Kindle PW3 with 5.12.4 firmware - problems and solutions

[jhowell]

This is a thread for the discussion of the PW3 (aka Kindle Paperwhite 7th Generation) and the apparently final firmware version 5.12.4, which is currently no longer being made available for download by Amazon. (It was pointed out to me that while the download page shows the update as unavailable it can still be downloaded from Amazon's servers if you know the proper filename to use.)

Feel free to discuss any problems being experienced with this firmware and possible solutions or workarounds.

Speculation on why Amazon pulled back that release and what PW3 owners should do about it is also welcome here.

I am creating this thread in the hope that having a specific place for the discussion of this topic can prevent it from derailing threads on unrelated topics.

[tomsem]

Thank you. The anecdote I would contribute is that my Voyage got bricked by 5.12.3 or 5.12.4 (not sure which). There may be enough similarities between it and PW3 that the latter was having the same issue, and Amazon decided they needed to do more release testing. (I do have a PW3 but it is on loan to a friend, and I haven’t seen him for some months to see if he is having any problems with it).

The fact that 5.12.4 is still there is puzzling, given how long it has been since that shipped. But I view it as a ‘half full’ situation: it signals their intent to ship a future release. Others may of course see it differently.

[haydnfan]

Originally Posted by tomsem

The fact that 5.12.4 is still there is puzzling, given how long it has been since that shipped. But I view it as a ‘half full’ situation: it signals their intent to ship a future release. Others may of course see it differently.

????

5.12.4 is NOT available for download on the PW3, what are you talking about?

[hius07]

Originally Posted by haydnfan

????

5.12.4 is NOT available for download on the PW3, what are you talking about?

Here it is
https://s3.amazonaws.com/firmwaredow...ite_5.12.4.bin

[haydnfan]

I meant on the updates frontpage not as a direct link.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custo...MQC26VQQMM8XSW

Anyway I think this is just planned obsolescence. Excepting the Voyage now only 8th generation and higher are running current firmware. What sucks about it is that those more modern Kindles have the SAME cpu as the PW3, and the PW3 has the same screen as the PW4. The new features of these firmware updates are either laughable or awful but still this is an anti-consumer move.

[JSWolf]

The problem is that Amazon pulled 5.12.4 download links due to issues in 5.12.4 but they left it on the OTA server so those with a PW3 who use WiFi have gotten 5.12.4 when they should not have gotten it. Now there are a lot of PW3 out there stuck on 5.12.4 when that should not have happened. Amazon could have easily made it right by allowing 5.12.5 to be available for the PW3.

There no reason the PW3 should be EOL unless 5.12.4 caused such a mess that Amazon is unable to put a newer firmware on the PW3.

[ilovejedd]

My non-jailbroken PW3 OTA updated to 5.12.4. No problems with mine apart from having gotten a tad more sluggish over successive updates. Of course, I primarily use that to read Kindle Unlimited books.

As for planned obsolescence, the Kindle isn’t really like Android or iOS where apps can stop working for it unless updated. As long as I can still download and read new ebooks on the PW3, I have no issue with Amazon dropping firmware updates for it.

[ps67]

I received the fantastic 5.12.4. It was lurking there and as soon as I downloaded a book bought from Amazon I got caught. It is strange to remove a firmware from the official download page and release it in OTA.

I don't know what's wrong exactly with this firmware because I haven't really used it yet but in the meantime I got the cover bug (it is a bug or a "feature?") .

I hope they will update the firmware and this one is not really the latest version.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ps67

I received the fantastic 5.12.4. It was lurking there and as soon as I downloaded a book bought from Amazon I got caught. It is strange to remove a firmware from the official download page and release it in OTA.

I don't know what's wrong exactly with this firmware because I haven't really used it yet but in the meantime I got the cover bug (it is a bug or a "feature?") .

I hope they will update the firmware and this one is not really the latest version.

