Thread in Kindle subreddit says kindle now has cover as screensaver option

Pjama · 04-09-2021, 08:02 AM

Is this true? Or a hoax? It looks legit, and people have shown a screenshot of the toggle in the settings. Also, lots of anecdotal confirmation. All people who have this seem to be on 5.13.4 or 5.13.5 and are outside the US.

I literally just changed to Kobo (Libra arrived on Tuesday) because I’d given up waiting for amazon ever to do anything about the covers or anything even slightly innovative again. Not that this is innovative, but it is for the Kindle these past years. I love my Kobo anyway, so happy to have my much-missed progress bar back, and it just feels very nice in the hand after the cold hard metal.

Anyway, I hope it's true, and was wondering if anyone here has the option?

Paperbackstash · 04-09-2021, 11:44 AM

The Reddit does make it seem legit, including the screenshot

I just restarted mine as they suggested, but do not have yet.

Of course this seems to be happening finally - right when they start changing my cover art on so many books to cover art I don't like. My luck...

Paperbackstash · 04-09-2021, 11:46 AM

And will this only work if you paid to have special ads turned off, or were turned off for free by amazon support? Mine has the "special offers"

*cough*ads*cough*

jhowell · 04-09-2021, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

Of course this seems to be happening finally - right when they start changing my cover art on so many books to cover art I don't like. My luck...

It uses the actual cover from the book, not the thumbnail shown in the library view, probably because the thumbnails are too low in resolution.

Camellia · 04-09-2021, 07:28 PM

It looks like only users in Mexico and India have reported getting the option so far, so I suppose it's a regional staggered rollout!

penguintri · 04-10-2021, 09:01 AM

If you want to try it out just change your region to India on the manage your content and devices section on the website. I used an India address generator. I tried it and after my Home Screen had updated there was a pop up at the bottom to enable the setting. Didn’t even have to reboot my device. The option was added to my settings as well.

Unfortunately when I changed my region back to the UK the setting went away and it changed the wallpaper back to the default.

rupan88 · 04-12-2021, 02:07 AM

I don't see where I could change the region in the section you mentioned. I don't have such an option.

rupan88 · 04-12-2021, 04:05 AM

Nevermind, I've found it. Changed to India, but the features is nowhere to be found. Maybe it'll take some time to show up.

JSWolf · 04-12-2021, 05:46 AM

This is one of the reasons Kindles are annoying. I prefer to install the current firmware and have every new feature my device is getting to be available. I do not want to wait for who knows how long and maybe to have to have WiFi on to get these features activated.

Paperbackstash · 04-12-2021, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhowell

It uses the actual cover from the book, not the thumbnail shown in the library view, probably because the thumbnails are too low in resolution.

All covers of the e-book are actual covers of the e-book, I am sure they use the larger file resolution, which makes sense. Whichever the thumbnail shows is the cover data --- unfortunately Amazon keeps changing mine lately and it's been an annoyance.

Paperbackstash · 04-12-2021, 02:35 PM

It does seem to roll out in India and other regions first - surely this won't be only for those regions? It's probably just a slow roll-out and they're testing other places out first. No clue.

tomsem · 04-12-2021, 05:02 PM

Maybe some regions do not have Special Offers and that is where it is rolling out first. SO’s only make sense if Amazon is set up in the region to get revenue for promoting books there.

In regions where there are SOs there is a communication issue: enabling the feature means disabling SO screen saver (and needing to adjust advertising rates down to compensate), or not enabling the feature on SO Kindles until the customer buys out of SO (or gets Customer Service to turn them off for free). There are more details to work out.

I suppose they could show book cover as Lock Screen image, but then replace it with the SO image when Kindle wakes up, and require you to swipe or engage the SO.

PeterCay · 04-12-2021, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by penguintri

If you want to try it out just change your region to India on the manage your content and devices section on the website. I used an India address generator. I tried it and after my Home Screen had updated there was a pop up at the bottom to enable the setting. Didn’t even have to reboot my device. The option was added to my settings as well.

Unfortunately when I changed my region back to the UK the setting went away and it changed the wallpaper back to the default.

I have done this, but didn't work on my Kindle Voyage.

I have turned the WiFi on. How much time did you need to wait until the new option appeared?

Thanks

rupan88 · 04-13-2021, 12:58 PM

Changed the region to India and to their store. The feature appeared. Instead of turning the reader on with the button I think it's on and try to go to the next page by tapping. Will take time to get used to.

Now it'd be nice to figure out how to make books from other stores have the covers appear as screensaver, becasue the vast majority of them don't.

ddavtian · 04-14-2021, 01:17 AM

I changed my region to India, manually updated Oasis, got the cover option, turned airplane mode on and turned region back to US.
All books from Amazon and sideloaded by Calibre show covers. A small but very nice feature.

