Kindle Touch Software Upgrade to v5.3.2 - a large update with user-interface features first seen in Kindle PaperwhiteThis unanticipated and reassuring update (for an earlier Kindle model) was announced by the Amazon Kindle Forum's Community Manager, Kevin G., close to noon Tuesday. Thanks to regular contributor Tom Semple again for the alert. See notes re what users have found about this following the announcement details below [updated].
From the Amazon US update and Amazon UK update pages -
(bracketed info is by me.)
"The update will be delivered wirelessly and includes an updated user interface and new features. This update automatically downloads and installs for Kindle touch customers; however, you can also manually download the software an udpate your device via USB cable."
' This software update includes the following new features:
. A new user interface
. Whispersync for Voice [ US only ]
. Enhanced Parental Controls
. Book Covers
. Time-to-Read
. Recommended Content [ This can be turned off. ]
. Enhanced book samples
. Navigate graphic novels, and comics '
If your Kindle Touch has software version 5.1.0, 5.1.1 or 5.1.2 installed, you'll either get this wirelessly or you can download it manually as mentioned.
If you have a version prior to 5.1.0, Amazon links you to the earlier 5.1.0 update that must be downloaded and installed before doing the 5.3.2 update.
Determine your software version
- From Home, tap Menu and then tap Settings.
- On the Settings screen, tap Menu (the Amazon update page omits a step here) and THEN select Device Info. Your software version is listed under Firmware Version.
"The Kindle Touch Software update page ( US, UK ) leads you through what to do, depending on which Firmware Version is showing for your KTouch.
What's New -- and what you need to know
Amazon has a page explaining the new features ( US UK ), including the fact that "Archived Items" is gone, and "Cloud" replaces it, listing all the items or, in this case, Kindle books or newsstand titles you've purchased (including the $0.00 ones) and which can be (re)downloaded to your Kindle at any time.
It includes fuller descriptions of the new features and also explains that you can turn off "Recommended Content" if you don't want to see it (which entails going to Settings, Device Options and then Personalize your Kindle).
Other descriptions detail:
. how to view your book covers or, instead, just a listing
. how to track your reading progress with Time to read
. enhanced sample-to-book feature
. navigation of graphic novels, comics, and children's books
The Kindle Community forums post lists them and I'll include that here for easier access in one place (italics and bold-facing added by me):
' * Updated User Interface: We have an updated and streamlined interface for your Kindle. Archived Items has been renamed to Cloud and appears in the top left of your screen under the toolbar. All your archived items can be found there.
* Book Covers on the Home screen: View the covers of your books by selecting Cover View in the menu from the Home screen.
* Time to Read: Kindle Touch calculates your reading speed to let you know when you'll finish your chapter or book.
* Recommended Content: We've made it easy to discover new titles with recommended content. The Kindle Store uses the same personalized customer experience you're used to across Amazon.com, matching our best recommendations to your personal reading habits.
* Enhanced Sample-to-Book Experience: When you buy a book after reading a sample, we will now automatically start the book at your last reading location in the sample and remove the sample from your Kindle.
* Parental Controls: With the latest software update, parents can restrict access to the Experimental Web Browser, Kindle Store, and Cloud. While the Kindle Store and Cloud are locked with Parental Controls, you can continue to buy books from a computer and send them to your Kindle wirelessly.
* Whispersync for Voice: Now you can switch back and forth between reading and listening without losing your place. Whispersync for Voice will synchronize what you read on any Kindle platform device with Audible playback on Kindle Touch, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle Fire, or on Audible apps for iPhone and Android.
* Author Profiles: We've added biographical information and the ability to browse other books by the same author from within your book. When reading, tap the Menu button and select About the Author.
* Children's Books and Comics: Children's books come to life with Kindle Text Pop-Up, enabling you to easily read text over images. Comic books can now be read with Kindle Panel View, which allows you to read a comic book panel by panel.
We will be delivering this update over Wi-Fi in the coming weeks. Customers who prefer to receive the update immediately can manually download and install the software update from [the] kindlesoftwareupdates/touch page ( US UK )
If you have questions or need help with this update, please head over to the Kindle Help Forum [no announcement in UK forum at the moment]. '
What users have discovered about the upgrade
1. Kindle books can't be searched before a re-indexing of keywords is done. This re-indexing will happen automatically and will take quite a bit of time in the background (you can read a Kindle book in the meantime) and will use the battery pretty heavily before it's done.
