Amazon has released a new software update for all Kindle ereaders dating back to the Paperwhite 3 from 2015 (the Kindle Voyage still remains on the older software).
The new firmware version is 5.14.2, and it brings some more changes to the user interface. Notably, it looks like Amazon has finally started rolling out the new homescreen that was promised back in September, along with some changes to the library view.
However, it’s one of those things that doesn’t happen right away after updating; the changes will appear on their own after an undetermined amount of time, like most new Kindle features they’ve added over the past few years.
After installing the update you can try syncing and restarting your Kindle to get the new homescreen to show up. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t (it’s probably region based).
The release notes don’t give any indication about the changes (yet), but there are reports on reddit of the new homescreen appearing some time after the update has been applied.
The way Kindle updates work is you can wait for the update to automatically download and install when connected to WiFi (usually while charging), but that can sometimes take a few months. If you want the update now you can head over to the Kindle Software Updates Page at Amazon and download the file to manually install on your Kindle (just put it in the root directory of your Kindle and hit the update button from the settings menu).
After updating, does your Kindle have the new homescreen? My updated Kindles still show the old homescreen even after syncing and restarting.
I haven’t updated yet…. but, the release notes don’t say anything about layout or anything. Just bug fixes and performance.
I see now that you noted that…..I’m sorry for not reading the whole thing before commenting.
That’s okay. Here lately it’s been taking them a while to update the release notes after first releasing a new update.
I just get all excited when a firmware update comes out.
People are not going to like that the list view only shows 4 titles. And, they aren’t going to care that there are smaller thumbnails.
What, seriously? They just want to get us all using the homescreen with the ads, don’t they. Guess my next ereader will be a Kobo.
Is there somewhere to see what the new and most likely not at all improved look is without having to install it first?
The picture at the top of this article shows what the updated homescreen and library view look like. The homescreen (far right image) has a scrollable list at the top, the Library view is scrollable up and down (middle image), and list view now has thumbnails, among other changes. I’ll post a video showing everything after one of my Kindles gets the new UI.
Anyway noticed a critical battery drain bug right after upgrading firmware and appearance of the new homescreen?
Maybe it’s re-indexing all your books.
My battery is draining since the update.
It did not take long for my kindle to show the changes after I updated. I had put it to sleep when I closed the case and a few minutes later it was taking me through their tour of the new features.
How long was it asleep…. I just updated and closed case.
I think it was about 10 minutes. I honestly don’t recall the exact time. Sorry.
How dare you not remember…. jk.
Seriously though…. did you turn airplane mode on? Or, did you leave it connected to wifi? I’m trying to figure it out myself.
thanks,
My 8 year old Voyage has been overlooked for updates again !
It’s safe to say that the Voyage is no longer supported. Still a great device though.
Frankly they probably should’ve made the cutoff even earlier. I don’t think it’s a good idea to drastically change the user interface on devices people have been happily using for the past 5+ years. They should’ve just left the older models alone or made the new UI optional. I’ve never seen so much push back on an update before since the 5.13.7 update when they first started making big changes. These updates are really bothering a good percentage of Kindle users. I can’t imagine how many complaints customer service has been dealing with lately.
I personally don’t understand people getting Really upset about the UI changes, especially to the point of being really mad, and maybe ditching their kindle. But, totally understand not liking them. Or, preferring an older one.
Having some sort of Update Drop Down Menu, is a good idea. Instead of automatically updating.
A drop down that includes the option to select which update you want. Either a new one, or an older one. Even if it has to prompt you to turn on wireless to download and update.
Considering how long it took Amazon to have book covers as the sleep screen….I don’t see them doing something like that.
Some people just don’t like change, and I think the longer things have been one way the harder it is to change. I don’t mind the new UI personally, except the removal of the back button is just asinine for stuff like nonfiction and PDFs where you have to frequently jump around to different parts of a book. But I can understand where people are coming from. I absolutely hate it when Microsoft suddenly changes stuff with my Windows computers. Like this morning I turn on my computer and all the buttons were mysteriously missing on the task bar. 🙄
Thankfully the Voyage did not get updated.
