Kindle News: Kindle Paperwhite 2 software update v5.4.5 -- Sync to most recent page read across all Kindle devices + reading apps; Small preview window now in margin of PDF pan & zooms; Sample of beginning of a book ready in your Cloud while waiting for a physical book.

NEW KINDLE PAPERWHITE 2 gets Software Update v5.4.5 has some general improvements and feature enhancements.

Many report never getting automated updates on their E-Ink readers.  In that case you can download the update-file and install it manually if wanting to get the feature updates.  More on that below.

This update was released last week.

Kindle Paperwhite 2 Software Upgrade to v5.4.5

  Devices involved: See Paperwhite 2 (US),   UK Paperwhite 2: here; Global Paperwhite 2: here.

The new, free software update available for Kindle Paperwhite 2 can be found here [U.S. and some international].

    [Here's the UK-only software update page]


Amazon's software update page explains how to check the software version currently on your Paperwhite 2.  I'm usually one of the last to receive software updates, so sometimes I do follow the step-by-step instructions to do a manual download and install to my Kindle if the change is important to me.  In my case, I have the Paperwhite 1, and there's no current update for that one.

This update normally automatically downloads and installs on the applicable Kindle Paperwhite 2 eventually;  however, as mentioned, you can also manually download the software and transfer the update to your device via USB cable.

Here are the feature enhancements they describe for update v5.4.5 [Emphases below are mine]

• Sync to the Most Recent Page Read
  Any books you are reading on your Kindle Paperwhite will now sync to the most recent page read across all Kindle devices and/or reading apps registered to your Amazon account. You can still manually sync your Kindle Paperwhite to go to the furthest page read.  To learn more, go to Sync on Your Kindle Paperwhite.
• Preview a PDF in Pan-and-Zoom Mode
  When viewing a PDF in pan-and-zoom mode, you will now see a small preview window in the margin of the screen.
• Read a Sample While Your Physical Book Ships
  While you are waiting for select physical books to arrive at your doorstep, you can start reading the book right away by adding a sample of the book to your Kindle library.  With this release, these samples will be now available for download in the Cloud tab of your Kindle Paperwhite in addition to your other supported Kindle devices and apps. Any previous samples you have claimed through a physical book purchase will also be available in the Cloud to download. To learn more, go to Read While Your Book Ships.

A Reminder about how syncing of your reading between devices and apps is done
In order for this to work reliably, the changes to your last page read and any new annotations done (highlighting, notes and bookmarks) must be 'seen' by the servers at Amazon -- this means that your WiFi or 3G wireless connection would need to be 'on' at the time you close the book by tapping the Home icon.
   Once the Amazon servers note the changes, they'll be available to the next Kindle-compatible reader or app you open (with Wireless on that device turned On also).
  You can turn 'off' the WiFi or 3G Wireless connection after leaving the Kindle book reading, which will help maximize battery use on that device.)

  When an eInk screen is displaying a page but there is no change to that screen, the display is having no effect on the battery.
  When you change what's being displayed (changing or adding anything on the page, as in tapping it on the side to get a new page or when an action brings a pop-up window or dialog box), the display IS using the battery.  That's why just pressing the power button for only ~1 second puts the Kindle to 'sleep' during which it displays an image, which doesn't use the battery, but the Paperwhite light turns off.

  Leaving it in this sleep state doesn't draw battery power as a result of the image display itself.  If, however, WiFi is On during Sleep state, any activity with subscription downloads or a Special Offers download -will- use battery power.

  There is always very slow battery drain in between charges even when a device is turned off.

  So, the "Screen Off" is an relatively new choice on mine, I noticed.  This just blanks the screen and puts it into sleep state.  SOME have requested a blank screen so they know it's "Off" but, in this case, it's only that there's no image seen - not even Amazon's default images during normal sleep-screens.

Mentioned previously also:
  "Restart" acts more like a soft-reboot on a computer and clears up memory states that may be causing problems.

  There is NO option on my Paperwhite to completely Power Off or Shut down the Kindle.  My options are to (1) Cancel a longer key-press action, (2) Restart the Paperwhite (mine is a Paperwhite 1), or (3) choose "Screen Off."

