# Software Update to 6.3 -- ARRIVED



## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

I haven't gotten it yet, but someone on another forum had gotten it and asked about it, so I googled and found this:

http://liliputing.com/2012/03/amazon-rolls-out-kindle-fire-6-3-software-update.html

"Here are some of the changes in Kindle Fire software version 6.3:

Users can now share passages from a book using a new "share" option.
Book Extras let you character descriptions, glossary terms, and other data without leaving a book.
Whispersync will now work with Personal Documents, letting you sync your last read page between devices.
Print Replicas of textbooks are now available.
There's a new Reading View in the Amazon Silk web browser which presents everything in a single-column view.
Movie rental periods now begin when you start watching a video, not when you start downloading it to your device.
The Kindle Fire should now reconnect to WiFi more quickly when the screen is turned on.

Users are also reporting that the screen can brightness can be set to a dimmer level."

It's not up on Amazon to download yet, but here's their current info on it:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_k6_updatesi?nodeId=200790620
I should clarify to folks new to Kindle that Amazon usually puts links to software updates on the page above once they've started sending the updates out wirelessly. You can just wait for the update to happen "automagically", or you can check under Settings/Device on your Fire and see if you can click on the "Update your Kindle" button - when the update is available for your Fire you'll be able to tap that to initiate the update. OR, if you're impatient for the update, once Amazon posts the link to the update to their site above you can download it to your computer (or directly to the Fire, I suppose) and initiate the update that way.

And be patient - they don't send out the updates wirelessly all at once, they roll them out gradually so they don't clog up their bandwidth. Or airwaves. Or whatever they'd be clogging up.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Thanks for the notice. This reminded me that my Fire was overdue to be backed up.


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## Seamonkey (Dec 2, 2008)

Downloaded the file to my computer, as I always have in the past.. but for the first time, my computer isn't recognizing the kindle fire as a drive.. and yes I have it on and connected via usb..  Tried restarting the computer, finding the device to no avail.  

Guess I'll just wait for the d/l, though I've rarely done that for any kindle.

Sounds like some decent features, though nothing I've been pining for. 

And yes, it is up for download.


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## Seamonkey (Dec 2, 2008)

Hmm.. strangely.. I just turne my fire on to read something and the New Oxford American Dictionary second edition was the first item on the carousel.. so I went to check under gear/settings/device and I'm now on 6.3, which I was not earlier.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Seamonkey said:


> Hmm.. strangely.. I just turne my fire on to read something and the New Oxford American Dictionary second edition was the first item on the carousel.. so I went to check under gear/settings/device and I'm now on 6.3, which I was not earlier.


So, do you notice any differences...

Betsy


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## Steven Stickler (Feb 1, 2012)

thanks for noting. The thing I noticed right off today was that a little eyeglass-shaped icon appeared at the bottom of the browser--apparently that's for "reading view"?? I was so confused when I saw it. 

I'll have to see what else I'm missing


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## eldereno (Dec 27, 2009)

I checked the info on "device" and it said 6.3.  So I guess I got the upgrade.


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## Hoosiermama (Dec 28, 2009)

Downloaded and installed the update this evening. I haven't had a chance to play with it, but it did not break GoLauncher and rotating wallpaper. All of my sideloaded apps seem to be working just fine, too.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I've been out of WiFi range all day . . . but will leave the Fire plugged in over night. . . . .


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I guess I just got mine. I am charging right now, but first thing I noticed is how fast it wakes up now. Not that it was super slow before, but its really snappy now. 

I'll play with it once its charged all the way. 

Oh, and every document that I have had in my archives at Amazon are now under Documents and also in the Carousel. They weren't there before. Nice. I mean with the option to download, like everything else.


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## Tam (Jan 7, 2010)

I noticed an immediate improvement in my wifi connection. It had always been a bit slow to connect to my house wifi, and sometimes would just randomly lose the connection. Now it's conne Ted instantly when I wake it, and the little icon is showing a stronger connection. 

I saw the eyeglass icon right away, but then when I started going to my bookmarked pages it isn't there anymore. So I wonder it it's only there on certain web pages....


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## Tripp (May 28, 2009)

I just got this and immediately came here to find out about it.  I noticed the eyeglasses and they make the web view text only.  Things seem snappier also. It might be coincidental but my Getjar Nook update kept failing before the update but worked after.