*~*Pineapple*~*, a Kindle Forum Pro, writes
' To check for indexing, search on the Home page (Device) for an uncommon or nonsense word like zxcvb and at the bottom of the list will be the number of unindexed books.
To start them indexing:
1. Turn on wireless
2. Restart (Home > Menu > Settings > Menu > Restart)
3. Wait '
Depending on how many books are on your Kindle, it could take hours or a day, but you can use the Kindle while it's slowly re-indexing the books in the background.
Note that the software update itself is a big one and it takes longer than usual. Leave it alone when you see it happening and let it complete. It may take up to 15 minutes. I like to plug in my Kindle when manually doing an update, but it's not necessary. However, it's a good idea to plug it in for the re-indexing that will have to be done and can be quite a battery drainer.
At any rate, this extensive update is quite a boon for Kindle Touch owners.
Updated info 1/11/12
Users have reported problems with font face selections, and Amazon customer reps have told them they are working on a further update that will fix that.
Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources. Top 100 free bestsellers. Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.
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This is great news for my husband, who inherited my KT when I got a new Paperwhite. Do you know if this upgrade takes away the feature that lets you go forward and backward a chapter at a time with an up and down page swipe? I hope not! That's the one thing I miss from the Touch (that and text-to-speech). I am really hoping the Paperwhite gets an upgrade that puts it back.
ReplyDeleteCarmen, yes, your husband must be enjoying it. It's like getting a new Kindle, in my case.
DeleteFor one thing it has slightly more contrast, unlighted, than the Paperwhite although they seem to have chosen a thinner font for the Home page. I think the Lab126 director prefers the thinner fonts (as in the Baskerville when he was demo'g it for my videocam on 9/6). But the home page is readable, and the covers look even better to me on a non-lit screen. That's bizarre, isn't it.
Could be that I don't like such a white background. I have my Paperwhite on brightness-14 or so to avoid too bright a background, but I have picked up the KTouch at times and been disappointed I couldn't brighten the screen when the day's light was going :-)
I just tried a more recent book and, yes, the up and down swipes take you to Next and Previous chapters. This is if the publisher used that feature. So things look good!
I still cannot download graphic novels ('device not supported') or deliver them from MYK. I think they need to flip a switch on the server.
ReplyDeleteThey do work on my Kindle Keyboard and Paperwhite, though it seems some comic books are not compatible with any of them (e.g. 'Les Mis Illustrated Classics').
I'm having this weird reaction: I'm starting to be attracted to my KT again, as if my Paperwhite is about to become a Paperweight. The expansive storage, the consistent text rendering, great contrast, the TTS and Audible player. I suspect that the graphic novels will 'fit' better too, once they fix that. Please tell me again why PW is better. Oh yes, the Palatino. Hmm.
Tom, Graphic novels? I know I was able to get the Dilbert stuff with panels but do you mean comics? I'll check with the Classic Comics version of Les Mis. Ah, I see. They won't let us even try to see it on the KTouch. It probably is mostly unreadable due to the shadings not being translated into particularly well-differentiated grays.
DeleteWow, you know? I could swear the background of the KTouch screen is a bit whiter. Mine has always been whiter relative to the K2 and K3 but this is really nice! Am in a room with the shades down, at 4:10 pm but the screen is still whitish, and the fonts are really SOLID.
Search results fonts are like the old Home menu listing (the new text listing is thinner and wispy but still easy to read).
Ahah! I'm reading your Comment as I write, and I had just written to Carmen that the contrast on my KTouch is really nice and and it's like a new Kindle, and in some ways I do prefer using it at the moment to the brighter Paperwhite.
On the Paperwhite, I use "Helvetica" -- way the most contrast provided with that. Maybe raise the font by one to see if it gives you a bolder font?
I loved having the Paperwhite while waiting for a movie to start in the theater the other night. I could raise the lighting JUST SO and the KTouch would not have worked there. Whatever, my KTouch is staying here and the audio is no small thing for me. And the fatter storage too. I wonder if they'll bring it back, as the International product page implies.