5.13.1 has been released but not for the PW3. That why I say the PW3 is officially EOL. Others were saying maybe there was an issue with 5.12.5 and the PW3 or not enough staff. 5.13.1 disproves all that and proves EOL for the PW3.

And the cover bug started at least with 5.12.3.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem is that Amazon pulled 5.12.4 download links due to issues in 5.12.4...

This is speculation. We do not know the reason that Amazon has chosen to hide the download link for that release. If there is a serious problem why would they continue to deliver that release OTA?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by ps67

I...in the meantime I got the cover bug (it is a bug or a "feature?")

I suspect that Amazon considers it to be a feature. It was actually a change in Amazon's servers to return a small generic cover image instead of an error when a request is made by the Kindle for the cover thumbnail for an ASIN that does not exist. This stops the Kindle from repeatedly attempting to download the cover. It reduces server traffic and improves battery life. That this change causes problems for those who sideload books is an unfortunate side effect.

Originally Posted by ps67

I hope they will update the firmware and this one is not really the latest version.

I believe that no further releases will be forthcoming. There is no sign on Amazon's Source Code Notices page that they have attempted to build a newer firmware version for the PW3.

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

5.13.1 has been released but not for the PW3. That why I say the PW3 is officially EOL.

I have already noted that Amazon themselves do not use this terminology, even internally, and do not consider Kindles not getting firmware updates to be unsupported devices, but apparently what you mean when you say "official" is not "Amazon's own terminology" but "the world according to JSWolf". That's a very odd definition of "official" unless you think you *are* Amazon.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by NullNix

I have already noted that Amazon themselves do not use this terminology, even internally, and do not consider Kindles not getting firmware updates to be unsupported devices, but apparently what you mean when you say "official" is not "Amazon's own terminology" but "the world according to JSWolf". That's a very odd definition of "official" unless you think you *are* Amazon.

Obviously you do not understand the meaning of end-of-life. EOL for a Kindle is when a company (Amazon in this case) will not release firmware with any bug fixes, enhancements, and new features. Yes, the PW3 is still usable. But the fact that Amazon has not release the two latest firmware versions for the PW3 is proof enough that Amazon has EOLed the PW3. Feel free to prove otherwise.

My Sony Reader PRS-T1 is EOL by Sony. Does it still work? Yes. Can I use it to read eBooks? Yes. Is it EOL? Yes. Same with my nook STR. It's EOL and I can read eBooks with it.

EOL does not mean that something is no longer usable.

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Obviously you do not understand the meaning of end-of-life. EOL for a Kindle is when a company (Amazon in this case) will not release firmware with any bug fixes, enhancements, and new features. Yes, the PW3 is still usable.

Amazingly there is no one central Correct Repository of Terminology from the Academie des Ordinateurs Anglaise and words and phrases can legitimately have different meanings. I *can* say that this is not the meaning used by *any* of the software developers i have worked for. At any of those (the few that use the term "EOL" at all), if something is still in support, it is not EOL. The KP3 is still in support. It happens not to be getting new features on the client-side any more, but y'know there was a time when you didn't get new features for things at all after you bought them, but they weren't considered EOL right after they were sold because there was still after-sales support and the thing still had to keep working (and if they were things you could use to spend more money with the company, doubly so).

The KP3 may be EOL from the perspective of the software development department of some companies, but as noted this is not the definition Amazon themselves use (they seem to use a more complex scheme than your strict binary, where the support level slowly declines over many years: it's not clear whether the Kindle 1 is still supported, but the Kindle Keyboard certainly was a year or so ago). It's the definition *you* use, and you want us to say yes of course JSWolf's arbitrary terminological decision is the Only Right One so you can blast Amazon some more for an EOL decision they never made (because you made it up) at every possible turn. And you are going on and on about it with righteous determination that is all the more irritating for being based on such a false premise.

It's getting really boring to read.

[JSWolf]

You don't get it. EOL in terms of electronics is what happened to the PW3.