Update: I went to one of my Amazon tabs and it was the mobile site.  I hope that isn't the default.


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## Seamonkey (Dec 2, 2008)

Betsy, I've been busy doing other things, so all I noticed was that dictionary.  Oh and it seems slower to finish displaying the names of my documents.. so there can be a whole shelf of white pages.. but now when I choose Cloud under documents they seem to be there and earlier they were not.  I'm not so sure I WANTED some of those documents in the cloud.

In the home page carousel, lots of white or gray pages too; kind of annoying since I have various schedules I email over and use and normally the title of the document is shown on all documents.  Sych doesn't help.


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## Seamonkey (Dec 2, 2008)

I haven't seen the eyeglasses yet, but something in their description of the release mentioned.

Reading View for Amazon Silk: There is a seemingly endless array of interesting and engaging content available on the Internet. Sometimes, unfortunately, that business article, blog post, or sports recap you clicked on is surrounded by a host of competing material. With Reading View on Silk, the content that you're interested in is elevated above the clutter. When invoked by the customer, Silk will load the body of the page in a reading-optimized, single screen view (even for multi-page articles). The full page is still available in the background, allowing the reader to easily toggle back to a traditional view to see other interesting features on the page.


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## Tam (Jan 7, 2010)

I just discovered another change. The icon for my People Magazine app now appears not only under Apps, but also under Newstand.It was never there before.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Mine updated to 6.3 overnight. . . .probably won't have time to play and explore until tomorrow though. . . . .


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## n4uau (Nov 26, 2011)

Tam said:


> I saw the eyeglass icon right away, but then when I started going to my bookmarked pages it isn't there anymore. So I wonder it it's only there on certain web pages....


I've yet to see the eyeglass but I'll keep searching. Browser is set to choose mobile or desktop, best view option.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Mine also updated.  Seems like they are pushing it out pretty quickly.   

Initial response, changes between screens seems very quick and crisp.

Betsy


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## laurie_lu (May 10, 2010)

My daughter's updated yesterday. The screen does wake up faster. We haven't She hasn't had a chance to check out any of the other features.


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

Mine updated automatically this morning when I turned it on.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Mine updated to 6.3 overnight. 

I noticed that the eyeglasses icon, if it shows up, does not show up instantly but seems to be after the browser decides which is the important content. I tried it on a couple KB threads, such as this one, and it seemed to pull in posts from other threads as well. For example, I saw posts for FAOTD following the software update posts. Strange!

While typing this post, I noticed that the keyboard has changed; the period key has other punctuation added and I think the Hide Keyboard icon has moved.

That is all I have found time for so far.


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## Bob327 (Nov 17, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I've been out of WiFi range all day . . . but will leave the Fire plugged in over night. . . . .


I always leave the Wifi turned on 24/7 and as of this morning Thursday the 29 still have not received it...
No big deal but it does make me waste 5 seconds checking lol

Bob G


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Bob327 said:


> I always leave the Wifi turned on 24/7 and as of this morning Thursday the 29 still have not received it...
> No big deal but it does make me waste 5 seconds checking lol
> 
> Bob G


Next time you check, if it hasn't updated, try doing a sync, Bob.

Betsy


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## B-Kay 1325 (Dec 29, 2008)

Mine & my DD's updated overnight, she has had no problems and didn't even know about the update (I hadn't had a chance to tell her) but my Fire somehow lost WiFi connection, wouldn't even connect when I re-entered WiFi information.  I had to completely turn off the Fire and restart it before it would connect.  Once it did this I used it for a while (the eyeglass icon is on the bottom to the right of the page back and forward arrows) then put it to sleep.  I needed to look up something else and work the Fire up and once again the WiFi network was gone.  I repeated all the WiFi info and saved it again and then tested it by putting to sleep and woke it up again and this time it connected to the WiFi right away, whew!  I'm at work now and it is doing the same thing, now I will have to go to our IT guy and get set up again, this is frustrating, I've never had this kind of problem before and hope it doesn't happen every time we get an update.

As far as differences I noticed the eyeglasses right away and that is it, I have always thought my Fire was pretty quick so I haven't noticed a difference there.

