# Hating on Version 3.1



## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

I'm slightly annoyed that my kindle updated itself without so much as a 'by your leave' this evening .... but I have to say I'm extremely annoyed they moved the locations count.  It doesn't make more space for text or do anything.  It's an unwanted 'feature' and I hate it.

Thank you, I feel much better for getting that out of my system.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm glad you feel better, Geoffrey. 

For me, the changes are completely neutral.


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## patrickt (Aug 28, 2010)

I tend to try things for awhile before I "hate" them. When I got the Kindle I longed for page numbers but after a week they no longer interested me. I am trying to develop a spray, or perhaps an oil, that can be applied to the Kindle so it will smell like a book, an old, slightly moldy book, and satisfy the old guys. I'm 70 but I'm not that old yet.


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## raaurora (Jan 2, 2011)

yeah, having to hit the menu button to see location or page number is not real convenient.  I guess I'll have to get used to just the percentage based bar at the bottom.

also, I'm fairly certain after upgrading my button clicks lag some before the kindle performs the requested action more so than the previous os.  Anyone else notice this?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

raaurora said:


> yeah, having to hit the menu button to see location or page number is not real convenient. I guess I'll have to get used to just the percentage based bar at the bottom.
> 
> also, I'm fairly certain after upgrading my button clicks lag some before the kindle performs the requested action more so than the previous os. Anyone else notice this?


I haven't but others have reported it. . . I'd bet it's because, after getting the page number info for your books, some re-indexing has to occur. Which would tend to cause slight performance issues. Should get finished and sorted out pretty quickly, though.


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## lori_piper (Oct 7, 2010)

Honestly, I didn't even notice that I had gotten the upgrade. My husband pointed it out to me.


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

After about a week of Kindling, I had found that I really liked the % read feature. sort of like looking at the binding to see your progress. And I was very frustrated trying to gauge where I was per location numbers.  I was happy with the change in 3.1 removing the location readout, but leaving the % as the distraction at the bottom of the page is now gone.  On several of the books I am currently reading, hitting the menu button displays both page of total pages and location of total location.  Nice !


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## PraiseGod13 (Oct 27, 2008)

Like others have said... I'm really not seeing much change with the update so I'm not minding it at all.  At first, it seemed strange not to have the locations visible... but now that I'm used to it... I'm glad they're hidden.  The information is there for me if I want it... but I feel like not having it there has "cleaned up my screen".  I do like the percentage read feature.... that tells me all I really need to know about how much of the book I've read and how much I have left to read.


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## NightGoat (Feb 2, 2011)

PraiseGod13 said:


> Like others have said... I'm really not seeing much change with the update so I'm not minding it at all. At first, it seemed strange not to have the locations visible... but now that I'm used to it... I'm glad they're hidden. The information is there for me if I want it... but I feel like not having it there has "cleaned up my screen". I do like the percentage read feature.... that tells me all I really need to know about how much of the book I've read and how much I have left to read.


Ditto.

I never really had time to get my head around how locations work before the update, and page numbers never really worked out so well with other ereaders. But the percentage bar works well for me.


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## D/W (Dec 29, 2010)

NightGoat said:


> I never really had time to get my head around how locations work before the update, and page numbers never really worked out so well with other ereaders. But the percentage bar works well for me.


Same here. I've only used the percentage bar in the past, and I'll probably continue to do so.

I just updated to 3.1 yesterday. Once in a while I've wanted to go directly to the end of a book, and with the new update I can do that easily via Menu + Goto. I don't currently subscribe to any newspapers, but I think the new layout is an improvement. There's nothing in the update that really thrills me, though. Like Ann, I feel mostly neutral about it.


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## STOHara (Feb 23, 2011)

If they're going to get rid of the location number, why keep the percentage? The progress bar conveys the same information, so why not eliminate the entire line of numerical information? But personally, I want the location numbers back -- knowing that I'm 10% done with the book doesn't do me any good if I don't know how long the book is.  With location numbers I can assume that if I'm at 400/4000 that I'm on page 40 of a 400 page book.

I'm also unhappy with the new magazine layout, though I don't know if it's a problem with the new system itself or if publishers haven't updated their design. On the old system, you'd go to the main table-of-contents and it would display a list of sections; if you clicked on a specific section it would take you to a list of stories within that section. With 3.1, if you highlight a section, you get a pop-up listing the articles, which in principle is a better way of doing it. But the pop-up only lists titles, not authors, which is really annoying if I'm reading a literary magazine. You can still access the old-style section lists, but that defeats the point of the update.