  It could be that my dialog box for powering off is different from that seen by others because I chose not to get Special Offers sent to my Paperwhite (I accept Special Offers on my Kindle Fire tablets) and, therefore, blanking the screen with a "Screen Off" does not interfere with the marketing offers on the lockscreen.

  Some may choose to get the offers on the Paperwhite and, as a result, may not get the 'Screen Off' option.  That's just conjecture on my part.

  But, in that case, they seem to get the option to 'shut down' the Kindle.

  Also, in my case, holding in the power button for over 20 seconds (rather than 5 seconds) does still cause a Restart (and a clearing of current memory use), as in the past.


IF you experience unusual battery drain
Note that keeping your Kindle always connected to a Wi-Fi network can drain the battery faster under certain circumstances.  If you're experiencing that, then once you've got the update "over the air," put the Paperwhite back to "Airplane Mode ON" via the 'Settings' option on the Menu -- the option lets you toggle Wireless OFF, using the "Airplane On" choice.

  Amazon's Paperwhite development team won't return the Wireless Off/On choice to the front menu as they did last year for the Kindle Touch, removing the 'airplane mode' icon which confuses many.  It's very inconvenient to have the WiFi On/Off setting on a secondary menu and many, as a result, don't even know that they can turn WiFi Off if needed.

  Amazon probably prefers that we keep Wireless 'On' due to delivery of Special Offers but the battery-drain problem can occur when circumstances involve (1) subscriptions that are downloaded regularly (my New York Times Latest News subscription updates the Kindle edition about five times a day - $1.99/month)) or (2) due to a weaker connection that results from the distance from the WiFi router, in which case the device keeps trying to connect when a download is due (and that can be for the special offers that Amazon regularly needs to send for those who choose to opt for the less-expensive model with the special-offers feature) and is then constantly active.

  BUT, again, WiFi needs to be 'On' after you've read a book and made annotations for a session AND when you then want to be able to continue reading later, on another device (like a smartphone), starting at where you'd stopped.
  If WiFi isn't turned on, the Amazon servers won't have any way of knowing the last-page-read location nor any notes or highlighting you've made, which you'd want to be able to access on the other device.  So, a reminder on my usual recommendation:

1. When you're finished reading, tap the top-toolbar and press the HOME icon.
  That will 'close' the book session and record the last page read and log the annotations.
2. Tap the top of the Paperwhite to bring up the toolbar and menu icon.
3. If you see an airplane icon at the top, your WiFi is Off (and you're in "airplane" take-off mode).
4. Tap 'Settings'
5. Turn Airplane Mode OFF, and that'll turn WiFi ON.
6. At that point, the Kindle will try to sync your changes to the Server and will download anything that is pending (a subscription to a newspaper, magazine, or blog, usually).
7. After that's done, you can go ahead and leave WiFi ON if you have no problems with faster battery drain
      OR you can turn OFF the WiFi if you need to save battery power.

Only if you'd rather not wait -- DOWNLOADING and transferring the Update via USB
US:  Go to the Kindle Paperwhite Software Update v5.4.5 download section to get the instructions for the download and transfer to your Kindle via USB:
UK:  UK Paperwhite eReader owners can do the same for the UK-only page

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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.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button


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Quick info from forums on Amazon's Fire Phone and data plans, etc.

Customers discuss Fire Phone data plans and decisions made more difficult due to current phone plans, etc.
  Thought I'd drop off a couple of tips from an Amazon forum on the coming Fire Phone, which will be shipping on July 25.  I'd not looked into the plans myself, as I have a the Nokia Lumia 1020, a Windows Phone, and just began my new data plan in December as a low-price update -- and I actually bought it for the 40-megapixel camera, which I now use more than my super expensive pocket Sony.  I'll report on my experience with a review copy of the Fire Phone though.

From the forum thread (typos corrected):

' Sue says:
I just called At&T and asked about the phone plans for the new phone and they have 2.

One is $45 a month which includes unlimited call and texting with 1g of data. The second is $60 a month and that includes unlimited calls and texting with 2g of data.   These prices go for the individual plan as well as the no contract phone.

I called because the phone is calling to me and I am weakening.

+++
Jimi says:
I am an existing AT&T customer with an old iPhone 4 and about a year and a half beyond my last contract.  Now I'm glad that I was given a new computer instead of a new phone for my last birthday.  I have been phone shopping for a while, so I quickly pre-ordered the 64gb Fire phone.

