Amazon has updated its Kindle app for Android with a new feature designed to make it much easier to share passages from an eBook.
Tap the new share icon when you’re reading a book or when you’re selecting a book from your library, and you can send a link to anyone via email, text message, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, or other services.
When they receive the link they can start reading a sample of the book without the need to install an app.
Or at least, that’s the idea. When it works properly, you click a shared link to open a web page with a description of the book and a “start reading for free” button, along with a “buy on Amazon” button. Click the start reading option and you can read a portion of the book in a web browser to decide if it’s something you want to buy (or borrow from the friend who shared it with you).
But not every can be read online, and there’s no option at all to share “personal documents” which you’ve uploaded to Amazon yourself.
Don’t want to recommend a book, but want to share a passage of text? Just select the text in the app and tap the share icon to post it to Facebook or share through other apps.
One of the most interesting things about the new Kindle sharing features are that they’re Android-only for now. Amazon says they’ll be “coming to Kindle e-Readers and other devices later this year.”
I still don’t think personal documents can be read using the Kindle PC application. I wonder why.