Firmware Update Kindle firmware update 5.13.7

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Barty

I shouldn't complain lol because the voyage doesn't get the update anyway.

I would not assume that is the case. I’m guessing it will show up in the not distant future.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by fardeenah

i lost the book cover support for sideloaded books

Well, even if they are Personal Documents, covers rarely appear on Kindle. They do show in the Kindle apps, once you download them. “It would be nice” if they generated thumbnails for at least the Send To KIndle books.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by tomsem

There is an issue with the Read filter: when I select ALL, turning on the filter displays zero books (should be 600+).

So this is true when I have UI set to Russian (I’m trying to re-learn what I’ve forgotten since college, which is just about everything). When I switch to English the filter works as expected. In fact it is even worse: it does not seem to pull down Read status from cloud. If you mark something as Read, or un-Read, it syncs the other direction. Wonder if this is true of other languages as well? (Yep: Spanish(MX), but it picks up the book I marked READ when in Russian UI). And maybe this is nothing new with this update.

Now I’ve found a couple of things I don’t like:

1. If you have gone a few pages into your library, there is no Home button or other immediate affordance to take you back to the first page apart from swiping your way back or using the (still ‘hidden’) go to page feature. A workaround is to switch from DOWNLOADED to ALL and back (or vice versa) — this will land you on the first page. But it should not be that sneaky.

2. If you search from Library, and select something in the matches that come up (i.e. not search results for search everywhere), it takes you to Home as it downloads rather than taking you back to Library, where you started.

And for all the changes, there are still titles that don’t show any author (in List view, where this is expected). These don’t sort by author, cannot be search for by author, etc., unless they have not been downloaded. Affects maybe 1 in 40 titles.

[Breed92014]

Originally Posted by tomsem

1. If you have gone a few pages into your library, there is no Home button or other immediate affordance to take you back to the first page apart from swiping your way back or using the (still ‘hidden’) go to page feature. A workaround is to switch from DOWNLOADED to ALL and back (or vice versa) — this will land you on the first page. But it should not be that sneaky.

I noticed something that may help. At the bottom of the screen, between "Home" and "Library" is an icon of the book that you had open last. Click on it and it will take you home.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Barty

They shrunk the font for no particular reason and only show 5 items in library now. What the heck?

I shouldn't complain lol because the voyage doesn't get the update anyway.

I'm turning my Voyage to permanent Airplane mode, just to be sure. Same for the Paperwhite 7. I might let the Kindle Basic 8th generation update, don't know yet.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Barty

They shrunk the font for no particular reason and only show 5 items in library now. What the heck?

I shouldn't complain lol because the voyage doesn't get the update anyway.

The Voyage might still get the update. The previous update, the PW3 didn't show as getting it and it ended up getting it.

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The Voyage might still get the update. The previous update, the PW3 didn't show as getting it and it ended up getting it.

How about that, you can teach an old dog new tricks.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Breed92014

I noticed something that may help. At the bottom of the screen, between "Home" and "Library" is an icon of the book that you had open last. Click on it and it will take you home.

No, that will just open the book again.

What went away was the Home button in the toolbar. That would either take to Home Screen, or the first page of your Library, depending on a Setting. I had it set to go to the latter, and so I never went to the page Amazon has called Home since its inception.

With the change, I can no longer ‘hide’ Home. So now it is pretty much the same as the Kindle apps, where again, I like to begin and end in Library, not Home. But there are a couple of subtle differences:

1) In the app, if you are in Library, tapping Library button will go to the top of the list (if you are not there already). On Kindle that has no effect.

2) In the app, if you start in Library, and if it is in Recent order, and you open a book (no matter where in the list it is), and close the book, you go back to the top of the list, where the book you just closed will be. On Kindle if you open the book from page 37, and then close the book, you’ll still be on page 37, not page 1, where the book you just closed now resides.

If Kindle followed these conventions it would be a little less clunky to get back to the ‘sweet spot’. Not that I expect any change…

In addition to the ALL/DOWNLOAD toggle, you can go to Home and tap Your Library link to get to the top of the list.

[ntamas]

Hello!

I'm very angry about this new update because it completely ruined the GUI from the previous version which I have already been used to.

Some of the bad points have already been discussed here but let me tell you those annoying me.

First one is the top part of the screen, where you have that large arrow + the textarea below it. This area and the "Home" and "Library" buttons occupy a lot of space and this way only 5 items can be shown at once in the Library view. In this Library view I don't want cover photos at all. (of course it can't be turned off)

Home view can't be turned off, moreover sometimes it uses as a default.

Many times I open the dictionaries themselves and type a word in "search dictionary" textarea and while I'm typing, the index shows the possible words. And previously I could clearly see if a word was in the index list or not, but now I can't see because that fucking arrow and textarea shit on the top is much thicker and exactly COVERS the top part of the index list where my word is.. or isn't. So I can't see whether the index contains my searched word or not and therefore I always have to press enter to find out whether it's a word that the dictionary contains or not. Frustrating if it isn't.

