Lack of chapter markers on KT

gers1978 · 07-16-2012, 04:15 AM

I sent the following email to Amazon's Kindle feeedback address:

"I've just bought a 3G KT for £169. And then discovered it has no progress bar showing chapter breaks/markers! My older K4 and KK had this! I used it all the time as a quick way of judging when the end of a chapter was coming up. Why have you removed it? The KT is the premium, dearest Kindle, I don't expect to lose features when "upgrading"!!!!

Please add it back, or a least add the option to turn it on/off"

And got this response:

"Kindle Touch also displays the progress bar alike other Kindle devices. Here's how:

To view your progress while reading Kindle content, tap the top of the screen to bring up additional options at the bottom of the page. The overall percentage of the book you have read, page number and location number will be displayed."

Mike L · 07-16-2012, 08:09 AM

It looks like they didn't read (or understand) your question. It's not the progress bar that was the issue, but the chapter markers. And it's not just a question of seeing when the end of a chapter is coming up (useful as that it is). More importantly, the markers let you jump quickly from one chapter to another without going through the ToC.

I don't have a Touch, so cannot answer the question. But keep in mind that it's the publisher that decides whether or not to include chapter markers. Before blaming the Touch, you would need to check the same book on an older device.

Mike

gers1978 · 07-16-2012, 08:25 AM

I replied to their email and made it clear they hadn't understood my question, and their (better) response is below. As an aside, as to your point about jumping quickly between chapters, that's easy on the KT by simply swiping your finder up/down the screen.

Here's their latest reply:

"I totally understand your concern about the visual indicators as the progress bar while reading a Kindle content on your Kindle Touch.

While I understand this is inconvenient for you, I’ll personally include my interest to get a new update that displays the progress bar back again letting you know where chapters finish and also while reading a Kindle content on your Kindle Touch. I've also forwarded your suggestions to the Kindle Development Team and have specially requested to look into this feature for you.

It is always important for our Development Team to hear how customers react to all aspects. Your valuable feedback will help us improve your Kindle experience and we're glad you took time to write to us.

The Kindle Development Team along with the Kindle Technical Team is currently reviewing your suggestions about getting this feature, as we want to give our customers a fine and efficient Kindle experience and make it user friendly.

One of our aims at Amazon.com is to provide a convenient and efficient service to our customers.

Thanks for your patience and co-operation in this regard and for helping us make it better."

gers1978 · 07-16-2012, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike L

It looks like they didn't read (or understand) your question. It's not the progress bar that was the issue, but the chapter markers. And it's not just a question of seeing when the end of a chapter is coming up (useful as that it is). More importantly, the markers let you jump quickly from one chapter to another without going through the ToC.

I don't have a Touch, so cannot answer the question. But keep in mind that it's the publisher that decides whether or not to include chapter markers. Before blaming the Touch, you would need to check the same book on an older device.

Mike

As for checking the book on an oldelir device, that would do no good. I understand your point that not all books contain chapter markers, and that is indeed a publisher decision, but my point is that the KT doesn't even have the capability to show them even if the publisher includes them. This seems strange, to remove a useful feature from theit premium Kindle that exists on cheaper/lower end and older Kindles. It MUST have been a conscious decision to remove the feature, but I can't think why they would?

jswinden · 07-16-2012, 10:28 AM

At some point I've owned nearly every Kindle model and used nearly every Kindle app. It seems to me that Amazon doesn't have the various development teams communicate well with one another. Nearly every Kindle and Kindle app has inconsistencies with the others. The feature sets and interfaces should be as similar as possible, at least as far as the current generation of Kindles is concerned, but they are not even close in many cases. Amazon still has not fully implemented KF8 across all current Kindles and Kindle apps, and it was announced nearly a year ago! Amazon still hasn't fully implemented Personal Documents via the cloud across all current Kindles and Kindle apps. This too was announced nearly a year ago, yet it remains buggy as hell or simply no implemented in some cases. As I've said before, I would much prefer Amazon to take a year off from releasing new Kindles and instead concentrate on making the existing Kindles and Kindle apps less buggy, more consistent, and finally deliver all the damn features they promised BEFORE they introduce the next generation.

