Review: Kindle for iPhone, PC

I admit it, I’ve resisted Amazon’s Kindle. Even though I’m all in favor of caring for Mother Earth, I love holding a paper book in my hands (which is, I also admit, contradictory).

Even more contrary, when I heard Amazon.com released the free Kindle for iPhone app, months ago, I downloaded it immediately in one of those do-it-so-you-don’t-forget moves. Then, I forgot about it.

However, about a week ago, I was laying in bed wide awake in the middle of the night. I wanted to read, but I didn’t want to disturb my husband (and cats) by turning on the lights. Looking for something quiet to do, I flipped through the applications on my iPhone. That’s when I saw the Kindle app, right there ready to go.

Using the app, it is easy (too easy) to log into your Amazon.com account and buy every book on your wish list. (So far I’ve purchased two). Within seconds, I was flipping through the pages of a new book — one I’ve meant to read for a while.

Kindle for iPhone is easy to customize. I’ve got mine set up with a black background and white text — which is easier to read in the dark. I’ve also got the viewer locked on landscape so I can easily read while charging my phone.

To my surprise, every day for the next week I read until too sleepy to read anymore. The note and highlight options are fantastic, so is the bookmark option. I love that Web site addresses are linked, too.

Out of curiosity, I downloaded Kindle for PC. Miraculously (no, not really, thanks to savvy programmers), it knew which book I’d downloaded onto my iPhone and it also knew which page I was on. However, while it imported all of my notes and highlights, I wasn’t able to make additional notes and highlights in the PC version.

On the bright side, I like that I can pull up those notes and highlights while at my computer since most of them are things I want to look into on the Internet.

So, after all my resisting, I’m now a huge fan. Not only am I reading myself to sleep, I’m also reading while waiting on my car at the mechanic’s shop, in line waiting for whatever it is I have to wait for and in every other spare second. I like having my current book at the ready whenever I have an extra minute. Better, I like not having  haul one more thing around in my already stuffed backpack.

If you have an iPhone, I highly recommend the free Kindle for iPhone app. Give the PC version a try, too. I understand the company is working on upgrades that will allow readers to make notes and highlights in the near future.