The dictionaries often contain hyperlinks to other words and can function as thesauri as well. Now the problem is that "the dear developers" REMOVED the house/home button from the top left corner, so if I follow the hyperlinks I can't exit to the main screen, but I have to press the back arrow many times so the Library back button would appear.

I was also used to the fact that the search magnifying glass was at the right end, now the three vertical dot occupies the same place, so I always have to be careful not to mispress (is there such a word? LOL)

So far the time has been shown on the right and of course my eyes were focussed on the right side of the screen, now it's on the left. (also annoying, and illogical)

The general performance has become much slower and the battery runs down much faster.

After this update, I'm on the point of buying another ereader except for a Kindle.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by ntamas

Hello!

First one is the top part of the screen, where you have that large arrow + the textarea below it. This area and the "Home" and "Library" buttons occupy a lot of space and this way only 5 items can be shown at once in the Library view. In this Library view I don't want cover photos at all. (of course it can't be turned off)

The purpose of the (one) cover thumbnail is so you can resume reading the most recent book more readily. Even without this, the Home/Library buttons would take up space.

5 items instead of 7 (for SO kindles maybe that is 4 and 6?). More pages to turn to browse Library. I get this.

But (glass half full view) 5 books is already more than I should be reading at the same time. Having fewer to look at means I might actually focus more on the books I’m reading and not distracted by the ones I would like to read at some other time. Fewer distractions is good.

Home view can't be turned off, moreover sometimes it uses as a default.

‘Sometimes’? How so? If you open book when in Library, you’ll go back to Library when you close. If you are in Home, you’ll go back to Home. For what operation is it default?

Many times I open the dictionaries themselves and type a word in "search dictionary" textarea and while I'm typing, the index shows the possible words. And previously I could clearly see if a word was in the index list or not, but now I can't see because that fucking arrow and textarea shit on the top is much thicker and exactly COVERS the top part of the index list where my word is.. or isn't. So I can't see whether the index contains my searched word or not and therefore I always have to press enter to find out whether it's a word that the dictionary contains or not. Frustrating if it isn't.

This is not my use case, but I’m trying to follow along: I open a dictionary, I start to type in a word (e.g. ‘granu’, looking for ‘granule’) and a 2 column list of words appear that I can tap on. All of these are fully displayed, and ‘granule’ is one of them (not there until I typed the ‘u’). Nothing appears to be ‘covered up’. And yes, the search bar uses up space, but so does the keyboard, so there are only so many words it can put in there for you to look at and select. Maybe there are 2 fewer now (I have no way to compare).

But this is not ‘covering up’ anything: if the word you are looking for is not there, it is because it has already matched the maximum number of words it can display that match what you have typed in. At that point, you either type more characters to narrow the search, or select a close word and then page until you get to the word you are looking for.

How is this any different than before?

The dictionaries often contain hyperlinks to other words and can function as thesauri as well. Now the problem is that "the dear developers" REMOVED the house/home button from the top left corner, so if I follow the hyperlinks I can't exit to the main screen, but I have to press the back arrow many times so the Library back button would appear.

Yes, there is no way around that one. A pretty bad regression. I wonder if this would apply to pre-KF8 (original mobi format) books as well?

I was also used to the fact that the search magnifying glass was at the right end, now the three vertical dot occupies the same place, so I always have to be careful not to mispress (is there such a word? LOL)

So far the time has been shown on the right and of course my eyes were focussed on the right side of the screen, now it's on the left. (also annoying, and illogical)

The general performance has become much slower and the battery runs down much faster.

After this update, I'm on the point of buying another ereader except for a Kindle.

Performance was not great before, I can’t point to anything that’s clearly worse. I think this update probably triggered re-indexing and consequent, temporary battery drain and performance reduction. I don’t see any battery drain now.

[ntamas]

Fewer distractions is good.

I agree, but I use list view with collections ordering at first and I also have to swipe a page further to get to my dictionary collection which was on the first page in the previous version. (annoying)

For what operation is it default?

Maybe it was just a restart. I don't remember.

a 2 column list of words

I don't know which device you use, but on PW3, there are 3 columns of words. OK I checked it and there are 3 columns because I use the landscape mode. BUT I tested it in portrait mode as well, and in both modes the top of these columns are still cut by TWO lines. If you wanna check it, you can tap on the middle of the screen while the virtual keyboard is open. Previous version didn't cut any lines from the index. As I was typing I could clearly see the word coming up to the top and wasn't hidden behind the top menu bar (or whatever its name is)

but so does the keyboard

But keyboard doesn't annoy me, because while I'm typing the word is coming to the top, and I always know.. or at least have known so far that the searched word is on the top left corner right below the menu bar. (but now it's hidden, as I said I should tap the middle of the screen again, to show the first two lines)

How is this any different than before?

