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Old 07-30-2010, 04:05 AM   #7
andrys
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Posts: 218
Karma: 48926
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Berkeley, Califorina
Device: Kindles,SurfacePro2,NookColor,Pocket Edge,Samsung 10.1 Tab,S2 phone
Quote:
Originally Posted by bear4hunter View Post
so andrys,
do you think amazon will fix this with an update (2.5.7?) - it doesn't make sense, K2i worked with 2.5.3 - so I think it's a software thing - not hardware related.
It's software controllable, yes. The thing is that newspaper reports have always shown they could not, for a long time, come to terms with wireless providers in Germany -- meaning keeping the price charged them to something doable for them. Maybe they have done something for the K3. More on that further down.

So there have been about 9 countries in which web browsing (which is the expensive part of 3G in a case like that) was enabled on Kindles that went overseas though the product pages said the browser was not available in those countries).

In most cases I've read, it was version 2.5.3 that cut out the browser that was available with v2.5.2 but it could be they handled this differently in the various countries outside the U.S.

I checked the K3 pages at amazon, and Germany is currently the only one of the 9 countries that does not show the web browser as not-available for the K3.

The K2 stays the same for Germany -- no web browser, no social networking as of tonight. Who knows, re later?

The K3 3G/WiFi product-page for Germany, however, says this now:
"Social networking features are currently not available for your country."


Why only that statement, I have no idea. It's odd that the browser is not said to be UNavailable for the new K3 in Germany while the feature of forwarding of highlighted passages to Facebook/Twitter is noted to be not available.

But here is what the K3 pages say for the other 8 countries which have not had official web-browser availability -- these include Austria, Denmark, France, Greece, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden:

"Access Wikipedia via Whispernet on the experimental web browser. Access other websites like Google via a Wi-Fi connection. Blogs can also be downloaded via a Wi-Fi connection."


And the DXG page (which doesn't have the WiFi capability) says this for Germany:
"Blogs, social networking features, and the experimental web browser are currently not avalable [sic] for your country. You will have free access to Wikipedia if wireless is available."

Quote:
So, there might be a difference with the SIM-Card (if any) used? But why did it work with 2.5.3 then? Or is it just a different wording for saying the same?
I think it has more to do with deals with wireless providers (or the lack of them). Customer Service can enable wireless remotely -- at least turn them On in individual circumstances, I've read.
But re the default setting in the firmware, it seems v2.5.3 tended to turn that off if Wireless had been enabled, though I think you had one that worked with v2.5.3.

We might get an answer of sorts sometime next week.
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