What Enhancements Should the Next Kindle PW Have?

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Adding a more than 5V mode to USB was a totally stupid decision. Or allowing more than 1A ever on USB.
Also, things that can't charge while using peripherals is stupid. Bring back coax power connectors but standardize size for different voltages.

I'm not an engineer but a lot of people here aren't engineers. My laptop, USB C. charges and runs peripherals like a happy little clam. The laptop has two USB C ports but you can also attach a port expander--or whatever it's called--to get more or different ports.

Specifically, I sometimes run my laptop with the charger connected and an external trackpad and I've played with an external mouse.

I want USB C on Paperwhite 5 or an explanation for why it's not possible or advisable. Perhaps Amazon has a warehouse full of USB micro cables and wants to sustain the market till they're gone. Who knows?

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Short version: Ordinary phones and any ereader do not ever need USB-C. A properly certified cable can be used if a maker is stupid enough to only put USB-C ports on a laptop, or you only have a USB-C charger.

Note that faster charging of Lithium cells is more risk and shortens cell life.

Or, if you like having a variety of chargers and cables. I have USB A to USB micro, USB A to USB C, USB A to USB mini, USB C to USB C, and proprietary chargers and cables for my smartwatch. I have charging blocks that are USB A and USB C. Of course, the cables also vary in capacity as do the chargers.

And, yet, there are still people who see this as a desirable situation.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem is that USB-C is not regulated and it was very poorly designed. There are a lot of poor cables and unreliable chargers out there that can and will damage your equipment. Go on Amazon and look for USB-C cables and tell me which ones are reliable and which ones are not.

I've bought perhaps twenty in the last two years for me and my nephews. All work just fine. As I understand it, when Leung destroyed his Pixelbook his cable was missing a resistor and that was a common problem with cables out of China. Like the apes who fell on their face, that problem no longer exists.

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Nonsense. Care to provide a citation.

Personal communication is hard to cite, unless you were around at the Linux Plumbers Conf last year listening over my shoulder as we chatted outside one of the conference rooms, in which case, that's a tad creepy!

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Any display taking more than about 5W to 8W needs a power connector. A decent display can't sensibly run from GPU over USB. Displays ought to use HDMI.

OK it's pretty clear you don't actually know how USB-C works or what it is capable of (and in particular that it is *in the spec* that USB-C can be a transport for DisplayPort signals: look up "DisplayPort alt mode": this decision is not some newfangled idea but was part of the rationale for the design of both USB-C and DisplayPort itself). I'm not wasting any more time arguing with someone who attempts to sound authoritative while not knowing something one minute of reading of the list of publically available specs at https://www.usb.org/documents could have made clear. (You don't even need to read any of the specs: reading the *titles* of the specs is enough.)

How you can imply that you know the rationales for design decisions made during USB-C development and which tradeoff is better (and consequently badmouth them as bad decisions) when you don't even know *what USB specs exist* is quite beyond me.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by cerem0ny

Yes indeed! Amazon has so much catching up to do.

...
More font sizes. Especially in the smaller range.
...

This is probably the number one thing I would like to see. The Kindle has 14 font size settings, but at about Size 6 it's already getting "too big" (I guess that depends on what font you're using and your eyes). Sizes 1 and 2 (and sometimes 3) are too small. So, for me, there are really only a couple (maybe three or four) settings in my "usable" range. The old PocketBook 615 I picked up has spoiled me with its 24 settings.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by NullNix

How you can imply that you know the rationales for design decisions made during USB-C development and which tradeoff is better (and consequently badmouth them as bad decisions) when you don't even know *what USB specs exist* is quite beyond me.

It's not USB. It's a totally irrational design.
It's a something else that Marketing has put USB in the name of. Also after designing Electronics for most of my working life I can spot a stupid Marketing Driven product that never should have seen the light of day.

Of COURSE I have the specs. That's why I know it's stupid and should never have been called USB-anything.

Back on topic: One thing a new Kindle does not need is USB-C.