Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

aboutamazon.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

421–430 of 683 posts

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#421

Post by tallanvor »

koyote wrote: post #191
pfooti wrote: post #179

I have a pretty old paperwhite. When it started deleting books i had side-loaded via calibre, I decided to get a kobo. I have a libra color, and I have to say: price notwithstanding, it's a great device. I don't have a lot of experience with more recent devices, but compared to my 2nd gen paperwhite, it is _amazing_. Color is good enough to read comic books on it, the google drive integration means it's not too hard…

> When it started deleting books i had side-loaded via calibre Could you expand on that? I load all my books via calibre but I also have the kindle set to aeroplane mode at all times. Does this happen when syncing?

If you switch airplane mode on and off it can happen. If you have airplane mode off when you're side loading content (so the information that you've added files gets synced, you don't have to worry about it. The problem seems to be when things have changed in the cloud it doesn't check for new items you've loaded on the kindle first, and thinks something went wrong and deletes it.

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#422

Post by makeitdouble »

It's disappointing they stay below the B5/10" size range, and can't step up to a A4/13" which allows full right/left page display or magazine pages at 1:1 size display.

It's particularly frustrating for manga, which Amazon sells plenty, as it's common to have a full 2 page scene during the most intense parts of the story.

Same of course for many research PDFs with graphs and schemas that are just so much more legible near the A4 size.

That was my main use case for the iPad Pro, which can now be covered by the air as well. The Surface Pro line is also around 13". I think there's really no reason to shy away from the full A4 size, especially when people are ready to pay for the screen real estate.

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#423

Post by thih9 »

pfooti wrote: post #179

I have a pretty old paperwhite. When it started deleting books i had side-loaded via calibre, I decided to get a kobo. I have a libra color, and I have to say: price notwithstanding, it's a great device. I don't have a lot of experience with more recent devices, but compared to my 2nd gen paperwhite, it is _amazing_. Color is good enough to read comic books on it, the google drive integration means it's not too hard…

> When it started deleting books i had side-loaded via calibre

This is news to me. All my kindle library is books side loaded via calibre. Then again, my kindle paperwhite is non stop in airplane mode so maybe this is a factor. In any case this is alarming and thanks for the feedback, I will read more about non-Amazon devices because of that.

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#424

Post by alias_neo »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #382
eloisant wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be weird, it would make it hard to know if the device is on or off.

The whole point of e-ink screens is that the device only needs to be "on" when redrawing the screen. In fact, with respect to the e-ink readers, a "screen saver" that turns on automatically is a bad idea that removes useful functionality - being able to keep the same page up for hours without interacting with the device is a feature , as it allows you to use it as a reference, like you'd do with a paper printout.

I use my Kobo only for technical books / diagrams etc, having it stay on the thing I'm looking at for hours is _absolutely_ a feature.

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#425

Post by oblio »

pfooti wrote: post #179

I have a pretty old paperwhite. When it started deleting books i had side-loaded via calibre, I decided to get a kobo. I have a libra color, and I have to say: price notwithstanding, it's a great device. I don't have a lot of experience with more recent devices, but compared to my 2nd gen paperwhite, it is _amazing_. Color is good enough to read comic books on it, the google drive integration means it's not too hard…

These Kindles look great but I want to upload my own books.

I wonder if there is a way to do that safely, long term.

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#426

Post by MaxikCZ »

michaelt wrote: post #415
tjoff wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't read that but that is surely if you bought the subsidized ad-version of the kindle.

There's no difference between a "subsidized ad-version" and what al_borland said: that they "paid to not have ads on the Kindle" You can get a Kindle for $110 with ads, or for $130 without ads.

I got my Kindle before any ads were in play (its like a second generation?), and several years afterwards it started displaying ads. Thankfully a chat with amazon solved it because I wasnt in US, so the ads were not applicable to me, but I definetly did not have option to buy non-ad version when I bought it.