I agree with Nathan. I think only Kindles just purchased should have the new UI. People should be able to decide if they want the update on the older models.
Making navigation difficult in an eBook is not a good update. I never had trouble with navigating with the old UI.
No mention of being able to adjust the lighting brightness by sliding a finger up or down on the screen like other companies already do. With Amazon’s new UI the control panel covers the page so you can’t see it while making adjustments.
All of my older Kindles with front lights are in airplane mode so they don’t get updated. Side loading books that have page numbers and x-ray loose those features.
I’m thinking about switching to the Nook Glowlight 4.
I agree with you that it would be great for them to have a switch to choose between the old interface and the new interface. I have not tested out all the functions with the new update, but I am hoping they did something to improve the UI of voiceview as I think it was half baked. Maybe they should focus on fixing what they have now before they start adding stuff to the system. I can understand they wanting to have a uniform UI across their devices. Given they all have at least 8 GB of storage to work with, I would think they would have enough space for a bigger system that would allow for the two UI. They still did not fix the certification problem with the web browser. It still comes up with an error, even on their own website!
I regret installing it. So bad! All my collections were lost. I had to reset and start over. Hours and hours lost…
My Kindle just updated and now my collection lists show only book covers. I have a serious vision problem that permits me to read text but not the horrible book covers. I have not found a way to turn them off. If I can’t they my kindle with 2,000 books becomes unusable junk. I need text lists everywhere. The loss of the back button was clearly only the start of their idiocy.
Same problem here. I need text list view in order to search my collections in comfort. The book cover grid swims before my eyes, and the black tags on them just exacerbate the problem. I really wish they would give us the option to refuse an update if we don’t like it, because I don’t think I can ever get used to this one.
I agree. 1 1/2 hours on the phone with Amazon to find out nothing can be done. I can’t read the titles in my. collections either. And I can’t use list view in collections. Plus, has anyone noticed that we can only pick downloaded books – not all books. How do I see books that are in the cloud but not downloaded? This is a horrible update. Plus, I was able to start in collections and move on to books – all in list form. Now I can either have collections – in grid form which is unreadable – OR I can have books in list form. But only 4 to a page. I agree – 5.14.2 has made my Kindle unusable. Is the Nook the solution?
I agree about the cover view. I hate it! I don’t have any vision problems but I am still having problems reading the titles.
Please Amazon, do an update allowing us to choose how we can view our collections!
My kindle just updated too. I don’t want to see book covers, I want just a list. Plus when I want to search for a book I have to scroll through the lists instead of just being able to type a few letters of the name of the author. If there is a way I haven’t found it yet. The same for adding to a collection. My book collection is 500 items and if I want to add a new book to an existing collection, I have to scroll through the list to find it instead of just being able to type what I am looking for in a search window
Me too! Had all my hundreds of books nicely organized in Collections and now I cannot find the one I’m looking for without a magnifying glass, even with my best glasses.
I hate what Amazon has done to my Kindle! How dare they do anything to my property without my permission!
No longer any text lists, only the frustrating little photos of book covers, many of which are really illegible. Awful when an update undoes what was a good system. Who could possibly have conceived of such a poor program – obviously someone who didn’t really have or use an extensive Kindle library like so many of us have for so many years.
I am in full agreement with all those who are determined to go with a different e-reader in the future, unless, of course, needed corrections are made to this unusable interface.
Absolutely owners of products should have a choice as to what happens to that product.
Amazon, please bring Text Lists back to our Kindles, so we can actually read them!
For those that need Collections in a List View do these steps:
1. First go to Library….Settings….Device Options….Advanced Options….Home & Library….Collections. In Collections select SHOW ALL IN LIBRARY. Go back to Library on Kindle.
2. On the Filter with three straight lines in upper right corner…select this Filter….Select List View. Close this window.
