There’s something about the end of the year that always puts me in a retrospective mood. One thing I’ve been considering is how I used technology over the last year — and that’s help me realized something about the way I read books these days.
For years I avoided Kindles and e-readers in general, primarily out of the preference for paper books. It was also, if I’m honest, down to dealing with a lot of those devices when I worked in the second-hand electronics business. However, that all changed in 2024 as I found myself reading a lot more books on my phone.
It’s quite a drastic change, at least relatively, but the question is why it happened and what led me to make such liberal use of the Kindle app on my phone.
What stopped me from reading as much as I did
I used to be a prolific reader and always had a book in my hands when I was a child. This was partially because, having grown up in London, I had to take the train back and forth a lot. However, as I got older, I found that I dropped the habit and read a lot less than I used to. This was partially down to having jobs that had me relying on a car more than a train, so I didn’t have quite as much time. However, that changed in the last year and I’ve been taking the train a lot more.
Rush hour trains feel a lot more cramped than when I was a child. If you’ve never been to London, the Underground in rush hour would make a sardine tin feel roomy. As such, I never really take a book with me when I travel — it’s just not practical on a crowded train.
Besides, I tend to be struck by the mood to read a book at random times, which means carrying a book with my everywhere just in case. This isn’t even an issue that the best Kindles could solve either; instead of a book, I’d just be toting around a dedicated e-reader, which is just as burdensome.
Recently, I started to get more into Warhammer, and with that came a desire to read some of the Black Library books. Finding physical copies of those books can be an expensive proposition, but digital versions are much cheaper and asier to track down. All of them are available from Kindle, in fact.
That’s why I decided to download the Kindle app onto my iPhone 15 Pro Max to see how it worked and if it could solve my issues. I also tried the app on a Galaxy Z Fold 5, but honestly found that opening and closing the foldable phone on the train brought up the same cramped-for-space issues I would have with a physical book. So Kindle on an iPhone it was.
The first thing to note is that the Kindle app is pretty great and easy to use. I’ve found all the future copies of the Horus Heresy are available for a pretty good price, and when I finally get through them, there’s Kindle Unlimited to try, too.
Because I always have my phone on me, I can start reading whenever the mood takes me — and without having to carry around any extra books or devices. I simply pull my phone out of my pocket and start from the last page I left off on. As an interesting side effect, this has also cut down on the time I spend randomly scrolling on sites like X and Instagram.
My phone is compact — well, as compact as a device with a 6.7-inch display can be — and I can hold it in one hand. As such, using the Kindle app on the sardine can that is rush hour in London couldn’t be easier.
The Kindle app’s controls help with this, too. All I need to do is tap the side of the screen with my thumb to turn the page. As a result, I can hold on to a bar on the train with one hand, hold my phone with the other and thumb through the Kindle app with no issue.
What the year ahead might bring
Technology is constantly changing, and phone makers are always looking for new ways to innovate. New devices are coming in 2025 that have the potential to change what we use those devices for. Consider something like the rumored iPhone 17 Air, a thinner version of Apple’s phone that figures to make it much easier to do things on the goal — like, say, reading a book.
As such, I’m curious, what different ways have you used devices in the last year? Did you suddenly find that you prefer using the much less connected feature phones? Maybe you finally decided that one app was enough to get you to use a mobile controller. And what changes to current devices might cause you to rethink what you use your mobile gear for?