Check the Kindle page for "Watchmen" and see the supported devices dropdown. It lists Paperwhite and Kindle Keyboard, but not Kindle Touch. No reason for that. And while Watchmen does not include iPhone/iPod Touch in the list, it does work if you pull from Cloud, but MYK won't let you push. So there are a few issues around the device support matrix for the fixed-layout KF8 books.
DeleteFor some reason Illustrated Classics Les Mis don't include KK or PW or KK, though they all definitely support KF8 with Panel View. Again, I'm able to download and read on my iPod Touch, even though it isn't listed on the product page and, again, MYK doesn't let me push it there; in all likelihood they should work on all KF8 devices now. I was going to ask CS about that also, when I have a chance to talk to them. Not all of the IC's are in KF8 format BTW, and they seem to be generally $4.99 rather than the $.99 I paid.
Nate Hoffelder noticed that Kindle for iPad/iPhone doesn't yet support reflowable KF8, even though fixed layout is. So that's yet another remaining oddity with KF8 support.
I forgot to mention how much better power management seems to be on KT than on PW. I keep wireless on (3g) all the time on both. And the PW light is at 10 or less all of the time. But I'm needing to charge PW every 2 or 3 days, whereas KT is about double that (non scientifically). While that doesn't bother me much, guess which I would take backpacking with me.
Yes, maybe it has something to with 'readability' when converted to B&W. But is that the publisher's call, or Amazon's? I can't imagine either one wanting to artificially restrict it. Just seems arbitrary. I'd rather give it a try rather than be told I can't. If all you have to read on is a eInk Kindle, try it and get a refund if it is not acceptable, etc.
DeleteBut again, KT is much better for comic books because there's more available storage, and in general, I think it is ironically better for panel view, since that displays at 100% resolution and fills up more of the screen on KT than on PW, where the panels barely get bigger in some cases.
Case in point: I was just going to look at Watchmen on my PW just now and I've 'insufficient space' to do so (I have put a lot of screenshot laden computer books on there, and have 'only' 100MB free). Unfortunately the product page does not tell you how much space it requires. Nor does Kindle tell you how much space each thing takes up. Hmm.
Tom, that is strange (and probably temporary) re the KK and PW having Watchmen access but not the KTouch.
DeleteOn the other hand, I looked at Amazon Studios' free comic book script issues at blackburn-burrow series, which are all free and are comic books, and they are available to KK, PW, and the KTouch.
I got mine from the archive (I took issue #1 for a blog entry) and let's just say that it's not a sterling visual or navigational experience on the KTouch.
The b&w is drab as is usual with no b&w conversions first, and the double-tapping gives you the words in bubbles but you can't see the entire panel when you do that because Amazon hasn't made "Landscape Mode" available for this type of book, for the KTouch, and doesn't enable 'zoom' for the panel image so that it can go to Landscape that way.
Having said that, double-tapping to get the word bubbles and main part of the panel and then swiping to get the next panel actually is fairly smooth once I get used to it.
I think that someone may have asked, "Do we want to do this?" because it opens them up to more critical volleys about e-Ink presentations of comics maybe. Still, you can read each panel's words and swipe to get the next panel and it IS readable if not visually alluring. And, as you say, it's up to us whether to want to keep that or not.
Re space needed on the e-Ink devices, here's an idea. Watchmen is 416 pages. No file size is given (whaaat?) The Blackburn Burrow comic #1 is only 25 pages, but it's 6 megs. The Blackburn Burrow comic #3 is only 23 pages but is 10 megs. So your 400+ page Watchmen would be, what, 200 megs?
Will send this one off before going on ...
Tom: Re PW battery use -- it depends, maybe. It's a newer device and anything I put on it has to be newly indexed and I've tended to put on a lot of older books at one time, so the indexing will really affect the battery. Check again at a later time? On the other hand graphics novels won't require much indexing as they're not text oriented...
DeleteThe Paperwhite's 2 gigs of storage is probably only 1.5 GB storage after the system files and cacheing space is reserved...
It's not indexing, generally speaking. It's the overall 'profile' of battery usage, it is just not as good as KT, at least the way I want to use it (with wireless on all of the time). If I remember the teardown, the battery is a little smaller. Graphic novels don't get indexed, but I don't have any of them on there.
DeleteI think you start out with about 1.3 GB free space, a little more than a third of KT or KK.