The system said I can continue on our grandfathered unlimited plan.  I may actually end up using more data with my new phone and the new Prime music feature. '

Reminder: the phone is $199 to start, with a 2-year monthly data plan, but comes with a free YEAR of $99/yr Prime (Prime members would get an additional year added to their current Prime program.)
  There's an option to get the larger-storage 64GB model for $299 with a 2-year monthly data plan with AT&T.

  Essentially then, the $199 phone with 32G is $99 after saving on $99 Prime the first year, when opting for 2 yrs of a monthly data plan.

Here's the original blog article on the phone's unusual features, as learned on Launch day.



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Kindle Fire Sale: The current Kindle Fire tablets are still on sale (since July 9). No word on ending date. Added info on how to use some less-known features.

New banners have been appearing since July 9th on Amazon Kindle Fire pages
while I had to be away.  Here is the banner information -- the actual links are below the Amazon alerts here:

---

The discounts start with the 7" HD model and include the 8.9" HDX.
  Prices shown below are for models with 'special offers' on the lockscreen and represent models with increasing storage capacity:
  * New Kindle Fire HD 7" 2nd Gen - $139/169  $119/$129 [See "NOTE" below)
  * Kindle Fire HDX 7" - $229/269/309  $199/239/259   ($100 more w/ 4G-LTE cellular network access)
  * Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" - $379/429/479  $339/389/439   ($100 more w/ 4G-LTE cellular network access)

  NOTE: The lower-cost HD 7" 2nd Gen tablet shows an 8GB option. YOU SHOULDN'T CHOOSE THAT - especially with only a $10 difference in pricing during the sale.  8 GB is just not enough.  You'd be swapping out apps all the time to get space since that 8GB includes system files with barely 5 GB for apps, videos and books.

The Kindle Fire HDX 7" with 64GB of memory/storage is the best deal on the smaller tablet.

  The Kindle Fire family header showing today



  Blog articles with detail on the tablets
    KINDLE FIRE HDX/HD Tips:
      Overview of New Features
      More tips: Things to know
      More info: From later reviews

     Getting Prime Music working
     Screen Magnifier for fixed-sized pages
     Certified Miracast adapter
     How to install GooglePlay apps
     How to install Flash


  ONE caveat and a recommendation: For the Kindle Fire tablets, I tend to recommend the 32GB model, as people tend to get more and more apps, and some are sophisticated games, which take a lot of storage space.
The 64GB model, though, is only $20 more (at $259) with the current discount.
  During the Father's Day sale, that 64GB model (normally $309) was on sale for $279.

  With smaller-storage or memory models, the Cloud (Amazon's server space for our content) will serve as a personal apps "library" (as with books) and you can swap apps back to the server and to your tablet, watching
the remaining current storage apace more.

The Kindle books situation with Big 5 participants
Thursday night I want to get on the Hachette and now Simon and Schuster e-book negotiations situation and Apple's negotiated settlement to refund about $400,000,000 to millions of customers if their appeal, now in the Second Circuit in New York, fails (it'll take a year or more to decide).  So, the e-book pricing wars continue.



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Quick note: Free Kindle book search-link options for July for contemporary, non-classics + some less-known bargain pages - Updated 7/2/14 - 2:50pm

July 2, 2014 - This is just a quick note to let you know that the free Kindle book search options in the reference section (right-column of blog) are updated for July.

I've been unexpectedly trapped in a hospital for a bit, all is fixed, and I'm back to add to the blog again in the next few days while most of you will or should be holidaying.  A lot to catch up on.

Reminders of what is available - some less-known links for avid bargain Kindle book hunters

    June 2014  July 2014.
    Also, all currently free non-classics sorted by:
    Publication Date   Bestselling    High ratings


    Highly rated, under $1


    In addition, Amazon still quietly carries: "Mostly 99c Kindle Books" page, which is a different Amazon listing from the one for highly rated Kindle books under $1.


    Amazon Top 100   (Also, UK-only)

    Amazon's own Limited Time Free Promos.


Two ongoing pages you may want to bookmark
1. Free Kindle Non-Classics - includes the above bargain links among other ones
2. KINDLE SUPPORT info
  This has an "Often Asked" section which has a lot of good info in it. Updated 7/2/14, 2:50pm




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Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!