Will older Kindles have some of the new features?

French · 09-07-2012, 08:38 AM

2 features that really interested me were the X-Ray and the Audible integration, where you can buy the Kindle book and pay an additional, reduced fee to get the Audible version. You can listen to the Audible version on iPhones, Androids or Kindle Fires, but then you can pick up and read the text from a Kindle eInk device, or Kindle Fire.

I'm basically asking, are older Kindle devices getting updated firmware to introduce these features or are they pulling an Apple where you can only have them if you buy the newer device. Note the link below indicates "read with any eInk Kindle device".

https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000827761

susan_cassidy · 09-07-2012, 12:22 PM

I doubt that all Kindles will receive an update. There are still a lot of K1s and K2s out there. The highlighting feature is only available on the Fires, it says.

ucfgrad93 · 09-07-2012, 12:35 PM

X-ray has been around since the launch of the Kindle Touch and there has been no upgrade to my Kindle Keyboard yet. Amazon does not do a very good job at providing software upgrades for older models. I don't think any of the older models will get any of these new features.

tomsem · 09-07-2012, 03:05 PM

The KPW (Kindle Paperwhite) seems to have a more polished UI, but otherwise has feature parity with KT. I think there might be some things added, like displaying cover images on Home screen. I'd like to see those back-ported to KT.

I don't know why Kindles would need to be updated to support Audible sync. Seems like it is the other way around: Audible app needs to sync its reading postion to your account, then Kindle or Kindle app will sync to that reading position to match. Only Kindle HD's have the tighter integration with highlighting 'animation'.

Unless they are planning to update the Audible player on Kindle itself to sync as well (does anybody use that?). There is a rumor that KK is getting a 3.4 update for something associated with Audible sync, but nothing official AFAIK. It would be nice if they added KF8 support too...

jswinden · 09-07-2012, 03:15 PM

The new K4 is apparently the same as the current K4 except that it has a black bezel. They even have the same FW. Kind of a rip off actually. Amazon used clever rhetoric to make the new K4 seem new and improved, but we have since realized it is the same as the current model.

09-07-2012, 08:38 AM	#1
French Groupie Posts: 151 Karma: 1002968 Join Date: Dec 2008 Device: none	Will older Kindles have some of the new features? 2 features that really interested me were the X-Ray and the Audible integration, where you can buy the Kindle book and pay an additional, reduced fee to get the Audible version. You can listen to the Audible version on iPhones, Androids or Kindle Fires, but then you can pick up and read the text from a Kindle eInk device, or Kindle Fire. I'm basically asking, are older Kindle devices getting updated firmware to introduce these features or are they pulling an Apple where you can only have them if you buy the newer device. Note the link below indicates "read with any eInk Kindle device". https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000827761

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09-07-2012, 12:22 PM	#2
susan_cassidy Wizard Posts: 2,251 Karma: 3720310 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: USA Device: Kindle, iPad (not used much for reading)	I doubt that all Kindles will receive an update. There are still a lot of K1s and K2s out there. The highlighting feature is only available on the Fires, it says.

09-07-2012, 12:35 PM	#3
ucfgrad93 Wizard Posts: 2,360 Karma: 9026681 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Colorado Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2nd Gen	X-ray has been around since the launch of the Kindle Touch and there has been no upgrade to my Kindle Keyboard yet. Amazon does not do a very good job at providing software upgrades for older models. I don't think any of the older models will get any of these new features.

09-07-2012, 03:05 PM	#4
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,478 Karma: 26425959 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	The KPW (Kindle Paperwhite) seems to have a more polished UI, but otherwise has feature parity with KT. I think there might be some things added, like displaying cover images on Home screen. I'd like to see those back-ported to KT. I don't know why Kindles would need to be updated to support Audible sync. Seems like it is the other way around: Audible app needs to sync its reading postion to your account, then Kindle or Kindle app will sync to that reading position to match. Only Kindle HD's have the tighter integration with highlighting 'animation'. Unless they are planning to update the Audible player on Kindle itself to sync as well (does anybody use that?). There is a rumor that KK is getting a 3.4 update for something associated with Audible sync, but nothing official AFAIK. It would be nice if they added KF8 support too...

09-07-2012, 03:15 PM	#5
jswinden Nameless Being	The new K4 is apparently the same as the current K4 except that it has a black bezel. They even have the same FW. Kind of a rip off actually. Amazon used clever rhetoric to make the new K4 seem new and improved, but we have since realized it is the same as the current model.

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