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## dixiehellcat (Jan 23, 2011)

So that's what happened! I couldn't figure out why the book I was reading suddenly lost its position numbers, unless it was because it wasn't an Amazon. thanks.


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## David Derrico (Nov 18, 2009)

Geoffrey said:


> I'm slightly annoyed that my kindle updated itself without so much as a 'by your leave' this evening .... but I have to say I'm extremely annoyed they moved the locations count. It doesn't make more space for text or do anything. It's an unwanted 'feature' and I hate it.
> 
> Thank you, I feel much better for getting that out of my system.


I agree with you completely. Re-designing the whole bottom bar (removing location numbers, shortening the location bar, and sticking the % read in a corner -- or something) to add an extra line of text would be one thing, and would probably be worth the trade-off of losing location info. But with no corresponding benefit, I don't know why they removed the location numbers. It's a little annoying. So I haven't updated yet.


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## frazzm737 (Jun 4, 2010)

I am very happy with the new version.  Location numbers were a meaningless distraction for me.  The percentage bar shows me all I need to know about where I am in a book.  Page and location numbers are available for those who want them, but I like the cleaner look of the page without them.


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## Jamjar (Nov 22, 2008)

_I am very happy with the new version. Location numbers were a meaningless distraction for me. The percentage bar shows me all I need to know about where I am in a book. Page and location numbers are available for those who want them, but I like the cleaner look of the page without them. _

I agree completely.


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## Littlejohn (Nov 3, 2010)

frazzm737 said:


> I am very happy with the new version. Location numbers were a meaningless distraction for me. The percentage bar shows me all I need to know about where I am in a book. Page and location numbers are available for those who want them, but I like the cleaner look of the page without them.


My feelings exactly! And I had to work a bit for my update, as I have no wi-fi and no G3 (or whatever it is) out here in the boonies where I live, so I had to D/L a file to my computer, then go tie my kindle to the computer via USP port, then get the file input to the root directory on the Kindle. Then, after ejecting the Kindle from the computer, went through a heart-stopping five or six minutes while the Kindle installed the file. Whew.

But really why I did it...I suspect strongly, after talking to the Kindle Customer Service by phone, that the software upgrade includes some other bug fixes which were not mentioned in the promotion of the update, and I wanted my and my wife's Kindle up to date.

BTW, none of the books I currently have on my Kindle have page numbers... 

David


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

I don't mind them moving the location numbers.. I usually just use the % anyway. Page numbers don't really matter to me. My iritation was that I lost all my custom screensavers, but luckily I got them back a few days ago. 

I rarely connect the BRATs Kindles to the internet, so I'm not sure if I 'll do the update on theirs or not...


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

Luvmy4brats said:


> I don't mind them moving the location numbers.. I usually just use the % anyway. Page numbers don't really matter to me. My iritation was that I lost all my custom screensavers, but luckily I got them back a few days ago.
> 
> I rarely connect the BRATs Kindles to the internet, so I'm not sure if I 'll do the update on theirs or not...


Heather, I'm assuming that you used the new jailbreak and the old ss hack, is that right? From what I've read, that's all we need to do, but I've been having weird issues with my K3 freezing since the update. I've had some great suggestions as to the possible cause, and I'm hoping that indexing based on retrieval of the page information is the cause of the problems. I can't wait to get my own screensavers back!


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## PhillyGuy (Dec 18, 2010)

The first thing to say is that response time is generally better. 

I like percents.

Organization of newspapers is much improved.  And, amazingly, this applies just as much to free news subscribed through Calibre as to newspaper purchased through Amazon.com.

Normally, I wait a few years after something comes out before buying it.  Then I can based my buying decision on the final version.  The K3 is, as far as I can recall, the first time I ventured to the bleeding edge.  It is only to be expected that a consumer product less than six months after release is still a bit of a work in progress.  However, I am satisfied.

I realize that there is no telling whether the K3 will still be available two years from now.  There may then be a boatload of like-new ones available for a song.  Or it might be that heavily used ones will sell for as much as  new ones do now.  So I took the plunge.  But next time I will probably wait until after the software upgrade cycles are complete.


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## kwajkat (Nov 6, 2008)

I like having just the percentage at the bottom of the page. At least it is easy to get the location/page numbers if needed by clicking on the menu button. Cleans up the bottom.  Also seems to be a bit faster with everything else and my battery indication doesn't seem to show a large drainage like it did prior to the 3.1 update. So they must have fixed something that my K3 was upset about.


