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Old 02-13-2011, 08:05 PM   #1
RichardH
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Give Amazon feedback on Kindle 3.1

kindle-feedback@amazon.com

I have read a lot of reactions to 3.1. Some have been positive, some negative, some conflicted, and some apathetic. All these reactions are perfectly valid. However, please let Amazon know what you are thinking. 3.1 is not a completed release yet. There is still time to give Amazon feedback. If you do not communicate with Amazon, you cannot expect them to understand your needs and desires. If you want the Kindle to continue to fit you as a user, you have to talk to Amazon just as much as you talk to each other.

I just sent them this e-mail. Skip to the bottom if you don't care about it.

----------------------------------------------

Dear Amazon,

Please do not clutter the Kindle with lots of social networking and solicitations for book reviews.

The Kindle is beautiful because it is a piece of technology that gives readers a means of reading without all the clutter and intrusions that typically come with technology. Reading on a Kindle is a "better than traditional" experience. When any update takes that feeling away, there is suddenly no reason anymore for me not to just buy an Ipad. If I'm going to be exposed to social networking and solicitations, I might as well be able to do all the other silly things that other products can do. The Kindle is just as special for what it DOESN'T do as for what it does. Please never forget that. The Kindle is a relief from stuff like social networking and solicitations.

Currently, there is a lot of tension. Instead of being excited and looking forward to the 3.1 update, many Kindle owners are scared to death that they won't be able to AVOID the update once it is wirelessly pushed. That is the exact opposite reaction you are hoping for. You want users to be excited about changes to their kindles, or at least apathetic about them. You definitely don't want users trying to figure out how to avoid an update. Give us "On/Off" options for everything you add. Apathy isn't ideal, but it's better than anger.

3.1 appears to be a "feature" update. As such, please do not forget that new features are requested by some, possibly even most, but not ALL Kindle users. Please do not force new features on us compulsorily. Please remember that features are special extras, and so a user should be able to use them or ignore them at the user's discretion. Whenever you introduce a new feature that adds functionality to the Kindle, you should also add an "On/Off" option in the settings menu. Forcing a feature on users that do not want the feature is not a step forward, it is an annoying step backwards, an intrusion into the user's reading experience, and it will eventually cost you customers. If you add "On/Off" options, you can add all the features you want, which may bring in new customers, while also giving current customers the ability to opt out, which will keep you from driving your traditional users away from the Kindle. This way, you can retain your current customer base while attracting new customers. They call it "having your cake and eating it, too."

Give Kindle owners options and power. At least give us power over options.

Also, give us an entry in the settings to choose percentage, page numbers, or locations, or any or all combinations. If you are going to reserve a line for percentage, you might as well let us have the option of using the rest of that reserved line to display information that we may or may not find useful. I understand that the idea is to clean up the interface, but remember to make things options rather than hard-nosed, inflexible changes that are forced on users. Instead of trying to guess what the majority of users would prefer and risking a backlash, let each individual user make his or own choice. You can never go wrong with giving users choices. For people, having a choice is always an instant hit. Also, the progress bar at the bottom of the screen is useless to me. A percentage speaks for itself. Page X of XXX speaks for itself. Location XX-XX of XXXXXX speaks for itself. A progress bar adds no information to that at all. In fact, it is the least accurate method of observing progress or recording location. Many of us would rather have an extra line of book text there instead.

To summarize: Menu options, menu options, menu options!!


Thanks for listening,

Richard H.
Kindle 3 owner and Kindle book purchaser.

--------------------------------------------

Regardless of how you feel about my personal e-mail, even if your views are entirely contradictory to my own, please communicate with Amazon. Prospective customers are important, but the current customer base is more important. All you Kindle owners are the people that made the Kindle a success, not the mass of "could-have-beens" that never dropped a dime on the Kindle. Let Amazon know what you want, whatever that may be.

kindle-feedback@amazon.com

Last edited by RichardH; 02-13-2011 at 08:15 PM.
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Old 02-13-2011, 09:49 PM   #2
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I just linked my Kindle WiFi to my facebook account. If I highlight great passages, I can now share them with friends. Why not?

I never send in feedback to Amazon on anything including their products.
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Old 02-13-2011, 10:07 PM   #3
RichardH
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Originally Posted by sirmaru View Post
I just linked my Kindle WiFi to my facebook account. If I highlight great passages, I can now share them with friends. Why not?
I hope I have not misrepresented my intentions. This thread was never intended to become a like/dislike debate on features. I just want people to communicate with Amazon about the Kindle. If the energy that goes into forums also went into communicating with manufacturers, imagine how much better some products might have been, or could be.

Also, my e-mail was an expression of my personal feelings, as an example. I can't think of any reason why you should not use the Facebook feature. It's an option on the Kindle and you are using it. My concern is with some potential features not being optional at all. I don't like the idea of having a decision arbitrarily made as to whether or not I prefer something. I prefer to prefer my own preferences. I like "On/Off" switches. Choice is good and once a feature has been programmed into the Kindle, it isn't astronomically difficult or expensive to put an entry in the settings menu that accesses the "On/Off" switch that has already been programmed in, and defaulted to "On".

I am urging Kindle owners not to only talk to each other. Please, talk to Amazon, too.

Last edited by RichardH; 02-13-2011 at 11:07 PM.
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Old 02-15-2011, 08:30 AM   #4
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Email sent. I do agree that we should have the option to auto upgrade or not.

Unfortunately, I upgraded to 3.1 when I heard that the screensaver hack still works but didn't know that you can't change the images or remove the hack. Luckily I had no plans on changing the images.

This sort of thing is why I'm most likely going to switch to Android after my iPhone contract is up.
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Old 02-15-2011, 07:33 PM   #5
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Unfortunately I think "options, options, options" flies right in the face of Amazon's apparent thinking to date, which is "simple, simple, simple."
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Old 02-15-2011, 11:43 PM   #6
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Unfortunately, "options" means $$$ in terms of customer support.
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Old 02-16-2011, 07:56 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by just_jeepin View Post
Email sent. I do agree that we should have the option to auto upgrade or not.

Unfortunately, I upgraded to 3.1 when I heard that the screensaver hack still works but didn't know that you can't change the images or remove the hack. Luckily I had no plans on changing the images.

This sort of thing is why I'm most likely going to switch to Android after my iPhone contract is up.
Why would you think you could not change the images? I have the screensaver hack and have upgraded to 3.1 and changed the images since the upgrade. Copy the desired images to the screensaver folder and restart the Kindle.

As far as removing the hacks you can always "Reset To Factory Defaults" and all the hacks are gone.


don
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Old 02-16-2011, 08:25 AM   #8
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In the screensaver & fonts thread someone mentioned that theirs won't update since they added new images. I've not tried it though.
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Old 02-16-2011, 09:59 AM   #9
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Unfortunately, "options" means $$$ in terms of customer support.
What they should do is bury the options in the reader.prefs file. That way, choosy users can change them but amazon can officially pretend they don't exist. Win win.
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Old 02-16-2011, 12:04 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by just_jeepin View Post
In the screensaver & fonts thread someone mentioned that theirs won't update since they added new images. I've not tried it though.
Well that's not the case. I am still changing screensavers to my heart's content
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Old 02-16-2011, 12:11 PM   #11
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I never send in feedback to Amazon on anything including their products.
In that case, you have no cause to complain if they introduce a feature you don't like .
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Old 02-18-2011, 08:08 AM   #12
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Well that's not the case. I am still changing screensavers to my heart's content
Yes, thanks. I guess I should've tried it before complaining.
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