Kindle 2.3 update

[Chris W]

Some more thoughts about the update. This basically brings the software side of the Kindle 2 inline with that of the Nook, with the exception of the lending feature. I'm guessing they did this to tip the balance for any prospective e-Reader consumers over to the Amazon family during Christmas, now that the Nook is no longer available until January.
Now I can only hope that they get the organization / folder update done in early January to put the Kindle software over the top of the Nook's, to get all the post Christmas buyers to choose the Kindle family.
Then, I'm sure, sometime in the first half of 2010, there will be a new hardware revision that leapfrogs the Nook. They can't quickly match features every time a new product comes out, or they will lose the cost benefits of mass production. But that just puts e-Readers into the same category as televisions, computers, and most other electronics devices: they are 'obsolete' the week after they are released.

[scarlet]

I re-read the Amazon page and it says next time whispernet is on and kindle is in sleep mode, so I've turned on my whispernet and am waiting for it to go to sleep and then I'll check it.

[jmiked]

I re-read the Amazon page and it says next time whispernet is on and kindle is in sleep mode, so I've turned on my whispernet and am waiting for it to go to sleep and then I'll check it.

I think this only happens if your Kindle is in the queue for updates at that time. As I recall they use rolling updates, i.e. not everyone gets it at the same time and it may takes weeks.

Or not. 

Mike

[Anju No. 469]

I have my WN on, and it's asleep, has been for several hours.  Will leave on all night and if it has not downloaded by the morning will do it manually.  But then don't know if Global kindle will do this this way, wireless.

[scarlet]

Well, I left it asleep with the WN on for an hour and it seems to have downloaded (at least the settings page now says version 2.3 with a long number in parenthesis), but I'm not seeing a line spacing option on my DX, so it looks like that's still not available.

[egh34]

Hate to be so blonde, but is it 2.3 or 2.03 we are dealing with? I have 2.03 on my Kindle now, and since it took me about 4 hours to install the screensavers, I really don't want to uninstall the screensavers and then re-install them if I don't have to.

Thanks for your help!!

[jmiked]

The new version is 2.30. As I understand it, it breaks font hacks for the moment.

Mike

[akpak]

We're talking about 2.3... The version that now supports PDF. I removed the screensaver hack because PDF support was way more important

[auntmarge]

I'm with those awaiting the font hack workaround.  So glad I saw that before I updated, since it makes a huge difference to me in ease of reading.  I am looking forward to landscape mode, though.

[pidgeon92]

I took off both hacks, and updated the Kindle manually... The PDF support is nice, but unfortunately you cannot change the text size of the PDFs.... However, if you rotate the page, the text enlarges to fill it.

[Ephany]

It took my non-computer savvy self a few tries, but I finally got it upated. Not sure if I'll really use the new features, but they may come in handy.

[egh34]

OK, may need more help. Uninstalled the hack (I think...mainly because the old screensavers are back) and did a manual download. Everything seems ok, and I even watched when it said it was dowloading and watched it do it's thing. BUT, it still shows 2.0.3...any ideas?

[anivyl]

for people trying to update it now-ish:

just called customer service, whispernet is currently undergoing maintenance so updating via WN is going to be either 1) slow or 2) non-existent. for me, it was non-existent.


question, so we definitely can't do a screensaver hack at the moment?

[tsemple]

This brings K2's PDF support to par with DX's (albeit with a smaller screen to work with). Which is to say it is lacking PDF support commonly available on other reading devices (reflow, ADE/ACS). You basically get two text sizes: the one resulting from displaying the full page in Portrait orientation, and the one resulting from displaying a portion of the page at a time in landscape mode (if PDF doc is in landscape to begin with, not sure what it will do with it...).

But that's useful enough for me. If you author your own PDF's, it means you can format your document for K2's screen size before converting, so the text size will be readable and can use whatever font you happen to have available on your computer. I want to use it to convert Russian text so I can read it on my K2 without font hack, so it is good enough for that. And Landscape will be nice even for MOBI docs.

