Kindle Firmware 5.12.5

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by NullNix

So... you think Amazon should screw over everyone who wants to read periodicals, and everyone who has existing stocks of mobi books which are not available in other formats? As far as I can tell from your previous responses, you think exactly that, but you condemn people who use older Kindles -- which still work and can still buy stuff, even newly-published stuff -- for using "EOL" hardware, even though Amazon's reasoning for stopping publishing firmware for older devices -- the maintenance burden -- is *exactly the same* as your stated reasoning for dropping entire file formats in which a huge stock of existing works are published. The difference is, if an older Kindle no longer gets firmware updated, it's still useful and you can still read everything you could read before and buy new stuff too. If a new Kindle firmware release loses support for an entire file format, huge chunks of stuff you already have on there suddenly become useless, and you can't read them any more. This would wreck Kindles' reputation, and rightly so.

(I do have to wonder what you think Kindles are for, if it's not reading.)

If the eBooks were purchased from Amazon, they could be redownloaed in KF8. The problem is you have to get Kindles out of the stone age and into the present. Mobi is the stone age. If Amazon could make a firmware that allowed KF8 & Mobi for the older devices, fine. But if not, KF8 should be the format of choice. If I had an older Kindle such as a DX or K2, I would want KF8 instead of Mobi if I had the choice. Periodicals need to be rewritten do they are in KF8.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If Amazon could make a firmware that allowed KF8 & Mobi for the older devices, fine. But if not, KF8 should be the format of choice.

It's not going to happen. Amazon is not going to use their limited development resources to upgrade the dwindling number of oldest Kindle devices. Just rearranging the Aa menu is a major project for them these days.

[bookyboy]

Do we get to talk about the Kindle 5.12.5 firmware in here again anytime soon?

lol

[Paperbackstash]

I notice these updates keep talking about new download options and "improvements", but ever since these updates started last year I keep having issues getting my PW4 to download books correctly. It's frustrating. I'm hoping this update helps that bug, yet again, for me.

Otherwise not seeing changes that would affect me.

[Paperbackstash]

Great. Just updated it and it seems glitchier - I opened a book to see if I could see any new options, but whenever I click on the book I cannot get the bottom or top options to pop up to let me out of the book. The only thing that comes up if I keep swiping is where you can choose the small page setting scroll. I can get the dictionary and notes to pop up pressing randomly on the screen.

I'm not kidding, I'm stuck in this book for five minutes. It sounds silly but I'm not laughing. How am I supposed to get out of this book? This is a new problem. It's not working right.

[Paperbackstash]

I'm frustrated and put it aside for now. Will try again in a few minutes and hope it starts working.

[Paperbackstash]

Okay, good news, the top menu finally responded again to a long-tap. It would not respond to swipes or regular taps like it usually does for 10 minutes. Hopefully it's a one-time thing. Exiting this book and crossing fingers for the next

Editing to add --- it's working normal again, now, tried another book. Perhaps it was just glitching from the update since I tried it immediately? Who knows.

Edited two minutes later -- it's starting to act up again

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by bookyboy

Do we get to talk about the Kindle 5.12.5 firmware in here again anytime soon?

Finally upgraded to 5.12.5 on my Voyage and Kindle Basic (generation 8). So far it's been very good news for me. My Send-To-Kindle files seem to be working again using my custom font. At first the upgrade didn't do the Kindle Basic any good, but then I decided to try the Constantia font from the Voyage (which did work) — and they were different sizes. The Constantia font files were almost twice the size(?) from the Voyage. Once I replaced the smaller fonts files on the Basic, the issues went away. (So far anyhow.) Also much faster loading and page turns then before on both devices. Not sure how I ended up with two different Constantia font sets but I'm very happy something has changed for the better with 5.12.5. (So far, there hasn't been extensive testing.)

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by jhowell

It is not a hoax. I have looked at the Kindle firmware there there is definitely an option there to add a Dark Mode icon between Bluetooth and Sync, just like those screenshots show. The software uses the DeviceCapabilityManager to check that "nightmode" is enabled before showing that option. I don't know why that is enabled for some and not others.

Checked mine, and I'm not one of those who have this change with the update.

[tomsem]

For a change, I’m not manually updating to 5.12.5, as it bricked my Voyage somehow. It is free to arrive on its own. But this Dark Mode possibility might eventually change my mind. Thanks @JHowell for confirming it is ‘on deck’.

[Update:] Yes, I caved and installed the update. Nothing bad happened. But no Dark Mode, either (apart from the Accessibility setting).

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by tomsem

For a change, I’m not manually updating to 5.12.5, as it bricked my Voyage somehow. It is free to arrive on its own. But this Dark Mode possibility might eventually change my mind. Thanks @JHowell for confirming it is ‘on deck’.

Are they talking about dark mode for the Voyage? For some reason I just thought it was on the Oasis and the new Paperwhite. I know I didn't get any dark mode in my Voyage update (at least not so far). I haven't been that impressed with dark mode on the Tolinos or Kobos anyhow.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Are they talking about dark mode for the Voyage? For some reason I just thought it was on the Oasis and the new Paperwhite. I know I didn't get any dark mode in my Voyage update (at least not so far). I haven't been that impressed with dark mode on the Tolinos or Kobos anyhow.

No, Voyage would not support Dark Mode. I was referring to my PW4, which does (as would Oasis). And yes, I don’t think I’ll use it much, but it is nice that it will be easier to toggle on and off than having to navigate to Accessibility as is the case now.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

Okay, good news, the top menu finally responded again to a long-tap. It would not respond to swipes or regular taps like it usually does for 10 minutes. Hopefully it's a one-time thing. Exiting this book and crossing fingers for the next

Editing to add --- it's working normal again, now, tried another book. Perhaps it was just glitching from the update since I tried it immediately? Who knows.

Edited two minutes later -- it's starting to act up again

Have you tried a restart?

[93terp]

Originally Posted by bookyboy

Do we get to talk about the Kindle 5.12.5 firmware in here again anytime soon?

lol

What a concept...

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If the eBooks were purchased from Amazon, they could be redownloaed in KF8.

... and if they were sideloaded, users would just lose access to them? That would really make them happy! Amazon have never to date removed access to users' books -- or, rather, they did it for precisely one book and caught no end of trouble for it. Do you think that makes them likely to do it again because one contrarian on the Internet says they should?

The problem is you have to get Kindles out of the stone age and into the present. Mobi is the stone age. If Amazon could make a firmware that allowed KF8 & Mobi for the older devices, fine. But if not, KF8 should be the format of choice. If I had an older Kindle such as a DX or K2, I would want KF8 instead of Mobi if I had the choice. Periodicals need to be rewritten do they are in KF8.

Periodicals *cannot* be rewritten in KF8 without Amazon doing the software development work to add periodical support to either their KF8 or KFX readers, which probably means format extensions as well. (And now I'm wondering if you've ever used a Kindle to read a periodical. The UI has a whole layer for choosing what article to read that just doesn't exist for books at all.)