# What would you like to see Amazon focus on for their next Kindle?



## Meka (Sep 8, 2011)

I can't really think of any more features that I would need or want in the KPW, can you? 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## LaRita (Oct 28, 2008)

I'd like room for an SD card, so I could keep my library all in one place.  It's the only thing I miss from the first generation; seems like the memory keeps getting smaller in successive iterations.  Other than that, my PW is close to perfect.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Physical Keyboard, page turn keys, speakers for TTS, (I use it as a college student on a daily basis).
SD card & changeable screensavers from the K1.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Amazon seems to be committed to having us use the cloud for storage; I think they believe that will keep us in the Amazon ecosphere.  So, I doubt that an SD card is in the future for an eInk device.  Possibly for the Fire.  Speakers are a possibility, though they might also want to drive customers towards the tablets, and leave the eInk Kindle as a lower cost device.

I'd like page turn keys.  

I'd like better organizing ability, not necessarily for me but I because I think there is a high demand for it.  I barely use the collections I have now.  

I'd like the option to have the screensaver show the current book.  And I'd like the collections in cover view to actually show covers, not the ugly things they show now.

I'd like a home key.

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I'd like a physical home key.

I'd probably use physical page turn keys.

I personally don't care about any of the other things mentioned so far.

I do think, though, that the fall will see a version of the PW with sound capabilities.  Which will probably mean TTS.  I expect it will be an option and the existing configuration will still be available.


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## hamerfan (Apr 24, 2011)

More memory would be nice.


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## Meka (Sep 8, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I'd like the option to have the screensaver show the current book. And I'd like the collections in cover view to actually show covers, not the ugly things they show now.
> 
> Betsy


^^^This would be awesome!^^^

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

I want TTS back and the option to have the progress bar back.

Custom screensavers or the ability to make the cover of my currently reading/opened book as the screensaver.

If and when color eInk reaches better quality, I'd like to see that too.


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## larryb52 (Nov 18, 2009)

I don't see amazon doing more e ink wise, they are headed to tablets, such as the unannounced 10" that will be released in october november, I do think they will upgrade the Fire HD & Fire HD 8.9 but it is not cost worthy to keep the the eink going...


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## Mandy (Dec 27, 2009)

The Kindle Paperwhite is darn near perfect. The only thing I'd really like to see is the ability to personalize the screensavers. I really enjoyed the SS hack for the K2. I do like the idea of my current book's cover being displayed as a SS.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I really would love more font choices, but more importantly, more sizing choices. I need half steps in between the sizes right now. Sometimes 4 is too small and 5 is too big. Its still bugging me quite a bit. 

I would also like turn buttons. Just to have the option. 

But I am all about the font. I need to be able to read comfortably, anything else is gravy.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I'd like the option to have the screensaver show the current book. And I'd like the collections in cover view to actually show covers, not the ugly things they show now.





Meka said:


> ^^^This would be awesome!^^^


The thing I want most is the Home key; next the page turn keys. The rest are "nice to have," including the screensaver, but if I did have the option to have the current book as my screensaver, I'd probably buy out of the SOs.

Betsy


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## NightGoat (Feb 2, 2011)

Page-turn buttons, folder organization (like my Pocketbook 360+) and audio for TTS and audio books (Audible, an Amazon owned company... fer cripe's sake), larger storage... that's it.

Oh, and maybe a whammy bar for those epic air-guitar solo moments, when the mood hits.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

NightGoat said:


> Oh, and maybe a whammy bar for those epic air-guitar solo moments, when the mood hits.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

NightGoat said:


> Oh, and maybe a whammy bar for those epic air-guitar solo moments, when the mood hits.


You might be interested in this book which is free today: 

Though, I warn you, it's about how to play an actual exists-in-the-real-world guitar.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

larryb52 said:


> I don't see amazon doing more e ink wise, they are headed to tablets, such as the unannounced 10" that will be released in october november, I do think they will upgrade the Fire HD & Fire HD 8.9 but it is not cost worthy to keep the the eink going...


There is no reason why they can't produce both, they came out with more than one new eInk device well after their first tablet was released. I see no indication that they plan to drop eInk, far from it.


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## kltmom (Jan 9, 2012)

physical page turn buttons

I like the idea of a home key too


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

history_lover said:


> There is no reason why they can't produce both, they came out with more than one new eInk device well after their first tablet was released. I see no indication that they plan to drop eInk, far from it.


Me neither.

I think they did the Fires to fill a niche/compete with Apple, but they are the 'Go To' company for eInk eReaders*. And for someone who just wants to read, eInk is the 'go to' technology. I don't think they'll abandon it unless and until something superior comes along.

And, to me, a tablet is NOT superior.  I'd go so far as to say that the original Kindle, from 2007, is BETTER _for simply reading_, than any of the current tablets with all their bells and whistles. 

