How would you change the Kindle 3? - Page 4

Leep · 10-13-2010, 10:47 AM

I'm surprised that work on "folders" does not have a larger following on the wish list. That to me would be the most important feature. The current system is better than nothing, but needs work.

cheers

mrzerga · 10-13-2010, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeremyR

What I'd like to see on a future model:

Dump Wi-Fi and the Keyboard. I just want to read novels, I don't want to surf the web or take notes or play games.

Dear Amazon,

under no circumstances remove keyboard or wifi - i hate touchscreens with passion, and 5 buttons as navigation for the whole device(Kobo) is a joke. I am happy to know that in case of dire need I can use Kindle as an emergency communication device, send and receive emails, and browse internet. I do not want to lug iPad(which I do not have) or laptop, for this sole purpose. Knowing that Kindle can do much more if need be for a mere 139 is a very comforting thing to know.
For those who are not happy with keyboard and wifi you are welcome to move over to nook, kobo, sony or some other ps since they have touchscreens, no wifi, and an aura of ereaders for losers.

el_brio · 10-13-2010, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leep

I'm surprised that work on "folders" does not have a larger following on the wish list. That to me would be the most important feature. The current system is better than nothing, but needs work.

cheers

Folders only become important if you have a lot of books. I don't really see the point of keeping the whole library of congress on my Kindle. I have maybe 10 books tops at a time. Everything else stays on my hard-drive. I never understood why people want to have 1000 books at a time on their device.

WT Sharpe · 10-13-2010, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrzerga

Dear Amazon,

under no circumstances remove keyboard ...

AMEN to that!

ProfCrash · 10-13-2010, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by el_brio

Folders only become important if you have a lot of books. I don't really see the point of keeping the whole library of congress on my Kindle. I have maybe 10 books tops at a time. Everything else stays on my hard-drive. I never understood why people want to have 1000 books at a time on their device.

Because I can. Collections allows me to keep my entire library with me. I have one folder called "Reading" that has about 10 books in it that I am interested in reading in the near future. The rest are sorted into folders that make sense to me.

As weird as it sounds, I had 300 books with me when I went to Australia and New Zealand for 2 weeks. I ended up connecting to the computer to change out some books because I decided that I wanted to read something else. I don't have to do that with my DXG. It is great.

ski_power · 10-13-2010, 12:29 PM

Thirded.

DO NOT remove the keyboard or the network(wifi/3g) from your device. I've started to use it to check for any important emails if I'm expecting one, and more convenient to reply to it on the full keyboard instead of trying to fiddle with my phone.

WT Sharpe · 10-13-2010, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ski_power

Thirded.

DO NOT remove the keyboard or the network(wifi/3g) from your device. I've started to use it to check for any important emails if I'm expecting one, and more convenient to reply to it on the full keyboard instead of trying to fiddle with my phone.

And I'm constantly using the keyboard for annotation and search functions. It's really nice to have a physical keyboard at my fingertips and not have to cycle through menus to call up a virtual keyboard every time I need one.

ski_power · 10-13-2010, 12:52 PM

Oh and did we mention how awesome it is, if you want to randomly look up a word?

reech · 10-13-2010, 12:55 PM

Sent this on to Amazon, and got a nice Jeff-Bexos-executive-team-thank-you reply... Hopefully of some use to them - and these couple of features would be some use to me

---

Just got my Kindle - really like it. Much better screen than my old Sony eReader, and the best part - it hooks directly into Amazon, so I can buy buy buy

You guys are the only reliable bookstore, and i love that you're wanting publishers to do more eBooks - this is the way to read!

However, the support for sorting 'series' of books is awful, and really sub standard - this is just something that I can't believe that Amazon have missed out on improving, because you guys are normally such forward thinkers.

I can see that you're updating the firmware regularly. Please can you give some thought to updating how series of books work in collections.

For example, I'd love a 'couple of tier' or 'folder' system to make it as easy to use as possible. Your current system is great for people who do 'ad hoc' things, but not OCD people like me

And, I'm sure, other eReader fans. Oh, and I think that as more people get Kindle - and more people by EVEN MORE ebooks - they'll demand a better filing system. You're in the position to rule the roost with some really good things.

But remember - you also need to keep it simple. What you have now is simple, and it needs to be that way. What I'm suggesting are 'optional' things that people can use to optimise their kindle experience.

