Kindle Firmware 5.12.5

[barryem]

Originally Posted by haydnfan

I'm sure nobody likes one poster constantly telling everyone that Kindle is the devil, but fanboys overlooking any fault is also frankly terrible. You can like your favorite ecosystem without pretending that it is flawless.

I guess if you think I'm a fanboy for Kindles I couldn't totally disagree since I do prefer Kindles to the others. That said I also have 3 Kobos and 2 Nooks and I'm thinking about getting a Clara HD, although since I'm mostly reading on my phone these days I'm not sure I'll get it. I still sort of want one.

I guess the reason for my thinking in this case is that I'm not convinced that receiving mandatory updates is really a good thing. In the past few years a few new features have emerged that I liked but the vast majority I either didn't care about or I don't like at all. My biggest issue with updates, though, is that they keep changing the interface. Just about the time I get used to it they move stuff around.

And yet I read with Wifi on, (or 3G or 4G, on those Kindles) because I'm always accessing Wikipedia when I run into something in the text that I want to know more about. That, to me, is one of the great features of ereaders. So I get all the updates whether I want them or not.

I don't think Kindles are perfect. Well, okay I do. I also think Nooks and Kobos are perfect. This is all superb technology. The reason we're getting so many silly features with our few serious features with all these updates is that the makers really can't think of anything better to give us. Most of the important stuff is already done. Ereaders are amazing technology. I prefer the Kindle interface but that's a personal thing. I don't think they've been the most creative development team. Kobo probably is that. But Kindles somehow fit me better.

And yet I do nearly all my reading these days using Moon+ on my phone. Oh well. Call me a Moon+ fanboy and it'll probably be closer to the truth.

Barry

[haydnfan]

Barryem I didn't mean you specifically are acting like a Kindle fanboy. I've noticed several posters doing that. The same is true for Kobo on the Kobo forum.

I think that it is dangerously reductive to not be able to look critically at something despite how you personally feel about it.

I like Kobo. Half the RAM in the Nia is a trash decision. The reviews calling that out are completely in the right. The bad screen uniformity on the Forma is worth commenting on and highly criticizing. I hate how people on Reddit shout people down if they even think of telling the truth about the frontlight.

Many Kindle updates add nothing meaningful or substantial to me as well. But you give it enough time and enough meaningful changes do occur that you're at a real loss by owning the older device. For example, on my modern Kindles I love selecting Baskerville with left aligned justification and upping the font weight. I can't do that on older Kindles.

But when the hardware has changed so little, you can't argue that it is anything but planned obsolescence. I understand that it is possible that you do not care or you consider it expected or reasonable like MurrayPaul, BUT YOU ABSOLUTELY CANNOT ARGUE THAT IT IS PRO-CONSUMER. And to do so is simply dishonest.

[JSWolf]

Apple has been getting a lot of flack for their EOLing hardware that can un the new firmware. So when iOS 14 comes out, all the iPhones that are running iOS 13 will get iOS 14. No iPhones will be EOLed when iOS 14 comes out.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Apple has been getting a lot of flack for their EOLing hardware that can un the new firmware. So when iOS 14 comes out, all the iPhones that are running iOS 13 will get iOS 14. No iPhones will be EOLed when iOS 14 comes out.

...and a few years ago wasn't Apple getting flack for pushing updates to devices that proceeded to slow the device down because the hardware couldn't handle the update?

Shari

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by shalym

...and a few years ago wasn't Apple getting flack for pushing updates to devices that proceeded to slow the device down because the hardware couldn't handle the update?

Shari

It wasn't so much that the hardware couldn't handle the new FW, but that Apple deliberately slowed the devices down with a software switch.

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/technology-51413724

[shalym]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

It wasn't so much that the hardware couldn't handle the new FW, but that Apple deliberately slowed the devices down with a software switch.

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/technology-51413724

Ah...ok, sorry.

Shari

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

It wasn't so much that the hardware couldn't handle the new FW, but that Apple deliberately slowed the devices down with a software switch.

