Kindle Paperwhite for Dummies (37 page)

Figure 9-8:
Share and rate books you’ve read on Facebook and Twitter.

Viewing with X-ray

Some books have the X-ray feature enabled. This feature provides a view into recurring items: characters, settings, topics, and phrases that occur throughout. You can view this information for the current page, the current chapter, or the entire book.

Tap the top of the screen to display the toolbar and then tap X-Ray to see a screen like the one shown in Figure 9-9. (Note that if X-ray is not enabled for the book you are reading, it will appear dimmed.) Tap any term to view additional information from Wikipedia.

Figure 9-9:
An example of an X-Ray display from a book about Atlantic City.

Playing with pictures

If the book you are reading has photographs and illustrations, you can see more information as well as make notes and marks. To begin, press and hold (long-tap) on the photograph or illustration. A magnifying glass appears in the middle of the picture, and a box appears with Share, Add Note, Delete, and More. These choices operate in the same way as discussed for words, notes, and highlights.

Tap the magnifying glass to enlarge the picture to full-screen size. If appropriate, the photo will rotate to landscape mode for best viewing. Tap the picture again to return to your book.

Would you like to make a screenshot from your Kindle Paperwhite? It’s easy! On the desired page, place your thumbs lightly in the upper-right and lower-left corners, and press simultaneously. The screen will blink. Use the USB cable to attach your Kindle Paperwhite to your computer. The screenshot is listed in the root directory. Move the picture to your hard drive, rename it, and save it — or collect several and send them to your Kindle Paperwhite to create a photo album, as discussed in Chapter 7.

Note that the double-thumb press maneuver takes a bit of practice. If your desired screenshot doesn’t appear the first time, just try again.

Using Whispersync with Kindle Editions and Audible Books

Prior versions of the Kindle e-reader included audio capabilities which allowed you to listen to a book on your device or use Text-to-Speech to have a book read to you. The Kindle Paperwhite does not include these features, but don’t despair — you can still listen to a book and have it sync with the Kindle edition on your Kindle Paperwhite by using Whispersync for Voice.

To begin, you will need the following:

A Kindle Paperwhite:
Make sure that Whispersync is turned on at your Amazon account. Go to
www.amazon.com/myk
and select Manage Your Devices. Device Synchronization is near the bottom of the page.

A device that plays audio files and supports the Audible application:
The Audible application is designed specifically to play books purchased from Audible.com or Audible books purchased from Amazon.

The Kindle Edition of a book and the Audible audiobook version:
If you want to experiment, Amazon has a number of books and audiobooks available as free pairs, including
A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens and
The Three Musketeers
by Alexandre Dumas. Go to
www.amazon.com
and search on Whispersync for Voice to see the free book/audio offerings. Send the book to your Kindle Paperwhite and download the audiobook to your preferred audio device.

Amazon offers special promotions on Kindle Edition/Audible book combos. When you buy a Kindle book, check to see whether the Audible book is available at a discounted price.

Now all you need to do is begin reading (or listening). When you switch devices, the synchronization should be automatic. See Figure 9-10 for an illustration of the sync screen on your Kindle Paperwhite and Figure 9-11 for the screen on the audio device, in this case, an iPhone. If the sync does not happen automatically, tap Menu⇒Sync to Furthest Page Read.

Figure 9-10:
Synchronization screen on a Kindle Paperwhite.

Figure 9-11:
Synchronization screen on an audio device.

You do not need to purchase the two books at the same time to have them synchronize between the Kindle edition and audiobook. Books bought at disparate times will still sync.

At this time, this synchronization feature is available only between Amazon Kindle Editions and audio books purchased from Audible.com, which is an Amazon company.