The problem:
Currently, if I want to make a 'series' a collection, and say I have about 10 series, then that would take up my first page! That's a bit silly, I'd love my first page to be much more useful, and to let me switch from 'thing to thing to do' rather than be a plain ol' boring list. Amazon is home to millions of books, come on guys, you know I'm going to be looking at more than two things on my Kindle at a time!

The basic few sort options you have don't work if people have more than 10/12 'collections' - and I know that 'nested' collections will be most useful for people.

The solution 1: Folders and collections update
Tags is where its at

Add a tagging system that users can access. Whether this is on the Kindle itself, or if you can bring out a 'helper' application on the PC. Allowing tags to work will help minimise the number of pages people have to dial through. For example:
- I could tag \ folder at a high level: Sci-Fi, Documents, Fantasy, Horror, All Other Genres
- Then I could have the series 'Dr Who' and Star Trek: TNG' under Sci Fi, and file the relevant books under there. A couple of 'standalone' sci fi ones would be just sitting in the Sci-Fi folder 'root' bit. And of course, I'd have my own Docs in Documents, perhaps filed under 'work', 'home', 'must read' and so on.
- This frees up space at the top level for things like Newspapers and the daily delivered things; things that I find awkward to locate due to my couple of pages of series \ collections already there. And let's be honest, you WANT to sell Newspapers? If this isn't fix, I'll cancel my 13.99 subsciption to a paper, because I can't be bothered to click NEXT a few times, or trawl through 'top level' titles until I get to the daily paper. Yup, I'm lazy, but I'm a lazy customer. If you cater to me, I'm more likely to spend *laughs* We're buggers, aren't we!

The solution 2: Kindle Home
Something else that might come in useful is a Kindle Home page. It could be the thing you get to when you push Home, instead of top level of collections. (Of course, you could *choose* for it to be your home page, you could make it so you can choose Home takes you to this, or books, etc.)
KindleHome is a new 'front page' which could do the following:
- have a link to your 'newspapers' - so your daily subscriptions are only a couple of clicks away (likewise, magazines, etc.)
- have a link to your 'library' - and see above Solution 1 for further guff on that
- have a link to 'last read' - to jump you back in
- have a link to '5 most recent items' - things you've either looked in, or added, or have been delivered
- 'what's hot on Amazon' or 'new releases' - a quick jump to the store to see what's newly added

Just some ways that might make an excellent experience even, eh, excellenter. Hmm. Better go and check that out in the Kindle dictionary...

dixieknits · 10-13-2010, 01:03 PM

Better PDF handling

Adobe DRM use

Epub format

Ability to set sleep mode startup time

PAGE NUMBERS instead of locations and percentages ( l keep a backlit Augen, the Book in my bedroom for nightreading without a light to irritate my husband and it's difficult to switch back and forth with no page number)

RobertJSawyer · 10-13-2010, 01:25 PM

1) Add ePub support.

2) Let spacebar work as "Page Forward" when reading in landscape mode.

3) Make the fix for enabling "justification=left" supported and not requiring editing a preference file to access.

4) Option to always show clock in the status bar at the top of the screen.

5) At the end of a sample, where it says "Buy now," remind me of the price right there (or, at least before, One-Click kicks in and completes the purchase).

6) Let me switch or easily consult other installed dictionaries when looking up a word; I shouldn't have to go to a preferences screen to switch dictionaries.

===

ROBERT J. SAWYER, Science Fiction Writer
Author FLASHFORWARD, basis for the TV series
http://sfwriter.com * sawyer@sfwriter.com

ski_power · 10-13-2010, 04:39 PM

I think I figured out how Amazon sets page numbers on the book page. I found out that they divide the total pages in the book (say 6099) by the average words per page (eg. 112-121 i.e. 13) Therefore, 6099/13 = which would be roughly 470 pages. Once I figured this out, I got a little more comfortable locations.
Now the best part of locations, is that the line you read can be literally anywhere on the page, and that line can still be the first line on the screen. (does that make sense?)

catsittingstill · 10-13-2010, 05:04 PM

KEEP the keyboard! AND the wireless / 3G.

Cross-document search of pdfs. (being able to search my whole pdf collection for "ribonucleotide reductase" with one search--as if they were Kindle format books)

Have a way to show the intersection of two or more collections, so I can find that book I stored in "unread" and "science fiction" without having to flip back and forth between the two collections, comparing titles.

ePub.

User-replaceable battery.

SD card storage.

guiyoforward · 10-13-2010, 05:26 PM

wow - we should really be charging Amazon for this market research

PS Jeff, I wouldn't mind an early prototype of the Kindle DXG with a proper keyboard and wifi as a payout for starting the thread!