I was okay with that until I put the computer books on there. These are bigger also not just because they have a bunch of images, but because they are just raw output of kindlegen (includes mobi, kf8, and source archive). That's the way OReilly and others make mobi available. I could make them considerably smaller (up to 1/3) if I ran an available python script over them to extract just the kf8, or at least strip off the source archive, but I'm too lazy. OReilly can push your library (any or all formats) to Dropbox, which is really convenient for access from every device so I want to take advantage of that. I don't put 'em in personal documents because then I lose the kf8 formatting which is significantly better for such books.
Amazon could save me a lot of this grief, of course, if they'd update personal documents service to accept (and preserve) KF8 files output from kindlegen, and then deliver the appropriate format (mobi or kf8) to the appropriate device. But as a 'service' it has to be a low priority for them, and I doubt many people are complaining about it, since it is pretty great 'as is'.
I would have been happy to download everything from Dropbox on demand (m.dropbox.com works pretty well on Kindle), but I'm running out of free storage there, so I moved everything non-OReilly to Google Drive. Unfortunately I discovered that nothing over 10MB can be downloaded from there to PW or KT. Stupid experimental browser. SkyDrive was another thing I tried (7GB free storage!) but PW/KT can't even login to that. Amazon Cloud Drive does not have iOS/Android clients so that makes it less convenient for mobile access (assuming it even works decently with Kindle browser, which it probably doesn't since I don't think it has a mobile web interface). So finally I just went ahead and loaded a bunch of it on via USB, only to discover it isn't fitting so well.
In conclusion, I'll figure this out eventually, but wish they hadn't trimmed PW so close to the bone. End of rant.
Tom, maybe the large computer books (like the CK-12 books, which are large, with text and photos) take more time to index when newly put on a more recent e-Ink ereader?
DeleteIt could be the lighting sysem drains more than their tests showed. Especially true when you have your Paperwhite brightness setting lower than anyone I've talked with.
I was able to get into Amazon Cloud Drive to see and download from the beginning of Kindle Fire 1 due to the Adobe Flash Reader and Dolphin. But it's easier now. It's slow, probably by design as it's meant mainly for storage.
BOX had a great deal once - 50 Gigs for free but the transfer limits were low. Only 100M a day, something undoable, but I do keep things there.
Have you used WiFi Pro app? It's so easy and so flexible and uses no cabling. The 99c version goes both ways. I love it. The connection is instant after you type the IP number it assigns your Kindle Fire. I do add a password though.
I agree with you 100% re the storage limitations on PW. I rationalize it to myself that it's a dedicated book reader. Time for a big-sibling Paperwhite!
I manually downloaded and installed the update, and I can report that it works flawlessly. Wow, now I am glad I decided to stick with my K Touch and not automatically upgrade to the paperwhite.
ReplyDeleteThe touch now feels like a different device, it's funny how a new interface could have that effect. But it almost feels like I have a different device.
Everything us there, cover view, cover view for the cloud, improved keyboard ( I don't think the release mentioned the new on screen keyboard but it's much better than the old one ). There is now panel view for enabled graphic novels and comics ( the few you can find ), and most importantly for me, there is whispersync for audio. I tested it out with The Picture of Dorian Gray. It's not immersive reading, so you wont see words highlighted and you can't read to the audible recording. It does accurately sync your position though. I listened to the audio book for a bit, then I opened the e book and voilà , I was on the same page and the spoken text was a sentence from the top. I think depending on your font and txt settings it may be at the start of the page. It worked flawlessly. So now i am able to use one device for my books and audio books and not have to pick up my phone if i want to close my eyes a bit and still "read" the book. That alone is worth keeping the Kindle Touch. I may still get a Paperwhite because of the superior screen and the light, but I wont be dumping the Touch anytime soon. I am going to get a lighted case and have it as my go to device. The Whispersync for voice means that the lack of a light built in, is mitigated a bit because i can effortlessly switch to human read audio in low light conditions if I don't want to use a book light.
Now if someone can figure out a way to put the browser in landscape the Kindle touch would also function as my basic information tablet. I could get kindle active content apps for a calender, a full calculator, a notepad and a weather app. If cnn made an app for e ink and the browser could go to landscape , I would not have a need for a tablet.
One more thing, the release said that Whispersync for audio is US only, I am in Trinidad ( Caribbean ) and it works flawlessly here.
