Now we have the Kindle 3 early preview of software version 3.0.3

Amazon's not standing still.  They recently officially released Kindle 3 Software Upgrade version 3.0.2, and last night they began requesting feedback on the "Early Preview of Next Version 3.0.3" for Kindle 3.

  Thanks to Golf11 (Randall), who alerted us to this one as he did the last one. 

As before, this is offered so that "Customers who want to try this early release of the software and provide feedback can download the update" from their servers.

  This update will also be available wirelessly in the next few weeks.


  Amazon explains that this update includes general performance improvements.

'After installing this update, please share your feedback with us at kindle-response@amazon.com.  We look forward to hearing about your experience and appreciate your feedback. '

This time there haven't been many reports of software quirks -- except in one area, reported here as people come with questions about the experimental Kindle 3 WebKit-based web browser.

Caution  The software update v3.0.3 may have NOTHING to do with the Webkit browser functions, but customers have reported that the Kindle  (UK: K3), while faster than and generally much more capable than the Kindle 2, has been:

  1. strangely unable to have its keyboard input recognized on several websites so that some of us have looked for alternate sites that are workarounds.

  2. not interacting as well as the Kindle 2 does with mobile-device-oriented websites, which are of course much faster to load (if not as visually impressive) and easier to read than the full-webpage version displayed on the K3 web browser for a screen too small to be able to read complex home pages with fonts that are necessarily tiny.

      The website bookmarks that Amazon puts on the Kindle 3 tend to take us to the full version of the websites, which look great but take longer to load and are harder to navigate with the 5-way ('controller') button.  Maybe we could have an option of bookmarks that are for mobile-version websites.

  3. unable to follow website links that are programmed to expect a 'new window' opened in addition to the current webpage window (so that the user can stay on the current page while getting a new page and not be 'lost' when the new window is closed after we're through with it).


   Some of us have requested that in this case they just ask us, via a dialog box, if we would like to leave the current page and go to the linked site!  I really hope for this one eventually, since it's a basic function of a web browser to follow clicked links.  It also has been frustrating for Kindle Edition blog subscribers, who cannot follow those types of links.

 There IS, when reading a newspaper article, a new web-browser Menu option, with this Kindle model, to choose "Article Mode" to see only the text of the article (no surrounding links and ads), in larger fonts that are easy to read.  Once we can navigate TO an article and click to get it, this mode can be chosen and usually works VERY well.  We can go back to "Web Mode" after reading in Article Mode.

Instructions at their preview-update page start with:

' Here's how to download Kindle software update version 3.0.3 and transfer it to your Kindle via USB:

1. Determine your software version: :  From Home, select Menu, then Settings.  On the Settings screen you will see the Kindle version at the bottom of the screen.  If you see “Version Kindle 3.0.2” or earlier (3.0.2, 3.0.1, or 3.0), please proceed with the steps below to update your Kindle to the latest software.
   
   
   
2. Download your software: Visit the appropriate link below to download the software update file directly to your computer: ... '

They have a good diagram there showing how you can determine which software you'd download, depending on your serial number and the type of Kindle 3 you have.

You'll see step-by-step directions there for the download.  As before, there's no need to install this interim update unless you actually are seeing any problems (most say they're not seeing any general ones), but I don't expect it would hurt, since programming code will check status to see if a fix is needed.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Kindle 3 Software Update v3.0.2 Officially Released Now - 10/13/10

UPDATE OCT 13, 2010 - 3.0.2 OFFICIALLY RELEASED

I'm re-posting this original assessment (Sept. 19) of Kindle 3 software update version 3.0.2 that was first put on the Amazon servers as an early-preview Beta on Sept. 18, as it did resolve early problems that some Kindle 3 owners had.  The original title was Kindle 3 software preview release v3.0.2 improves performance.  Collections.

  To download the official release, if you'd rather not wait for it to come over Whispernet, see the instructions originally pointed to and described at the time of the software update announcement if you have a Kindle 3 and want to install it yourself.

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ORIGINAL POSTING OF SEPT. 19 WITH MORE HISTORY AND COLLECTIONS-FEATURE TIP
The early preview release of software update v3.0.2 for Kindle-3 models has worked well for almost everyone reporting in, with regard to page-turn slowdowns outdoors, and there are also reports that the web browser is also faster and quite a bit smoother.  Others mention improved battery performance as well.  The Kindle software engineers have been very responsive and effective, and definitely the Kindle customer support team too.

  See the Amazon Kindle Community message thread for the feedback so far.  I noticed one person was still seeing a 1-second page turn, which seems slow to her.  I haven't tried it yet since I've been happy with mine, but I imagine this update will be official by Monday or Tuesday (this is just my conjecture).  Laura wrote the following to this blog's comment area as well today:

' It appears 3.0.2 fixes issues with slow page turns with kindle's exposed to direct sunlight.  I had this issue, the turns were slow enough that you could read the first line of text in negative image before it completed.  I had this issue before and after 3.0.1.