*at least in the US -- I understand Kobo has a pretty good market share in many other countries.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Me neither.
> 
> I think they did the Fires to fill a niche/compete with Apple, but they are the 'Go To' company for eInk eReaders*. And for someone who just wants to read, eInk is the 'go to' technology. I don't think they'll abandon it unless and until something superior comes along.
> 
> ...


I have a Kobo E-reader. It is not bad but if I had it to do over I would have just gotten a kindle e-reader instead. I prefer amazon's website and selection over Kobo. More to choose from and their PC app unless you want to do wireless (which messes up what you are reading) seems to want updated every time you go to sync the ereader.


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## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

Wireless doesn't update "every time you go to sync the ereader", at least the Kindle doesn't.  It only updates the firmware very rarely, if that's what you mean  by update.  Otherwise, it will download new books you have ordered for it, that's all.

ETA: and a wireless update doesn't mess up anything you are reading, at least on the Kindle.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

SusanCassidy said:


> Wireless doesn't update "every time you go to sync the ereader", at least the Kindle doesn't. It only updates the firmware very rarely, if that's what you mean by update. Otherwise, it will download new books you have ordered for it, that's all.
> 
> ETA: and a wireless update doesn't mess up anything you are reading, at least on the Kindle.


I was referring to the Kobo and it automatically syncs when you turn on the wifi. Problem is it syncs back to whatever you last had on the pc. I know the kindles don't. Kindles just go to farthest location from all devices.


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

I agree with the things already mentioned (expecially better book organization and seeing the cover for the screensaver), plus I want better navigation, such as: 

- split screen mode, so you can leave one page/area in view in part of the screen while moving around in the other part - to go back and look at a map or re-read a prior scene. Alternative to a split screen would be having virtual screens (like virtual desktops in Linux), that you can flip back and forth between to view different parts of the book. 

- move forward/back X pages at a time (X set in preferences) with up and down swipe (instead of changing font size)

- other gestures such as V or ^ to go to next/prior chapter, etc.


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## BevAnneS (May 11, 2010)

Great question!  I would actually like to see Kindle take a step backwards and make the K3 again.  I own two K2s and two K3s out of dislike for all the newer versions (all of which I do own except for that $69 version) and the knowledge that several of the features I love on these cannot be obtained in the newer models. I've had a Fire for about two months and have only used it to stream Prime movies and TV shows -- and definitely not for reading.


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

Yes, more font sizes, darker font. Swipe up or down in book for font size & may as well include the brightness as well, something like the Marvin app for the iPad. Have the choice to go next or backwards so many pages at a time, & the choice to go fowards or back to the next or previous chapters. Also, I want TTS back & the ability to listen to audible books.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

I'd like to see Amazon improve the actual reading experience, which they have not done for quite some time. They need to add the features that the third-party readers have had for a relatively long time, such as user control over justification, line and paragraph spacing, adjustable indents and margins, hyphenation control, and more.

The last big change they made in this area was _removing_ the ability to turn off full justification. I'd likely have no real complaint against full justification if they would get their act together on hyphenation.

Honestly, the Kindle wasn't exactly feature-rich when it was introduced, and it seems to have lost ground to the competition ever since. I sometimes wonder why they went to the trouble and expense of buying Stanza three or four years ago and then then killing it off. Stanza was one of the most advanced mobi/epub reader programs around at the time, and it would have been wonderful if they had incorporated it into the Kindle.

Mike


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

jmiked said:


> I'd like to see Amazon improve the actual reading experience, which they have not done for quite some time. They need to add the features that the third-party readers have had for a relatively long time, such as user control over justification, line and paragraph spacing, adjustable indents and margins, hyphenation control, and more.


^Interesting! None of these things matter to me much, if at all....but I know I'm really easily pleased.  I do agree with you about Stanza, and that it seems strange that Amazon doesn't incorporate more of those features...(even if I don't miss them).

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Toby said:


> Yes, more font sizes, darker font. *Swipe up or down in book for font size* & may as well include the brightness as well, something like the Marvin app for the iPad. Have the choice to go next or backwards so many pages at a time, & the choice to go fowards or back to the next or previous chapters. Also, I want TTS back & the ability to listen to audible books.


Kinda has the feature I bolded already. You can 'pinch' with two fingers on the screen and the font size will go smaller. Actually what happens is the change size menu comes up and shows you what you just did. Then you tap to escape that. Do the same thing by doing a 'spread' with two fingers on the screen.

I expect that, come fall, there will be a version of the PW with audio capabilities.


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## Silver (Dec 30, 2008)

Page turn buttons - miss them, miss them - and more memory (SD card) would be great.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

jmiked said:


> I'd like to see Amazon improve the actual reading experience, which they have not done for quite some time. They need to add the features that the third-party readers have had for a relatively long time, such as user control over justification, line and paragraph spacing, adjustable indents and margins, hyphenation control, and more.
> 
> The last big change they made in this area was _removing_ the ability to turn off full justification. I'd likely have no real complaint against full justification if they would get their act together on hyphenation.


