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

(www.aboutamazon.com)
572 points bookofjoe | 7 comments | 16 Oct 24 13:52 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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jjice ◴[16 Oct 24 15:04 UTC] No.41859903[source]▶
I own a Kindle Paperwhite (last gen, relative to this new one) and a Kobo Clara BW (purchase in the last 6 months). IMO, the Kindle is the premium e-reader when it comes to look and feel. It's just a fantastic experience. The issue is Amazon and how even if you want to put your own purchased ebooks on it, you have it send it through their servers. That tied with a few other privacy issues over the years led me to also get a Kobo.

The Kobo can run in a fully offline mode (called "side-load mode" or something like that) and I can transfer my ebooks directly via USB. I use the Kobo most of the time now since most of my reading lately has been independently published ebooks, but I still use the Kindle for books I purchase via Amazon directly.

With all that said, I personally think the Kindle Paperwhite is already the perfect size. It fits snuggly in my back pocket and strikes the perfect balance between screen size being large, but not too large to hold for my average male hands. I'd be a bit concerned about the size increase for my personal use case, but Amazon does a great job with the Kindle in general so I'd like to see some reviews.

As for the new Colorsoft, I'd really like to see some reviews. The color Kobos that came out earlier this year got some mixed reviews for colors, but I'm not sure if that's just the nature of color e-ink or not.

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thimabi ◴[16 Oct 24 15:11 UTC] No.41860022[source]▶
> The issue is Amazon and how even if you want to put your own purchased ebooks on it, you have it send it through their servers.

You can sideload your books over USB too, using Calibre for instance.

I own a few Kindle models and a Kobo Forma as well. The Kindles do have some quirks and bugs (e.g., disappearing books, issues with sideloaded fonts…). But my Kobo Forma’s battery completely died after a couple years of usage, and the device became completely unreliable. After that experience, I’ve resigned myself to live with the Kindle’s problems.

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htamas ◴[16 Oct 24 15:23 UTC] No.41860177[source]▶
My Kindle had this "bug" where my side loaded books randomly disappear. As a workaround, I have to keep it in flight mode at all times. Not a big issue since that’s what I would do anyway, but in case my Kindle would break, I wouldn’t think long to buy an alternative
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1. AcerbicZero ◴[16 Oct 24 15:55 UTC] No.41860602[source]▶
Out of all the devices where having a physical airplane mode switch would be nice, I'd put the kindle pretty high up. Kinda sucks having a battery that lasts ~45 days in airplane mode, and like a week and a half when I forget to turn it off.
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2. thimabi ◴[16 Oct 24 22:13 UTC] No.41864366[source]▶
Rather than a physical switch just for that, why not a few reminders in the UI if one keeps the airplane mode off for a certain amount of time?
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3. tomrod ◴[17 Oct 24 00:36 UTC] No.41865296[source]▶
Physical switch is less prone to the whims of a capricious, resume-driven product owner who thinks their users may just want to get rid of airplane mode. Most are diving into firmware.
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4. tomrod ◴[17 Oct 24 04:05 UTC] No.41866322{3}[source]▶
Most are not* diving into firmware, rather.
5. wkat4242 ◴[17 Oct 24 05:37 UTC] No.41866715[source]▶
Since the kindles with 3G have disappeared, the need for airplane mode for actual airplane use is a lot less though. Where I am most airlines permit WiFi use and even offer it themselves in flight. Only mobile network connections still have to be switched off.
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6. toyg ◴[17 Oct 24 06:59 UTC] No.41867117[source]▶
Airplane mode is mostly a power-saving feature, because WiFi drains the battery pretty hard. As others said, leaving wifi on will kill your kindle in a week or so, whereas it can go on for months without it.
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7. wkat4242 ◴[17 Oct 24 11:36 UTC] No.41868637{3}[source]▶
That's not my experience. My kindle paperwhite (latest version until yesterday) lasts at least 3 months with WiFi on. I never turn it off.