Kindle 3 preview-release of software update v3.0.2 available at Amazon

Amazon is now requesting feedback on an "early preview of the next software update" for Kindle 3 and refers to this update-preview as software update version 3.0.2.

They stress this is offered so that "Customers who want to try this early release of the software and provide feedback can download the update" from their servers.

  Amazon explains that this update includes

' web browser
      and
  general performance improvements.

  After installing this update, please share your feedback with us at kindle-response@amazon.com.  We look forward to hearing about your experience and appreciate your feedback. '

The performance improvements would include software responses to reports that some Kindle 3's have had some slowing down of page-turn processes outdoors since the v3.01 update which seems to have prevented, on the whole, freezes and/or reboots some were experiencing with their Kindles -- and in phone calls that Kindle tech support reps have made to customers in proactive responses to forum notes, they've offered this second interim update with success in at least a couple of cases I was reading, although again some forum members have been given replacement Kindles within a day or so, possibly so that, as before, the Kindle crew could analyze the original one or because they felt a replacement Kindle would be best for the symptoms reported.

To report any unusual problems like this, it's best to write kindle-feedback@amazon.com, as that mail tends to be routed to the development team.

Reports have included a few saying that page turns take "a full second" outdoors when they had taken half a second earlier, so some of the slow-downs are minor but shouldn't happen, though I suspect that this small a slowdown could have been the result of a compromise between two options in the prior fix.  Some, though, report having slowdowns to 2-3 seconds a page, and today, two Kindle owners reported that v3.02 given them by Kindle Support helped with the slowdowns outdoors.

Instructions at their preview-update page start with:

' Here's how to download Kindle software update version 3.0.2 and transfer it to your Kindle via USB:

1. Determine your software version: :  From Home, select Menu, then Settings.  On the Settings screen you will see the Kindle version at the bottom of the screen.  If you see “Version Kindle 3.0.1” or earlier, please proceed with the steps below to update your Kindle to the latest software.
   
   
   
2. Download your software: Visit the appropriate link below to download the software update file directly to your computer: ... '

They have a good diagram showing how you can determine which software you'd download, depending on your serial number and the type of Kindle 3 you have.

You'll see step-by-step directions there for the download.  I'd say again that there's no need to install this interim update unless you actually are seeing any problems like this (many say they're not seeing any problems), but I don't expect it would hurt, since programming code will check status to see if a fix is needed.

A Theory
I posted the following thoughts in the forums (edited for the blog) about some instances that may be perceived slowdowns, especially for the ones that are unhappy that a page turn now takes a full second (though there are a few with heavier slowdowns):

' A lot of people have reported general speed ups in page turns after v3.01.  I think they may mean the immediate response when you press the page turn button, and they see this as faster because immediate response never happened before -- there had usually been a 1 second 'wait' and then the slight flash and the new page would show up.

  In the past, the next-page just didn't start showing instantaneously, as it does when we see it now with the Kindle 3, especially after the v3.01 update for some of us, but we also see the reverse e-Ink image doing its inevitable thing sooner and for what seems a longer time then.

  Some are bothered (as I was for awhile) by the longer reverse image screen.
  At first, I did think the immediate page turns that then show full black pages with text briefly meant that the page turn was slower when in fact (I tested them for 1/2 an hour in the sun) the K3 page turns are consistently faster than my K2 page turns of the same material at the same time -- the K2 shows hardly any interim black probably because the page turn doesn't start right away.  But my K2 turns actually take longer to complete despite the lack of very-noticeable reverse image. '

But, that's not to minimze the fact that some Kindle 3's definitely have heavier slowdowns after update version v3.01, and this latest update may fix that.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

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