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/technology-51413724

Nah, there have been "planned obsolescence" complaints due to firmware update slowdowns way before #batterygate happened. Those were the early days and it was common for chipsets to quadruple in performance in just 2 years. It was actually quite understandable that a 2-year old device couldn't handle all the new features on newer firmware designed for devices with 400% the processing power.

Pretty much a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation for Apple. Of course, it would be less of an issue if they'd just allow users to downgrade firmware.

Mind, yes, #batterygate was very much a valid complaint.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by haydnfan

Many Kindle updates add nothing meaningful or substantial to me as well. But you give it enough time and enough meaningful changes do occur that you're at a real loss by owning the older device. For example, on my modern Kindles I love selecting Baskerville with left aligned justification and upping the font weight. I can't do that on older Kindles.

At this point though, short of covers as screensaver what other useful thing is Amazon likely to add that doesn't require a hardware upgrade?

I keep my JB PW3 on 5.9.6.1 and it's already got all the features you mentioned. It has support for custom fonts as well.

It seems like recent updates have just changed the layout for the worse, removed ligatures from Bookerly font and added some new bugs.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Who has any theories why the PW3 has been EOLed?

I don't know that it has. My theory is the latest firmware they tried messed it up, so they have it on hold for now, but since they are still releasing voyage updates, they may eventually fix the firmware issues on PW3 and continue updating it. Hard to tell

[barryem]

Originally Posted by haydnfan

But when the hardware has changed so little, you can't argue that it is anything but planned obsolescence. I understand that it is possible that you do not care or you consider it expected or reasonable like MurrayPaul, BUT YOU ABSOLUTELY CANNOT ARGUE THAT IT IS PRO-CONSUMER. And to do so is simply dishonest.

I'm not really sure why a corporation would be expected to be pro-consumer. That's us consumer's job. Corporations are supposed to be pro-stockholder, by law. Of course corporations want to appear to be pro-consumer. That's a very good way to benefit their stockholders.

One of the ways we consumers can help ourselves is to be aware of who corporations are supposed to benefit and to adjust our expectations accordingly. We can insist on certain standards because we have the buying power. That doesn't always work but it works sometimes and it's about the best thing we have going for us.

As for planned obsolescence that's built-in to any device without a replaceable battery.

By the way, I have PW3's and PW4's and before I switched most of my reading to the phone I decided I didn't really see much to prefer in either compared to the other. I think they're about equally good for reading.

Barry

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

I don't know that it has. My theory is the latest firmware they tried messed it up, so they have it on hold for now, but since they are still releasing voyage updates, they may eventually fix the firmware issues on PW3 and continue updating it. Hard to tell

Amazon doesn't say that they've EOLed a Kindle when they have. But if they have not EOLed the PW3, then they need to say so. If Amazon did botch the PW3, then they need to make it right or replace ever single one that's running 5.12.4.

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

It seems like recent updates have just changed the layout for the worse, removed ligatures from Bookerly font and added some new bugs.

Hinting, not ligatures.

(Also, I haven't seen a recurrence of the "screen turns off but light stays on" bug or the mobi-reader "text halts in mid-page until you turn the page and go back again" bug in some time, and I suspect they were both quietly fixed sometime around 5.10.x. Unfortunately the far more annoying "open search box and it instantly closes again" bug persists even in 5.12.5...)

[binaryhermit]

As long as Amazon fixes any glaring security bugs and keeps the store working, is it really that big of a deal whether it's getting "regular security updates"? And given that as far as I know, the original Kindle from 2007 still works with the store if you're in an area with Sprint 2G or 3G...

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

As long as Amazon fixes any glaring security bugs and keeps the store working, is it really that big of a deal whether it's getting "regular security updates"? And given that as far as I know, the original Kindle from 2007 still works with the store if you're in an area with Sprint 2G or 3G...

There has been talk of 3G being dropped in the US.

[binaryhermit]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

There has been talk of 3G being dropped in the US.

I suspect but don't know for sure that Verizon already has dropped 3g, leaving only 2g. Even if not, Verizon 2g and 3g are supposed to go away at the end of the year.

Given Sprint's merger with TMobile, they're not far behind.

And AT&T's supposed to shut off 3g in 2022 I think.