Amazon’s new Instant Preview feature shares the perfect quote and a preview of the Kindle ebook

By Kris Wouk June 26, 2015

amazon instant previews kindle android sharing — Image used with permission by copyright holder

With all the news about Amazon offering HDR streaming and announcing its first feature film, it’s easy to forget the medium that gave Amazon its start: the written word. Now its getting easier to share some of your favorite writing with your friends in the Kindle app.

Sharing quotes via Twitter and Facebook was already an option with Kindle books, but now users of the Kindle app for Android can share and start conversations with specific people. New apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are now also supported for sharing, along with text messages.

One of the best new features is what Amazon calls “Instant Previews.” When you share a passage from a book with a friend or family member, that person can read a free preview of the book from the device of their choice, and there’s no need to sign into an Amazon account or install the Kindle app to read it.

“The perfect quote in a book isn’t always the perfect quote for your whole social network. Now it’s easy to share exactly what you want in a Kindle book with exactly who you want,” Amazon senior vice president of Kindle Russ Grandinetti said in the press release announcing the new features.

“Kindle makes it easy to chat about the books you’re reading, whether it’s making a recommendation or sparking a conversation about a quote you loved. And friends who receive the share can instantly start reading a free sample of the book — no sign-up, no sign-in, and no app to install,” Grandinetti added.

While the new sharing features are only available via the Kindle app for Android right now, they will be coming to Kindle devices and “other devices” later this year. There was no specific mention of iOS devices, and given Amazon and Apple’s uneasy relationship in the ebook world, it’s difficult to say if Instant Preview and the new sharing methods will come to the Kindle iOS app in the near future.

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Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

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