TallMomof2 · 10-13-2010, 05:41 PM

Love the keyboard but hate the rocker. Either go back to the joystick or improve the rocker. When my arthritis is really bad, like right now, I can barely use the rocker. It's not enough to switch to another reader because 99% of the time I'm reading not navigating.

Better folders, give me nested folders!

More fonts!

Ability to use my own screensavers without resorting to hacks.

Don't turn the case into a Faraday cage by going to a metal case.

DRM ePub support would be nice but I can live without it. It's easy enough to strip and convert as necessary.

Fix the MobiPocket bug with page numbers and then incorporate it into the Kindle. Make page numbers an option for those who object to location numbers.

SD card storage!! I want to be able to have my complete library with me along with audio books and mp3s.

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10-13-2010, 10:47 AM	#46
Leep Guru Posts: 739 Karma: 1018859 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Near Seattle Device: kindle1, K3, K3G (thanks MR), iTouch, Kindle Touch	I'm surprised that work on "folders" does not have a larger following on the wish list. That to me would be the most important feature. The current system is better than nothing, but needs work. cheers

10-13-2010, 12:29 PM	#51
ski_power Book eater Posts: 181 Karma: 2068 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kindle 3 G 3G (<-lol)	Thirded. DO NOT remove the keyboard or the network(wifi/3g) from your device. I've started to use it to check for any important emails if I'm expecting one, and more convenient to reply to it on the full keyboard instead of trying to fiddle with my phone.

10-13-2010, 12:52 PM	#53
ski_power Book eater Posts: 181 Karma: 2068 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kindle 3 G 3G (<-lol)	Oh and did we mention how awesome it is, if you want to randomly look up a word?

10-13-2010, 12:55 PM	#54
reech Connoisseur Posts: 97 Karma: 132 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: Sony eReader PRS-600	Sent this on to Amazon, and got a nice Jeff-Bexos-executive-team-thank-you reply... Hopefully of some use to them - and these couple of features would be some use to me --- Just got my Kindle - really like it. Much better screen than my old Sony eReader, and the best part - it hooks directly into Amazon, so I can buy buy buy You guys are the only reliable bookstore, and i love that you're wanting publishers to do more eBooks - this is the way to read! However, the support for sorting 'series' of books is awful, and really sub standard - this is just something that I can't believe that Amazon have missed out on improving, because you guys are normally such forward thinkers. I can see that you're updating the firmware regularly. Please can you give some thought to updating how series of books work in collections. For example, I'd love a 'couple of tier' or 'folder' system to make it as easy to use as possible. Your current system is great for people who do 'ad hoc' things, but not OCD people like me And, I'm sure, other eReader fans. Oh, and I think that as more people get Kindle - and more people by EVEN MORE ebooks - they'll demand a better filing system. You're in the position to rule the roost with some really good things. But remember - you also need to keep it simple. What you have now is simple, and it needs to be that way. What I'm suggesting are 'optional' things that people can use to optimise their kindle experience. The problem: Currently, if I want to make a 'series' a collection, and say I have about 10 series, then that would take up my first page! That's a bit silly, I'd love my first page to be much more useful, and to let me switch from 'thing to thing to do' rather than be a plain ol' boring list. Amazon is home to millions of books, come on guys, you know I'm going to be looking at more than two things on my Kindle at a time! The basic few sort options you have don't work if people have more than 10/12 'collections' - and I know that 'nested' collections will be most useful for people. The solution 1: Folders and collections update Tags is where its at Add a tagging system that users can access. Whether this is on the Kindle itself, or if you can bring out a 'helper' application on the PC. Allowing tags to work will help minimise the number of pages people have to dial through. For example: - I could tag \ folder at a high level: Sci-Fi, Documents, Fantasy, Horror, All Other Genres - Then I could have the series 'Dr Who' and Star Trek: TNG' under Sci Fi, and file the relevant books under there. A couple of 'standalone' sci fi ones would be just sitting in the Sci-Fi folder 'root' bit. And of course, I'd have my own Docs in Documents, perhaps filed under 'work', 'home', 'must read' and so on. - This frees up space at the top level for things like Newspapers and the daily delivered things; things that I find awkward to locate due to my couple of pages of series \ collections already there. And let's be honest, you WANT to sell Newspapers? If this isn't fix, I'll cancel my 13.99 subsciption to a paper, because I can't be bothered to click NEXT a few times, or trawl through 'top level' titles until I get to the daily paper. Yup, I'm lazy, but I'm a lazy customer. If you cater to me, I'm more likely to spend laughs We're buggers, aren't we! The solution 2: Kindle Home Something else that might come in useful is a Kindle Home page. It could be the thing you get to when you push Home, instead of top level of collections. (Of course, you could choose for it to be your home page, you could make it so you can choose Home takes you to this, or books, etc.) KindleHome is a new 'front page' which could do the following: - have a link to your 'newspapers' - so your daily subscriptions are only a couple of clicks away (likewise, magazines, etc.) - have a link to your 'library' - and see above Solution 1 for further guff on that - have a link to 'last read' - to jump you back in - have a link to '5 most recent items' - things you've either looked in, or added, or have been delivered - 'what's hot on Amazon' or 'new releases' - a quick jump to the store to see what's newly added Just some ways that might make an excellent experience even, eh, excellenter. Hmm. Better go and check that out in the Kindle dictionary...