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## CAR (Aug 1, 2010)

Be honest here I like the no location look, it looks cleaner to me. All I looked at before was the progress bar anyways.  BTW I am one of the folks that upgraded to 3.1 without removing my hacks, that also does not bother me, because the screensaver hack still works like a charm.


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## Sage (Dec 29, 2010)

I just noticed this afternoon that my Kindle had upgraded to 3.1.  It's a little early to tell, but so far I haven't noticed any performance issues, and I like the cleaner look...it's less distracting when I'm reading. The page numbers are a nice bonus, but 
I don't need to see them (or locations) displayed all the time.

I do wish the update had included a custom screen-saver option though. I don't like to hack my devices.


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

I liked having the total locations shown at the bottom of the page.  I spent 3 years with them there and I want them back.  I don't want to hit menu to see them.  I hate this update!


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

I don't mind the upgrade. It happened just in time. I have the discussion period with my contemporary lit class (the crossing by Cormac McCarthy) and World lit II (Lolita) this coming week. I am the only one that is using s kindle. 

Only problem I have is that my kindle highlights seem to take a lot longer.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

Watching the location numbers is just one of my things while reading - I did the same thing with page numbers when reading pbooks.  I know it's easy to see and go back to reading with just two buttons but that's alot more work than just glancing down.  

I called Amazon about not asking permission before updating and they guy said I'm the first he's heard to comment on that and explained how these are usually bug fixes, blah, blah, blah.  He was helpful and forwarded my comments on to the programming teams to be added to the stack but I doubt anything will come of it for future releases.  All my other hardware and software alert me when there's an update and ask permission so why should my kindle be special?


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## Phil75070 (Dec 30, 2009)

To paraphrase....

You can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you can never please all the people all the time.


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## David Derrico (Nov 18, 2009)

Yeah, it's really amazing how any large enough group of people will have such divergent thoughts on almost any issue. Locations vs. pages, 3.1 vs. 3.0.3, Kindle vs. Nook, Republican vs. Democrat, etc., etc. And you will find people with very very strong opinions -- convinced they are right and not understanding how anyone could think otherwise -- on all sides of any such "issue."

When it comes to software, that's why I'm a big fan of customization options. If there's a choice to show locations or not, then you could please more people. If the Kindle came standard with dead author screensavers, but allowed people to add their own if they wanted, I think that would make a lot of people happy.

I guess the downside is that it's more expensive to program all those options, support them, etc., and you'll end up with more bugs and possibly slower performance. So there's no perfect system that will please everyone.


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

I don't really care for the new features either.  I liked keeping track, if just in my head, the progress forward of locations.  Sure, pushing a button to see the location/page number isn't too hard, but I'd have preferred keeping them at the bottom all the time.


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

Phil75070 said:


> To paraphrase....
> 
> You can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you can never please all the people all the time.


That doesn't bother me as long as I'm one of some of the people. 
Having total locations showing was like glancing at the book and seeing howfar I've progressed. The bar at the bottom doesn't do that for me.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

And a lot of us who have had multiple Kindles over the years are perfectly happy with locations instead of page numbers.  In an electronic book, page numbers really don't have much meaning.  If I have my font set very large, 2-3 screens of text may be the same page number and that seems weird to me.
I've been keeping my antenna off as much as possible to keep the update from coming through.  I have too many books on there right now and I don't want the re-indexing to happen unless I've got the power plugged in.
I really wish Amazon would give us choices about what we see on the screen - I miss the title bar at the top too.  So why not allow us to say show/hide Title, show/hide locations, etc.  And when I picked up my Nook the other day, I remembered how much I like having my own pictures on the screen instead of the dead authors.  I would find that change more useful than Popular Highlights.
But we are all entitled to our own opinion.  After all, if we all thought the same, the world would be a very boring place.


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

I miss having the locations information. Not all 5%'s are equal. 5% in a book with 1500 locations isn't the same as 5% in a book with 8000 locations. It's also easier to come back to where I was if I can see the location.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Yeah, they really should build in more options for user customization.  I get that they want it to be as simple to use as possible so it can appeal to readers who aren't into technology.  But having options buried in a menu for people who want to customize things like the title bar, displaying locations/page numbers all the time etc. doesn't complicated the device.

