Kindle Firmware 5.12.5

[NiLuJe]

There's not much reason to drop the PW3 if the Voyage & KT3 are still supported, as they're essentially the same device (same hardware platform).

Then again, they already dropped the PW2, and it's also technically on the same platform, too, so, eh.

[tomsem]

Well, I tried to update my Voyage, and now it is bricked.

As I have been doing for awhile, I hooked it up to my iPad mini and copied the .bin over. As soon as I disconnected the cable (there is no ‘unmount’ necessary or even possible), I got an error message of some sort that I could not dismiss. This particular Kindle was set for Russian UI and I did not bother to work through translation, but tried power button reset. When it tried to boot up, I got an ERROR 5 message and since then it gets stuck on the splash screen (in fact I cannot even turn it off, the screen is lit up). It’s fully charged. It won’t go into USB mode any more, either on iPad or my Mac.

Amazon CS made me repeat the troubleshooting I’d already done on my own but the only remedy they offered was 20% trade-in, same as if the device was still working. They erroneously claimed it was running ‘the current software’, 5.12.4, even though I pointed out that 5.12.5 was available on their website. I tried to impress that if it was an issue for me, there might be some issue with the update itself but I don’t think I was successful (they are too deferential to what developers tell them, in this case they were told I had put the wrong update file on there - but that doesn’t brick the device).

I might have reminded them of how many Kindles I’ve purchased over the years, how many thousands of dollars I spend every year with them etc. but I didn’t want to add to their undoubtedly stressful day. But maybe I should have closed with “I’ll never buy another Kindle again!!!” Which is probably true, even ignoring this incident.

[HLS]

I am still waiting for the book cover screen savers they promised with the .4

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HLS

I am still waiting for the book cover screen savers they promised with the .4

The readme for 5.12.4 does not mention covers used for sleeping (they are not screen savers as there's no need to save the screen). This was found as a possible new feature but not one guaranteed. You were not promised. If it never comes, Amazon did not lie to you.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

There's not much reason to drop the PW3

There is a reason if you are Amazon and don't care about your customers.

[Incandenza]

Originally Posted by jhowell

I see that the download page still shows version 5.12.3 as the latest release for the PW3 (7th generation). 5.12.4 is still on the download server for that model, but is not advertised as available.

I wonder if Amazon is done issuing updates for that model.

Man, if this happens, this will be my last Kindle. If they were going to do that, why didn't they drop support to KPW3 along with KPW2, on firmware 5.12.2? At least this firmware version doesn't have that annoying Bookerly font bug. I'm waiting for a bugfix for this problem for months (it may not be technically a bug, but it seriously hinders my experience - and not only mine - anyway) and this is what I get from Amazon?

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by HLS

I am still waiting for the book cover screen savers they promised with the .4

JSWolf is correct.

They never promised any such thing.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The readme for 5.12.4 does not mention covers used for sleeping (they are not screen savers as there's no need to save the screen). This was found as a possible new feature but not one guaranteed. You were not promised. If it never comes, Amazon did not lie to you.

[melksnor]

Originally Posted by jhowell

I use KindleTool to unpack the firmware and then I search for strings and sometimes decompile Java.

Oh that's fun, I got to mount the rootfs.img file, poking around the filesystem

It looks like the AaMenu is using a separate structure from the rest, it's all contained in it's own thing. I see a js.bin file, which I have yet to unpack to fully read.

I see the MO file for AaMenu too, was able to get to a PO file for that and read it.

Where else are the code and localizations files located?

Edit: I see it now, lots of jars in ./opt/amazon/ebook/lib/ and more mo files in ./usr/share/locale/

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by melksnor

Edit: I see it now, lots of jars in ./opt/amazon/ebook/lib/ and more mo files in ./usr/share/locale/

It looks like you have a good start.

[DuckieTigger]

Never got the new Aa menu on my Oasis 2 and 3 with 5.12.4. Put 5.12.5 manually on each, and after restart had the new Aa menu.

Edit: after playing with the new Aa menu, I can now see why some options from settings moved over into the Aa menu. Options for Popular Highlights, Book Mentions and Word Wise can now be saved in themes. Have not seen it mentioned elsewhere yet.

[nimbus.se]

I can't think that Amazon will stop supporting the PW3. In the update page, it states that the 5.12.4 version isn't available right now.
I guess that if they did had stopped supporting it, we would see no message about the 5.12.4 update.

[HLS]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The readme for 5.12.4 does not mention covers used for sleeping (they are not screen savers as there's no need to save the screen). This was found as a possible new feature but not one guaranteed. You were not promised. If it never comes, Amazon did not lie to you.

I never said they lied.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by HLS

I never said they lied.

You said

I am still waiting for the book cover screen savers they promised with the .4

As others have pointed out, they did not promise any such thing.

Shari

[binaryhermit]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

There's not much reason to drop the PW3 if the Voyage & KT3 are still supported, as they're essentially the same device (same hardware platform).

If the KT3 is the 7th gen basic kindle, that was dropped after 5.12.2.

[NiLuJe]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

If the KT3 is the 7th gen basic kindle, that was dropped after 5.12.2.

Nope, that's the KT2 (i.e., the "first" Basic. Yes, it's confusing.) .

But that reminded me, that, technically, the KT3 is running on a specific hardware platform all of its own (while the KT2 was essentially a (really) dumbed down PW2).