Kindle Basic (New Touch) font options?

[rcentros]

Just curious whether fonts can be added to the "New Touch" like they can be added to the "old" Touch? I'm trying one out I found at a pawn shop and find the built-in fonts -- compared to Constantia I've loaded on the old Touch -- to be inferior. It's got the latest firmware (5.7.4) so I'm guessing I'm stuck with what it has, but thought I would ask anyhow (I don't want to jailbreak). Thanks for any information.

[Cinisajoy]

No clue but can I be nosy?
How much and did you have to unregister it?
I found a Fire (didn't buy it) for $15 the other day.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

No clue but can I be nosy?
How much and did you have to unregister it?

I almost hate to say because folks are going to "hate me." I bought it with two Non-Touch Kindle Basics (I wanted to get my kids each one, which is now done) and the total for the three devices was $27 (including tax). The prices they listed on the these three Kindles was $10, $12 and $25, but they have so many "tablets" they want to get rid of that they made this deal basically without me asking. I added Amazon cases to all three for about $9 total -- $2 + $2 +$3, including s/h (Amazon Warehouse deals). So I got a really good deal on these. All are in decent shape, had to clean sticker residue off a couple and, the way they've got them shoved in a box together, I think some of the minor scuffs on the bezels were caused after the pawn shop bought them. (They literally have tablets stuffed in a box so tightly that you have to kind of "pry" them out.) I think all I bought had to unregistered and re-registered, firmware updated and reset to factory defaults. (Maybe one was unregistered.) I've bought several other Kindles (passed on to family members) from this specific pawn shop. All but one could be registered (I wrote about that one in the past).

They have at least four of the new Amazon Fires ($49 ones) with $30 price tags on them in that box. I'm guessing you could probably get these for $15 to $20 each if you bought two or three of them at once. They also have some higher end Kindle tablets, lots of LGs, some Samsungs and these are just the ones in the boxes -- there's many more on the shelves. I've seen Kindle eReaders with $25 price tags in other pawn shops. Usually you'll have to take a chance when buying these, but mention that you might not be able to register the Kindle and they'll usually drop $5 or $10 off the price -- so the risk -- in my estimation -- is worth it.

Sorry to ramble. I was pretty excited about this deal but cheap eReaders (at least in the DFW area) are not hard to find.

Oh, and my impression of the New Touch, compared to the "old" Touch is not that favorable. I don't like the Bookerly font (which is why I upgraded the New Touch right away -- to see what it was like) but I'm guessing it would be better on the higher resolution Kindles. It looks kind of "spidery" on this Basic New Touch. I also don't like the "dullness" of the fonts. My "old" Touch's fonts seem darker with more "depth." The original Touches -- in my estimation -- are of higher quality, even prefer the Amazon covers for them over the New Touch's cover. But I did want to give the New Touch a fair test by side-loading the Constantia font (which is why I like the "old" Touches so much), which is why I started this thread. I also don't like the new 5.7.4 user interface. It seems unnecessarily "busy."

(I really don't know how to shut up.)

[Cinisajoy]

Next time, ask about their older stock. They might have an old touch or basic around.
I love pawn shops too.
See your pms.
Though I think you are stuck with factory fonts.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Though I think you are stuck with factory fonts.

Yep. It looks that way. I tried copying a fonts folder and a USE_ALT_FONT file to the New Touch and -- though it allowed the files to copy -- the fonts didn't "take." Oh well, Palatino is fairly close to Costantia, but not as smooth. I like the "old" Touch better anyhow.

[shamanNS]

USE_ALT_FONT "hidden feature" was killed with fw 5.4.x (Last PW1 fw that had it was 5.3.9, and I don't recall if PW2 ever had it, even on fw 5.4.0 that was it's factory firmware). So all Kindle after PW2 = no USE_ALT_FONT thingy.

You have only 2 choices :

1) embedding your custom font to EVERY single book (you have to use new azw3 format, no old mobi) you read.

2) jailbreaking and then using fonts hack to override one of the built in fonts in Aa menu (Caecilia condensed).

No more adding fonts to that Aa menu on firmware newer than 5.4.x (at least not without edition system files & recreating cramfs file containing built-in fonts).

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by shamanNS

USE_ALT_FONT "hidden feature" was killed with fw 5.4.x (Last PW1 fw that had it was 5.3.9, and I don't recall if PW2 ever had it, even on fw 5.4.0 that was it's factory firmware). So all Kindle after PW2 = no USE_ALT_FONT thingy.

You have only 2 choices :

1) embedding your custom font to EVERY single book (you have to use new azw3 format, no old mobi) you read.

2) jailbreaking and then using fonts hack to override one of the built in fonts in Aa menu (Caecilia condensed).

No more adding fonts to that Aa menu on firmware newer than 5.4.x (at least not without edition system files & recreating cramfs file containing built-in fonts).

Okay, thanks. Sorry it took so long to respond. I didn't know you could still jailbreak with the newer software releases. I'm probably just going to let the New Touch go and read on the Old Touches. I did get used to Palatino when using the New Touch, however, and I think I'll if I can find it for the Old Touch. Thanks for for the info -- overriding Caecilia condensed font would definitely not be a problem for me.