I also don't care about this stuff, but I'd like them to REMOVE the ability of publishers to fix a specific font in a book. I have a couple of books locked into annoying fonts and it bugs me. But there are a lot of people who really, really care about these issues. The guy who enabled me into Kindle won't read on his Kindle and is using some obscure android reading program on a tablet because he wants to customize everything to the last iota!

I'd really like a better system of organizing books than the one they have. The determination to make it usable from the Kindle is wrong-headed.

I have some interest in TTS, even though I almost never use it. I used to want hard page turn buttons, but don't miss them now. Don't want the added size a physical keyboard would bring.

I do want some sort of upgraded self-illuminated Kindle to give me an excuse to replace my wifi PW with a 3G one!


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## hamerfan (Apr 24, 2011)

+1 on more font sizes. The options available on the K3 seemed to be perfect for me.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> I do want some sort of upgraded self-illuminated Kindle to give me an excuse to replace my wifi PW with a 3G one!


 

I hear you on this!

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> I also don't care about this stuff, but I'd like them to REMOVE the ability of publishers to fix a specific font in a book. I have a couple of books locked into annoying fonts and it bugs me. But there are a lot of people who really, really care about these issues. The guy who enabled me into Kindle won't read on his Kindle and is using some obscure android reading program on a tablet because he wants to customize everything to the last iota!


The problem with the 'publisher fonts' is it's not supposed to be that it's LOCKED and unchangeable, but that it's supposed to be one more option in addition to the regular ones. I've had only a few books where there was an available publisher font. I've had more than a few where the 'publisher font' was locked and, no, I don't like it either. 

Anyway, I see that not as a fault with kindle per se, but with publishers not paying attention. But given that it is apparently so easy for them to screw it up  perhaps Amazon should make it Not Possible to lock it. Or, at the very least, make it so a locked font is harder to do than letting it just be an option. 'Cause I really think it mostly happens because the people doing the kindle prep are just not paying attention and/or a bit lazy and figure the defaults are good enough. And, honestly, that's often the case. Apparently, though, the 'defualt' when you define a publisher font, is that it be locked. 

Oh, and I'd be open to a good reason to upgrade to a PW3G, too.


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## maries (Dec 29, 2010)

Physical page turn buttons and for other basic functions like Home.

Touch screen keyboard to buy books and type collection name.

I think managing collections could be easier/better.

DH and I both have tablets in addition to our e-readers.    Neither of us read using our tablets.  Although I could use a tablet for reading indoors, it is impossible to use these outdoors for reading like an e-reader.  I think there is a place for both and I hope e-readers don't go away.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

maries said:


> Touch screen keyboard to buy books and type collection name.


Not sure what you mean by this: the paperwhite does have a touch screen keyboard that becomes available when you are entering text.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

jmiked said:


> I'd like to see Amazon improve the actual reading experience, which they have not done for quite some time. They need to add the features that the third-party readers have had for a relatively long time, such as user control over justification, line and paragraph spacing, adjustable indents and margins, hyphenation control, and more.


My Kindle has line spacing and margin options but yes, I'd like to see more options. I was shocked by how many more text/paragraph options my husband's Kobo Glo had over my Kindle. I think Amazon's rationale for this is that they market Kindle as a very easy to use device, something that even non-techy people can use. I think they are purposely trying not to over-complicate it with lots of options and features. I think it would be wiser to market the "basic" Kindle that way but make the PW more advanced.


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## NightGoat (Feb 2, 2011)

Probably not big on many people's list... how about if you're using an ereader for text books or studying a topic, it would be a nice feature to be able to traverse between two or more books at the same time. Rather than having to go back to the home screen to open the other book(s), a drop down menu within a book with recents or favorites listed.


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

NightGoat said:


> Probably not big on many people's list... how about if you're using an ereader for text books or studying a topic, it would be a nice feature to be able to traverse between two or more books at the same time. Rather than having to go back to the home screen to open the other book(s), a drop down menu within a book with recents or favorites listed.


That's why we have more than one Kindle!


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## backslidr (Nov 23, 2012)

I guess I'm in the minority here. I like it just the way it is. The more features they add the more expensive it will get, but that's okay too, for those that want them. I'd be satisfied if they offer two PW's next time, one the way it is now and one that's fully loaded.


