Kindle firmware update 5.13.4

[hius07]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custo...MQC26VQQMM8XSW

Version 5.13.4 – December 2020

Here’s what's new:

Extended Home Feed: You can scroll further on Home and see up to 5 pages of content.

Amazon Kids and Amazon Kids+: Amazon FreeTime and Amazon FreeTime Unlimited are changing names to Amazon Kids and Amazon Kids+ in the coming months. There is no change to the benefits you enjoy and no action is required from you.

Performance improvements, bug fixes, and other general enhancements.

[melksnor]

It's amazing how little functionality they add in between these versions.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by melksnor

It's amazing how little functionality they add in between these versions.

Well, really there shouldn't have been ANY updates in years, except to fix bugs. It's a single use appliance.
Most of the new functionality seems related to marketing, and more recent previous updates simply did some stupid GUI changes.

There is too much SW released without proper testing and specified either by Graphic Design Hipsters clueless on GUI UX best practice (Esp Win8, Win10 and Android) or by Marketing idiots. Not considering the actual application and ease of use.

[melksnor]

True, the only update I need is the damn cover-as-screensaver one

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by melksnor

It's amazing how little functionality they add in between these versions.

Originally Posted by Quoth

Well, really there shouldn't have been ANY updates in years, except to fix bugs. It's a single use appliance.
Most of the new functionality seems related to marketing, and more recent previous updates simply did some stupid GUI changes.

There is too much SW released without proper testing and specified either by Graphic Design Hipsters clueless on GUI UX best practice (Esp Win8, Win10 and Android) or by Marketing idiots. Not considering the actual application and ease of use.

Well, there's the increasingly aggressive hostility to third party applications.

[cvkemp]

I guess I must be about the only one that doesn't care about a bunch extra stuff on my Kindle, I just read my books, and go on the next book. I believe in the old concept of keep it simple.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by cvkemp

I guess I must be about the only one that doesn't care about a bunch extra stuff on my Kindle, I just read my books, and go on the next book. I believe in the old concept of keep it simple.

‘Keep it simple’ is a relatively new concept, made necessary by the proliferation of ‘more is better’.

That said, Extended Home Feed will be awesome! I’ve been waiting years for this feature!

[fardeenah]

Originally Posted by melksnor

True, the only update I need is the damn cover-as-screensaver one

the only update i need

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by melksnor

True, the only update I need is the damn cover-as-screensaver one

You don't actually need this and as you don't have it, it's not getting updated.Now you may want it, but please don't be so hostile.

If you feel you really need the book cover as the sleep screen (It is not a screensaver), then get a Kobo as they have this as a feature.

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by cvkemp

I guess I must be about the only one that doesn't care about a bunch extra stuff on my Kindle, I just read my books, and go on the next book. I believe in the old concept of keep it simple.

That is the explicit purpose of the Kindle and has been since day 1, so I guess you're in luck!

(The irony is, the device the Kindle was internally codenamed after -- and the reason why the name "fiona" hang around its internals for years -- the hyperadvanced contraption in Stephenson's _A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer_, was much less just like a book and much more a massive multimedia experience that would teach you everything you needed to know, whether you knew you needed to know it or not, responding to what you did on it in all sorts of ways which make Amazon's page-by-page logging seem utterly noninvasive -- only the Primer wasn't doing it to try to flog you more stuff but to make you a better person. I'm not sure if that doesn't make it even *more* creepy.)

[Gandulf]

Originally Posted by melksnor

True, the only update I need is the damn cover-as-screensaver one

How is it so many people like watching the "screensaver" ?
The device is really more for reading books.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Gandulf

How is it so many people like watching the "screensaver" ?
The device is really more for reading books.

I prefer to worry about font selection, sizing, weighting, margins that actually affect my reading experience. With a sleep cover, I seldom see the screen while my ereader is sleeping.

I wonder how much overlap there is with the "I need the book covers to be high res when I open the book" group?

[tomsem]

For the life of me I am unable to figure out what this Extended Home Feed feature is. I assume it has something to do with Home Screen View (which I turn off) but even when I turn it on, it is not clear what Home Feed is or where I’m supposed to see ‘up to 5 pages of content’. HSV looks the same as I remember it previously (and remains just as useless to me).

Is this another of those features which show up only when Amazon decides to enable it?

[tomsem]

Umm, how long has ‘Group Series in Library’ feature been there? (In Settings -> Device Options -> Advanced Options -> Home & Library)

I turned it on, but it doesn’t seem to do what I would expect, given the name of the option (which is to say, it seems to have no effect).

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I prefer to worry about font selection, sizing, weighting, margins that actually affect my reading experience. With a sleep cover, I seldom see the screen while my ereader is sleeping.

I wonder how much overlap there is with the "I need the book covers to be high res when I open the book" group?

I like my covers to be high res, but I don't use covers for screensavers on my Kobo. I installed a bunch of custom screensavers, mostly photos about plants and animals. I'm also satisfied with neutral screensavers on my Kindles. No yearning whatsoever for covers as screensavers.