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

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

#471

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a happy owner of the latest rm pro, but I was curious about the boox. You're actually saying the boox is even more muted and darker? In the rm pro the colors are still what I consider to be pretty muted. I had a laugh of what "red" looks like then I tried it. I don't care too much about it, for the purpose it's a great addition, but it's also darker than the rm2, which instead turned out to bother me a lot. I can…

I use a Boox Note Air Plus 2, a colleague uses a Boox Note Air 3. My device is black and white, hers is in colour. The black and white device is excellent, I cannot remember the last time I turned on the backlight. The color device is so dark that it is unusable without the back light in normal office conditions. I have not seen it outdoors, however.

If that matches my experience, outdoors helps a bit, but not much. Overall you get better contrast and brightness, but the fact that the background is "gray" and not white becomes even more obvious.

That being said the rm3 is usable without backlight indoors if the place is decently lit (for example, in most offices), but requires some backlight otherwise. The rm2 is usable also in poorly lit conditions.

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

#472
post #81

I am so excited for this. I've run into so many books where color would make it ten times better. Also, the Comixology subscription will be so much more valuable with this device. The only thing I have a wish for is that the device is more responsive than the original Kindle. There is nothing more frustrating than tapping a touch screen and waiting 5 seconds for it to respond.

I don’t know if you’ve used a recent paperwhite but they’ve gotten very responsive. I have the newest paperwhite (prior to the one announced here) and it is incredibly fast and zippy compared to the kindles of old. And they claim the new one is even 25% faster.

I too have the previous generation Paperwhite and it's a laggy piece of junk. About the only thing it's even remotely zippy at is flicking through pages rapidly when I accidentally brush my wet hand against the stupid touchscreen while I'm in the bath.

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

#473
post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, you have to pay to not have ads on a Kindle? When did that start being a thing? I've been using a kindle for about 14 years, my current one is a few years old. I've been thinking about upgrading, but it works perfectly fine, and I've never had it display ads, and haven't had to pay anything for that "privilege". It sounds like this will be my last Kindle device if I now have to pay extra for no ads, on a device…

At least ten years ago https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/technology/personaltech/r...

I'm an avid kindle user, I've never seen ads on my device. I'm in the UK

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

#474
post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I switched from a Kindle to a Kobo (monochrome), and simply having the book cover as the lock screen makes me like it so much more. I always paid to not have ads on the Kindle, but it would show a bunch of generic images. The book cover is the obvious choice. Kobo gets it. The reading experience is a little more bare bones, but good enough, and still offers things a physical book does not.

Wait, you have to pay to not have ads on a Kindle? When did that start being a thing? I've been using a kindle for about 14 years, my current one is a few years old. I've been thinking about upgrading, but it works perfectly fine, and I've never had it display ads, and haven't had to pay anything for that "privilege". It sounds like this will be my last Kindle device if I now have to pay extra for no ads, on a device…

I asked Amazon via chat to remove the adds because I was SCANDALIZED, just utterly SCANDALIZED to see romance novels on ads on the lock screen. They removed the ads for free. ;)

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

#475
I have recently bought a Scribe 1st Gen, when it was on sale.

Rooting it was a hassle, but it was worth it.

The excellent hardware (display, enclosure) combined with Koreader makes it really joyful to read technical books and documents, especially when combined with Calibre.

As one of those books was about Lisp, i also installed Kterm, tmux, the joe editor and tinysheme, which served as a decent Scheme Playground/IDE while i was on vacation!

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

#476
post #463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been doing that for years using the Calibre app. No problems so far.

Since I'm a total noob, I guess: PC + USB cable + Kindle = books transferred the old fashioned way? I'm very tempted by the thing another commenter mentioned, with not giving the Kindle internet access, if it works, I need 0 smart features.

It's PC with Calibre app + USB cable + Kindle = books transferred (not just drag and drop if you thought this as the old fashioned way).

It's a step between but think of Calibre as your own book "store". It's an ebook management app that can automatically convert almost any ebook format into the one your device needs but at the same time also gives you the option to edit the ebook details and stuff like that. It's honestly great, I'd totally recommend it.

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

#477

What's the deal with ereaders and their seeming disdain for sane battery life measurements? Amazon boasts "up to 8 weeks on a single charge" in all their selling points, then, in the fine print states "A single charge lasts up to eight (8) weeks, based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off and the light setting at 13". So, it has 28 hours of actual use time, got it. Why not just say that?

> "A single charge lasts up to eight (8) weeks, based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off and the light setting at 13".

> So, it has 28 hours of actual use time, got it.

Reminds me of when Quorn sold 3 sausage rolls but labelled them as 12, arguing that if you cut each one in 4 you get 12. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42251481

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

#478
post #474
post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, you have to pay to not have ads on a Kindle? When did that start being a thing? I've been using a kindle for about 14 years, my current one is a few years old. I've been thinking about upgrading, but it works perfectly fine, and I've never had it display ads, and haven't had to pay anything for that "privilege". It sounds like this will be my last Kindle device if I now have to pay extra for no ads, on a device…

I asked Amazon via chat to remove the adds because I was SCANDALIZED, just utterly SCANDALIZED to see romance novels on ads on the lock screen. They removed the ads for free. ;)

I bought the slightly cheaper version with ads years ago and asked support to remove them because they „weren‘t relevant to me given where I am living“. I found out about this option on reddit or in the product reviews on some local retailer‘s site, so I assume it is/was a bit of an open secret.

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

#479
post #414
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.

I think it's more likely you just didn't notice for 6-7 months. It's not just "tabloid" articles that noticed it in April 2021. This wasn't noticed by users on places like mobileread.com until April 2021 either and that place is comprised of some of the biggest eInk fans out there.

By all accounts your Oct. 2020 date is the earliest reported date for it being an official feature. Kobo has had it since day one in 2010, Kindle not so much.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4110557

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

#480
post #332
post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, you have to pay to not have ads on a Kindle? When did that start being a thing? I've been using a kindle for about 14 years, my current one is a few years old. I've been thinking about upgrading, but it works perfectly fine, and I've never had it display ads, and haven't had to pay anything for that "privilege". It sounds like this will be my last Kindle device if I now have to pay extra for no ads, on a device…

Its been that way for years, the ad is on the lockscreen, and its an ad for other books. The version with no advertisement is 20$ more, I don't see the problem if someone wants to get a discount for looking at ads.

As far as problems go, I understand it's been a constant and this specific implementation is pretty low on the list, but generally, greed leading to ads intruding every aspect of our lives and people thinking up with new spots to place ads is a problem.

Creating a different experience around reading books for those who have and those who have not is also a problem, given how important literacy and the printing press are to the development of our society.

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