3. Now go to the Filter with straight lines with round circles in the upper left corner….select this Filter….Select Collections. Close this window. You should not have Collection Folders in List Format.
I updated my device to an Oasis and gave my Voyage to my sister – amove I regret.
The Oasis is 32Gb as I thought I’d listen to audiobooks at bedtime (I have bad tinnitus), and guess what, the flagship Kindle doesn’t even have a timer . . . For all that money.
Stick with the Voyage, it was the best Kindle I ever had.
Anyone having this problem: When clicking on About This Book, it flashes to that screen so briefly that there’s no time to actually read any info.
Never have had this problem on my Oasis or Kindle app for mobile.
I wonder if this update fixes the issue with the kindle bricking. It happened to me back in December and the only solution is for Amazon to replace it.
It’s been frustrating looking for answers since it seems it’s fairly widespread yet no one seems to be reporting on this and Amazon hasn’t addressed either.
I updated mine using the amazon page and the manual install instructions and at first, it was the same but then I restarted my Kindle, and BAM!!! New Home Menu!!!
I’ve done the update, and a few minutes after it rebooted, it did another reboot on its own. I seem to have all the features you mentioned above, except the thumbnails in list view. Does that come by default, or do I have to enable it myself?
I updated 2 or 3 days ago, and I haven’t gotten the new features yet. I have even did a reset of my PW5.
After I installed the 5.14.2 update on my Kindle Paperwhite 3, it didn’t show the new homescreen. After I restarted the device, it did show the new homescreen. My Kindle Paperwhite 3 was a refurbished model from the United States. I am from Vietnam.
I am wondering if anyone is actually getting the New proposed home/Library screens. Or, if people are simply getting the most updated screens from Nov or so.
Is anyone actually getting the vertical scrolling Library screen?
If you hit the reddit link in the article you can see screenshots of the new interface, but it seems all the reports are outside the US at this point.
So when is Amazon going to get around to updating us here in the USA?
Updated my PW4. Restarted device. No new interface.
After 3 days with no new interface inspiration struck.
Turned on internet, connected, and rebooted PW.
BAM! New interface appeared.
(If I recall correctly, book covers as screensaver and grouping by series appeared after doing this too.)
Whoops, sorry. It’s PW3 (7th gen)
I keep mixing up names.
Hello…My kindle has not updated to the new home screen even though I have installed 5.14.2. Is there anything I need to do get the Home Screen update? Thank you.
It’s just one of those things that takes time. It has to be activated by Amazon before it will be made available. They do a staged rollout instead of changing it for everyone on millions of Kindles all at once. A big change like this is likely to cause some confusion among users, leading to more support requests.
I’ve got it and it sucks!! It is not user friendly at all. I’m having so much trouble finding anything. Whoever thought this was a good idea needs to be fired.
Absolutely! The worst!
I agree, I am a longtime Kindle user and was not happy with the Autumn 21 update which altered the excellent interface. This latest March 22 makes it almost unusable. I used to have many pages of lists, which I could move through by selecting a page number. This seems to have disappeared in the latest version. Only 4 titles appear with tiny thumbnails. This screen may work on a large tablet but certainly not on a Kindle. Not sure how to move back and forth through pages of lists as only a large scroll available. Very user UNFRIENDLY. Designers seem to think people have only single or a few books on a multiple Gig device. Perhaps they should start reading on a Kindle. MOB
I agree completely. I have over 5,000 books on my Kindle, and the new UI make browsing the library impossible. 4 items to a page with the useless thumbnails is abominable
Agree where did all go can only find downloaded
Agreed. My Kindle automatically installed the update this week. I have already spoken to Amazon 3 times, and had to go through the lengthy restart process, as my content disappeared each time. The list format is a joke, with sometimes unreadable thumbnails. If you only have a few books it may not be a problem, but scrolling through a long list is just not practical. I hope that Amazon will realise what a disaster this update has beeln, and take steps to replace it. Meanwhile, it is easier to read on my phone app.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Pity Amazon didn’t go by that saying. The update is horrible. For one – how do you add a newly-purchased book to an existing folder? I’m baffled. They should have left well alone.
