# Kindle app and Iphone



## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

I read all the time on my Android phone and even have a spare Android phone just for reading so I don't use up my main phone's battery too quickly.  I'm always telling my Iphone loving sister about this and she mentioned she'd just gotten a new Iphone and asked me if I'd like to have her old Iphone 6s for reading.  I've been using it for a few days now and I've been experimenting and reading and trying stuff out.  I don't have service on it.  It's just a reading device to me.  All in all I like it although I'm not sure why anyone would buy one of these when they can get an Android phone.

But that last opinion is, obviously, my prejudice.  I'm sure Iphone lovers wonder the same thing about Android users.  I know my sister does.

Anyway, to help me compare and to use both my regular phone and the Iphone and sync them I'm reading a book in the Kindle app on both.  And that's where I'm really finding problems.  The Kindle app on the Iphone, at least on mine, is very buggy.

For example, when I set it up it gave it a flaky email address I'll never remember and I went to Amazon and changed it.  That happens with Android devices, too, and I always change it first thing after installing the app.  I change it on Amazon's website and sync the app and it shows me the new name.  But it's still showing me the old name.  On Amazon it shows the new name.  I've synced a couple of dozen times in the several days since I did that and it's never changed in the app.

Syncing on the Kindle app on my Android phone is irritatingly slow.  On a bad day it can take more than 30 seconds.  Even on a good day it's 10 to 20 seconds.  On the Iphone it takes a full minute or two.  It's taken 2 minutes several times.  I've timed it.  It's never been less than a minute.

I like to read one handed and scroll the page with my thumb as I read.  That's a big clumsy but I'm used to it and I turn off the popup highlight menu because it tends to make scrolling even more clumsy.  I've been doing that with the Android version of the Kindle app since scrolling first became available.  I turned it off in the Iphone app but it still pops up.  I've tried uninstalling and re-installing.  I've tried turning the phone off and on.  I've tried turning the feature off and on.  That (unspeakable expletive goes here) menu keeps popping up no matter what I do.

When I touch the screen on the Kindle app there's a pause to give my finger a chance to move so the menus won't pop up when I'm scrolling.  This works on both the Android and the Iphone version.  But on the Iphone the delay is much shorter and using just my thumb to scroll i'm usually not fast enough so the menu pops up.  It's a small thing.  I go ahead and scroll and then tap the screen to get rid of the menu header and footer.  But it sure takes the grace out of scrolling.

My sister have had an ongoing friendly argument about the relative merits of IOS and Android.  She's out of town now and I don't want to tell her when I can't see her reaction so I have to wait till she gets home to let her know I won!  

While I'm at it I've been looking at other apps for reading.  The Kindle app is one I use sometimes on Android.  I much prefer Moon+ and I've been looking for something as graceful and powerful as that.  I've found lots of powerful reading apps.  I've tried Marvin and Mapleread and they're both pretty good.  I also tried Kybook 3 and it might be the most powerful of them all but it's terribly clumsy trying to figure out how to use it's byzantine interface.  A couple of years ago I wrote a simple maze generation program for Windows and I wish it could create as complex and mysterious a maze as any of the above mentioned reading apps.

And yet I can't deny I'm enjoying reading on this thing and I have no doubt I'll keep using it for a while.  I'll probably eventually go back to strictly Android but not till I've given this monster more of a chance than I have now.  I won't leave it till I can call it junk with authority.  

Barry


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## jkingrph (Jun 10, 2012)

iPhone user here.  Got my first, a 4s a few years back going from some kind of flip phone, and went that route because I was using an iPad, not only for reading and keeping medical references on it.  We recently upgraded to an iphone 11 and 11 pro in the family, along with the ipad.    We also have a Samsung Galaxy tab S 4 tablet.  When it's working right it's great, but then sometimes the Kindle app will not respond, or cannot download a book, have to cancel, try again often several times.    When it works, which is most of the time it is much faster, but those other times so much slower and frustrating, that I prefer the generally slower speed on the ipad or iphone.  Different strokes for different folks!


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Over the past 10 years, I have regularly used both Android phones and iPhones about equally. I’ve never noticed any difference in performance with the Kindle app. I agree that Moon+ is an excellent e-book reader, one I’ve used for years. I have used Marvin on the iPhone, and while it is quite serviceable it’s not quite up to the level of Moon+. 


Speaking of discussions, I go to a regular lunch with some retired programmers that I know, and half of us own iPhones and half of us own Android phones. I’m the only one that owns both. I sometimes get the feeling that they would just as soon I stayed out of the discussion, because I’ll take either side. And sometimes both sides in the same conversation.


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## chumbabubma90 (Apr 13, 2020)

barryem said:


> I read all the time on my Android phone and even have a spare Android phone just for reading so I don't use up my main phone's battery too quickly. I'm always telling my Iphone loving sister about this and she mentioned she'd just gotten a new Iphone and asked me if I'd like to have her old Iphone 6s for reading. I've been using it for a few days now and I've been experimenting and reading and trying stuff out. I don't have service on it. It's just a reading device to me. All in all I like it although I'm not sure why anyone would buy one of these when they can get an Android phone.
> 
> But that last opinion is, obviously, my prejudice. I'm sure Iphone lovers wonder the same thing about Android users. I know my sister does.
> 
> ...


This is very strange. I also understand everything. I understand their politics. But anyway I enjoy it. Paradox.


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