Kindle firmware update 5.14.2

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by cvkemp

I updated 2 or 3 days ago and still don’t have the updated home and library.

At a minimum, you need to have WiFi on so it can connect to Amazon. That was sufficient on one of my Kindles.

For the other 2 I was impatient and did a Sync, followed by Restart. After Restart it was there. I don’t know if the manual Sync was required or whether Restart alone would have done the trick.

[Atunah]

Well overall I don't have issues with it. Just different. But I have not been able to replicate the way I usually have my library showing. I always had it on showing the "starred" or downloaded collections, followed by things not in those collections sorted by recent. Not sure if i am explaining this right. That is not an option anymore.

Its either recent, so collections are mixed in with the books and series groupings or all collections, including those not starred but no books outside of it.

Guess I have to get used to a new way to display my stuff. It is what it is. Compared how we started with the first Kindle the K1 and no sorting of any kind really, I'll take it. I usually get used to it quickly and as long as I can find my books I just go on reading.
Looks good so far. Haven't looked at everything yet though. Busy reading my first Agatha Christie in english

[hleo12]

Originally Posted by tomsem

At a minimum, you need to have WiFi on so it can connect to Amazon. That was sufficient on one of my Kindles.

For the other 2 I was impatient and did a Sync, followed by Restart. After Restart it was there. I don’t know if the manual Sync was required or whether Restart alone would have done the trick.

It's my 3rd day after I side loaded the update, with wifi on. Still no new UI for my Kindle.

They probably have batches of serial numbers groups that they push the update to.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Collections will do whatever they did before, and have some modest enhancements.

Earlier I said that they only display Grid mode, but it turns out that is only if you have the (new) Collection setting as Show only in Collections view (Collections View is new to Kindle, borrowed from the Kindle apps). Collections View displays as a Grid, and when you open a collection from there it is also in Grid mode. (I’ve updated the earlier post)

But for the other 2 Collection options, collections can be intermixed with Library items. If Library is in List mode, and you open a collection (or Series group) from there, it will also be in List mode. If Library is in Grid mode, the collection (or Series group) will be in Grid mode too.

The enhancements are that you can apply filters while in the collection. Before, you could only toggle between Downloaded and ALL. And as mentioned, there is now a new setting to control the presentation of Collections in Library.

Edit Feb 11: Whatever filters are in effect in Library will be in effect when when viewing a Collection or Series group, and vice versa. If you set a filter that excludes all items of a Collection or Series group, it will not display until you clear the filter. Filter options will be disabled if you don’t have any items of that type that match.

Thanks for all the info. Some were griping with their updates that the collection was only mixing in their libraries now, but they may not have the settings correct. I haven't messed with it myself as of yet.

[cvkemp]

Originally Posted by tomsem

At a minimum, you need to have WiFi on so it can connect to Amazon. That was sufficient on one of my Kindles.

For the other 2 I was impatient and did a Sync, followed by Restart. After Restart it was there. I don’t know if the manual Sync was required or whether Restart alone would have done the trick.

I never turn off WiFi I have synced and restarted a number of times each day

[hleo12]

I tried talking to Amazon's customer support just for funsies. To see if they have any idea about the update. One agent disconnected from our chat after suggesting I do a factory reset and me telling them no. Then another agent connected to my chat and it was the same. They don't even hesitate to throw factory reset as the second step of their "troubleshooting."

Anyways, it's obvious their agents weren't even briefed about the new changes. I had to send screenshots of the new UI for them to have an idea of what I was talking about. And even then they still didn't know what it was about.

Companies, in general, should invest more in training their agents.

--------------------------------------------------------------

update: They offered to replace my Kindle.

I guess if you're Amazon, you can afford to just offer replacements instead of training your people.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by hleo12

Companies, in general, should invest more in training their agents.

It is probably just not worth it to Amazon to invest too much in training.

