Do you dislike the new Kindle homepage Amazon is forcing on us in February 2016?

[KimberlyFDR]

I got it on my Paperwhite last night, but turned it off within a few minutes. No biggie. Now it's back to the layout it was before, which I like, with only a few minor changes to the menu at the top

I tried to find the answer, but Amazon's confusing - will the Kindle 4 be pushed with the new update or is it outside the time period for which they're releasing it? My old Kindle 4 is always online, able to download updates, but hasn't seen any changes, so I'm not sure if I should expect them considering it's not a touch interface?

[Atunah]

Originally Posted by RadicalxEdward

Oh, I also don't think there should be ANY flat out ads once you've PAID to remove advertising. I love that they offer a discount on the upfront cost of the kindle and that you can pay to remove the ads down the line, but once you do, you shouldn't be stuck with blatant advertising (or having to disable multiple other features of the homepage just to avoid that one bit of ad space)

I don't have any ads on my Voyage with the new home view. I have recommendations based on what I rated on goodreads, I have stuff from my amazon wishlists and from goodreads to read list. Once in a while the bottom banner recommends a couple of books based on the one I am reading right now, and they are spot on. Tells me its pretty much based on my own book likes.

Not sure why anyone would expect Amazon to shape a software that caters to those that don't shop for books on amazon, but buy elsewhere and sideload. And jailbreak.

The home view only works if you are actively involved in book cataloging and rating and such things. You can have a goodreads account and just rate books you read and add those you want or own the to-read shelf. You can create amazon wishlists and you get that same view and don't even have to buy the books there I suppose. You don't have to have any friends on goodreads if you don't want. You can use it as a catalog feature to get recommendations.
But if none of that is of interest, the home view would be pretty useless so turn it off.
They created the home view specifically to integrate several of their in house features to get folks to buy and read more books. So of course it will have Amazon products there. I love that they integrated goodreads so well. I don't have to browse on amazon anymore to find stuff which with all the spammers is useless. I been looking at the stuff from my Voyage now. . And it integrates nicely with KU too.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Atunah

Not sure why anyone would expect Amazon to shape a software that caters to those that don't shop for books on amazon, but buy elsewhere and sideload. And jailbreak.

There's absolutely no need to jailbreak. All the books on my Voyage are sideloaded. I've never felt the need to jailbreak any Kindle. If anyone doesn't like the home page they can simply turn it off.

[cvkemp]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There's absolutely no need to jailbreak. All the books on my Voyage are sideloaded. I've never felt the need to jailbreak any Kindle. If anyone doesn't like the home page they can simply turn it off.

I agree with you Harry I do get some books for Amazon but mostly sideload my books. I would never jailbreak any kindle. And I do use the Amazon's home page now, did not like it at first but it is faster for me most of the time.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by RadicalxEdward

I kinda get what the OP is saying. I've been hoping for a while that Amazon would revamp the style of the OS. I'm used to stuff from apple where they always have one eye on design and the other on functionality (even if i don't always like the design, it's still better than most other companies) and the kindle interface is just so bland. You can still have ease of use and good looks in one.

Funny -- I find OSX to be both visually repulsive and functionally incoherent.

So in my admittedly biased opinion, they have dismally failed on both counts, and most other companies are better than them.

I have no particular issues with iOS, other than finding it... limited. In so many ways.

On another note, have any of you guys had trouble updating and keeping your jailbreaks? My OTA update hasn't happened and I was going to manually update, but i thought i should find out about this issue first (and see how people were liking the update)

If your jailbreak is current (>=1.13.N) and is gandalf-enabled so it works on fw>=5.6.x then it will be perfectly safe. The jailbreak is preserved, and 5.7.2 adds no additional challenges.

You haven't mentioned which model you have, and your profile only says "Amazon Kindle" -- so it is difficult for me to give a more accurate answer (e.g. "You have a KV/PW3 so your jailbreak is definitely up-to-date").

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by KimberlyFDR

I tried to find the answer, but Amazon's confusing - will the Kindle 4 be pushed with the new update or is it outside the time period for which they're releasing it? My old Kindle 4 is always online, able to download updates, but hasn't seen any changes, so I'm not sure if I should expect them considering it's not a touch interface?

Absolutely not.

The Kindle 4 is a legacy model. Only the PW1 and later are getting firmware updates (and the fate of the PW1 is uncertain).



Sometimes older models will get a minor update with critical security fixes, but definitely not new features.
The new homescreen look is a feature, not a security patch.

[KimberlyFDR]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Absolutely not.

The Kindle 4 is a legacy model. Only the PW1 and later are getting firmware updates (and the fate of the PW1 is uncertain).

Sometimes older models will get a minor update with critical security fixes, but definitely not new features.
The new homescreen look is a feature, not a security patch.

Thank you for the clarification! I got the email from Amazon saying to keep older devices on / connected in preparation for updates, but they didn't specify which devices (if it was just my Paperwhite or the older Kindle, too).

[eschwartz]

Those emails are an entirely unrelated notification about critical security updates.

Amazon is updating their website and needs to make sure all your old Kindles support 21st century crypto.
Mostly warning people that they need to finally update their devices, although the K1 got a patch for the cacerts file.

If your K4NT was on fw4.1.3 then it is fine. IIRC that security update appeared around August of last year.

[Cinisajoy]

Oh my K4PC updated yesterday.

[Joykins]

I got the new update. I turned off the home page because I really enjoy the library view, but might turn it on if I am bored and looking for a new book to buy.

I really like that we can turn wifi off/on from within a book now.

I don't like the new brightness adjustment interface and that it takes 2 clicks rather than 1 to get there now, but I guess you can't have everything.

Other than that I'm pretty neutral, it's a fine update but it wasn't like it was lacking the ability to read books and navigate the library which is mostly what I use it for.

[Atunah]

Isn't it still the same amount of clicks to adjust the brightness? Before, click top, click lightbulb and then click on the graph thingie.
Now, click top, click cogwheel then click on graph again. 3 times on both. Am I forgetting something already? I get used to new stuff fairly easy, once I get done grumbling about changes.

Agree about the wifi and some other things they put in places where they make more sense like the grid/list view options.

[Joykins]

Well, you're right. It isn't the number of clicks but I have to be more conscious of what to click and move my finger around more and it isn't used to it. Habit! But I really liked having that right on the toolbar and not hidden.

[Atunah]

Originally Posted by Joykins

Well, you're right. It isn't the number of clicks but I have to be more conscious of what to click and move my finger around more and it isn't used to it. Habit! But I really liked having that right on the toolbar and not hidden.

Its also much smaller, which doesn't help this touch screen challenged person. . Thankfully I never have to touch brightness anymore as the auto had been working perfect for me for a year now. Once I trained it that is.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by Atunah

Its also much smaller, which doesn't help this touch screen challenged person. . Thankfully I never have to touch brightness anymore as the auto had been working perfect for me for a year now. Once I trained it that is.

How do you train it to do auto?

Edit: ah, google tells me this can be done on the Voyage, but I have the Paperwhite. Darn!

[tomsem]

I've always wanted a touch gesture to adjust brightness, such as two-finger drag up to increase, drag down to dim. A number of tablet reading apps have something like this.