Kindle DXG updates - have contacted the BBC and Watchdog - Page 11

DiapDealer · 02-18-2011, 09:08 AM

Quote:

IMHO, 1-star is a bit excessive for that single gripe, but to put it on par with process-related gripes like shipping or price is just silly.

Agreed. I didn't mean to suggest that a lack of updates wouldn't be a valid review point. I should have worded it differently. I was merely trying to point out the trend or mindset that "any gripe whatsoever" automatically warrants a one-star review. THAT is where the silliness and pettiness lies. Surely the lack of updates hasn't rendered this device utterly useless to a potential buyer like the lowest possible score would suggest?!

ricsmania · 02-18-2011, 10:16 AM

Kindle 3 probably sells like 10x more than the DX. That's probably why they focus the improvements on Kindle 3, after all it is their best selling product.

Wolf3 · 02-18-2011, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbovenka

No, the K3 & DXG have 532 Mhz Freescale i.MX31L's, the older ones (1, 2 & white DX) have 400 Mhz XScale PXA250's.

The DX Graphite is an odd mix between K2 & K3 architecture; it has the 128M RAM of the K2 and original DX, but the 532 MHz CPU of the K3.

As per teardowns like this:

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Amazo...Teardown/624/2

the Kindle 2 (and on) use a 532MHz ARM 11. Even with a 400Mhz one though that wouldn't really explain software differences.

Sonist · 02-19-2011, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolf3

As per teardowns like this:

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Amazo...Teardown/624/2

the Kindle 2 (and on) use a 532MHz ARM 11. Even with a 400Mhz one though that wouldn't really explain software differences.

Thanks for the info, Wolf.

warlock07 · 02-21-2011, 04:08 PM

I wonder how much difference the RAM makes in case of a device like Kindle?
Any has a better idea on the memory hierarchy in these devices.
In the case of regular PC's it is (Hard disk) < (RAM) < (CPU) registers in terms of memory access speed.
But isn't the 4GB that we have with Kindle is flash memory? So the access speed should be equally good or shouldn't matter.
Any hardware experts lurking around?

Wolf3 · 02-22-2011, 02:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by warlock07

I wonder how much difference the RAM makes in case of a device like Kindle?
Any has a better idea on the memory hierarchy in these devices.
In the case of regular PC's it is (Hard disk) < (RAM) < (CPU) registers in terms of memory access speed.
But isn't the 4GB that we have with Kindle is flash memory? So the access speed should be equally good or shouldn't matter.
Any hardware experts lurking around?

Flash is a lot slower than regular RAM...actually the way its implemented in the Kindle or iPod or things like that it would be slower than a typical hard drive too most likely-only gets fast when you put a bunch of it in massive parallel.

Not sure how much the RAM matters though, like how much extra you get by having more...maybe it is significant? Makes it easier to do more things with fonts? (Home much does the Nook have?) It is mostly just displaying text, but still.

Funny how the Kindle 3 has 4x the RAM on my 2007 PC!

Daveoc64 · 02-22-2011, 06:55 PM

I'd assume that RAM is very important in the display of PDFs.

When you're working with a PDF (by moving from page to page or zooming in etc.) it would be easier if the device didn't have to keep loading from the flash storage.

This is more important with bigger, more complex PDFs.

Sonist · 02-22-2011, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daveoc64

I'd assume that RAM is very important in the display of PDFs.

When you're working with a PDF (by moving from page to page or zooming in etc.) it would be easier if the device didn't have to keep loading from the flash storage.

This is more important with bigger, more complex PDFs.

Sure. But my DXG (and even my old K2 and KDX) did fine with PDFs (like the Lonely Planet books).

So at least in this respect, the DXG should be fine.

But Amazon is still not even close to providing robust PDF support, even in OS3 -- they just prefer to stay proprietary, so we have to buy from them.

Anyway, I really do not see any technical reason for not providing the OS upgrade for the DXG.

yifanlu · 02-22-2011, 10:56 PM

I think I said this before, but when I had my Kindle 2, I was in the process of porting the 3.0 os over. I got as far as loading the framework. Browser was really slow and PDFs crashed half the time. I'm pretty sure it's possible but painful to manually port the OS over (with the speed issue of-course). But then a friend sold me his Kindle 3 for really cheap, so I sold my K2.

warlock07 · 02-25-2011, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Agreed. I didn't mean to suggest that a lack of updates wouldn't be a valid review point. I should have worded it differently. I was merely trying to point out the trend or mindset that "any gripe whatsoever" automatically warrants a one-star review. THAT is where the silliness and pettiness lies. Surely the lack of updates hasn't rendered this device utterly useless to a potential buyer like the lowest possible score would suggest?!

