[stevene9]

Amazon seems to offer new kindles just in time for xmas shopping. Have they done this every year, or have they sometimes skipped a year? I don't remember. I have owned a lot of kindles, most recently the PW1 and the PW2. I skipped the Voyage because it didn't offer enough to justify the upgrade. Do you folks think they will have a new one this year, and what could they possibly offer in a new upgrade? The biggest thing I want is to be able to use other fonts, like we used to be able to with "USE_ALT_FONTS".

Steve

 

[intinst]

Amazon seems to offer new kindles just in time for xmas shopping. Have they done this every year, or have they sometimes skipped a year? I don't remember. I have owned a lot of kindles, most recently the PW1 and the PW2. I skipped the Voyage because it didn't offer enough to justify the upgrade. Do you folks think they will have a new one this year, and what could they possibly offer in a new upgrade? The biggest thing I want is to be able to use other fonts, like we used to be able to with "USE_ALT_FONTS".

Steve

Only the Shadow Amazon knows.

 

[The Hooded Claw]

Only the Shadow Amazon knows.

I agree. Although I am not Amazon and definitely not The Shadow, my personal opinion is that there will not be an eInk Kindle released this year. A good possibility of some sort of Fire tablet however.

 

[BZee]

I have my fingers crossed for a Voyage II.  My 1st Kindle is a Paperwhite I (luckily with a good screen). I couldn't justify buying the Voyage or even a Paperwhite II but now I'm ready - just holding off in hopes of a Voyage II

 

[booklover888]

The biggest thing I want is to be able to use other fonts, like we used to be able to with "USE_ALT_FONTS".

Steve

I don't feel that is ever going to happen. Else why would they have eliminated the USE_ALT_FONT trick? No, you are stuck with their choice of fonts.

I side load every single book with my font of choice embedded. I refuse to use their preferred fonts, because they don't suit me.

 

[Ann in Arlington]

Every time this topic comes up, I think, "the kindle is perfect as it is!"

Well, not quite true . . . I can always think of tiny tweaks that would make it more perfect for me.

They ALWAYS come up with something more . . . sometimes something I (or others here) have thought of and sometimes all new stuff.

Example: I thought the PW was fantastic . . . the second iteration tweaked a few things and was better.  THEN, the Voyage tweaked a few more; specifically the adjustable lighting, page turning on the bezel, the weight and shape, and improved placement of the power button. And its release was more or less coincident with the fixing of the cloud collection functionality.

At this point, I can honestly say the ONLY thing I would really want that isn't already part of the Voyage is a single button on the device that takes you HOME in one step.

Others here have said they'd like to have the ability to listen to books back . . . . .

To answer the question posed: I don't know.

Here's the Kindle release schedule since it's inception:

Nov 2007
Feb 2009
Summer 2009 -- the DX model
Aug 2010
Sept 2011 -- both Touch and new Basic model
October 2012 PW
Sept 2013 PW2
Sept 2014 Voyage -- as well as new Basic model with touch screen. (They no longer sell an eReader without a touch screen.)

The Fire tablets were first released in fall of 2011 and there has been at least one new model each year since.

 

[Betsy the Quilter]

Do you folks think they will have a new one this year, and what could they possibly offer in a new upgrade? The biggest thing I want is to be able to use other fonts, like we used to be able to with "USE_ALT_FONTS".

Steve

It's early in the year to make predictions. I actually wouldn't be surprised to see a new entry level eInk Kindle of some kind, after last year's high end offering.

I think the ability to add fonts is something that the people who want it REALLY want it, but most owners don't care that much. For me, I never once put down a paper book because of the font, so the font choices that I have now are so many more than I had in paper versions, I'm pretty happy, but that's me; clearly others feel strongly. I recommend that you use [email protected] to request the ability be added.

I will say that perhaps the reason that Amazon removed the capability is that the found the number of service calls they had to answer due to people trying to add the ability and somehow doing something bad to their Kindles made it not worth allowing the option to continue. It's been a long time since I did it (tested it once just to see the difference), so I don't really recall how difficult it was, but my experience in tech support has been if there's a way to do it wrong, someone will. In the early days, we did have people occasionally post here who had bricked their Kindles by trying to do some of the customizations that used to be available.

Betsy

 

[ElaineOK]

We are all just guessing, but I hadn't noticed that Amazon has almost not missed a year for an eink Kindle release since the beginning.  Technically, there wasn't a release in 2008, but there was in Feb. 2009 and again the DX in the summer of 2009.  I'm guessing the 2 was intended for a Christmas 2008 release and ran into problems.  So, is there any reason for this pattern to stop? 

Elaine
Norman, OK

 

[luvmykindle3]

Pretty sure there will be something!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Kayla Dawn Thomas]

I have no idea. I'm still using my ancient Kindle Keyboard device! It just keeps on kickin' so haven't been able to justify a new one. 

 

[The Hooded Claw]

I have no idea. I'm still using my ancient Kindle Keyboard device! It just keeps on kickin' so haven't been able to justify a new one.

My mother has been using my Kindle keyboard for a couple of years now. I recently gave her my paperwhite to to try, thinking that she would be freaked out by the lack of buttons. It ends up that she loves it! She is elderly and her arthritic fingers were handling the page turn buttons well, and she likes the lighter weight!

 

[Betsy the Quilter]

My mother has been using my Kindle keyboard for a couple of years now. I recently gave her my paperwhite to to try, thinking that she would be freaked out by the lack of buttons. It ends up that she loves it! She is elderly and her arthritic fingers were handling the page turn buttons well, and she likes the lighter weight!

Yay, Claw!