MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Kindle App for Windows 8

Mike L · 01-31-2013, 08:09 AM

I know this is an old-ish thread, but I thought I would mention my experience.

Like you, ShadowPlay, I found page turns to be a little slow - but only occasionally. When going forward through a book, every fifth page or so would take several seconds to turn. But other pages would turn instantly, as was also the case when paging backwards. I got the impression that the software was reading and caching several pages ahead each time.

However, I had a couple of more serious. Firstly, there seems to be no way of searching within a book. You can only search the titles in your library or in the Kindle store. Worse, there was no easy way of reading a book not purchased from Amazon. Unlike with the traditional version of the Kindle for PC app, you can't simply double-click on a file in Windows and have it open in the app.

For that reason, I also decided to revert to the original "Kindle for PC" program. (This was partly on Harry T's advice; see https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=203729.) I now use that in preference to the Windows 8 version.

I don't agree that the Windows 8 app has better touch controls. In both versions, you can simply touch the side of the screen to turn the page. Also, in the traditional version, the page slider (at the bottom of the screen) is always visible, whereas in the new version you have to slide upwards from the bottom of the screen to make it visible. It's true that the new version also lets you change pages by swiping rather than touching, but I don't see any compelling reason to do that.

I do agree with your general comments about Windows 8. I've found the whole thing enormously frustrating. I recently acquired a Windows 8 hybrid machine (a laptop with a detachable touch screen), but I doubt that I'll be using it much.

Mike

01-31-2013, 08:09 AM	#7
Mike L Wizard Posts: 1,479 Karma: 3846231 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Device: Kindle 3, Samsung Galaxy	I know this is an old-ish thread, but I thought I would mention my experience. Like you, ShadowPlay, I found page turns to be a little slow - but only occasionally. When going forward through a book, every fifth page or so would take several seconds to turn. But other pages would turn instantly, as was also the case when paging backwards. I got the impression that the software was reading and caching several pages ahead each time. However, I had a couple of more serious. Firstly, there seems to be no way of searching within a book. You can only search the titles in your library or in the Kindle store. Worse, there was no easy way of reading a book not purchased from Amazon. Unlike with the traditional version of the Kindle for PC app, you can't simply double-click on a file in Windows and have it open in the app. For that reason, I also decided to revert to the original "Kindle for PC" program. (This was partly on Harry T's advice; see https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=203729.) I now use that in preference to the Windows 8 version. I don't agree that the Windows 8 app has better touch controls. In both versions, you can simply touch the side of the screen to turn the page. Also, in the traditional version, the page slider (at the bottom of the screen) is always visible, whereas in the new version you have to slide upwards from the bottom of the screen to make it visible. It's true that the new version also lets you change pages by swiping rather than touching, but I don't see any compelling reason to do that. I do agree with your general comments about Windows 8. I've found the whole thing enormously frustrating. I recently acquired a Windows 8 hybrid machine (a laptop with a detachable touch screen), but I doubt that I'll be using it much. Mike