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

As usual, I've waited 2 weeks to get my PW update & still nothing. I feel that if I don't manually update myself, I will never get my updates. If it's possible, I want Amazon to send me my updates within 2 weeks for my current & future kindle eReaders. So far, I am getting my updates for my Fires in a reasonable time.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

history_lover said:


> My Kindle has line spacing and margin options but yes, I'd like to see more options. I was shocked by how many more text/paragraph options my husband's Kobo Glo had over my Kindle. I think Amazon's rationale for this is that they market Kindle as a very easy to use device, something that even non-techy people can use. I think they are purposely trying not to over-complicate it with lots of options and features. I think it would be wiser to market the "basic" Kindle that way but make the PW more advanced.


I understand what you are saying, but additional options can easily be hidden under an "Advanced Reading Options" that most people will ignore. IMHO, the line and margin spacing options on Kindles (if my K3 is indicative) are woefully inadequate. Even with line spacing set at the minimum, I've gotten books that appeared to be double-spaced (I think they were Topaz, though). I'm rarely satisfied with lowest common denominator devices.

I'm seriously considering getting a Kobo Glo. 

Mike


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

Toby said:


> As usual, I've waited 2 weeks to get my PW update & still nothing. I feel that if I don't manually update myself, I will never get my updates. If it's possible, I want Amazon to send me my updates within 2 weeks for my current & future kindle eReaders. So far, I am getting my updates for my Fires in a reasonable time.


I haven't got the PW update yet either. I don't know if there's anything I particularly care about in it, so I'm willing to wait until it comes automatically.


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## backslidr (Nov 23, 2012)

jmiked said:


> I understand what you are saying, but additional options can easily be hidden under an "Advanced Reading Options" that most people will ignore. IMHO, the line and margin spacing options on Kindles (if my K3 is indicative) are woefully inadequate. Even with line spacing set at the minimum, I've gotten books that appeared to be double-spaced (I think they were Topaz, though). I'm rarely satisfied with lowest common denominator devices.
> 
> I'm seriously considering getting a Kobo Glo.
> 
> Mike


Have you checked out the Kobo Aura HD? It looks really good. I just might pick one of these up in a couple of months.


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

I would wait if I knew when I was getting the update. I don't like not knowing. Apple always sends me the  message right away with the option to update, right from the iPad.


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## Pickett (Jan 6, 2011)

Two things I would Very Much like:

1. The ability to toggle between two or more pages.  As someone else mentioned here, it is helpful when there is a map, or as I have sometimes encountered, answers to problems in a text book, a bank of photos,  footnotes that aren't linked, a glossary, character page etc.  Without this ability, the Kindle is limited in nonfiction usefulness.

2. The non-touch Kindles have the ability (on most books) to jump chapters by clicking the right or left side of the four way control.  I use this a lot (really quite a lot!) when I am looking for something in a book, finding my place ( when whispersync doesn't work; I failed to sync between two devices; I am jumping around in a book.) If there is a table of contents, I can do this in a laborious fashion by linking from there, but there is not always a Table and either way this little jump button is so fast-it's like riffling through the pages of a dtb, looking for a key phrase. This feature alone has kept me from buying a PW and I miss it all the time when I read on my Fire.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

While this isn't as easy as using the four way control, you can jump ahead with three taps.  One, at the top to invoke the menu, once on "go to" and once on the chapter you want.  It actually is pretty quick, but I agree not as simple as the controller.

Does the controller work if there is no table of contents?

Betsy


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## Cardinal (Feb 24, 2010)

I haven't had a chance to read this thread but I would like to see:

The ability to sort books by an author in order of publication (not when they came to Kindle).
The ability to sort the books in series in series order.

Ability to have Collections within a Collection.

Option to have page numbers always show at the bottom of the screen.

When there are no "real page" numbers, have page numbers that don't match a paper book.  Epub books have this, Kindle can too.*****

Option to turn the chapter hashes at the bottom of the screen on or off.

Ability to quickly flip  through book pages.

When looking at notes, highlights or bookmarks, ability to jump to a page number.

Physical page turn buttons.

New publication standard -- all Kindle books must have chapter index jumps.  Give the option to  turn the jump feature on or off on the touch Kindles.

Return the page rotation / orientation feature that was taken out of the PW.


***** When I buy an iPad, I have been thinking about switching to ePub books because of page numbers.


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## BradW (Sep 6, 2012)

How about a fully waterproof Kindle for poolside reading?  PW is close, very close, to not having any openings.  I'm seeing an ad on TV for a cell phone that claims to be.

I'm a fan of getting author autographs whenever possible.  Now that there's a nice capacative multi-touch screen, add the software so an author can use a stylus on the screen to autograph.  Store the vector map along with all the other user-added metadata (notes, bookmarks etc) so it will stay with the book as I inevitably upgrade.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Pickett said:


> Two things I would Very Much like:
> 
> 1. The ability to toggle between two or more pages. As someone else mentioned here, it is helpful when there is a map, or as I have sometimes encountered, answers to problems in a text book, a bank of photos, footnotes that aren't linked, a glossary, character page etc. Without this ability, the Kindle is limited in nonfiction usefulness.