See above

[ntamas]

When I tried to type words for the first time in this new version, I quickly realized that something is wrong with it. In the previous version without the covering I could immediately see if the typed word is in the dictionary because the index showed the word. In this version, I can't immeditely see if a word is in the dictionary because the top part of the index is covered so I always have to press enter after typing the word or just press the middle of the screen to make the menu bar and the virtual keyboard disappear.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by ntamas

When I tried to type words for the first time in this new version, I quickly realized that something is wrong with it. In the previous version without the covering I could immediately see if the typed word is in the dictionary because the index showed the word. In this version, I can't immeditely see if a word is in the dictionary because the top part of the index is covered so I always have to press enter after typing the word or just press the middle of the screen to make the menu bar and the virtual keyboard disappear.

Ah, got it. What a mess.

The hidden index words is annoying when you have to tap to see them all, maybe to discover that your word isn’t shown. And if it isn’t, there seems no way to redo the search other than selecting a word in the index (the toolbar tap area is taken up by index items), and only then you can try again. At least these do not count as ‘jumps’: as long as you keep doing new searches, you can return to the Library or book with one tap.

It seems most of the trouble is with following hyperlinks. Each one earns you an extra ‘<-‘ (2 taps) to get back to where you can finally return from whence you came.

The disappearance of the Home button means it is harder to exit hyperlink hell, but if you had entered the dictionary from a book, you would still have needed to hit the back button as many times as now to get back to reading it. That was part of the problem: you could hit <- button and never come to the end of it, going back to Library, back to a book before that, back to a previous location, and get lost. Dictionary is the last refuge of <- (well, that and exiting Collection or Series group). I can easily believe they didn’t have this use case (“Use Home button to exit dictionary”), in the zeal to eliminate Home from the toolbar, or that they had it, but shrugged it off rather than make a special case toolbar out of it (there’s plenty of room to have both ‘back’ things up there (Amazon, if you are reading this, you forgot to add a label to let people know <- goes back to the Book (if that’s how you opened dictionary)).

I wish I could see for myself how it worked before with the Index terms. It is difficult to believe that they mucked with this functionality and didn’t notice the issues with that. Easier to think it has always been like this. I do have a few Kindles out on loan that probably have not updated yet, might have to see if I can call one of the loanees and walk them through and have them describe it (or show me on FaceTime or whatever).

Still it is one of those things that 99.44% of Kindle users will not ever notice.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by ntamas

Fewer distractions is good.

I agree, but I use list view with collections ordering at first and I also have to swipe a page further to get to my dictionary collection which was on the first page in the previous version. (annoying)

I must confess, I keep only one collection on my Kindle (a state confusingly termed Downloaded, even though it just means ‘visible in Downloaded’), have only 5 of them altogether (3 of which I ignore), and never use Collection sort. So none of this is an issue with me. But if I it were:

One workaround might be to keep 5 of your most used Collections ‘Downloaded’ and these will always be on the first page. To get to the others, switch Filter to Collections and show ALL. (IIRC Collections sort is always by ‘most recently accessed’ for both collections and the following items, otherwise renaming them could at least control which show on the first screen)

A more extreme version of this would be to have a single Quick Access collection with whatever dictionaries or items you don’t want to go hunting for, and only keep that one Downloaded. Then you’d also see the four most recent books as well.

I’m not sure what it would take for me to find more value in collections, given the overhead of maintaining them and my perceived lack of utility. Two of the ones I used went away when they added Read/Unread filter/tag (I would like Started as well). I never had series collections, but I like Series Grouping, and hope they add Author Grouping. I would never want to have to create collections for that.

Beyond these, they could have Genre Grouping (based on Store category metadata and/or custom tags), and as far as I can tell this would address most remaining ‘collection’ use cases most people (or at least I) are trying to use Collections for. However, this is more complex. I think publishers/sellers get to set 3 categories, which may be more a matter of who they want to market the book to and less what would reflect what it actually is. And they get to change them any time. There is also the example of the Audible app, which shows how it might be done badly (genres with similar and even identical names, and which are disjoint: item can only be in one).

Again, for me, it would be far too much work to come up with a list of genres and any hierarchy that goes along with them, much less tag my (now going on 3) thousands of books. And having done that, I probably would not have too much use for it (I don’t really consider what genre a book is in as a good indicator that I’ll like to read it). But if one were given to me, and I could extend or customize it, it would be more interesting.

[mnju]

Originally Posted by realthk

The system menu uses tiny font with huge vertical gaps, and if "Large" is selected in Display options (which does not effect the system menu, it remains the same small sized font), then the Library list view only shows 4 books with extreme gaps... Worst upgrade so far...

I wish I had read this thread before updating... HORRIBLE UI, only 5 books x page in my Collections, and those 2 stupid buttons always visible...