Upgrading to Kindle Paperwhite II

[DSpider]

I like how 58% of the people who voted here chose "No. Have Paperwhite already. Not enough improvement." News flash: You Don't Know What Improvements There Will Be!!! Personally I don't care about scrabble, sudoku or calendars, since it's a device meant for reading. What would very much improve it is stylus support, since there are people who prefer to write on their books, underline/highlight passages and create these little "mental" bookmarks with custom bullet points or symbols. Another useful thing would be a simple drawing application, where you can jot down something quick.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by DSpider

I like how 58% of the people who voted here chose "No. Have Paperwhite already. Not enough improvement." News flash: You Don't Know What Improvements There Will Be!!!

That is why the poll asks if one would buy a new Paperwhite, if it *only* had the improvements listed in the first post.

[mike_bike_kite]

Has anyone mentioned a solar powering cover? I know these things don't use much power but it would be nice if they could charge up by leaving them in the sun. The only problem here is I love a nice leather cover on my ereaders and that would interfere. It might also destroy what appear to be a huge revenue stream for Amazon.

I know it's probably only me but I'd quite like to get to a Unix prompt on the kindle and perhaps be able to just use it as a terminal. Perhaps it can already do this?

It would be nice if there was a central board game server where you could pick a game (it would remember your level) and then it would match you up against another Kindle/ereader/tablet/phone/PC player anywhere in the world who is currently waiting for a game. It wouldn't require much juice other than to send the move back and forth but this could be limited say to checking every 10 minutes (or when ever you press a recheck button). I could then sit on the side of a mountain and read my books while playing chess, backgammon and go with folks all over the world.

[HarryT]

The cover would probably cost considerably more than the Kindle. Solar chargers are available, but given that the typical reader can probably go a couple of weeks between charges, I doubt there's really that much of a market for such devices. How often are you away from mains electricity for a fortnight?

There are much cheaper chargers available which will charge a Kindle from a couple of AA batteries if you need a portable recharge source.

[mike_bike_kite]

It wasn't proposed as a sound business idea! it was just something I'd rather like to have on a future ereader. There's always the nagging fear when you go on a long trip that you'll loose power or break your recharging cable etc - the solar thing would just remove that little fear. The system as it stands is more than good enough though.

A fully waterproof model would also be nice. I'm sure there are plastic covers that would do this but that gets away from the sleek design.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mike_bike_kite

It wasn't proposed as a sound business idea! it was just something I'd rather like to have on a future ereader. There's always the nagging fear when you go on a long trip that you'll loose power or break your recharging cable etc - the solar thing would just remove that little fear. The system as it stands is more than good enough though.

Something like this is probably more practical.

[SquiddOhio]

I probably would not upgrade unless the light control was available directly at times, as has been discussed here; this could be done by swiping two (or three) fingers up and down the screen. Aside from that, I really like my PW, and it fits (after a slight modification) into my swell Oberon cover that I got for my previous "Touch," and I consider it practically perfect in every way.
Actually, adding a multi-touch control for the light intensity could probably be done with a software upgrade, which would really please me no end.
Oh, Amazon, you come so close so often.

[KeenH]

I don't your suggestion is enough of an upgrade.

I have purchased 11 kindles: 2 Paperwhites, 2 Touches, 1 DX, 1 Fire HD, 5 Keyboards. 4 were gifts to children / parents. The rest were for the wife and I. I actually like things about each one. I mostly use my DX, then the keyboard, then the paperwhite. I really like the paperwhite's rez, backlight, and touch controls. Here is my suggestion for improvement.

First, I want the 4gb back. I have just over 400 books and they don't all fit on the 2gb paperwhite. More than half are reference books of my own compiling / creation (pdf, web clippings, blogs) these tend to be larger files (I have 30 books each over 10mb).