But it does level the playing field against loyal fan boy customers who can see Amazon doing no wrong and give it 5 stars. Silliness and pettiness is a subjective term.Maybe pettiness is defending Amazon in every thread u read? In the big picture, my 1 star rating wouldn't matter if sufficient number of buyers are satisfied with their purchase. Thats how Math works..

DiapDealer · 02-25-2011, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by warlock07

But it does level the playing field against loyal fan boy customers who can see Amazon doing no wrong. Silliness and pettiness is a subjective term.Maybe pettiness is defending Amazon in every thread u read?

My comments had nothing to do with Amazon, but with misleading and disingenuous reviews in general. It's a pet-peeve of mine regardless of the website -- or the manufacturer.

It must be quite frightening to see fanboys everywhere you look... but I'm sure a little therapy would clear that right up.

Obsessed.... much?

eLiNK · 02-25-2011, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

My comments had nothing to do with Amazon, but with misleading and disingenuous reviews in general. It's a pet-peeve of mine regardless of the website -- or the manufacturer.

It must be quite frightening to see fanboys everywhere you look... but I'm sure a little therapy would clear that right up.

Obsessed.... much?

But everyone decides for himself if a review is misleading.
I personally do not care if a one star review is fair or not. We are customers, not business analysts.
All I see is that someone has a problem with a given product and I try to understand if it would be a problem for me too. If not, the review gets ignored.
To this end, the 1 star reviews fulfill its role perfectly and I can see how someone criticizing the reasons for these reviews can be considered siding with the company producing the product.

Just my 2 cents.

ProfCrash · 02-25-2011, 10:03 AM

I would give my DXG a five star review. It does everything I want it to do very, very well. PDF functionality is not important to me and would not enter into my review because it is not something that I use.

Does this make me a fangirl?

DiapDealer · 02-25-2011, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eLiNK

To this end, the 1 star reviews fulfill its role perfectly and I can see how someone criticizing the reasons for these reviews can be considered siding with the company producing the product.

Fair enough. But how is that any different than the person who does like some things about a product and fails to mention those things in their review? Why is fanboy judged more harshly than vendettaboy when they're both useless and unnecessary extremes?

eLiNK · 02-25-2011, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I would give my DXG a five star review. It does everything I want it to do very, very well. PDF functionality is not important to me and would not enter into my review because it is not something that I use.

Does this make me a fangirl?

no, but you would become one if you start criticizing those who give a less favorable review based on the lack of some pdf features.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Fair enough. But how is that any different than the person who does like some things about a product and fails to mention those things in their review? Why is fanboy judged more harshly than vendettaboy when they're both useless and unnecessary extremes?

It should be clear from the above statement who, in my view, a fanboy is.
I personally like neither fanboys nor vendettaboys.

But after the second thought, I dislike fanboys a little bit more,
because vendettaboys are the byproduct of ungrounded or excessive affection of fanboys.

02-22-2011, 10:56 PM	#159
yifanlu Kindle Dissector Posts: 662 Karma: 475607 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Amazon Kindle 3	I think I said this before, but when I had my Kindle 2, I was in the process of porting the 3.0 os over. I got as far as loading the framework. Browser was really slow and PDFs crashed half the time. I'm pretty sure it's possible but painful to manually port the OS over (with the speed issue of-course). But then a friend sold me his Kindle 3 for really cheap, so I sold my K2. Last edited by yifanlu; 02-23-2011 at 04:54 PM.

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02-18-2011, 10:16 AM	#152
ricsmania Connoisseur Posts: 61 Karma: 40 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Brazil Device: Kindle 3 3G+Wifi	Kindle 3 probably sells like 10x more than the DX. That's probably why they focus the improvements on Kindle 3, after all it is their best selling product.

02-21-2011, 04:08 PM	#155
warlock07 Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Kindle DX	I wonder how much difference the RAM makes in case of a device like Kindle? Any has a better idea on the memory hierarchy in these devices. In the case of regular PC's it is (Hard disk) < (RAM) < (CPU) registers in terms of memory access speed. But isn't the 4GB that we have with Kindle is flash memory? So the access speed should be equally good or shouldn't matter. Any hardware experts lurking around?

02-22-2011, 06:55 PM	#157
Daveoc64 Groupie Posts: 170 Karma: 21142 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Bristol, UK Device: Kindle Oasis 3 (LTE)	I'd assume that RAM is very important in the display of PDFs. When you're working with a PDF (by moving from page to page or zooming in etc.) it would be easier if the device didn't have to keep loading from the flash storage. This is more important with bigger, more complex PDFs.

02-25-2011, 10:03 AM	#163
ProfCrash Tea Enthusiast Posts: 8,554 Karma: 75384937 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Somewhere in the USA Device: Kindle1, Kindle DX Graphite, K3 3G, IPad 3, PW2	I would give my DXG a five star review. It does everything I want it to do very, very well. PDF functionality is not important to me and would not enter into my review because it is not something that I use. Does this make me a fangirl?