Junior Yearwood, I thought you did send for the Paperwhite and were waiting for its arrival.
DeleteYes, exactly my response. It's like having a new Kindle. I was amazed last night. I didn't know the keyboard was newly redone but I was wishing as I typed that the tablet keyboards were SO EASY TO CONTROL when pressing the keys.
I can't get the comic book for Les Mis (it's a trip to read how they condense that monster of a beautiful book and to see how the illustrations are done) and maybe that's an oversight that it's not enabled for delivery to KTouch yet -- or, the colors won't translate in a way they'd be seen as positive on the e-Ink KTouch maybe.
The Picture of Dorian Gray that I have from Audible DOES track with the text, highlighting the line that is being read (I just don't find the reader's voice agreeable - I'd almost rather have Tom and his no-pause sentence combos. Almost.)
I tried the straight text-to-speech on Tina Fey's book and it was so funny to hear THAT prim tts voice speaking Fey's words. I must have done this on the Kindle Fire. Will try it on the KTouch later.
Kindle Touch: I do like that they did add Landscape mode maybe half a year ago for reading Kindle books, via Menu-press.
But, as you point out, on the web browser, there's no "Landscape" mode -- they make up for it fairly well with the "Article Mode"
though!
GREAT re the Whispersync for audio where you are. Shhhh. :-)
Note that:
ReplyDelete- they haven't included the silly 'Airplane Mode', it is still "Wireless on/off" as before
- swipe up/down chapter navigation still works
- you can turn off Recommended in settings (as on PW since the update)
I still haven't been able to download (or send from MYK) any of my comic books (eg. Watchmen), which should work. Will be following up with Amazon CS on that.
Note that searching for '.' (period) is sufficient in terms of checking indexing.
Tom, 'silly' is the right word re the 'Airplane mode.' It confuses just about everyone. And on my Kindle Fire, I've seen Airplane icon ON at the top bar (which should shut off both types of wireless) but my WiFi still works fine with that 'on.' I hope they get rid of that 'icon' forever.
DeleteLet us know what Kindle CS says about the graphic novels, since they SHOULD work! Maybe they just haven't updated that yet to follow up on the new capabilities. But I think comic books will still be very hard on the eyes when not converted first to b&w by Amazon instead of just presenting the regular color versions. I hated the results when putting on color pictures into our e-ink pictures folder. I have a book on Kindle graphics and had to do conversions first to be able to enjoy the image at all on e-Ink.
Whoa. The searching won't stop on the first instance of a period? Normally not a part of search terms. 'asdf' usually is easy enough for me. Thanks for that tip!
yes, indexing ignores periods and other punctuation, as well as short words (articles like 'the' 'a' etc.). I just like '.' because it is 'elegant'. But no matter what you search for (even if there are search results) there will still be the items not indexed thing at the end of search results.
DeleteAn update on Kindle Touch support for 'graphic novels'.
DeleteI talked with Amazon CS and apparently it something the publisher has to fix. Unfortunately, if you browse the 'Comics and Graphic Novels' or 'Childrens ebooks' list, there are many examples where Kindle Keyboard and Kindle Paperwhite are 'supported' but Kindle Touch is not. I haven't found a single one yet that supports Kindle Touch (apart from mobi format titles that are just a series of image files). So it is sort of moot whether KIndle Touch supports KF8 fixed layout, if there no such items in the Kindle Store that can be downloaded to it as far as I can tell.
I tried to make this point to the CS representative, but I don't think they got it. The rep assured me that the publisher would be informed, but I have low confidence that my specific report will have any impact on when it will be addressed. Hopefully as part of the KT update rollout, publishers are notified somehow and they'll take action before much longer. But with the Kindle Keyboard and K4 KF8 support update, full support was there right away. KT is a little unique in that KF8 support was 'staged'. Perhaps the distinction has been thus far lost on publishers.
I might try another tack with CS: ask them to point me to ANY title in the Kindle Store that supports Comics or Children's book format for Kindle Touch (as the update announcement suggests that it does).
As happens too often, you get a customer rep who knows nothing about what Amazon is currently offering.
DeleteI always call back to get a customer rep who is issue-aware and the experience any tech rep has varies quite a bit.
GREAT idea on asking them that. But I never take the word of one customer rep unless it makes sense and this person sure did not. Sorry you had to go through that.
