seems like a licensing issue. Periodicals aren't available on any of the non-Kindle device platforms, IIRC.
  - rcoder 16y ago
    I've observed this on my laptop and iPad. Subscription content is only available on the Kindle hardware. Sadly, this means I'll probably be canceling my NY Times subscription next month, as the free iPad app offers enough content to make the $20/month Kindle-only sub pretty unappealing.
albemuth 16y ago
Not available for some countries, had to switch with a global sim so I could download. Also for Project Gutenberg books you have to search for them by name (meaning you can't browse free books) and on top of that you actually have to purchase them for $0. I'm not that much into buying ebooks but this crappy UX definitely won't help on me becoming one. Luckily there are other options on the Android Market.
jeffcoat 16y ago
I'm interested in this, since my phone is my favorite book reader. The best app I've found so far for reading on Android is Aldiko ... and it's quite good: I'd be interested to see a comparison. The linked article is not particularly enthusiastic. (Min version is 1.6 -- I'm going to have to upgrade my phone somehow before trying it out.)
- enjo 16y ago
  It's a rather incomplete app at this point on Android. They clearly didn't anticipate how quickly Android would grow.
cageface 16y ago
It's great to finally have this available but I've gotten pretty comfortable with Aldiko and epubs while waiting for this.
- pkulak 16y ago
  Aldiko is one of the best around, on any platform.
- Tichy 16y ago
  Interesting suggestion, but why does Aldiko need my location?

36 points by andrewpbrett 16y ago

ydant 16y ago

Good, glad it came up here. I was looking forward to this, but I'm getting total corruption on all of my books. I tried uninstalling and re-downloading the books and tried more than 10 different books. All come up scrambled and crash the app like so: http://i48.tinypic.com/fcmmq8.jpg http://i48.tinypic.com/fcmmq8.jpg

ydant 16y ago
Apparently this is a bug in Cyanogen mod - http://code.google.com/p/cyanogenmod/issues/detail?id=1663#c35 http://code.google.com/p/cyanogenmod/issues/detail?id=1663#c...

jsz0 16y ago

Does anyone know why this app needs to read the Phone state? According to the Android documentation it's used for location, monitoring incoming calls, and SMS. I can't think of any reason Amazon would need that information to let me read books?

mbrubeck 16y ago
I would guess they need it to call TelephonyManager.getDeviceId as part of their DRM device authorization scheme: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/telephony/TelephonyManager.html#getDeviceId%28%29 http://developer.android.com/reference/android/telephony/Tel... Or maybe they change their sync settings (for "Whispersync") based on your network status.
mitchellhislop 16y ago
I bet it has to do with the whispersync. Also, it could be to cover their asses-people associate whispersync and data with phone sync.

doron 16y ago

Anybody knows why you newspapers, magazines and blogs are currently not available? I own a kindle, and the only reason i would really need a mobile reader is for the magazines.

hexis 16y ago
It seems like a licensing issue. Periodicals aren't available on any of the non-Kindle device platforms, IIRC.
- rcoder 16y ago
  I've observed this on my laptop and iPad. Subscription content is only available on the Kindle hardware. Sadly, this means I'll probably be canceling my NY Times subscription next month, as the free iPad app offers enough content to make the $20/month Kindle-only sub pretty unappealing.

albemuth 16y ago

Not available for some countries, had to switch with a global sim so I could download. Also for Project Gutenberg books you have to search for them by name (meaning you can't browse free books) and on top of that you actually have to purchase them for $0. I'm not that much into buying ebooks but this crappy UX definitely won't help on me becoming one. Luckily there are other options on the Android Market.

jeffcoat 16y ago

I'm interested in this, since my phone is my favorite book reader. The best app I've found so far for reading on Android is Aldiko ... and it's quite good: I'd be interested to see a comparison. The linked article is not particularly enthusiastic. (Min version is 1.6 -- I'm going to have to upgrade my phone somehow before trying it out.)

enjo 16y ago
It's a rather incomplete app at this point on Android. They clearly didn't anticipate how quickly Android would grow.

cageface 16y ago

It's great to finally have this available but I've gotten pretty comfortable with Aldiko and epubs while waiting for this.

pkulak 16y ago
Aldiko is one of the best around, on any platform.
Tichy 16y ago
Interesting suggestion, but why does Aldiko need my location?