Not a biggie as I don't mind hitting menu to check, but I'd rather have the page numbers and/or locations displayed.  I prefer page numbers personally as I've read paper books for 25+ years (I'm 32) vs. Kindle for 2 years so the page numbers have more meaning to me than locations in terms of seeing I have 100 pages left and gauging how long that will take to read.


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

QuantumIguana said:


> It's also easier to come back to where I was if I can see the location.


Especially if your Kindle reboots in the middle of reading, like mine does occasionally (take that as "just often enough to be annoying but not so often as to do anything about it with Amazon"). I'd gotten in the habit of looking at the location bar almost subconsciously so I'd know where I was "just in case" so I miss that.


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## MartinC (Mar 2, 2011)

patrickt said:


> I am trying to develop a spray, or perhaps an oil, that can be applied to the Kindle so it will smell like a book, an old, slightly moldy book, and satisfy the old guys. I'm 70 but I'm not that old yet.


I've rubbed a rusty nail over my screen to give it that comfortably foxed look. Only 61, me.


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

I just looked, mine hasn't updated any of the times I turned on wifi to download books. I haven't decided if I want this update or not as I like the % bar at the bottom. I find it more convenient than the location numbers for me as it gives me an idea how far I am 

guess it will depend on what the next change is.


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## citykid (Jan 10, 2011)

@bookworm8it:  the % bar does not go away with the new update.  Only the location has gotten moved (along with the new page numbers).  I, too, like the % bar the most for telling me where I am in a book, so the update has not been a big deal for me.


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## sebat (Nov 16, 2008)

patrickt said:


> I tend to try things for awhile before I "hate" them. When I got the Kindle I longed for page numbers but after a week they no longer interested me. I am trying to develop a spray, or perhaps an oil, that can be applied to the Kindle so it will smell like a book, an old, slightly moldy book, and satisfy the old guys. I'm 70 but I'm not that old yet.


Check this out...Musty book scratch and sniff stickers.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/24/cafescribe-gives-ebook-readers-musty-smell-of-the-real-thing/


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## srmalloy (Mar 3, 2009)

STOHara said:


> But personally, I want the location numbers back -- knowing that I'm 10% done with the book doesn't do me any good if I don't know how long the book is. With location numbers I can assume that if I'm at 400/4000 that I'm on page 40 of a 400 page book.


If you get numbers that are that convenient -- I would be amazed if more than a small percentage of Kindle users were comfortable with doing the mental math to ballpark what page they were on when the location indicator was "1357/17493" or the like.


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## metal134 (Sep 2, 2010)

STOHara said:


> But personally, I want the location numbers back -- knowing that I'm 10% done with the book doesn't do me any good if I don't know how long the book is. With location numbers I can assume that if I'm at 400/4000 that I'm on page 40 of a 400 page book.


This. Percentage isn't a great indicator because 10% of "Of Mice and Men" isn't NEARLY the same as 10% of War and Peace. In fact, I believe 10% of War and Peace is 100% of "Of Mice and Men". Goes to show just what percentage means in tracking your progress.


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

srmalloy said:


> If you get numbers that are that convenient -- I would be amazed if more than a small percentage of Kindle users were comfortable with doing the mental math to ballpark what page they were on when the location indicator was "1357/17493" or the like.


I know quite a few Kindle owners, none of whom would be uncomfortable doing the math. That said, the percentage indicator is fine for the people to whom I've talked about pages vs. percentage vs. location. I, personally, don't care which I have, as long as I have some way to tell where I am in the book. Just my 2 cents.


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## ff2 (Oct 20, 2010)

metal134 said:


> This. Percentage isn't a great indicator because 10% of "Of Mice and Men" isn't NEARLY the same as 10% of War and Peace. In fact, I believe 10% of War and Peace is 100% of "Of Mice and Men". Goes to show just what percentage means in tracking your progress.


I am in the proper mood and your math has me really chuckling - thanks.


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## TerryB (Jan 5, 2011)

I ignore both.  I read until I'm finished and gotta another book ready and waiting in the bullpen.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

For me the percentage is a percentage. . . .my brain can deal:  heck, in 4th grade we had to memorize fractions up to 10ths and their decimal/percentage equivalents: 1/3=33.33%, 1/6=16.67%, 1/7=14.28% and the like.   

What I really do like is the visual bar showing how far into the book I am.  With paper books, I never much worried about page count, just how far was I into the book:  about a quarter, less than half, over 2/3, nearly done?  The bar tells me that visually the same way looking at the relative thickness of pages on either side of my book mark does for a paper book.

