2022 Kindle Basic

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Agreed. Even though I'll probably never buy one, I like that they've upgraded their bottom line reader to 300 dpi (hopefully its front light is good and even).

If you use Calibre and have any Kindle that can read KF8/azw3 there is no need ever to buy another Kindle, if you get a Kobo.
I have a selection of Kindles because two were bought before I discovered Kobo (not long before discovering here). I got two more for test reasons as we format ebooks and upload epub to Amazon KDP and now there is no way to test what Amazon does with the epub. The preview download is now an epub! Send to Kindle doesn't do the same as the conversion for sale items, which is strange. So we test mobi/KF7, azw3/KF8 and occasionally KFX on actual Kindles. We buy some copies to test if we are using any new style/content that results in different CSS & HTML.

Oddly the PW3 and KK3 don't always do the same things with images in azw3 and the KK3 is "more correct". Next new styles etc will also get tested on a gen 9 Oasis picked up cheap S/H. It seems a bit different to PW3, and not just due to size.

I'd only get another Kindle eink now if they bring out some new format converted from the epub upload that only works on a new model Kindle.

Years ago we uploaded docx and then one day they changed the processing for mobi / kf7. No page breaks.

They said the only solution was to upload an epub. That actually only works for Amazon's sale conversion to mobi/azw/KF7 for page breaks if each new page is also a new internal HTML file in the epub. Fortunately Calibre can do that automatically on converting a single docx to epub. Then we make all other test formats from the epub.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by hleo12

I'm done with the UI and the library system. But they sure do make up for it with availability and price point.

I've been looking over at listings here for my next upgrade, but even a Kobo Clara HD here is more expensive than the latest paperwhite.

That feels shortsighted and cheap.

I do think Amazon has really stepped up their game with the latest Paperwhite and this new basic. They look to be very nice devices.

But I wouldn't buy one because of all the heavy-handedness Amazon imposes on Kindles. You seem to feel the same way.

Considering the most recent device you have listed is four years old, it seems like you would be better off paying a few extra bucks for something that won't annoy you every time you use it.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by rcentros

how would you convert DRM protected ePubs via Amazon?

Supporting EPUBS is different than supporting EPUBS protected by some other merchants DRM. But the Kindle does neither.

In the end, it doesn't really matter anyway. At least not to me. Calibre does a great job of all the converting that I need. And for the majority of Amazons customers - most of which have probably never even heard of Calibre - having Amazon do conversions for them is a plus. True, their Kindle is not actually supporting these other formats, that is a marketing lie, but they don't know the difference and don't care. The average Amazon customer is probably not a hard-core reader that is technically inclined, as most people who seek out a forum like Mobile Read are. You could say to most people here, "I converted an EPUB to an AZW3" an they would know exactly what you mean. Say that to a more typical Amazon customer, and they would look at you cock-eyed wondering what language you were speaking in. I think it is this second group of people that Amazon is targeting with their send-to-kindle conversion process.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by haertig

Supporting EPUBS is different than supporting EPUBS protected by some other merchants DRM. But the Kindle does neither.

In the end, it doesn't really matter anyway. At least not to me. Calibre does a great job of all the converting that I need. And for the majority of Amazons customers - most of which have probably never even heard of Calibre - having Amazon do conversions for them is a plus. True, their Kindle is not actually supporting these other formats, that is a marketing lie, but they don't know the difference and don't care. The average Amazon customer is probably not a hard-core reader that is technically inclined, as most people who seek out a forum like Mobile Read are. You could say to most people here, "I converted an EPUB to an AZW3" an they would know exactly what you mean. Say that to a more typical Amazon customer, and they would look at you cock-eyed wondering what language you were speaking in. I think it is this second group of people that Amazon is targeting with their send-to-kindle conversion process.

But they may think that this Kindle supports ePub and go and buy one that's DRM infected and then have no idea what to do with the .acsm file and if they did know what to do with it, they'd have no way to do anything with the ePub on the Kindle.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Still, 212 dpi looks hugely better than 167 dpi.
The Nia has certainly a much better screen than the older Basic and Kindle is terrible for sideloaded covers, collections, series and annotations. Amazon's series info is erratic and can't be over-written without a jailbreak. Also Amazon's Kindle is too Amazon Server centric (so called Cloud).