Brenda


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Next time you check, if it hasn't updated, try doing a sync, Bob.
> 
> Betsy


That is what I did. My wifi is on all the time too and as soon as I did the sync and then put it back to sleep to charge, it updated.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

My Fire is in and out of WiFi access during the day. Yesterday I did a Sync each time after checking the system version. After the last sync I did last night I left my Fire on the Home screen and fully charged. It went to sleep by itself and woke up in the morning with the new version.


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## Finished (Feb 14, 2009)

Outstanding update. Further browser improvements, including direct access to Amazon Cloud now works. Magazine apps are now in newsstand. Pulse is latest version and keyboard is improved. Don't want or need extra social media connections in Kindle app, but they have been increased.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

I didn't know there was an update until I found this thread.
And so I checked my Fire and it is already 6.3.
So good for me.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Annalog said:


> It went to sleep by itself and woke up in the morning with the new version.


Kind of like that time in childhood where you can take off your jeans and go to bed and wake up in the morning and find they're too short!


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## krm0789 (Dec 21, 2010)

Am i crazy or is the scren dimmer? The lowest is usually too bright but now it feels just right!

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I haven't noticed it being dimmer. I read in bed last night and I still turned on the screen dimmer app I used before on the same setting.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

krm0789 said:


> Am i crazy or is the scren dimmer? The lowest is usually too bright but now it feels just right!
> 
> Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk


You are not alone or crazy. According to the article linked in the first post: "Users are also reporting that the screen can brightness can be set to a dimmer level."


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Annalog said:


> You are not alone or crazy. According to the article linked in the first post: "Users are also reporting that the screen can brightness can be set to a dimmer level."


Although that's not one of the improvements specifically cited on the Amazon page....hmmm....off to check mine (not that I ever dimmed it much).

EDIT: I can't really see much difference, myself. I'll leave the assessment up to those who actually used the dimming....

Betsy


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## kapierce65 (Dec 31, 2011)

So, in the Book Extras feature, is this supposed to allow you to see a description of the book? Or just allow you to review or add a description of your own?


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## teralpar (May 18, 2010)

krm0789 said:


> Am i crazy or is the scren dimmer? The lowest is usually too bright but now it feels just right!


No, you haven't gone mad...  The brightness can be set much dimmer now. It makes it easier for me to read using the white background now. Before I could only read using the sepia background.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

That is so strange, they must have left the dimmer part out of my update  . There is zero difference on my end on that one. Odd that one.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

FWIW, Bufo Calvin has a nice write up of the new/upgraded features from this Update in his "I Love My Kindle" blog today: http://ilmk.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/kindle-fire-update-6-3/

He notes he had the advantage of being able to compare two Fires side by side: one that had gotten the update and one that hadn't yet.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Atunah said:


> That is so strange, they must have left the dimmer part out of my update . There is zero difference on my end on that one. Odd that one.


I cannot tell if the lowest setting is dimmer but my Fire at the lowest setting is still bright enough to use as a night light; it lights up the room and I can still read my K2 with it.


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## FloridaFire (Nov 21, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> FWIW, Bufo Calvin has a nice write up of the new/upgraded features from this Update in his "I Love My Kindle" blog today: http://ilmk.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/kindle-fire-update-6-3/
> 
> He notes he had the advantage of being able to compare two Fires side by side: one that had gotten the update and one that hadn't yet.


I wonder why they felt the need to move the keyboard's "hide" button? I was quite happy having it right where it was.


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## Perennial Reader (Nov 30, 2009)

Help! Has anyone noticed this? Yesterday, before the update, I read my book in landscape mode and it automatically turned the book when I turned the Fire. Today, I have the update and can't get the book to turn when I turn the Fire sideways. Is this due to the update? Anyone know how to make it turn. I read while I eat lunch and like to be able to read this way.


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## FloridaFire (Nov 21, 2011)

Perennial Reader said:


> Help! Has anyone noticed this? Yesterday, before the update, I read my book in landscape mode and it automatically turned the book when I turned the Fire. Today, I have the update and can't get the book to turn when I turn the Fire sideways. Is this due to the update? Anyone know how to make it turn. I read while I eat lunch and like to be able to read this way.