After the update so far, this appears to be fixed.  I never thought this would be fixed with a software update, so I am very happy! '

See Saturday's software update announcement for instructions on how to get software update v3.0.2 if you have a Kindle 3 and want to try it out or take earlier advantage of the improvements.

KINDLE 3, KINDLE DX, AND KINDLE 2 "COLLECTIONS" AND OTHER NEWER FEATURES
While I'm here, with this short post, I'll post a modified version of a Q&A from the Comments area the other day with new Kindle-3 owner gazza who was interested in how to do folder organization by author.   Many of the most recent added features were actually introduced with the Kindle 2 and DX in July, and when "Collections" were created, many did not realize that is the equivalent today of what we're used to thinking of as 'folders' except that the organization is done by 'labels' or 'tags' (just as GMail's mail system is).

My reply was:

' With the Kindle, 'folders' are called "Collections" and you can make one for each Author.

Please see the Guide & Intro I did when "Collections" became possible with a software update called, at the time, v2.5.x for the Kindle 2 and Kindle DX's.

  That general guide to new features, which your Kindle-3 also has, is at http://bit.ly/kv25xintro#guide.

  The specific portion on how to do "Collections" is at http://bit.ly/kv25xintro#docollect.

  Give that a look, and if you have any problems with it or more questions, you can add that here or at the blog article that explains Collections.

  I'll add here that if anyone wants answers to questions as soon as possible and by an army of experienced Kindle owners now worldwide (covering most hours of the day), be sure to visit http://bit.ly/kindlecommunity.

TIP: "Collections"
This is an option at the top of the Home screen which is hidden until you cursor up to the top, where if you 5-way to the right, you'll then see options for
  Most Recent First     Title     Author    and    Collections.

The "Most Recent" titles are usually the Default listing so that we can quickly get to what we were reading last even if we forget what that was.  That makes sense although I most often like to get mine in Title sorting so that I can press the first letter or alpha character of a book and click the 5-way, and this will get me to that part of the alphabet quickly.

When we choose to sort by "Collections" (by clicking on that word at the top of the Home screen), we see our Collections not in alphabetical order, as most have expected (there were many long forum discussions about this problem), but in Most Recent Order.  I don't know about you but but when I open a cabinet drawer to find a folder, I don't expect to see the folders sorted by most-recently accessed!

At any rate, a few figured out that we can force an alphabetical sort by putting a low-alpha-ranking symbol in front of the Collection names and if the symbol is the same (the easiest method), then the 2nd character decides the sorting alphabetically when we choose to sort the Home screen listings by Title.  (Amazon shows Collection names in italics to differentiate them from book titles.)

  For example, I use the simple opening curly brace or bracket to get a Title-sort that looks like this:
{Art
{Autobio
{Bio
{Business
{Classics
{Essays
{Fiction
and so on.  Since we are on the Home screen listing, sorted by Title, the individual books will also be there, as only in the Collections sorting are individual books hidden from view.

Since most symbols come before A-Z, the Collections are shown first.  We can ignore the individual book titles that follow.  But the FEATURE here is that they're of course in alphabetical order also and, to get right to a book if we don't want to open a Collection to look for a book, we can just (as described above) type the first alpha character of the title and press the 5-way button down, to be brought to that part of the alphabet.

Some mix their symbols to get different ordering by priority + alpha, but Amazon has changed the order of some of the symbols with software update v3.0.x for Kindle 3.  Others use methods that mimic the Dewey Decimal System.  We can look at those suggestions in a later blog article, as this should be good enough to get newcomers started.

(I've found that many with Kindle 2's have not heard that they probably have an update on their systems that offers this feature as well as panning and zooming of PDFs + several other features (like the social networking ones for favorite highlighted passages that can be sent to friends at Facebook and/or Twitter).  Again, that's at the Kindle 2 software update 2.5.x guide.



Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Kindle 3 preview-release of software update v3.0.2 available at Amazon

Amazon is now requesting feedback on an "early preview of the next software update" for Kindle 3 and refers to this update-preview as software update version 3.0.2.

They stress this is offered so that "Customers who want to try this early release of the software and provide feedback can download the update" from their servers.

  Amazon explains that this update includes

' web browser
      and
  general performance improvements.

  After installing this update, please share your feedback with us at kindle-response@amazon.com.  We look forward to hearing about your experience and appreciate your feedback. '

The performance improvements would include software responses to reports that some Kindle 3's have had some slowing down of page-turn processes outdoors since the v3.01 update which seems to have prevented, on the whole, freezes and/or reboots some were experiencing with their Kindles -- and in phone calls that Kindle tech support reps have made to customers in proactive responses to forum notes, they've offered this second interim update with success in at least a couple of cases I was reading, although again some forum members have been given replacement Kindles within a day or so, possibly so that, as before, the Kindle crew could analyze the original one or because they felt a replacement Kindle would be best for the symptoms reported.

To report any unusual problems like this, it's best to write kindle-feedback@amazon.com, as that mail tends to be routed to the development team.

