Kindle for Android updated
Amazon has released an update for their Kindle for Android.
You may need to go into the store on your phone to be able to get the update.
I do sometimes see people say that the Kindle Fire app is the same as the Kindle for Android app…one thing that says it isn’t is that it doesn’t update at the same time, like this.
This update does three main things (in addition to unspecified bug fixes):
- Support for Kindle Format 8, which is the newer, more computer-friendly format. This enables you access to illustrated children’s books and comics/graphic novels that have otherwise been available for the Kindle Fire. However, you have to be careful: some of these books are optimized for larger screens (which it will say on the book’s Amazon product page) for good reason. For example, after you upgrade, get yourself a sample of Watchmen. You’ll need better eyes than I have to read what’s in the word balloons.
- You can now get your personal documents on your Android phone! that’s a nice touch. What I found easiest was to tap Menu – Search. Then, I can search for the personal document by name…I can see what the names are at http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle. You should also be able to send them from there, but it didn’t show up right away for me. I tried a pdf…that didn’t work very well, because I couldn’t see a way to increase the text size or zoom. Still, this is a nice addition. You can also send directly to the device. You can see the “Send-to-Kindle e-mail address by doing Menu-Settings, and you can change it at that Manage Your Kindle link above, Personal Document Settings
- You can now choose a specific-language dictionary when you look up a word. That was a bit confusing to me, and there was no help on the help page. Once you “long press” the word (hold your finger on it for a bout a second), you’ll see the definition. There is an icon of a book in your top right corner. Tap that, and choose your language (from Deutsch, English UK, English USA, Espanol, Francais, Italiana, Portugues…and two Asian dictionaries which I can’t identify by sight…let me know if you know for sure). Once you choose a language, you’ll be prompted to download the dictionary. Fortunately, they don’t put all of the dictionaries on your device at once! This app is big enough as it is. I downloaded the Spanish one to test it. Once I’d downloaded the dictionary, it would show me the definition in the last language I used…and then I could tap the dictionary icon, switch to another dictionary which I had downloaded, and see that definition (I tested English USA and Espanol with the word “no”, which is in both). That’s better than the Mindle, where you can switch languages, but it requires a restart of the device, and you can only have one at a time.
Before the update:
Version 3.4.1.1
Storage
- Total: 28.84MB
- Applications 204KB
- Data 28.63MB
After the update
- Total 31.44MB (without the Spanish dictionary: with it, 33.02MB)
- Applilcations 216KB
- Data 30.77MB (with the Spanish dictionary: 31.22MB)
Overall, I think the update is an improvement, although I’m not sure how valuable the Kindle Format 8 is on my SmartPhone…probably more valuable on an Android tablet.
Feel free to let me know what you think about it…
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