I haven't received the update yet (still on 5.1.2 -- I'll wait for auto-update).
ReplyDeleteThe change in the name of "archive" to "cloud" actually better reflects the content that is included in the list. Back in the generation 2 kindle days, the "archive" list only included books bought from Amazon.
Nowadays (and I don't know whether this came about with the release of the KT or afterward), the archive list includes all of the items you see on the left of your "manage your kindle" page under the "Your Kindle Library" heading this includes books bought from Amazon, Personal documents (which can include books bought elsewhere), subscriptions, active content, etc. I don't think music (MP3s)is included.
It'll be interesting to see whether they provide any improvements in how these cloud items are displayed on the KT
Edward, you're a patient man. I hooked mine up to the desktop and the designated drive letter became "f:\" and the folders or subdirectories were showing up on my file manager.
DeleteI then went to the software update page and had it just download to "f:" and it took about 10 seconds to download and it landed in the root of f:\ where it should be. I did a Safe eject and then went to the settings Menu/Settings/Menu and the 'Update Your Kindle' was showing as an active option so I did. And voila.
It's a beautiful update.
My Cloud shows books, newsstand items, and my personal docs from interesting webpages that I sent to the Kindle via SendToReader (see this blog article), a neat thing you can call up from your browser page to send that page to the Kindle. Images are shown nicely and a history of your sends are on the SendToReader site. Kindle now has sendtokindle, I think, and it's nice but I think it makes it a PDF (but I don't remember).
Has anyone else noticed that the browser is much faster and is quite useable. Before trying to scroll through my history or bookmarks was almost impossible,
ReplyDeletenow it's a pleasure to use. Sites seem to load quicker and article mode comes up faster too. I rarely used it before,but now I think I'll use it often.
Unknown, yes, I was startled to see a link bring up a web page that loaded right away, very smoothly. (Don't use the Kindle Bookmarks' "NY Times" though as it brings you to the fancy web page and is a horror.
DeleteIt's okay if you can click on an article and then bring up Menu/Article View because that's very readable, but it's hard to get TO an article as the words are too small to see, and the page is too busy loading all kinds of things, to be able choose an article.
But clicking on a link and winding up on a normal webpage? very surprising that it's so fast. That would be why there's no free-3G on this model -- the processor and direct access to links makes it very usable and therefore very expensive for Amazon if they were paying for the 3G as they do for the Kindle Keyboard model. But a good processor, better programming code it seems, and WiFi network access makes for a decent experience on the browser.
Thanks for taking the time to note it here. I'm one with a Yes to your question :-)
After the software update, my Collections are no longer listed. The books are just listed in abc order. So, I tried to reenter a title such as Suspense, and it says the title is currently in use and to enter a different title. Does anyone know what I should do?
ReplyDeleteCindy
Cindy, they made a mistake in that update. Normally, when you tap 'Recent' or 'Title' or 'Author' you can see the other option, which would be 'Collections' but that does not show up when you have selected "Books" (where they SHOULD show up).
DeleteYou have to tap 'Books' (or 'Periodicals' etc) below the top row and choose "All Items" before you can get the 'Collections' choice for sorting...
Hope that helps!
Hi, ever since my kindle touch automatically updated the battery only lasts a few days. I used to charge it about once a month. I'm not reading any more than usual but every few days I get the message that it's running low. Is this happening to anyone else and can it be fixed?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, as far as I've noticed, it's not common.
DeleteMaybe you have a new book that won't finish indexing keywords.
Do a search on the home page for some nonsense combo like "znhsx" and if there is a book that has not finished indexing (should finish the same day unless a hundred+ were moved to the Kindle at one time), then it'll say {title] has not ocmpleted indexing.
Usually, that's a problem file - so it's good to remove it from the device and re-download it and in fact Customer Svc may need to help you re-download one from their general server copy area.
But before you try that, do this.
Press the power button for about 21 seconds. When it asks if you want to Power Off, ignore it. Then it'll go blank at some point. Let go after the 21 seconds.
After a few seconds wait, press the power button to wake it up and go away while it redoes the memory configuration.
After that, some battery problems have been solved.
If neither of the above works,
Either contact Customer Service at
1. 1-866-321-8851
OR
2. http://amzn.to/ksupport_page
Let me know how it goes, if you have time.