Well, some of that is down to the publisher formatting it properly, there's not much Amazon can do about that. But you can always use bookmarks to mark reference pages that you will be frequently returning to.



> 2. The non-touch Kindles have the ability (on most books) to jump chapters by clicking the right or left side of the four way control. I use this a lot (really quite a lot!) when I am looking for something in a book, finding my place ( when whispersync doesn't work; I failed to sync between two devices; I am jumping around in a book.) If there is a table of contents, I can do this in a laborious fashion by linking from there, but there is not always a Table and either way this little jump button is so fast-it's like riffling through the pages of a dtb, looking for a key phrase. This feature alone has kept me from buying a PW and I miss it all the time when I read on my Fire.


Swiping up or down would jump to the next or former chapter on the Kindle Touch - I assume the PW is the same, though I haven't tested it.



BradW said:


> How about a fully waterproof Kindle for poolside reading?


How about a ziplock bag? Perhaps not very aesthetic but effective. Alternatively, there are waterproof/resistant Kindle cases you can buy.


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## Pickett (Jan 6, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Does the controller work if there is no table of contents?


Yes, the controller does work, even when there is no table of contents. That is one more reason I am loathe to give it up: when I read a book without a table of contents, there is no quick way to "flip" through it on without that controller.


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## kb7uen Gene (Mar 13, 2009)

The thing that I find so interesting, is that they dropped audio output support from the kindles altogether because Amazon owns Audible.com now.  I would be really surprised if they brought back TTS for general usage.  I can see them wanting to get away from it all together with the exception of the apps as an accessibility feature to keep the publishers and the authors happy.  I'd like to see them do a Kindle that is more in line with the physical screen size of the iPad mini and keep it touch and with the backlight.  The different aspect ratio would open up more possibilities for people with learning disabilities, or I should say reading disabilities, because they could very the line spacing, the word spacing, different fonts, different font sizing, and so on.
Gene


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

history_lover said:


> Swiping up or down would jump to the next or former chapter on the Kindle Touch - I assume the PW is the same, though I haven't tested it.


Didn't work on my PW; tried it on several books.

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Yeah, that's a feature that went away with the PW.  Not sure why.  OTOH, it's not a feature I'd likely ever use so it's not being there is a non-issue for me.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Didn't work on my PW; tried it on several books.
> 
> Betsy


That's a shame, I rarely used it but when I did, it was very handy.


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## KevinH (Jun 29, 2013)

I don't know if anyone's mentioned it yet, but I'd like for them to fix the charger problem. Basically, one of the issues common to Kindles (or at least the Kindle Fire) is that it either won't charge or won't charge fully. In my opinion, this is a problem that it would behoove them to fix asap.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

KevinH said:


> I don't know if anyone's mentioned it yet, but I'd like for them to fix the charger problem. Basically, one of the issues common to Kindles (or at least the Kindle Fire) is that it either won't charge or won't charge fully. In my opinion, this is a problem that it would behoove them to fix asap.


Huh. That's not a problem I've had with any of the kindles I've had.


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## Adaman14 (Mar 20, 2013)

KevinH said:


> I don't know if anyone's mentioned it yet, but I'd like for them to fix the charger problem. Basically, one of the issues common to Kindles (or at least the Kindle Fire) is that it either won't charge or won't charge fully. In my opinion, this is a problem that it would behoove them to fix asap.


I had this problem with my Kindle 2 and finally gave up and got the KK.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

My FireHD seems to be sensitive to which cord I use - some work, some, for unknown reasons, don't. I suspect it must be the connection points inside the connector.


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

history_lover said:


> Well, some of that is down to the publisher formatting it properly, there's not much Amazon can do about that. But you can always use bookmarks to mark reference pages that you will be frequently returning to.


Well, the footnotes and such maybe, but I think Pickett was getting at the more general problem of being able to jump to an arbitrary save point (like a map or discussion questions) from anywhere in the book. No publisher would (or should!) include annoying links throughout the book in hopes that someone somewhere might want to refer back to it at that specific point.



kb7uen Gene said:


> The thing that I find so interesting, is that they dropped audio output support from the kindles altogether because Amazon owns Audible.com now. I would be really surprised if they brought back TTS for general usage.


I wouldn't say that they've dropped audio support. They just _added_ TTS support to the Fire line. And I think it's too soon to say that audio, including TTS, won't ever be on any future e-ink Kindles.



Pickett said:


> 2. The non-touch Kindles have the ability (on most books) to jump chapters by clicking the right or left side of the four way control. I use this a lot (really quite a lot!) when I am looking for something in a book, finding my place ( when whispersync doesn't work; I failed to sync between two devices; I am jumping around in a book.) If there is a table of contents, I can do this in a laborious fashion by linking from there, but there is not always a Table and either way this little jump button is so fast-it's like riffling through the pages of a dtb, looking for a key phrase. This feature alone has kept me from buying a PW and I miss it all the time when I read on my Fire.