The Amazon store selection, Kindles, and Kindle apps remain the best option for eBooks IMO. But I think Amazon is not properly following through promised innovations. Worse yet, Amazon seems to have no regard for the simple development rule of NEVER deleting features. Deleting features is the quickest way to anger long time customers.

HarryT · 07-16-2012, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jswinden

Amazon still hasn't fully implemented Personal Documents via the cloud across all current Kindles and Kindle apps.

Never mind personal documents via the Cloud; they haven't even implemented the blooming Cloud itself except for people in the US!

gers1978 · 07-16-2012, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Never mind personal documents via the Cloud; they haven't even implemented the blooming Cloud itself except for people in the US!

What do you mean?

HarryT · 07-16-2012, 12:17 PM

I mean exactly what I say. The Cloud is not - to the best of my knowledge - available to Kindle users outside the US. Please do correct me if I'm wrong. We certainly don't have it here in the UK.

gers1978 · 07-16-2012, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I mean exactly what I say. The Cloud is not - to the best of my knowledge - available to Kindle users outside the US. Please do correct me if I'm wrong. We certainly don't have it here in the UK.

What do you mean by Cloud? You mean the public WiFi provider "The Cloud" or Amazon's cloud storage for Kindle content?

HarryT · 07-16-2012, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gers1978

What do you mean by Cloud? You mean the public WiFi provider "The Cloud" or Amazon's cloud storage for Kindle content?

The latter. People in the US have the option to transfer a Kindle book to cloud storage. We in the UK don't have that option.

gers1978 · 07-16-2012, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

The latter. People in the US have the option to transfer a Kindle book to cloud storage. We in the UK don't have that option.

But it works for Personal Docs in the cloud, no?

Mike L · 07-16-2012, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gers1978

As for checking the book on an oldelir device, that would do no good. I understand your point that not all books contain chapter markers, and that is indeed a publisher decision, but my point is that the KT doesn't even have the capability to show them even if the publisher includes them.

But that's exactly why I suggested checking on an older device - to determine whether it was the book or the device that was at fault.

As with any kind of trouble-shooting, it's a question of eliminating variables to determine exactly where the problem lies.

Mike

gers1978 · 07-16-2012, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike L

But that's exactly why I suggested checking on an older device - to determine whether it was the book or the device that was at fault.

As with any kind of trouble-shooting, it's a question of eliminating variables to determine exactly where the problem lies.

Mike

Sorry, I should have been clearer - I've done a lot of Googling and the KT definitely does NOT have chapter markers, on any book.

soulfuldog · 07-16-2012, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

The latter. People in the US have the option to transfer a Kindle book to cloud storage. We in the UK don't have that option.

All your Kindle content (if bought from Amazon in the first place, or if not but emailed to your @kindle email address) is stored on Amazon's servers accessed via the Archive on your Kindle. Or am I missing something here?

dukesilver · 07-16-2012, 02:06 PM

To gauge how much farther I have left in a chapter, I swipe up to get to the next chapter (as previously mentioned) and look at the physical page number, and then press the back button to get back to my current page I'm reading. It's not as fast as looking at a progress bar, but it still only takes a few seconds.

07-16-2012, 04:15 AM	#1
gers1978 Addict Posts: 392 Karma: 1008414 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kindle	Lack of chapter markers on KT I sent the following email to Amazon's Kindle feeedback address: "I've just bought a 3G KT for £169. And then discovered it has no progress bar showing chapter breaks/markers! My older K4 and KK had this! I used it all the time as a quick way of judging when the end of a chapter was coming up. Why have you removed it? The KT is the premium, dearest Kindle, I don't expect to lose features when "upgrading"!!!! Please add it back, or a least add the option to turn it on/off" And got this response: "Kindle Touch also displays the progress bar alike other Kindle devices. Here's how: To view your progress while reading Kindle content, tap the top of the screen to bring up additional options at the bottom of the page. The overall percentage of the book you have read, page number and location number will be displayed."