I cannot get my Kindle Touch to index any of my books since the update. I have waited, deleted books, redownloaded books, restarted and done a hard reset of the device. What should I do at this point? I really like searching my books for key phrases.
ReplyDeleteRe-indexing of your books should not be necessary after an update, unless it's so large an update that they had to remove the index first.
DeleteWhat happens when you search on a nonsense combo like "xhzh" ?
If any books are not indexed yet, it should then indicate which books those are. If one isn't, that's the one to remove and then re-download
Re doing a hard reset, yes, that should have started any reset unless there was a problem book, which should then be removed, which you've done. Searching books is a must for me so I would find it frustrating. Did you hold the power button in for a minimum of 20 seconds?
Not recommended without help from Amazon Kindle customer rep but you can also go into the system files where the index or indices are found and just delete the current index files and then power off. If that doesn't work, then do the 20-second reset.
The danger in removing indexing files is that you may inadvertently get into the wrong system folder and delete the wrong files, which is why an Amazon Kindle customer support rep or technician should go over that on the phone with you while you do it... Also, they should know that normal indexing isn't working for some reason.
Let me know how it goes...
I have 1200 books/docs on my Kindle and since the update, I can't search within any of them. Is is possible the Kindle is taking forever to process them for search? There are no books waiting to be indexed.
ReplyDeleteDabney, I'd do a 'restart' on your Kindle. Press the Power 'On' and hold it there for about 20+ seconds. Then let it go, then press the 'On' again quickly and go away. After awhile, it should have cleaned up the memory situation (as with PC's that need a restart) and will then start re-indexing the books (if you added some) or recognize the current indexing (if you didn't add any).
ReplyDeleteIf you still can't get results from a search, then call up Amazon Kindle Support at 1-866-321-8851
They'll need to check the system files with you. I once was helped to remove the indexing folder contents so it could rebuild the indexing. (I would keep the Kindle plugged in if it does have to re-index all 1200 books.)
If you have a chance, let me know how this went for you. Thanks.
Hi Andrys, I hope you can help me with an issue with my Kindle Touch. I'm a novice user, so please be gentle with me. :-) After the update, all the books I had in Collections re-appeared again in my main book list. They weren't there before. If I make a new Collection, they're still in both places.
ReplyDeleteI don't use my Kindle a lot and have only books, no periodicals. Frustrating for this newbie!
Thank you for any light you can shed
Donna, it can be confusing for anyone.
DeleteThere are various ways to view your books. I'll put some steps here, since I don't know where you're at when you see the book titles appearing.
1. First, press the bottom rectangular button to get to HOME page for the listing of books on the Kindle Touch.
2. You'll see these as book covers or as "List View" -- whichever you chose with the Menu option at top right. You can then tap the Menu rectangle to toggle it On or Off.
3. Underneath the Menu rectangle are display options (from left to right, for
(a) Viewing your book list on 'Cloud' or on 'Device' -- In this case, tap "Device"
(b) To the right of that, you have several ways to view "My Items"
- Tap this to choose to see either "All Items" or just books or just periodicals, etc.
- Tap it again to toggle Off that listing of options.
The KEY is this: If you choose to view "All Items" -- you will see ALL the books individually AND you'll see ALSO all the Collections you have and it lets you 'sort' all of these (the sorting option is at the far right) by [Most] Recent, or by "Title" or Author OR by Collection (the latter lets you see the Collection groups first).
If you choose "Books" you will be shown ONLY the books and won't be shown the Collections.
So -- The "Collections" choice shows ONLY if you choose "All Items" (which is the one choice that includes Collections) and that listing will ALSO show show individual books. If you SORT by Collections, rather than Titles, it will show you all individual book titles AFTER showing you the Collection groups first.
In other words, when you choose "All Items" you are shown both the individual books AND the Collections. This is the thing that confuses most of us.
So, if you don't want to see the Collections at all, just choose "Books" instead.
But if you do want to view your Collections as well, you choose "All Items and then use the sorting view at the right to Sort by Collections if that's what you want to see first.
Not sure if this was the problem, but it's the problem for most of us.
Thank you, thank you! You're a gem!
DeleteDonna, glad that did help! Thanks for returning to let us know. :-) Also, it's a common area of confusion for many (and probably with some who never ask about it), so I will probably make a blog entry from this. Thanks again.
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