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Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers

reuters.com

141–150 of 344 posts

Re: Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers

#141
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The ads are only shown while it's off, they're static black and white images, and 99% of the time they're for books. Totally unobjectionable Speak for yourself. Aside from the principle, some of us don’t want to be advertised to in the comfort of our own home/bed/while we’re camping or whatever. Ads don’t have to be actively flashing, spaz-inducing insanity to be objectionable. Not to mention that by definition an…

Customers have proven they'd rather pay less for the option to see ads. As long as you can pay for an ad-less experience, I see no problem with it.

Considering how difficult it is now to buy a TV without ad-infested “smart” software, I think we should all be grateful for the opportunity to pay to remove ads.

But what a sad world we live in…

Re: Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My local library has some dead tree format books with a 500 year support window. Or dead animal or dead reed format books with more like a 2000-year support window. Planned obsolescence is always bad.

> 500 year support window Err, no. Something “existing” is not the same as something being supported. Is the original printer still providing free translations to modern languages? Fixing typos and other mistakes? Adding chapters on a regular basis? It’s kinda ludicrous to call the fact that a thing didn’t spontaneously disappear “support”.

And that fact is also true for all of the books on all of the discontinued Kindles.

Given, the kindle won't last 500 years, but the support window is in some senses longer than for those 500-year-old books, which never received a single security update.

Re: Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers

#144

Amazon's attitude towards its Kindle device customers is one of lofty disregard. Every time they announce new Kindle products, half of the comments are like "I hope they have buttons," "I hope they bring back the Oasis," etc. But they appear to exult in dashing the hopes of their customers, or at the very least they don't care about them at all. They've doubled down on no-key devices with stupid pens, pointless and p…

> Every time they announce new Kindle products, half of the comments are like "I hope they have buttons," "I hope they bring back the Oasis," etc. WWII fighter plane with red spots on it dot gif. The vast majority of people who buy Kindles simply read books on them and don’t repeatedly cry online about features that are never coming back. I’ve bought about 10 of the things dating back to 2012 either because I wanted…

The reason people complain is because the old kindles used to have buttons, and honestly the touch screen is really fucking janky if you're used to the page turning buttons of the kindle 4, or the onscreen keyboard is janky if you're used to the kindle 3g.

And the sad part is that there's no best of both. You can't get a kindle paperwhite with buttons.

Re: Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“But people cry about it” doesnt mean the criticisms are legitimate. To be fair, I don’t think the criticisms are illegitimate by your definition, I just think they’re pointless and from vocal crybabies.

You are only making complaints about criticisms (which you acknowledge as legitimate). If complaints from consumers about consumer devices are pointless and the consumers are "vocal crybabies", then how would you categorize yourself and your complaints about their complaints?

I’m no better than anyone. I was using the other persons definition where it seems there is no illegitimate criticism. I honestly think anybody crying that there aren’t buttons on a kindle needs to come to terms with reality and move on with their life.

Re: Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Every time they announce new Kindle products, half of the comments are like "I hope they have buttons," "I hope they bring back the Oasis," etc. WWII fighter plane with red spots on it dot gif. The vast majority of people who buy Kindles simply read books on them and don’t repeatedly cry online about features that are never coming back. I’ve bought about 10 of the things dating back to 2012 either because I wanted…

The reason people complain is because the old kindles used to have buttons, and honestly the touch screen is really fucking janky if you're used to the page turning buttons of the kindle 4, or the onscreen keyboard is janky if you're used to the kindle 3g. And the sad part is that there's no best of both. You can't get a kindle paperwhite with buttons.

[flagged]

Re: Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason people complain is because the old kindles used to have buttons, and honestly the touch screen is really fucking janky if you're used to the page turning buttons of the kindle 4, or the onscreen keyboard is janky if you're used to the kindle 3g. And the sad part is that there's no best of both. You can't get a kindle paperwhite with buttons.

[flagged]

Why 15 years? Why should I ever have to accept things getting worse? Isn't the point of progress that things get better?

There's multiple touch zones (which aren't visible or marked), there's multiple gestures you can interact with, and it's so slow and janky enough that you never know what will happen when you touch it.

Will it go forwards? Or backwards? By one page? Or a dozen? Will it open the settings? Or change the brightness? Or just close the book? You never know.

I want to lose myself in the book, I want to forget the device even exists, not fight the device for half a minute whenever it decides to go forward by 11 pages, open the settings, change the font and brightness just because I wanted to go one page back

Re: Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers

#148
I got a third (I think?) generation Paperwhite brand new when it was released.

From day 1 it was super laggy. Once I opened a book to read it was fine, but everything up to getting to that point was lag upon lag.

This was a new device of a new generation.

I find the Kindle UX better on my iPhone or iPad.

Re: Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers

#149
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was about to complain that my Paperwhite only lasts a couple of days between charges (it shuts down when battery drops to ~50%) but then realized that I've had it 7-8 years. No Indian heat here though, I'm in the UK.

I replaced the battery after using the kindle Paperwhite for 7+ years. And now its battery life is as good as the new one's.

Ooh, I honestly hadn't considered that; thanks for the tip. The waterproof seal around the screen has degraded too, but I very rarely read in the rain these days.

Re: Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are only making complaints about criticisms (which you acknowledge as legitimate). If complaints from consumers about consumer devices are pointless and the consumers are "vocal crybabies", then how would you categorize yourself and your complaints about their complaints?

I’m no better than anyone. I was using the other persons definition where it seems there is no illegitimate criticism. I honestly think anybody crying that there aren’t buttons on a kindle needs to come to terms with reality and move on with their life.

"Crying" is needlessly dismissive and it doesn't strengthen your position.

I'm happy there is a mass of popular sentiment that consumer devices are better with buttons. I think they're to whom we can credit the return (or addition of new) buttons to cars, to phones, and to all manner of appliances (induction stoves, thermostats, ACs.)

In either case, it looks like the last Kindle with buttons disappeared only late 2024, a year and a half ago. This was a recent enough phenomena that these complaints make sense. Amazon still has a chance to get with the times and release an eReader with buttons.

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