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07-16-2012, 08:09 AM	#2
Mike L Wizard Posts: 1,479 Karma: 3846231 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Device: Kindle 3, Samsung Galaxy	It looks like they didn't read (or understand) your question. It's not the progress bar that was the issue, but the chapter markers. And it's not just a question of seeing when the end of a chapter is coming up (useful as that it is). More importantly, the markers let you jump quickly from one chapter to another without going through the ToC. I don't have a Touch, so cannot answer the question. But keep in mind that it's the publisher that decides whether or not to include chapter markers. Before blaming the Touch, you would need to check the same book on an older device. Mike

07-16-2012, 08:25 AM	#3
gers1978 Addict Posts: 392 Karma: 1008414 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kindle	I replied to their email and made it clear they hadn't understood my question, and their (better) response is below. As an aside, as to your point about jumping quickly between chapters, that's easy on the KT by simply swiping your finder up/down the screen. Here's their latest reply: "I totally understand your concern about the visual indicators as the progress bar while reading a Kindle content on your Kindle Touch. While I understand this is inconvenient for you, I’ll personally include my interest to get a new update that displays the progress bar back again letting you know where chapters finish and also while reading a Kindle content on your Kindle Touch. I've also forwarded your suggestions to the Kindle Development Team and have specially requested to look into this feature for you. It is always important for our Development Team to hear how customers react to all aspects. Your valuable feedback will help us improve your Kindle experience and we're glad you took time to write to us. The Kindle Development Team along with the Kindle Technical Team is currently reviewing your suggestions about getting this feature, as we want to give our customers a fine and efficient Kindle experience and make it user friendly. One of our aims at Amazon.com is to provide a convenient and efficient service to our customers. Thanks for your patience and co-operation in this regard and for helping us make it better."

07-16-2012, 10:28 AM	#5
jswinden Nameless Being	At some point I've owned nearly every Kindle model and used nearly every Kindle app. It seems to me that Amazon doesn't have the various development teams communicate well with one another. Nearly every Kindle and Kindle app has inconsistencies with the others. The feature sets and interfaces should be as similar as possible, at least as far as the current generation of Kindles is concerned, but they are not even close in many cases. Amazon still has not fully implemented KF8 across all current Kindles and Kindle apps, and it was announced nearly a year ago! Amazon still hasn't fully implemented Personal Documents via the cloud across all current Kindles and Kindle apps. This too was announced nearly a year ago, yet it remains buggy as hell or simply no implemented in some cases. As I've said before, I would much prefer Amazon to take a year off from releasing new Kindles and instead concentrate on making the existing Kindles and Kindle apps less buggy, more consistent, and finally deliver all the damn features they promised BEFORE they introduce the next generation. The Amazon store selection, Kindles, and Kindle apps remain the best option for eBooks IMO. But I think Amazon is not properly following through promised innovations. Worse yet, Amazon seems to have no regard for the simple development rule of NEVER deleting features. Deleting features is the quickest way to anger long time customers.

07-16-2012, 12:17 PM	#8
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I mean exactly what I say. The Cloud is not - to the best of my knowledge - available to Kindle users outside the US. Please do correct me if I'm wrong. We certainly don't have it here in the UK.

07-16-2012, 02:06 PM	#15
dukesilver Connoisseur Posts: 61 Karma: 509184 Join Date: May 2012 Device: Kindle Touch	To gauge how much farther I have left in a chapter, I swipe up to get to the next chapter (as previously mentioned) and look at the physical page number, and then press the back button to get back to my current page I'm reading. It's not as fast as looking at a progress bar, but it still only takes a few seconds.

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