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#427

Post by alias_neo »

hresvelgr wrote: post #253
pfooti wrote: post #179

I have a pretty old paperwhite. When it started deleting books i had side-loaded via calibre, I decided to get a kobo. I have a libra color, and I have to say: price notwithstanding, it's a great device. I don't have a lot of experience with more recent devices, but compared to my 2nd gen paperwhite, it is _amazing_. Color is good enough to read comic books on it, the google drive integration means it's not too hard…

I will second that the Kobo Libra Colour is an excellent device. To me it's the perfect reading device. To anyone using Calibre with it, make sure you get the Kobo plugin that transforms epub into kepub when sending to device. It normalises text size, margins, and so on so the reading experience is consistent no matter where you uh... procure your library from. I reconvert all my epubs anyway, but that step is critic…

I use Calibre-Web (self-hosted web-UI for Calibre) with my Kobo Forma, and with a quick change of a config file on the device (by plugging it into PC) I can use Calibre-Web as an online book store and retrieve my books over my network, I'd recommend it for anyone interested in keeping a large library and wanting to manage what's on-device.

No jailbreak or anything required, just some config in Calibre-Web and replace a URL or two in a config file on the Kobo.

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#428

Post by m463 »

pfooti wrote: post #179

I have a pretty old paperwhite. When it started deleting books i had side-loaded via calibre, I decided to get a kobo. I have a libra color, and I have to say: price notwithstanding, it's a great device. I don't have a lot of experience with more recent devices, but compared to my 2nd gen paperwhite, it is _amazing_. Color is good enough to read comic books on it, the google drive integration means it's not too hard…

I have had many ereaders: several kindles including dx, remarkable 2, kobo clara 2e and the latest is the pocketbook inkpad lite. (all are b/w)

Honestly, I just wanted an open reflective reader just for reading. Just put the books on the reader with usb and you're done.

I liked the remarkable 2 - they didn't require an account or cloud syncing. I didn't use the pen much, but when I did it was pretty good. I mostly stopped using it because no backlight.

I tried a kobo clara 2e - I had to learn about "sideloadedmode=true" in the settings to use it properly. Decent reader, but a little small. I like dark mode.

then I stumbled on the pocketbook inkpad lite. I use it all the time. 9.7" screen but only $219, backlight, and you just put your books on it and go. No activation or cloud stuff required.

Also, it reads books directly not only in epub, but many other formats like mobi and azw. (I haven't tried .azw)

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#429

Post by bambax »

thih9 wrote: post #423
pfooti wrote: post #179

I have a pretty old paperwhite. When it started deleting books i had side-loaded via calibre, I decided to get a kobo. I have a libra color, and I have to say: price notwithstanding, it's a great device. I don't have a lot of experience with more recent devices, but compared to my 2nd gen paperwhite, it is _amazing_. Color is good enough to read comic books on it, the google drive integration means it's not too hard…

> When it started deleting books i had side-loaded via calibre This is news to me. All my kindle library is books side loaded via calibre. Then again, my kindle paperwhite is non stop in airplane mode so maybe this is a factor. In any case this is alarming and thanks for the feedback, I will read more about non-Amazon devices because of that.

All my Kindle library is also books side loaded via Calibre (sent to my kindle email address). I have been doing that for years (more than an decade actually) and have never had any book deleted by the device. Is this real?

Re: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

#430

Post by bongobingo1 »

ffsm8 wrote: post #414
yftsui wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely not "a decade". I have the 2013 Kindle Paper white and it doesn't have that feature without JB, the oldest device supported is Kindle Paperwhite 7th Gen which is released in 2019. It's likely you are just lucky to buy a KPW with that feature just rolled out.

I cannot speak on when it was actually introduced. I only added my experience because bongobingo said 2021 and cited a tabloid "article" as proof. The feature definitely predates April 2021, how long? I have no idea, possibly only 6-7 months, as I bought mine in October 2020.

Reddit nerds only notice in April 2021, https://old.reddit.com/r/kindle/comments/mo67x9/the_new_kind...

More "tabloids" in April 2021 https://www.tomsguide.com/news/amazon-kindle-update-adds-kil...

More nerds in August 2021, https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/30x1qmxj "the setting that was added a few months ago in Settings/Device Options to show the "Display Cover" of the book you are currently reading"

Amazon discussing rolling it out during ... April 2021, https://www.amazonforum.com/s/question/0D54P00008A1VpoSAF/di...

Maybe you were in a pre-release A/B or region, or simply didn't notice the update.

Post reply on HN