Firmware Update Firmware update 5.9.4

[SamP]

Increased Battery drain since applying the Firmware update

Originally Posted by dordale

I had the same experience on my Voyage. Manually applied the new update on Wednesday night. Voyage wasn't used until I turned it on this morning (Friday) and battery level showed near empty. My Voyage is permanently in airplane mode.

I did add three or four books to the Voyage just after I updated the firmware. I don't think that indexing the four books would have caused such a quick drain, but maybe it was stuck for awhile on one of the books. I did check to see if it was still indexing when I noticed the battery level and it wasn't.

I'm charging it now and am hoping this is an anomaly. I'll report back when I know more.

An update on this topic.
Having gotten rid of the book which refused to index, the battery on my well-used 6th Gen PW is still draining much faster than before (whilst being used with the same settings & for the same amount of time per day as before).

I repeated the check for un-indexed books & there were none.

[latepaul]

Have now got 5.9.4 on my PW2, PW3 and KOA2.

I like the clock. I record how long I've been reading for and so I use the clock to know when I start and stop. It's not a big deal but prior to this I was always tapping to get the menu (and clock) and sometimes advancing a page (or going to the toc) by mistake. A minor irritation but one I'm glad to be rid of.

It would be nice if we could have the black-on-white mode on non-Oasis Kindles. It really is a killer feature for me.

[JSWolf]

I love how many people say feature XYZ is a feature I need to have when they didn't have it and didn't even think about it until it was released for a different model Reader.

[Ocicat]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I love how many people say feature XYZ is a feature I need to have when they didn't have it and didn't even think about it until it was released for a different model Reader.

Well it's similar to how I love my car heated seats in the winter, the cruise control, various gauges, sensors and alarms.

Did I miss them decades ago, no, but I sure would now.

[Ricky D'Angelo]

Originally Posted by latepaul

Have now got 5.9.4 on my PW2, PW3 and KOA2.

I like the clock. I record how long I've been reading for and so I use the clock to know when I start and stop. It's not a big deal but prior to this I was always tapping to get the menu (and clock) and sometimes advancing a page (or going to the toc) by mistake. A minor irritation but one I'm glad to be rid of.

It would be nice if we could have the black-on-white mode on non-Oasis Kindles. It really is a killer feature for me.

My kindle basic just updated last night and the first thing I did was set the clock. I wouldn't mind if there was an option to see the date as well when reading a book.

[elsussman]

concerning the double or triple flicker(flash) since the new upgrade. I believe I have discovered why it happens.If you make a page change at the exact same moment that the clock is changing the minute it will double flicker. I personally don't find this annoying and like the clock. Other people might want to test this and see if they agree.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by elsussman

concerning the double or triple flicker(flash) since the new upgrade. I believe I have discovered why it happens.If you make a page change at the exact same moment that the clock is changing the minute it will double flicker.

Yes, this has been reported previously in this thread (and others). Turn off the clock and you won't get the flicker.

[DuckieTigger]

Haven't gotten around to downloading the update. The clock changes every minute or only on page turns?

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Haven't gotten around to downloading the update. The clock changes every minute or only on page turns?

The clock updates in place, as you might expect. But it seems if it is changing at the same time you do page turn you may see the screen redraw twice.

If the screen locks while in reading mode, then on unlock the time will be wrong until the next minute flips over.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by tomsem

The clock updates in place, as you might expect. But it seems if it is changing at the same time you do page turn you may see the screen redraw twice.

If the screen locks while in reading mode, then on unlock the time will be wrong until the next minute flips over.

That would drive me nuts. So easy to do screen refresh in memory before turning off the sleep image. Maybe in a future update.

[Tarana]

I'm not sure if this was part of the firmware update or not, but the Kindle Basic 8th gen now streams Audible books that are in your account. It's a bit clunky moving back and forth between Whispersync and I haven't figured out how to play and read at the same time (an issue for those with learning disability or English as a second language). The Audiobook plays either to the headset you have plugged in or to bluetooth speaker.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I'm not sure if this was part of the firmware update or not, but the Kindle Basic 8th gen now streams Audible books that are in your account. It's a bit clunky moving back and forth between Whispersync and I haven't figured out how to play and read at the same time (an issue for those with learning disability or English as a second language). The Audiobook plays either to the headset you have plugged in or to bluetooth speaker.

Kindle cannot play Audible in background while you view synchronized text. You can do that with Fire/iOS/Android Kindle app.

Too bad, right? One might actually use a Kindle for audiobooks if it was able to do such ‘immersion reading’. Maybe they are working on it.

The other trick I wish they would add is Plain Old text-to-speech (alongside VoiceView), and ability to download additional voices.

[MSWallack]

Is a manual update the only way to get the newest firmware? I thought that Kindles automatically downloaded and installed new firmware updates, but so far neither of my Kindles have updated.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ocicat

Well it's similar to how I love my car heated seats in the winter, the cruise control, various gauges, sensors and alarms.

Did I miss them decades ago, no, but I sure would now.

But until you have this new feature and have used it, do you miss it? No. You cannot miss something you never had.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by MSWallack

Is a manual update the only way to get the newest firmware? I thought that Kindles automatically downloaded and installed new firmware updates, but so far neither of my Kindles have updated.

They do, but OTA updates are rolled out over a period of several months.