Reports have included a few saying that page turns take "a full second" outdoors when they had taken half a second earlier, so some of the slow-downs are minor but shouldn't happen, though I suspect that this small a slowdown could have been the result of a compromise between two options in the prior fix.  Some, though, report having slowdowns to 2-3 seconds a page, and today, two Kindle owners reported that v3.02 given them by Kindle Support helped with the slowdowns outdoors.

Instructions at their preview-update page start with:

' Here's how to download Kindle software update version 3.0.2 and transfer it to your Kindle via USB:

1. Determine your software version: :  From Home, select Menu, then Settings.  On the Settings screen you will see the Kindle version at the bottom of the screen.  If you see “Version Kindle 3.0.1” or earlier, please proceed with the steps below to update your Kindle to the latest software.
   
   
   
2. Download your software: Visit the appropriate link below to download the software update file directly to your computer: ... '

They have a good diagram showing how you can determine which software you'd download, depending on your serial number and the type of Kindle 3 you have.

You'll see step-by-step directions there for the download.  I'd say again that there's no need to install this interim update unless you actually are seeing any problems like this (many say they're not seeing any problems), but I don't expect it would hurt, since programming code will check status to see if a fix is needed.

A Theory
I posted the following thoughts in the forums (edited for the blog) about some instances that may be perceived slowdowns, especially for the ones that are unhappy that a page turn now takes a full second (though there are a few with heavier slowdowns):

' A lot of people have reported general speed ups in page turns after v3.01.  I think they may mean the immediate response when you press the page turn button, and they see this as faster because immediate response never happened before -- there had usually been a 1 second 'wait' and then the slight flash and the new page would show up.

  In the past, the next-page just didn't start showing instantaneously, as it does when we see it now with the Kindle 3, especially after the v3.01 update for some of us, but we also see the reverse e-Ink image doing its inevitable thing sooner and for what seems a longer time then.

  Some are bothered (as I was for awhile) by the longer reverse image screen.
  At first, I did think the immediate page turns that then show full black pages with text briefly meant that the page turn was slower when in fact (I tested them for 1/2 an hour in the sun) the K3 page turns are consistently faster than my K2 page turns of the same material at the same time -- the K2 shows hardly any interim black probably because the page turn doesn't start right away.  But my K2 turns actually take longer to complete despite the lack of very-noticeable reverse image. '

But, that's not to minimze the fact that some Kindle 3's definitely have heavier slowdowns after update version v3.01, and this latest update may fix that.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

OFFICIAL Kindle 3 software update v3.0.1 ready and going to all Kindle 3's

The v3.0.1 update is now final and ready for download from Amazon servers, for all Kindle 3's.  Apparently, their private feedback was as good as feedback seen on the Amazon forums.

See yesterday's original report of the v3.0.1 update for the details that were in that.

At the linked page (above), Amazon also states:

' We're excited to announce that a new, free software update is available for the latest generation Kindle 6" device.  This software update adds the ability to create a new Amazon.com account directly from your Kindle, as well as additional performance improvements.

Here's how to download Kindle software update version 3.0.1 and transfer it to your Kindle via USB (we will also deliver this software update wirelessly in the coming weeks for customers who choose not to manually update via USB now). '

So there's no escaping this one, folks. :-) I installed it on my own well-functioning Kindle 3 last night and reported at MobileRead Forums the following (slightly modified for this blog entry):

' Nevertheless, being an experimental type, I did install it to see what effect it might have on my problem-free one, since Amazon treated the update as helpful for anyone who wanted it, stating no caveats.  My Kindle 3 was already responsive and quite smooth but seems even smoother now.

Before and after the update, though, my books take a bit longer to load initially than they did with Kindle 2.  Page turns happen quicker but the reverse image black is there longer for me because I can see an entire next page's contents before it loses the black.

I was surprised, even before the update, that when you change the orientation (rotation is done with the 'Aa' Text-key) WHILE web-browsing, the earlier Kindles had always reloaded the web page, which taught me to avoid changing orientation while browsing.

 The Kindle 3, though, doesn't reload a web page when changing orientation -- it just reformats what it had in a way that's practically instantaneous.

  With all Kindles, I've learned that the Kindle's experimental Web Browser can do OK, if Very slowly -- though much faster in the last 4 months or so -- but will eventually run out of remaining memory eventually for a next request and just reboot.
  Rebooting clears memory and when the earlier Kindles restarted, I would just go back and be able to browse successfully the web page that had seemed to cause the earlier reboot.

  With the 3.01 update newly installed last night, I browsed somewhat frenetically, trying everything and wondering when it would reboot.

  Never happened.  So they have quite definitely improved handling of situations in which conditions of insufficient memory remaining (or plain confusion) could cause reboots on any Kindle web-browsing -- and resolved those another way). '

 So, this is a good update to have and if you don't want to install it manually from the step-by-step instructions given at their Kindle 3 software update download page, then they'll eventually be sending it to your Kindle 3 anyway as part of an official update via Whispernet.

I'll be posting soon some things I learned while experimenting more with the web browser.  


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.