I second this one. I know it caused problems on the Touch when people couldn't figure out that swiping right to left turned the page but swiping up or down jumped to the next "mark," but I use this all the time on my KK, and I would miss it on a PW. I hope they bring it back, but I don't have a lot of hope since it seems like there were a lot more complaints about problems with the feature than there have been about losing it.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

marianneg said:


> Well, the footnotes and such maybe, but I think Pickett was getting at the more general problem of being able to jump to an arbitrary save point (like a map or discussion questions) from anywhere in the book. No publisher would (or should!) include annoying links throughout the book in hopes that someone somewhere might want to refer back to it at that specific point.


Which is why I recommended bookmarks. Bookmark the map and then you can jump to it from wherever you are in the book.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Does the PW have the ability to expand maps and illustrations? I have a KK and a Fire HD and neither one lets me expand those very tiny maps up to a readble size.


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## Pickett (Jan 6, 2011)

history_lover said:


> Which is why I recommended bookmarks. Bookmark the map and then you can jump to it from wherever you are in the book.


Unfortunately this isn't always a quick jump. If I have highlighted a lot of passages in the book, my bookmark could be way down the list, hidden in the pages of highlights and bookmarks. On a text book or study type nonfiction, it really is possible to have many pages of highlights and bookmarks, and to page through them each time I want to jump to the footnotes or answer page for the particular chapter I am working on is quite time consuming.


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

That's why I have virtual screens (like virtual desktops in Linux) in my wishlist. You could have a page of the book (say a map) open in one screen while reading in the other screen. There would be a gesture to switch between the virtual screens, say < and > .


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

HappyGuy said:


> Does the PW have the ability to expand maps and illustrations? I have a KK and a Fire HD and neither one lets me expand those very tiny maps up to a readble size.


Yes, in fact you should be able to on the Keyboard and Fire, too.

On the eInk devices, navigate to (or tap) the picture and a symbol should pop up that is a magnifying glass with a + sign in it. If you tap/click it the image will zoom. Of course, it's limited by how tight the resolution is so you might get something that's bigger, but no more clear.

On the Fire, it's similar. . .tap the image and there should be a zoom option.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Pickett said:


> Unfortunately this isn't always a quick jump. If I have highlighted a lot of passages in the book, my bookmark could be way down the list, hidden in the pages of highlights and bookmarks. On a text book or study type nonfiction, it really is possible to have many pages of highlights and bookmarks, and to page through them each time I want to jump to the footnotes or answer page for the particular chapter I am working on is quite time consuming.


As I have more than one kindle, what I'll sometimes do is put the book on one of them and bookmark the maps or whatever I want to be able to look at and then just go to it on the alternate device. I realize that solution won't work for everyone, but it works for me.  I don't highlight or make notes really at all as I read fiction for enjoyment so it's never a LOT of bookmarks that I have to make.


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

Dragle said:


> That's why I have virtual screens (like virtual desktops in Linux) in my wishlist. You could have a page of the book (say a map) open in one screen while reading in the other screen. There would be a gesture to switch between the virtual screens, say < and > .


Kind of like browser tabs? That would be cool.


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## Pickett (Jan 6, 2011)

Dragle said:


> That's why I have virtual screens (like virtual desktops in Linux) in my wishlist. You could have a page of the book (say a map) open in one screen while reading in the other screen. There would be a gesture to switch between the virtual screens, say < and > .


Yes, Yes, that would be perfect! Get thee a job at Amazon and implement this feature!


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## Pickett (Jan 6, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> As I have more than one kindle, what I'll sometimes do is put the book on one of them and bookmark the maps or whatever I want to be able to look at and then just go to it on the alternate device.


A good idea-I'll give it a try. Plus, it is a valid justification to family as to why I do need more than one kindle!


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## NightGoat (Feb 2, 2011)

Dragle said:


> That's why I have virtual screens (like virtual desktops in Linux) in my wishlist. You could have a page of the book (say a map) open in one screen while reading in the other screen. There would be a gesture to switch between the virtual screens, say < and > .


This would be lovely, also if you could do this from one book to another. I read back and forth from different books.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

KevinH said:


> I don't know if anyone's mentioned it yet, but I'd like for them to fix the charger problem. Basically, one of the issues common to Kindles (or at least the Kindle Fire) is that it either won't charge or won't charge fully. In my opinion, this is a problem that it would behoove them to fix asap.


I've had problems with my Kindle Fires, too....

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Pickett said:


> A good idea-I'll give it a try. Plus, it is a valid justification to family as to why I do need more than one kindle!


 You're welcome.


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## BradW (Sep 6, 2012)

history_lover said:


> How about a ziplock bag? Perhaps not very aesthetic but effective. Alternatively, there are waterproof/resistant Kindle cases you can buy.


