Upgrade PW3 to 5.12.3?

[haertig]

I'm of the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" mindset. Thus I have a PW3 that is running 5.9.4. The WiFi is turned off always, and the device is unregistered. I sideload all books from Calibre. This PW3 used to be registered, but I sent it back a few years ago for lock-up problems. They sent it back with the same firmware re-installed, but unregistered. I never bothered to re-register it.

So, today I was looking to see what percentage charge I was at on the PW3. Then I realized, "Oh yeah, you can't display that". But I see that newer version of firmware indeed support this on the PW3 (at least I think they do).

So, you experts out there, would it be a good move for me to upgrade from 5.9.4 to 5.12.3? The last thing I want to do is introduce some bug or poorly designed new feature, or a yeucky user interface. Or something that kills battery life. Is the move from 5.9.4 to 5.12.3 considered "safe", and "recommended"?

Thanks!

[ilovejedd]

Check out the new interface for the Aa menu for 5.12.3. If you don’t like it, just manually download older firmware versions.

Mind, there was also a change to the Aa in 5.10.x. It added support for preset and customizable profiles but that also added an extra step if you want to manually adjust font sizes.

Any of these should show battery percentage. Personally, with how long battery life is on Kindles, I just found the percentage annoying and gave me unnecessary battery anxiety.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/firmwaredow...e_5.10.1.1.bin

https://s3.amazonaws.com/firmwaredow...ite_5.10.3.bin

https://s3.amazonaws.com/firmwaredow...ite_5.11.2.bin

[shalym]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Check out the new interface for the Aa menu for 5.12.3. If you don’t like it, just manually download older firmware versions.

Mind, there was also a change to the Aa in 5.10.x. It added support for preset and customizable profiles but that also added an extra step if you want to manually adjust font sizes.

Any of these should show battery percentage. Personally, with how long battery life is on Kindles, I just found the percentage annoying and gave me unnecessary battery anxiety.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/firmwaredow...e_5.10.1.1.bin

https://s3.amazonaws.com/firmwaredow...ite_5.10.3.bin

https://s3.amazonaws.com/firmwaredow...ite_5.11.2.bin

I didn't realize that the PW3 firmware could be downgraded without a jailbreak?

Shari

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by shalym

I didn't realize that the PW3 firmware could be downgraded without a jailbreak?

Shari

haertig's PW3 is running 5.9.4, which means there are quite a few firmware versions that can be installed.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by shalym

I didn't realize that the PW3 firmware could be downgraded without a jailbreak?

Shari

By check out the new Aa menu in 5.12.3, I meant look at blog posts and threads with pics of the new layout.

[haertig]

Thanks for the info. I did look into a few YouTube videos that show the new Aa menu screens. They are different, and I actually prefer the way things work on my old firmware. However, that doesn't mean much because the only time I go to that Aa menu is when I first start a book. I'll make any adjustments needed for the book, then not go back there again until the next book. Most books I do not make any changes on. If I need to change font sizes while reading, like make them bigger at night when my eyes are tired, I use use the two-finger pinch/zoom on the reading screen.

The only features that I use routinely are turning the page, adjusting the brightness of the light, changing font size, search-in-book (to find the first instance when a forgotten character name was introduced), bookmark setting, and whatever you call that where you swipe up from the bottom and can navigate a mini page-within-a-page. I only keep maybe a dozen books on the Kindle at any given time, swapping them in and out with Calibre.

I guess I really don't need that battery percentage either. I was looking for that because I didn't know if my device was fully charged yet (it was plugged in). Then upon further research I found out (remembered, actually) that the little light goes from amber to green when it's fully charged. Normally I just charge the thing overnight and then I know it's fully charged. But today I wanted to unplug it earlier, so was looking for the percent battery feature. I didn't remember that I never had that feature in the first place, but while Googling to find that out I stumbled upon the news that newer firmwares indeed do have that feature.

Sounds like I'll just leave my firmware where it is. No real compelling reason to upgrade. But I'll do a little more research to see what else has changed. Maybe there's some new feature that I want, and I just don't know I want it yet. But "It is less stable" or "It uses more battery" are two deal-breakers that would immediately stop me from upgrading.

Thanks again!

[Incandenza]

Consider that Amazon has updated (and broken, imo) the Bookerly font from 5.12.2 to 5.12.3 firmwares. They removed hinting in the new version, which makes (once again, imo) the font display poorly.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Incandenza

Consider that Amazon has updated (and broken, imo) the Bookerly font from 5.12.2 to 5.12.3 firmwares. They removed hinting in the new version, which makes (once again, imo) the font display poorly.

But if you grab a version from 5.12.2, you may be able to side load it and have a working Bookerly once more.