Under the gear, check to make sure it isn't in "LOCKED" mode.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Perennial Reader said:


> Help! Has anyone noticed this? Yesterday, before the update, I read my book in landscape mode and it automatically turned the book when I turned the Fire. Today, I have the update and can't get the book to turn when I turn the Fire sideways. Is this due to the update? Anyone know how to make it turn. I read while I eat lunch and like to be able to read this way.





FloridaFire said:


> Under the gear, check to make sure it isn't in "LOCKED" mode.


Like FloridaFire said, make sure it isn't in locked mode. I can still read in Landscape mode. If you tap on the gear in the upper right hand corner, it should read "unlocked." If it reads "locked," tap it.

If it already reads "unlocked," were you playing a game that locked itself in portrait mode before reading? If it persists, you might try turning the Fire on and off...

Betsy


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## Perennial Reader (Nov 30, 2009)

You guys are the greatest! It was unlocked. But I turned it off and back on and now it works. I don't know why I can never remember that trick. Thanks a billion!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Great!  Glad it worked!

Betsy


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## Hoosiermama (Dec 28, 2009)

Love this update! They listened to folks saying the dimmest setting was still too bright. Before the update when I'd scroll up and down quickly, it seemed like the right side of my screen couldn't keep up. Now it scrolls smoothly!


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## Seamonkey (Dec 2, 2008)

I had something strange.. well, two things .  I mentioned that when I gave up on manually loading (and I think that was because I forgot to turn off wireless so the fire wasn't recognized by my computer as a device.. anyway, the dictionary was the top item on my carousel and it was there all that day, but now it has disappeared.  I don't mean just pushed down the stack by subsequent items.. just not there.  Since I didn't ask for it, I suppose that is ok.

Last night there was a spam document.  I wish I had written down the title but it was a document I did NOT send to myself and had nothing to do with the release or the fire.  So I took the option of removing it from the device.  Later last night, the same document appeared again!  I deleted it from the device.

However, it isn't listed when I list documents in the cloud, but all of my documents have been moved to the cloud, which I know was a "feature" of the release.  I don't consider that a feature since I really hadn't wanted most of those documents to be saved to the cloud.

I really don't notice a change in brightness, haven't yet encountered the glasses, do notice that wireless is accessed more quickly which means that when I power on it doesn't "blink" if I'm in a book.. before it would come on full  page, then "blink" and there would be the bottom margin and wireless would then be on, but I'd have to tap the text to uncover the bottom words.  So that is an improvement.


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## etexlady (May 27, 2009)

Received my refurb Fire (which looked brand new) a little while ago and noticed it has 6.3 installed.  Not having had a Fire before I don't know what has changed from the original software but I'm assuming it's all for the better.  I do love how easy it was to set up.  All I had to do was enter my wireless network's code and I was in business.  Plus, it came fully charged so no waiting.


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## jasonzc (Dec 23, 2011)

Is this out in the wild yet? I heard it hadn't been pushed to the Fires, but was available somewhere?

It's supposed to do better with the wireless connectivity, a problem I've had lately.


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## Tip10 (Apr 16, 2009)

Yes it is and its already appearing through normal channels.

Details --> http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,109065.0.html


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Threads on the software update have been merged. . .sorry for any confusion.


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## jasonzc (Dec 23, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Threads on the software update have been merged. . .sorry for any confusion.


Now I know why all of my cloud documents appeared on my carousel. A "feature" I could have done without. ; )


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## Seamonkey (Dec 2, 2008)

You can remove them from the carousel..  I was just as unhappy when they moved all documents I had sent to my Fire, most of which are not necessarily "keepers" but contain info I needed with me at some time.. TO the cloud.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Well, you know. . . .if you sent documents and they're in the Cloud -- aka Archived as "personal documents" at Amazon -- you can delete them from there via MYK. 

And, just in case it isn't clear to some. . .they haven't actually been sent to the Fire, they're just available via Personal documents and show on the Carousel which has all Cloud items.  But it's easy enough to delete them from there.

For the next update, an option to have the Carousel show Device or Cloud (or Custom) might be nice.   I am really o.k. with it the way it is, but I know many people would prefer a little more control.


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## William G. Jones (Sep 6, 2011)

Mine updated to 6.3 and I thought the thing was toast. It became so buggy I could barely use it. Don't know what made me think to check, but went into the settings and looked at the list of running apps and there was one app running in the background that I didn't even want on the Fire to begin with (I'd downloaded it out of curiosity mostly), so I uninstalled it and my Fire works fine again. I'm assuming there was some compatibility issue.