So, really, my only opinion on the whole issue is that going to the bar vs the dots (as they had on the K1) was an improvement and I don't really miss seeing numbers down there.


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

citykid said:


> @bookworm8it: the % bar does not go away with the new update. Only the location has gotten moved (along with the new page numbers). I, too, like the % bar the most for telling me where I am in a book, so the update has not been a big deal for me.


Good to know, then I'll go ahead and up date.

If I really want to know exactly what 10% means I just look up the papberback on line and it usually gives you total number of pages in the listing.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

bkworm8it said:


> Good to know, then I'll go ahead and up date.
> 
> If I really want to know exactly what 10% means I just look up the papberback on line and it usually gives you total number of pages in the listing.


But, see, with this update, you don't have to. Just press 'menu' and if the book has an associated paper book it'll tell you how many pages. Even if it doesn't it still tells you how many 'locations'.


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## Cardinal (Feb 24, 2010)

I'm really glad they are adding page numbers.  I wish we had the option of showing locations or page numbers where locations are/were or have it clean, then everyone can have the page be the way they like it.

The reason I am happy to have page numbers (and wish they were shown on the page being read) is I sometimes jump around my book and the back button doesn't always get me back to where I was.  I can never remember what location I was at (I just checked, I'm at location 7243) but I can remember page numbers.  I have been getting around this by bookmarking my page, but bookmarks aren't convenient if you have a lot of highlights, bookmarks or notes since you can't jump to the last page of your bookmarks and have turn each page individually.  

I enjoy watching my progress at the bottom of the screen and the percentage shown, but neither of them help me get back to where I was in a book.


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## Fireheart223 (Oct 3, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> For me, the changes are completely neutral.


Me too, I'm really not bothered by the change, it seemed kind of pointless to me honestly, but as long as the percentage of how far you've read is still there I'm fine with it.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Cardinal said:


> I'm really glad they are adding page numbers. I wish we had the option of showing locations or page numbers where locations are/were or have it clean, then everyone can have the page be the way they like it.


It seems to me this is what they've done. . .there's no numbering of any kind unless you press the menu key. And then you see both so you can note the one that makes the most sense for you.



> The reason I am happy to have page numbers (and wish they were shown on the page being read) is I sometimes jump around my book and the back button doesn't always get me back to where I was. I can never remember what location I was at (I just checked, I'm at location 7243) but I can remember page numbers. I have been getting around this by bookmarking my page, but bookmarks aren't convenient if you have a lot of highlights, bookmarks or notes since you can't jump to the last page of your bookmarks and have turn each page individually.
> 
> I enjoy watching my progress at the bottom of the screen and the percentage shown, but neither of them help me get back to where I was in a book.


So, when you are going to move away, press 'menu', note the page number instead of the location, and then go on from there. But note that a book that does not have an associated paper edition -- like a lot of independently published direct-to-Kindle works -- won't have page numbers.

I'm guessing that what you really want is the choice of locations or page numbers (or nothing) always showing.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I'm guessing that what you really want is the choice of locations or page numbers (or nothing) always showing.


Yep, that's how I read his/her post. I agree with them. I'd like the option of having them show all the time since removing them didn't add room for any extra text on the screen anyway.


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## bkworm8it (Nov 17, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> But, see, with this update, you don't have to. Just press 'menu' and if the book has an associated paper book it'll tell you how many pages. Even if it doesn't it still tells you how many 'locations'.


Didn't know that, saves reading time by not having to stop and look it up on the computer


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## Jan Strnad (May 27, 2010)

Honestly, if I didn't haunt this forum, I might not have even noticed the change.


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## Shetlander (Mar 10, 2009)

I wouldn't have noticed the upgrade either other than the page numbers are listed for some of my books, which I really like.  Oh, and also that I can rate the rate the book when I finish it, which I also like.


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## DevX (Sep 29, 2010)

Most of you complains about hidden sections. For me it's OK to show them after pressing menu button.
But I would go further with changes and move percentage number down to the line with the progress bar.
It would add one line (depends on the font size) of text. Because now there is a blank, unused space after the moved sections.

The customization option would be great, as I would like to disable any information (percentage, sections, and progress bar also) and leave only the text on the page.
So developers should e.g. add option in settings to enable/disable advanced options, to allow more tech users make more changes on their devices.


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