Firmware update 5.12.4

[Incandenza]

Sadly Bookerly is still without hinting, which was (apparently) removed on last firmware version.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by Pjama

It’s about time they brought the Aa menu back to being one press away instead of hidden a couple of clicks away as currently. I’m always tinkering with my fonts and sizes and orientation, depending on where I’m reading and what time of day it is. So that will make this less frustrating.

I’m pleased to hear they are adding a contrast adjustment, as bolding the font makes it thicker, which displeases me, so hopefully this will mean I can make the text slightly darker and not lose sharpness. Either that, or it is set up ready for new screen tech. It’s exciting, anyway.

Huh, this is one update with features I actually care about. Same as you, I don't like bolding the font as it looks weird to me. There's a contrast setting on KOReader which I just set to two steps darker on my jailbroken PW4 for my EPUB files. Would also greatly appreciated easy access to Aa.

The cover as screensaver is long overdue.

Alas, not quite enough to give up KFX DRM removal and jailbreak (semi-automatic Collections management via LibrarianSync; CBZ, EPUB and Dropbox support via KOReader).

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Ah, the evil timed or OTA enabling of features in a firmware. Why don't they just test properly and then release in the normal fashion?

I remember this stupidity on the homepage Filter/Sort menus. It's a crazy way to change the GUI as then the change is unexpected.

Ugh, yes.

Just have it enabled on the firmware itself then do a gradual rollout of the firmware. That way, people who want to have the new features have the option to manually install the new firmware.

Right now, even if you install the new update, there's no guarantee when you'll get the GUI changes.

[Alborghetti]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

There's a contrast setting on KOReader which I just set to two steps darker on my jailbroken PW4 for my EPUB files.

Now that is pretty interesting. Would you please comment on how much you think you can get the contrast to increase with this setting? You mention two steps, but can you do more? If so, the current screen technology can already handle some increase in contrast and perhaps we can get the oasis' screens to look a bit more like the voyage's.

[NiLuJe]

@Alborghetti: It has nothing to do with screen technology (and neither will the Kindle's own option).

Fire up your favorite image editing program, find a Contrast slider, play with the slider. That's pretty much the exact same thing.

You can do some slightly specialized trickery with a font rendering engine (e.g., FreeType's stem darkening feature), but the idea is basically the same: more darker pixels than what the standard AA grayscale rasterizer ends up with.

No-one's magically making eInk particles darker and/or the background whiter.

EDIT: CRe's implementation predates's FT stem-darkening feature (by, like, a lot . And gamma correction on FT's buffers is actually always a good idea anyway), and appears to be implemented via a variable gamma ramp LUT. So, quite literally making existing pixels darker, without actually affecting the outline rasterization directly.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Maybe I need a better magnifying glass. I can't see any grey pixels on text, though the font diagonals are smoother than the same publisher font on the Kobo Libra (both using Georgia embedded from Linux Mint by Calibre). I also examined diagonals on y on built in Futura.

They've been anti-aliasing text since at least the K2 (2009). A screen shot will reveal the truth. Maybe 300 dpi let them drop anti-aliasing, but I doubt it.

If they actually adjust the contrast of the screen, then screen shots should be identical for different contrast settings. (But for e-ink why wouldn't they put out something always at maximum contrast? Full white is not white enough and full black is not black enough.)

[NiLuJe]

Dropping AA, unlikely, that'd be extremely harsh. Dropping *hinting*, on the other hand, quite possible. (That puts the latest Bookerly update in perspective, doesn't it? ;o)).

FWIW, my current reading font is a slightly customized CFF Literata build, which I render *unhinted* in KOReader (on the Forma).

[NiLuJe]

Originally Posted by jhowell

• "Set the cover of the title you are reading to appear on your lock screen" (It's about time!)

I demand some cake!

[cerem0ny]

Originally Posted by Pjama

Well, I’m pathetic enough to be very excited about this!

This! It's the best news I've heard all week! it's also one of the reasons I switched to Kobo - I am legit so tired of the current set of Kindle screensavers - just display the book cover ffs!!!

I love you Jeff Bezos!

[jhowell]

Oh look. Goodereader has a scoop:

Amazon Kindle to include more options in the font menu

[binaryhermit]

Typical good(sic)ereader plagarism.

Unless they actually dug into the firmware themselves.

But given their history of what appears to be turning someone's wish for a new feature or device on a site like mobileread into a scoop that that feature or device was coming...

(And those scoops are usually wrong)

EDIT: and these sorts of deep dives are highly speculative to the point of being wrong from time to time, like, perhaps the feature was planned at the time of release but eventually got cancelled for whatever reason.

[teija]

Originally Posted by cerem0ny

This! It's the best news I've heard all week! it's also one of the reasons I switched to Kobo - I am legit so tired of the current set of Kindle screensavers - just display the book cover ffs!!!

I love you Jeff Bezos!

Actually, I haven't been using a Kindle for too long and I might be one of the few people around who actually likes their screensaver images..

Having the option to display current book cover (or our own images) would be nice...but I honestly hope they still leave the old style ones as a selectable option too.

[tomsem]

I'm not at all interested in book covers as screensavers, but if it allows custom images I'd probably use that feature.

Aa menu is already kinda packed, and adding more options which are not tied to Theme doesn't entirely make sense to me. But I reserve judgement until the new design actually shows up.

[binaryhermit]

I agree about holding judgement, I can't see how it's gonna be an improvement, but we'll see.

[hius07]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Oh look. Goodereader has a scoop:

Credits to jhowell
https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/20...changes-coming