Yes, I actually have a heavy ziplock bag. It came "free" as the packaging of the Kobo case I bought for my KK during Borders closeout. But I keep forgetting to bring it with me. Now that I don't need to remember to bring a book light (which I never remembered either), why should I have to remember a ziplock bag?  I want minimum extra bulk when reading, so anything heavier or bulkier than a ziplock bag is not desirable.

I was actually pretty surprised when I found that the touchscreen on the PW DOES work through the ziplock bag.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

Another vote for actual buttons for page turn and Home here. I won't buy another Kindle without them as long as the ones I have last. I also really want the quick way to jump from chapter to chapter. Having to go to the T/C and seeing a list of chapters without any idea which is which is more of an aggravation than a feature. Same with the way they've got Notes and Bookmarks set up. Same with having to dig down to get to the Airplane on/off. I love the lighted screen and small size compared to my K3, and those are the only things I like better about the PW.


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## robyn26 (Jul 8, 2013)

Having a home key would really be good.


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## geniebeanie (Apr 23, 2009)

A port for a SD card or a CD/DVD Rom.  A AM /FM Radio would be cool as well.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

geniebeanie said:


> A port for a SD card or a CD/DVD Rom. A AM /FM Radio would be cool as well.




Really?

I guess if I want that I can buy a tablet and get a radio app for it. But when I want to read I don't want any of that other stuff -- in fact I rarely just read on either of my Fires. And, most importantly, I don't want to pay for it if I'm not going to use it! Options, of course, are good. 

No, for me, of the many things mentioned, the only one that would really improve the experience for me would be a physical 'home' button.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

geniebeanie said:


> A port for a SD card or a CD/DVD Rom. A AM /FM Radio would be cool as well.


I think I saw a very small AM/FM radio at Dollar tree.
and I am like Ann, a tablet would be better for the radio. A good app is Tune in Radio.

And I do believe that a cd/dvd rom would make an ereader very heavy.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

cinisajoy said:


> I think I saw a very small AM/FM radio at Dollar tree.
> and I am like Ann, a tablet would be better for the radio. A good app is Tune in Radio.
> 
> And I do believe that a cd/dvd rom would make an ereader very heavy.


Most laptops don't even have a cd/dvd player any more. . . . .one is generally expected to install programs from the Internet. Though portable USB players are available.


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## 31842 (Jan 11, 2011)

maries said:


> I think managing collections could be easier/better.


Here! Here! I was so proud, judiciously filing away all of my titles into collections... and it froze my Kindle. Maybe the work better on newer models, but I really would like an ability to organize my books by collections without slowing down my Kindle speed.

I'd also like to replace the percentage bar with "Pages Read/Pages Left", but now I'm just talking crazy. How about the moon? Give me the moon!


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

It would be lovely if they make it possible to use the MYK page (or the kindle.amazon.com page, or even the most difficult-to-find Your Media Library page) to add books to Collections, rather than having to do it on the Kindle itself.

I will say, though, that having had both Nook readers, Collections are WAY simpler on the Kindle.  Sony's system is the simplest, or was when I had my last Sony reader a couple of years ago.  But there are always improvements that can be made on any device.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Most laptops don't even have a cd/dvd player any more. . . . .one is generally expected to install programs from the Internet. Though portable USB players are available.


Really? How would you burn a CD then? I bought a new Asus laptop last month that has a dvd/cd burner/player. I think it's just the ultrabooks (pay more/get less but they are lightweight) and Macbook Air that don't have them.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I haven't burned a CD in ages....I put things on a memory stick, or on my MP3 player, or move to dropbox to move between computers.  I back up to an external hard drive and to Carbonite.


Betsy


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

My preference is for the Eink Kindle to be strictly a reading machine. I will tolerate audio books capabilities, and actually would like text to speech, but radios and similar stuff should be left for the Fire. 

In any case, I doubt that Amazon is going to add any features to the Eink Kindle that might detract from sales of the Fire.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

mlewis78 said:


> Really? How would you burn a CD then? I bought a new Asus laptop last month that has a dvd/cd burner/player. I think it's just the ultrabooks (pay more/get less but they are lightweight) and Macbook Air that don't have them.


You'd use an external 'peripheral' USB CD/DVD drive.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> You'd use an external 'peripheral' USB CD/DVD drive.


I used an eternal CD burner when I had my first laptop. Rather inconvenient and clunky, since I don't have a desk to put it on.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I do think higher end and larger laptops still have them, but they are becoming less important all the time, as software is becoming installed from the cloud and people use MP3 players with bluetooth or cabled connection to car radios for their cars, and docking stations with speakers for their homes.  As I said, I hadn't burned a CD in a few years, until I got my new PC and the "new owner" procedure recommending making a boot disk.  I had to look for my blank DVDs.  In fact, I think the main reason the higher end laptops have them is so that one can play DVDs on them, not for creating them so much.  I think the last CD I burned before that was music for hubby because he can operate the CD player; my iPod, not so much. 

