Amazon has updated the iOS version of its Kindle e-reading app to v3.9. Via the app’s Library Search, users should now be able to search through Amazon’s catalog of free book samples and download the content straight to a device. Amazon doesn’t allow direct purchases of books in iOS however, as Apple claims a 30 percent cut of all in-app transactions. Instead titles must be bought via the web, the Kindle hardware, or one of the other Kindle apps for platforms like Android and Windows Phone.
Another enhancement is the ability to use separately-purchased dictionaries to look up terms in other books. Any book classified as a dictionary will now be automatically added to options; this may be particularly important for researching specialized terms, like legal or scientific jargon, or words in other languages. A quick reference guide, meanwhile, has been added for the app’s gestures for the blind and visually impaired. The guide is contained in an FAQ under Settings.
Amazon has also made some technical improvements, namely speeding up the display of cover art. Kindle for iOS is a free download and runs on any device with iOS 5 or later.
