wireless.jpgAmazon Kindle software version 2.5 is being received by customers, including a person at Kindleboards.com who received version 2.52 and also Frankie Sutton at the Amazon forum. The first alert I saw was from @mykindlestuff.

Particulars will be reported later. See earlier report about planned roll-out as described by a tech rep to ebook addict and to an earlier hands-on report.

UPDATE – Kindle forum members are continuing to see delivery-reports for software update v2.52.  No one knows if this is the ‘final’ version but at least reports of receipt keep coming in after 3-4 days of no activity.

Some details
. The much anticipated alphabetical-sorting of listed Collections on the Home Page is not part of the update in this roll-out, sad to say – this was tested and reported by edward boyhan in the ongoing software-update thread linked to before but now over 2,100 notes long.

. One thing not mentioned previously but a part of 2.5 is that a long book title expands to full title now (in smaller font) when the file is highlighted, so that now it’ll be easier to differentiate between files with the same beginning title despite the lack of room to show it on the first line.

. While v2.5 users experienced some slowdowns and more battery drain than before, the v2.52 users have had only positive reports so far (but it hasn’t been long). The organization folder-like tagging system has been ‘wished for’ (in Amazon language) for over 2 years, so this is a big and much-anticipated change for Kindle users.

UPDATE2 – At the forums, people have been wondering if the update is being delivered to Kindles outside the U.S., and so far we’ve heard from Taiwan, Argenitna, and the UK. Whispernet-delivered software dates to now millions of Kindles, globally, can take 3-4 weeks to be distributed.  Most of those on the message boards are hoping a file will be made available for manual download and side-loading to the Kindle’s root folder soon.

What’s unusual is tbat no new Users Guide or note is going with the update to people who don’t know it’s coming. It’s quite intuitive, but a quick guide or accompanying e-notice with a link to the help-guides at Amazon would be good. If you suddenly see “Collections” at the top right of your Kindle, that will be the most easily-noticed indicator you have the update.

Those reading the web blog can search in the top-right searchbox for “v2.5″ to find the blog articles on the general update even if the current update is named v2.52.

Kindle-Edition blog subscribers can just start typing, on the Kindle (while reading the blog), ‘”v.25” and use the 5-way button to click on ‘find’ (or press the Return/Enter key at bottom right of keyboard) and you’ll get a list of results with links to all recent v2.5 info, since your Kindle will have the last 25 blog articles. To find out exactly which update is on your Kindle, press Menu button, select Settings and check the number at the lower right. Earlier updates before this update include versions 2.33 and 2.34 (or lower).

3 COMMENTS

  1. The PID generated from a Kindle’s serial number by the appropriate python script no longer works to decode ebooks downloaded from Amazon for a Kindle with the 2.5.2 firmware applied.

    The method to de-drm Kindle books download for use with Kindle for Windows still works, but that doesn’t help people on Linux or Mac.

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