[Jo]

It is unlikely that the Kindle will correctly display anything that has non-Amazon DRM. . .no matter the format. . . . . .

Wishful thinking...

[Annalog]

After looking at the screensaver images, it definitely seems as if there is more contrast on my Kindle. Also, the following is the list of what seems to be the new default on my Kindle 2:

• Number calculating machine (Now with Kindle-feedback instead of Kindle2-feedback address)
• Ralph Ellison
• Kindle definition with man reading under a tree
• Audubon finches-in-a-tree
• Virginia Woolf
• Jules Verne
• Illuminated page with Iohannis aquila in upper right corner
• Jane Austen
• Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Emily Dickinson
• Hercules constellation
• 17th century astronomer & his wife
• James Joyce
• Mark Twain
• Sybilla Samia
• Fish
• John Steinbeck
• Renaissance man writing with a curtain as the background
• Man at table with lion in foreground
• Albertus" page
• Charlotte Bronte
• Cathedral floorplan
• Agatha Christie
• Alexandre Dumas

I no longer see:

• Edgar Allen Poe
• Kindle definition with falling letters
• Oscar Wilde
• John Milton
• Lewis Carroll

[Chris W]

After looking at the screensaver images, it definitely seems as if there is more contrast on my Kindle. Also, the following is the list of what seems to be the new default on my Kindle 2:

I ran through my screensavers on my DX, and they match up. Makes sense, as the software version is the same.
My feedback screen still has the address of Kindledx-feedback though, not sure how big of a difference that makes now.

[LauraB]

Chris, I updated my K2I, but not my DX because I couldn't see from the update information on Amazon that it does anything besides PDF stuff. And I don't do PDF so don't want to give up hacks for the update. Does it do anything besides that for the DX that you can tell 

[k_reader]

These were my most HATED screen savers.... so glad to see they are gone.

Edgar Allen Poe
Oscar Wilde
John Milton
Lewis Carroll

However, I love my new screen savers so much more! I would have gotten rid of them, but the Fonts Hack is a must have for me. The text quality is SO much better.  It never ceases to amaze me as to why amazon couldn't load a few fonts and give choices.  I get they are trying to keep the product simple for non technical users, but, this is ridiculous.  Adding some choices on font styles would be SO EASY for them.  I don't get it.

No upgrade for me, until I can get my fonts!

[LauraB]

I miss the Oscar Wilde on my K2 already, he is one of my favorite authors.

[Susan in VA]

To be honest.  . .I don't have either hack on either of my Kindles. . .

Didn't I look at your Kindle to see an example of the font hack, just a few months ago?    Or am I losing my mind?


Reading through all these posts, I think maybe I don't really want this update for myself...  No need for rotation, and no need for pdf files until the day I land a full-time job again and splurge on a DX to celebrate that.  

Unfortunately, even though I've been meaning to do it for months, I have neither hack installed...  even though I already have a file with a huge collection of screensaver images collected from KB, thanks to all of you who make such cool ones.

So I guess what I have to do now is install one or both ASAP, before I turn on WN again...  Somehow I don't think that's what Amazon intended.  

[meglet]

Looks like screensavers and fonts have already been fixed. Link to MobileRead: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63225.

I've downloaded the repackaged hacks, but I think I'll wait to update (2.3 and the hacks) until someone else confirms they work properly. Not really feeling in the mood to be the guinea pig tonight.

[RavenclawPrefect]

I agree meglet, I will let it be tested a few times before I do it as well

[Chris W]

Chris, I updated my K2I, but not my DX because I couldn't see from the update information on Amazon that it does anything besides PDF stuff. And I don't do PDF so don't want to give up hacks for the update. Does it do anything besides that for the DX that you can tell 

My update came via Whispernet before I even checked it, but I don't have any hacks installed. It's supposed to improve battery life, only time will tell with that. However, the only change I noticed is the sleep mode. It changed the time from 5 to 20 minutes before it goes to sleep.

[LauraB]

I was wondering about the battery life aspect. But it only lists that under the K2I, not k2 or DX so I wasn't sure. Of course, as you say, only time will tell.