# Blue shade feature?



## KL_Phelps (Nov 7, 2013)

So I picked up one of the 49 kindle fires. Did I need one? No, of course not, but that's never stopped me before.   But I've seen mention of the blue shade feature, but for the life of me I can't seem to find it. It says it is supposed to be in the quick action menu, but when I pull that down, I don't see that feature. What I have is:

light bar
my wifi connection
airplane mode
bluetooth
do no disturb
camera
help
auto-rotate
settings

and I see nothing listed under settings for this option either.

Is it not a feature on the 50 kindle? It's listed on the product page.

Any help would be appreciated.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Where it shows on my HD8 is if you swipe down from the top to get the menu/settings. There's a brightness slider and under that the wifi setting, airplane mode, blue shade, and Do Not Disturb. The next row has Firefly, help, auto-rotate, and settings.

If it's not there, it might be that you don't have the latest software update. Mine is at 5.1.1.


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## KL_Phelps (Nov 7, 2013)

my device says it is running Fire 0s 5.0.1 but when I check for updates it says no updates found


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I know for many devices the updates are deliberately rolled out sequentially. Maybe it is not your turn yet. Patience, grasshopper!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Agreed . . . . keep an eye on it.

Out of curiosity, I just checked the software updates page at Amazon.  The 5th generation devices are showing that the latest software update is 5.0.1. But I just confirmed and MINE -- an HD8 purchased via the 'readers edition' bundle (which touted the blue shade thing) and got just this past Thursday -- definitely shows 5.1.1.


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## KL_Phelps (Nov 7, 2013)

The Hooded Claw said:


> I know for many devices the updates are deliberately rolled out sequentially. Maybe it is not your turn yet. Patience, grasshopper!


I've never been good at practicing patience


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## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

KL_Phelps said:


> my device says it is running Fire 0s 5.0.1 but when I check for updates it says no updates found


Same here, and I had to manually get _that_ update.


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## LDB (Oct 28, 2008)

Is it maybe only available if you buy the more expensive bundled "reader's edition" package? I've got the Voyage and like it a lot but at times would like to have color. I am curious about the "reader's edition" and how it may compare to the Voyage for overall everyday reading comfort.


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## KL_Phelps (Nov 7, 2013)

LDB said:


> Is it maybe only available if you buy the more expensive bundled "reader's edition" package? I've got the Voyage and like it a lot but at times would like to have color. I am curious about the "reader's edition" and how it may compare to the Voyage for overall everyday reading comfort.


I don't know, but it's listed on the product page


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## OnOneWheel (Jul 25, 2009)

$50 Fire here, just manually updated to 5.1.1 and it contains the Blue Shade feature.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

OnOneWheel said:


> $50 Fire here, just manually updated to 5.1.1 and it contains the Blue Shade feature.


So . . . 5.1.1 is available now? Wasn't a couple of days ago when someone else was asking.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Here is the update page for those that want to do it manually. Just go on the left bar to your Fire

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_v4_sib?ie=UTF8&nodeId=201830200

The $50 is the first one on the list, they just call it Fire.


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## KL_Phelps (Nov 7, 2013)

Atunah said:


> Here is the update page for those that want to do it manually. Just go on the left bar to your Fire
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_v4_sib?ie=UTF8&nodeId=201830200
> 
> The $50 is the first one on the list, they just call it Fire.


I sent Amazon a note last night telling them that the auto update was still listing 5.0.1 as the current and today when I attempted the update, the updated version is there  downloading and installing now


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## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

After surfing around on Silk for a while, I checked for an update and got it. The Blue Shade feature seems a tad gimmicky to me - not quite sure how making the screen look dim and smeared in oil is supposed to help anything - but what do I know?  It seems that new Text-to-Speech voices were also added, or at least this is the first time I've noticed such a feature. I downloaded all of the English options for the heck of it.


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## KL_Phelps (Nov 7, 2013)

CS said:


> After surfing around on Silk for a while, I checked for an update and got it. The Blue Shade feature seems a tad gimmicky to me - not quite sure how making the screen look dim and smeared in oil is supposed to help anything - but what do I know?  It seems that new Text-to-Speech voices were also added, or at least this is the first time I've noticed such a feature. I downloaded all of the English options for the heck of it.


I saw the notification that you could download new voices, but I can't even figure out how to turn on text to speech, care to clue me in?


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## KL_Phelps (Nov 7, 2013)

found it


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## luvmykindle3 (Dec 5, 2010)

I wonder if the fire 6 will get it. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## tsemple (Apr 27, 2009)

luvmykindle3 said:


> I wonder if the fire 6 will get it.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


There is no technical reason that it would not. Amazon has promised an update for HD6 to FireOS 5 (citation needed). I expect it will happen in the next month or two, once support calls for the new Fires dies down a little bit.

Whether there's any 'scientific' validity to its effectiveness in terms of reducing sleep disturbance is questionable, IMO. While sleep disturbance to exposure to blue wavelength light within the period prior to sleep is pretty well established, there are not any peer-reviewed and replicated studies that show that hand-held mobile devices can and do have that effect, much less whether 'blue shade' is helpful. What few reports there are (the ones that get reported in the media) are preliminary at best, and whenever I look at them, the methodology is deeply flawed. For example, they don't even seem to know most reading apps have had 'Night mode' for years now, or they set the output to what most people would find to be an uncomfortable level of brightness. But that does not stop marketing people from requesting features like this to help sell stuff.

Mind you I don't find reading black text on white background comfortable at all in pitch darkness. Even with Night theme, it is probably good to turn brightness down a bit, or have at least some ambient light to go with that. If someone reads for hours in the dark and can't understand why they can't fall asleep when they stop reading at 2AM, this is not a problem with blue light, but of not respecting normal body rhythms by turning in sooner.


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## Ogsball (Apr 7, 2016)

They screwed up the blue shade feature anyway. Look at the Google Reader and you will see the proper implementation - they are using oyster's old format.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Ogsball said:


> They screwed up the blue shade feature anyway. Look at the Google Reader and you will see the proper implementation - they are using oyster's old format.


I have no complaints about the blue shade feature . . . . not sure what you mean by 'screwed up'. Works just fine, as far as I'm concerned. AND, it functions not just when reading kindle books but on the device as a whole -- so for browsing or reading email as well.


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## jkingrph (Jun 10, 2012)

I do not like the blue shade on my Kindle HD 8.  At a brightness level in normal mode, then going to blue shade, it's stays  too bright and harsh , and I cannot seem to get the brightness and color levels adjusted to a comfortable level for my eyes.  It's better for me to just leave in daytime mode and turn brightness level down.  I just got IOS 9.3 on my iPad and their nightshade adjusts to a soft color that I like even in daytime, much better than the Kindle.


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