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

That's probably true. . . . I just know the last couple of laptops we bought haven't had them.  One came with an external USB drive which I think we've used about twice. . . .but we keep it around just in case.  There's not much software any more, though, that you can't just download and we have an external network hard drive for back ups, so. . . . . . . we don't really use the computers for music. . . . . our son did, at some point, put all our CD's onto an external hard drive that connects directly to our audio system, though.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I'll have to ask the three college-age grandkids on Sunday when they last burned a CD...I'm guessing they don't do it very often.  They seem to mostly use USB drives.

Betsy


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

mlewis78 said:


> I used an *eternal* CD burner when I had my first laptop. Rather inconvenient and clunky, since I don't have a desk to put it on.


And they just seem to take _forever_... 

(sorry, couldn't resist)


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I burn CD's all the time and DVD's. But I do that on my desktop which has always been and probably always will be my main computer. I have a netbook for downstairs and use during TV time, but it of course doesn't have a burner. 
I don't do well for longer periods being crouched over netbook and laptop devices. I prefer sitting on a proper desk and that is where my regular computer is. 

I do a lot of backups on disks, I don't think I would trust putting it on USB sticks or such. Those things get lost all over the place. I had like 3 of them and I can't find them anymore.  . Cat probably hid it somewhere.


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

Even our newest desktop computer came without an internal hard drive. I haven't missed having one on my laptop at all. I used to burn CDs, but it's been ages since I did. I occasionally back up my Calibre library on a memory stick, even though it's also backed up on Dropbox.


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## EmilyG (Jan 31, 2010)

I would love the option to start books at the cover instead of the first chapter. I always page back to make sure I don't miss the prologue, prose, or anything else cool the author has put before the first chapter.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

EmilyG said:


> I would love the option to start books at the cover instead of the first chapter. I always page back to make sure I don't miss the prologue, prose, or anything else cool the author has put before the first chapter.


As long as it's an option! I 'm not interested in anything that keeps me from getting to the story.  I never look at that stuff....

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

EmilyG said:


> I would love the option to start books at the cover instead of the first chapter. I always page back to make sure I don't miss the prologue, prose, or anything else cool the author has put before the first chapter.


That would be a nice option. When I start a new book the first thing I do is go to the cover. . . . .I page pretty quickly through the front matter but I do like to check it out. . . .sometimes the 'beginning' as marked in the file fails to include a prologue or map or something that is helpful to have seen.

But then, I always looked at all that stuff in paper books too.


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

EmilyG said:


> I would love the option to start books at the cover instead of the first chapter. I always page back to make sure I don't miss the prologue, prose, or anything else cool the author has put before the first chapter.


+1


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

+2, or is it +3 now.  

For years now, every book I open, I go-to cover first. Its almost automatic, but if there was an option in setting, I would love that. I just want to start the book from the cover. Get the feel for the book, set the stage so to speak. And yes, also to make sure I don't miss anything before chapter 1.


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

Me too!


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## geniebeanie (Apr 23, 2009)

I love my fire first generation.  Prefer to read on it.  I have over two hundred cookbooks on the fire.  I used my fire for apps,a electronic cook book,and mostly for reading.  Not so much for the internet because I have a lap top and iPad second generation for surfing the web.  Also have a lot of music downloaded to the fire,laptop and IPad.  Would love a radio that does not have to depend on the Internet to work.  I have Pandora radio but don't have Internet except at home.  So cannot enjoy music except at home.  I have a IPod but do not know where it is.  I even still have my old Walkman that still works.  I love music and can not imagine taking a bus without it.


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## Vicki G. (Feb 18, 2010)

My wants are simple.  Make the quality of the font as good as what is on the $69 Kindle.  The more pixels we got, the lower the quality became.  And more font sizes too.  IMHO these font sizes (and the fonts themselves) got all messed up when the screen resolution was changed.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

The PW without the lights!


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## TerryS (Mar 29, 2011)

Starting t the cover can actually be done by the formatter. A command can be inserted to tell the book where to open. Haing the option mentioned would be good on the Kindle itself, though.
Actual buttons would definitely be nice.


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## Tim_A (May 25, 2013)

I'd prefer to see them focus on the software rather than another physical device, and especially the book management aspects, which are, frankly, atrocious. Popup book descriptions, Folders/collections that support sub-folders/sub-collections, with syncing between devices, user defined sort orders and book pinning etc. Heck the iPad/android apps don't even have the most basic collection support. Easy management of collections from off-box (essential for the e-Ink kindles, which can be tediously slow), Catalogue export, printing etc

The last thing I want is another device that isn't quite compatible with everything else out there!


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