The main Kindle advantage is seamless buying of ebooks from Amazon.

It's far more efficient to discover, evaluate, and purchase books with a web browser than on a Kindle. I buy nearly all of my books from Amazon, and almost never use a Kindle to do it.

Ebook ecosystems are all 'walled gardens' and none of them are perfect. All are more or less unfriendly to side loaded content, or (in case of Apple and Google) have no eInk device support. There's no way to migrate from one ecosystem to another easily, and even if that were friction free, one would still be left with imperfection (in the eye of the beholder).

Even if you 'liberate' your entire ebook collection and use KOReader (as if that were the perfect reading application), there will be something missing.

As someone who mostly uses Amazon's, I would like to see Author grouping and auto-tagging for filtering purposes (based on Kindle Store categories). And TTS for Kindle and the mobile apps. I expect they'll do the first of these things eventually, like Series grouping it would help them sell more books.

[Paperbackstash]

Ugh. Good news for Kindle Basic user fans but was hoping for a release announcement for a new, improved Oasis as well.

[JoeC]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

Ugh. Good news for Kindle Basic user fans but was hoping for a release announcement for a new, improved Oasis as well.

Same here!

[JBaby]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Why assume that? Granted, it would be nice if it is true. But there's no reason to assume that along with the upgraded screen and double the storage that they will also upgrade the processor.

Also, any word on what generation screen they are using?

I wonder if they are using the screen from the 10th Gen Paperwhite assuming that they can still get a good deal on them.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by JBaby

I wonder if they are using the screen from the 10th Gen Paperwhite assuming that they can still get a good deal on them.

It won't be the same because it's not flush. That does bode well for it looking similar to the PW3 and maybe better if it's using the newest eInk screen like the Kobo Libra 2.

[Spinningwoman]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

"Through conversion" means just what it says.

But it says is supports EPUB ‘natively’ not through conversion.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Spinningwoman

But it says is supports EPUB ‘natively’ not through conversion.

That is a mistake on Amazon UK. No Kindle supports ePub natively.

You could say that the Kindles support MS-LIT, LRF, eReader, and any other format that's convertible to KF8. That just marketing nonsense.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by JBaby

I wonder if they are using the screen from the 10th Gen Paperwhite assuming that they can still get a good deal on them.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It won't be the same because it's not flush. That does bode well for it looking similar to the PW3 and maybe better if it's using the newest eInk screen like the Kobo Libra 2.

That's basically what I was going to mention. It looks like the Kindle Basic (2022) is going to be an upgraded Paperwhite 3. A little smaller, a little lighter, with a USB-C port and 16GBs of ram, but otherwise a Paperwhite 3, even four LED's like the Paperwhite. I don't think this is a bad thing. When on sale at (probably $80 at first) a modernized "Paperwhite 3" would be a good deal.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rcentros

That's basically what I was going to mention. It looks like the Kindle Basic (2022) is going to be an upgraded Paperwhite 3. A little smaller, a little lighter, with a USB-C port and 16GBs of ram, but otherwise a Paperwhite 3, even four LED's like the Paperwhite. I don't think this is a bad thing. When on sale at (probably $80 at first) a modernized "Paperwhite 3" would be a good deal.

Amazon did botch the PW4 and I do feel sorry for anyone how bought one. The screen was the problem. How they did it when they made it flush made the screen muddy and less contrast.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Amazon did botch the PW4 and I do feel sorry for anyone how bought one.

Save your pity. Seriously. At best, it’s misdirected. I imagine the vast majority of those who bought one are satisfied with it and they always had the opportunity to return it if it didn’t work out for them. This comes across as patronizing.

I think the PW4 is quite nice myself. It’s hardly “botch[ed].” Aside from the flush screen which one may or may not prefer, it’s lighter, waterproof, has Bluetooth and twice the storage of the device it replaced. As I pointed out the last time you referred to it as a “disaster.”

[shamanNS]

Originally Posted by issybird

This comes across as patronizing.

Especially if/ when those "conclusions" are based solely on a thing like "once saw a video review"