04-09-2021, 08:02 AM	#1
Pjama Guru Posts: 733 Karma: 2347200 Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: TX Device: Scribe and Libra Colour	Thread in Kindle subreddit says kindle now has cover as screensaver option Is this true? Or a hoax? It looks legit, and people have shown a screenshot of the toggle in the settings. Also, lots of anecdotal confirmation. All people who have this seem to be on 5.13.4 or 5.13.5 and are outside the US. I literally just changed to Kobo (Libra arrived on Tuesday) because I’d given up waiting for amazon ever to do anything about the covers or anything even slightly innovative again. Not that this is innovative, but it is for the Kindle these past years. I love my Kobo anyway, so happy to have my much-missed progress bar back, and it just feels very nice in the hand after the cold hard metal. Anyway, I hope it's true, and was wondering if anyone here has the option? Last edited by Pjama; 04-09-2021 at 01:09 PM. Reason: ETA: Sorry, I messed up my title, should be 'says' between subreddit and kindle

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04-09-2021, 11:44 AM	#2
Paperbackstash Wizard Posts: 1,653 Karma: 20102554 Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Central Florida Device: Oasis 3, PW 3 & 5, Fire HD 8 & 10	The Reddit does make it seem legit, including the screenshot I just restarted mine as they suggested, but do not have yet. Of course this seems to be happening finally - right when they start changing my cover art on so many books to cover art I don't like. My luck...

04-09-2021, 11:46 AM	#3
Paperbackstash Wizard Posts: 1,653 Karma: 20102554 Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Central Florida Device: Oasis 3, PW 3 & 5, Fire HD 8 & 10	And will this only work if you paid to have special ads turned off, or were turned off for free by amazon support? Mine has the "special offers" coughadscough

04-09-2021, 07:28 PM	#5
Camellia She / Her Posts: 48 Karma: 13653962 Join Date: Jul 2020 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Forma	It looks like only users in Mexico and India have reported getting the option so far, so I suppose it's a regional staggered rollout!

04-10-2021, 09:01 AM	#6
penguintri Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Paperwhite 2	If you want to try it out just change your region to India on the manage your content and devices section on the website. I used an India address generator. I tried it and after my Home Screen had updated there was a pop up at the bottom to enable the setting. Didn’t even have to reboot my device. The option was added to my settings as well. Unfortunately when I changed my region back to the UK the setting went away and it changed the wallpaper back to the default.

04-12-2021, 02:07 AM	#7
rupan88 Member Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Poland Device: PW3, KO3	I don't see where I could change the region in the section you mentioned. I don't have such an option.

04-12-2021, 04:05 AM	#8
rupan88 Member Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Poland Device: PW3, KO3	Nevermind, I've found it. Changed to India, but the features is nowhere to be found. Maybe it'll take some time to show up.

04-12-2021, 05:46 AM	#9
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,654 Karma: 145864619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	This is one of the reasons Kindles are annoying. I prefer to install the current firmware and have every new feature my device is getting to be available. I do not want to wait for who knows how long and maybe to have to have WiFi on to get these features activated.

04-12-2021, 02:35 PM	#11
Paperbackstash Wizard Posts: 1,653 Karma: 20102554 Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Central Florida Device: Oasis 3, PW 3 & 5, Fire HD 8 & 10	It does seem to roll out in India and other regions first - surely this won't be only for those regions? It's probably just a slow roll-out and they're testing other places out first. No clue.

04-12-2021, 05:02 PM	#12
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,930 Karma: 27013865 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	Maybe some regions do not have Special Offers and that is where it is rolling out first. SO’s only make sense if Amazon is set up in the region to get revenue for promoting books there. In regions where there are SOs there is a communication issue: enabling the feature means disabling SO screen saver (and needing to adjust advertising rates down to compensate), or not enabling the feature on SO Kindles until the customer buys out of SO (or gets Customer Service to turn them off for free). There are more details to work out. I suppose they could show book cover as Lock Screen image, but then replace it with the SO image when Kindle wakes up, and require you to swipe or engage the SO.

04-13-2021, 12:58 PM	#14
rupan88 Member Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Poland Device: PW3, KO3	Changed the region to India and to their store. The feature appeared. Instead of turning the reader on with the button I think it's on and try to go to the next page by tapping. Will take time to get used to. Now it'd be nice to figure out how to make books from other stores have the covers appear as screensaver, becasue the vast majority of them don't.

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04-14-2021, 01:17 AM	#15
ddavtian Addict Posts: 274 Karma: 332 Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: San Francisco, USA Device: Sage, Elipsa, Oasis, Galaxy Tab 8U, S22U	I changed my region to India, manually updated Oasis, got the cover option, turned airplane mode on and turned region back to US. All books from Amazon and sideloaded by Calibre show covers. A small but very nice feature.