Just an FYI, if anybody else feels like 6.3 ruined their Fire, you might want to check your running apps and uninstall anything that's running in the background that you don't want.


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## Shastastan (Oct 28, 2009)

I wasn't even thinking about an update until I saw this thread.  I checked my device and there  it was.


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## B-Kay 1325 (Dec 29, 2008)

Update to my previous post. I have had to contact KCS twice about my wifi / Fire issue (Fire doesn't auto connect to wifi), they have had me reboot my fire to hopefully implement the update which will then recognize the wifi but when the fire goes to sleep and I wake it up again it doesn't auto connect to wifi.  After we did this a couple of times the KCS Rep. put me on hold to research the issue, apparently no one else has reported having this issue and she sent a report to the developers who are researching some other issues with this update.  I have been told that she will follow up their findings, in the meantime I have to power off or reboot everytime I wake up my fire and use the wifi.  I know there is nothing wrong with my wifi since no other device has an issue with connecting.

I am going to give them a couple of days and then call them back because this is very frustrating to have to power off or reboot all the time.  I still love my fire but not so much this update


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## Seamonkey (Dec 2, 2008)

Ann, I had thought previously that the documents I email WERE on the device, and I never had to click and have them download from the cloud in the past.

In Amazon's description of new features it sounds like this is new:

Archive of Personal Documents: Customers' personal documents will be stored in the Amazon Cloud and available for re-download at any time from the Documents tab on Kindle Fire. Just as with Kindle books, Whispersync will automatically sync notes, highlights and last page read for personal documents. 

Anyway, it is what it is, of course. (whatever THAT means)

Oh.. I think maybe there are some added screensavers.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Seamonkey said:


> Ann, I had thought previously that the documents I email WERE on the device, and I never had to click and have them download from the cloud in the past.


If, when you send them, you send them to the Fire, yes . . . they'll go there automatically.

But, say you send them to one of your other Kindles -- assuming you have more than one.  In that case, it doesn't come down automatically to the Fire. And, as I recall, it used to be that if you wanted it on the fire you'd either have to go get it from the Fire "docs" area or send it from MYK.

Now, I believe, it just shows up on the carousel as available for download like any other Amazon purchased book. Which could be a good or bad thing, depending on your perspective. I don't much care one way or the other.

Regardless, if you don't want it there, just remove it from the carousel. And if it's a document that you'll never want to download to ANY kindle again, you can delete it via MYK.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

I was scrolling through the movies on my fire to choose something to watch on my TV.  (It's so much easier to search there than to use the amazon pages on screen)  anyways, I was surprised and pleased to see that the movie list no longer returns to the beginning when backing out of a movie's page.  Such a small, simple fix but such a huge difference to the User experience.


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## Shastastan (Oct 28, 2009)

William G. Jones said:


> Mine updated to 6.3 and I thought the thing was toast. It became so buggy I could barely use it. Don't know what made me think to check, but went into the settings and looked at the list of running apps and there was one app running in the background that I didn't even want on the Fire to begin with (I'd downloaded it out of curiosity mostly), so I uninstalled it and my Fire works fine again. I'm assuming there was some compatibility issue.
> 
> Just an FYI, if anybody else feels like 6.3 ruined their Fire, you might want to check your running apps and uninstall anything that's running in the background that you don't want.


I have another post going on this issue. I'm not even sure why some apps load up without any action from me. I did get the free app killer app and use it every time I quit an app. Also, instead of sleep mode, I'm turning my Fire completely off if I won't be using it again for a few hours. I do charge mine almost every night, too.

I wish they would dump the carousel for more memory. I never use it for anything.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

An interesting thing that I discovered after the software update is that my Fire has started showing me all of the books that are in my Cloud again.  I don't know if it's a fluke or if they managed to figure out why the list of books on the device and in the cloud were identical, but things are back to normal for me.


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## laurie_lu (May 10, 2010)

Shastastan said:


> I wish they would dump the carousel for more memory. I never use it for anything.


Me too. It is also a waste of screen real estate.


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

Since the update, my Fire locks up sometimes with the web browser. I've had to reboot several times, which is really annoying.


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