Second, I want the speakers back. I do a lot of driving, and switched to plugging my kindle (keyboard, and touch) into the car audio instead of my mp3 player. I don't mind the mechanical voice to access my reference books. Since I bring my kindle everywhere, I lost the mp3 player (one less device). So loosing the speakers was a big deal to me.

Third, I want the chapter swipe back. Again, its about reference material. Novels I am usually just doing page turns. Reference material is much more about finding things and the chapter swipe was fantastic.

The other suggestions are nice but not enough to make a real difference to me.

[SquiddOhio]

Keen:
You are correct, and I amend my previous gripe about easy and quick access to the light dimmer by adding a vote for the return of the speakers and of the "next chapter" swipe. Frankly, the size of data storage is not so much of a concern to me, as too many books, coupled with the dreadful lack of file management (Collections) really cannot be handled on the Kindle at one time. Were it not for Calibre, I would be lost. My guess is that most Kindles are not used for reference books but for popular novels and comparable non-fiction works. If you are filling up 2GB with 400 books, those are some big books, but your usage is way out of the norm. It's good that you have 7 Kindles for them.
Waiting anxiously for the next Kindle,
I remain,
Fairly Happy

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by SquiddOhio

Frankly, the size of data storage is not so much of a concern to me, as too many books, coupled with the dreadful lack of file management (Collections) really cannot be handled on the Kindle at one time.

I find it works just fine with close to 800 books. I simply list them in author sort order, and then jump directly to whatever point in the list of authors interests me.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Yep, people would be upset about no USB connection. And charging while on the go would be a nightmare without a USB port. However, your second statement is false as you can definitely connect an iOS device to your PC/Mac with a USB cable. You won't see the file system though unless you buy a file explorer app for your computer that can work with the iOS file system, but it is certainly possible.

I am defining a USB connection as the ability to connect via USB to the filesystem. In that sense, you can't. Unless you buy a file explorer that can bypass Apple's control mania? Okay, but how many people do/know how to do that? And why should that be necessary? As general rule, without going to exotic measures, iOS can only connect to itunes, which is not all that different from getting something via wifi in terms of ease of sideloading.

But you do agree that taking away the USB connection is more trouble than it's worth?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The Kindle's clock is reset when you reboot the device. It gets set correctly when you connect to Amazon's servers.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Turn on WiFi and do a "Sync and Check for Items". That'll set the clock correctly. You can turn WiFi off again then.

Is this just a paperwhite thing? Because my KT has never done that. It's really annoying.

Originally Posted by mike_bike_kite

I know it's probably only me but I'd quite like to get to a Unix prompt on the kindle and perhaps be able to just use it as a terminal. Perhaps it can already do this?

I believe if you have jailbroken your Kindle it is possible to boot up to a command line, but I don't know where I saw this.
Also, you can define scripts and stuff that can be run through shortcuts on the search bar (like the ;411 ;611 ;shpm etc. that comes built in) -- more details here.

[discopig]

Once jailbroken, you can already have a terminal: http://www.fabiszewski.net/kindle-terminal/ (works on KT and PW)

If you install optware or a debian chroot, it can do a lot, too.

[eschwartz]

I'll have to keep that in mind.

Also, thanks for the link, because I saw a couple of other interesting hacks there. Particularly, the untouchable Kindle, which someone I know will be interested in. She prefers physical books because she can follow along with her finger as a focusing mechanism or something, and the KK is not really an option anymore (it's old and has no especially redeeming features.)

[MickeyC]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I am defining a USB connection as the ability to connect via USB to the filesystem. In that sense, you can't. Unless you buy a file explorer that can bypass Apple's control mania? Okay, but how many people do/know how to do that? And why should that be necessary? As general rule, without going to exotic measures, iOS can only connect to itunes, which is not all that different from getting something via wifi in terms of ease of sideloading.

But you do agree that taking away the USB connection is more trouble than it's worth?

Does lack of a USB port mean there is no way to upload books from your laptop to the Kindle? Or can you email them? I do that to get eBooks from my laptop to my iPad.