10-13-2010, 01:03 PM	#55
dixieknits Addict Posts: 283 Karma: 1011418 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Kindle 3, Nook Color	Better PDF handling Adobe DRM use Epub format Ability to set sleep mode startup time PAGE NUMBERS instead of locations and percentages ( l keep a backlit Augen, the Book in my bedroom for nightreading without a light to irritate my husband and it's difficult to switch back and forth with no page number)

10-13-2010, 01:25 PM	#56
RobertJSawyer Guru Posts: 730 Karma: 3871570 Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Libra 2, Clara 2E, and Clara HD; Kindle PaperWhite	1) Add ePub support. 2) Let spacebar work as "Page Forward" when reading in landscape mode. 3) Make the fix for enabling "justification=left" supported and not requiring editing a preference file to access. 4) Option to always show clock in the status bar at the top of the screen. 5) At the end of a sample, where it says "Buy now," remind me of the price right there (or, at least before, One-Click kicks in and completes the purchase). 6) Let me switch or easily consult other installed dictionaries when looking up a word; I shouldn't have to go to a preferences screen to switch dictionaries. === ROBERT J. SAWYER, Science Fiction Writer Author FLASHFORWARD, basis for the TV series http://sfwriter.com * sawyer@sfwriter.com

10-13-2010, 04:39 PM	#57
ski_power Book eater Posts: 181 Karma: 2068 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kindle 3 G 3G (<-lol)	I think I figured out how Amazon sets page numbers on the book page. I found out that they divide the total pages in the book (say 6099) by the average words per page (eg. 112-121 i.e. 13) Therefore, 6099/13 = which would be roughly 470 pages. Once I figured this out, I got a little more comfortable locations. Now the best part of locations, is that the line you read can be literally anywhere on the page, and that line can still be the first line on the screen. (does that make sense?)

10-13-2010, 05:04 PM	#58
catsittingstill Guru Posts: 643 Karma: 551634 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle 1.0.8, iPod Touch, Kindle Keyboard	KEEP the keyboard! AND the wireless / 3G. Cross-document search of pdfs. (being able to search my whole pdf collection for "ribonucleotide reductase" with one search--as if they were Kindle format books) Have a way to show the intersection of two or more collections, so I can find that book I stored in "unread" and "science fiction" without having to flip back and forth between the two collections, comparing titles. ePub. User-replaceable battery. SD card storage.

10-13-2010, 05:26 PM	#59
guiyoforward Zealot Posts: 101 Karma: 7104 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kindle DX Graphite	wow - we should really be charging Amazon for this market research PS Jeff, I wouldn't mind an early prototype of the Kindle DXG with a proper keyboard and wifi as a payout for starting the thread!

10-13-2010, 05:41 PM	#60
TallMomof2 Kindlephilia Posts: 2,017 Karma: 1139255 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Snowpacolypse 2010 Device: Too many to count	Love the keyboard but hate the rocker. Either go back to the joystick or improve the rocker. When my arthritis is really bad, like right now, I can barely use the rocker. It's not enough to switch to another reader because 99% of the time I'm reading not navigating. Better folders, give me nested folders! More fonts! Ability to use my own screensavers without resorting to hacks. Don't turn the case into a Faraday cage by going to a metal case. DRM ePub support would be nice but I can live without it. It's easy enough to strip and convert as necessary. Fix the MobiPocket bug with page numbers and then incorporate it into the Kindle. Make page numbers an option for those who object to location numbers. SD card storage!! I want to be able to have my complete library with me along with audio books and mp3s.

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