A thought occurred to me. Perhaps if you were someone whose Kindles were authorized to receive the new UI then you would have been connected to agents already trained on it. (Seems to smart to be likely.)

[hleo12]

Originally Posted by jhowell

It is probably just not worth it to Amazon to invest too much in training.

A thought occurred to me. Perhaps if you were someone whose Kindles were authorized to receive the new UI then you would have been connected to agents already trained on it. (Seems to smart to be likely.)

Yea, training people takes time and effort and money. You have pay the agents you're training their hours even if they're not logged in and are just in training.

And as I've mentioned above, it's probably cheaper for Amazon to just offer replacements to the customers their agents can't help. They can still sell the old units as refurbished.


It's unlikely that you'll get a dedicated batch of agents just by your device. That's even more money dumped on logistics

Us customers will just have to continue being frustrated about their services.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by tomsem

They need to add the series metadata in the storefront database before it can show up on Kindle. Apparently it took quite a bit of (non-automated) effort to do this for the US store, and I imagine it requires a comparable effort to do it for another storefront, because it’s effectively a completely separate catalog (different ASINs). Given the much smaller numbers of Kindle users in Canada, it’s not clear how high a priority it is for Amazon.

I'm tempted to quote from Audible Canada when explaining why my Kindle did not support audio books.

At this time, Kindle is not compatible with our Audible.ca software. We are always looking to expand our compatible devices catalog but since an extensive technical testing is required to perfect the final platform it may take a bit longer then expected to release a supported platform.

Either their software is wildly different from that used in the USA though the firmware download seems to be binary identical or Amazon USA is using their Kindle user base as beta testers. Hmmm... that does sound plausible.

Not to mention when I chatted with Amazon.ca's tech support about this when my Paperwhite would start showing series information, the reply was that series support was going to be available soon. Still waiting.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Atunah

Well overall I don't have issues with it. Just different. But I have not been able to replicate the way I usually have my library showing. I always had it on showing the "starred" or downloaded collections, followed by things not in those collections sorted by recent. Not sure if i am explaining this right. That is not an option anymore.

True. It’s not something I ever used myself, as I make minimal use of Collections (I don’t like to take time away from reading to ‘organize’).

FWIW the new Collections view has pseudo collection Uncollected, which is about as close as you can get to that option, but it isn’t quite the same, and unfortunately there is no option to put that in list mode so you can easily read titles and author. The Fire/Android app lets you do this; hopefully they’ll add this in a future update.

I’d also like to see Author grouping this year, too.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I'm tempted to quote from Audible Canada when explaining why my Kindle did not support audio books.



Either their software is wildly different from that used in the USA though the firmware download seems to be binary identical or Amazon USA is using their Kindle user base as beta testers. Hmmm... that does sound plausible.

Have you tried downloading audiobooks from your Audible library and side-loading them?

[hleo12]

Day 4 of waiting for the update...

One thing I did notice after side loading the update tho, my eyes are kinda getting tired constantly. I don't know if I'm just overly tired this week, but the fonts look "thinner" than what I'm used to. Specially Caecilla and Palatino, those two are what I'm using the most. It might just be me. I don't know if that's worth mentioning, but it's just something I've noticed these past few days.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Have you tried downloading audiobooks from your Audible library and side-loading them?

Yes. They didn't work They showed in the library but trying to play one gave a rather unsatisfying error message.

Yet another feature that is disabled for Canadian customers.

[tabascosw]

FYI: Jailbrake survives this firmware update, at least on my PW3

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by tomsem

There seems to be support on amazon.co.uk, probably Amazon’s 2nd largest storefront in terms of Kindle sales. It might be the only other storefront that supports it so far (I also checked Australia and Japan; they don’t seem to support it).

There might be support in the UK store, but my UK Oasis 3 still hasn't received it. (Mind you, it's been on wifi minimally for a good few months now, until the new UI gets the more horrific mistakes shaken out of it.)