Open your folder and there is a +/- on the right hand side, that gives you a list of all your books. You can change the order in different ways.
Mine updated yesterday ( vertical rolling screen plus lots of ads for new books on the Home Screen) but it’s also created two glitches.
– turning a page mid way through one book kept finishing the book
– books in collections won’t open – they say they are but hang.
Has anyone else experienced this? It was all working fine till the update.
I’m in the U.K.
yup, you are not alone. In Australia and this update forced a few days ago on mine. literally cant access some books as the collection says opening, then eventually kicks back to collections page. the scrolling is slow as all hell, and kills more screen space. even with filtering for downloads only, it is showing all collections regardless. cant access books not in a collection as the UNCOLLECTED folder keeps crashing.
pretty much find no use for the home page from the last update so apart from the waste of screen realestate that the bottom buttons and the search bar ate, could mostly ignore it as functionality was maintained, but this last update …. if i wanted scrolling I would use an app, now have to swap between scrolling to find books and swiping to change pages, seems like something small, but after all this time muscle memory, been using a kindle for 10 years.. wish they had it as a option and people could choose.
I miss the quick swap between downloaded and cloud, something i used a lot, now more button presses, to see what books hadn’t downloaded properly, as I have over 4000 books the loss of goto page or author is also felt keenly as was a frequently used function for me
have a 32gb PW with4 gb used so 22+ still available
This is the worst update ever. The book cover grid view strains my eyes and gives me a headache. I want my list views back!
I can’t access half my collections because the scroll feature either kicks me back to the main Home Screen or it freezes completely. I know I can search for particular books but I liked having my books in collections. I’ve also noticed a serious time delay when trying to load and download or open a book. All in all this update is pretty awful and if it wasn’t for the fact I have a lot of kindle content and haven’t had my oasis 6 months yet I’d be shopping around for a different e-reader
Agree with all the negative comments above. This is the most horrible update ever. They really should let you choose if you want to download a new version or at least give the option to undo the download.
Before I had everything nicely organized – first all came all my downloaded folders and then some books I wanted to read next. Now everything is mixed up also showing the the books I had transferred already into a folder. No idea how I should organize this now as I have more than 1200 books.
Guess will not use this Kindle Paperwhite 10 anymore and just glad I have an older Generation 7 which is in flight mode and will now stay so forever so I never get an update and can use it with the older version.
Remove the Wifi password – then even if you accidentally turn off flight mode when the Kindle asks, it cannot connect. When my wife turned off flight mode to search for a term in Wikipedia, her Kindle started to update within seconds.
Got the update today and it is very annoying. It seems like a choice between a list view that ignores collections, a collections view that wont do lists, or a grid view that just sucks. Also agree with Lia that opening books seems to have a longer delay than before.
Kindle updated this morning. Now none of my books will open. Restarted several times.
Update arrived today and oh how I wish it hadn’t. Its horrible ,all book covers images not lists of book titles in text, Harder to use,instead of pages in your collections you now get a images of book covers and a scroll down bar. Really looks as tho it’s taken a few steps backwards. Hope it updates for the better soon.
I just got the Jan version 5.14.2 today and i hate everything about it. The home page is awful! I have over 80 personal collections on my kindle. I want my list back and in ABC order.! The book covers are too big and awful. When looking for a collection it bounces all over. Not sure where my new books will appear on my kindle. Guess I will have to go on line to device and content to move it where I want it. the slide bar goes all over the place. I have over 2300 books and I need my lists back. ! I guess it will be another 6 months before I get the next version. That is too long to get the fixes changed. I don’t need Chris to reply. I agree with him. Could not fine where I could share my opinion. I agree with Chris and L. I have found nothing good about this update.
Please give us the old list view back as an option. The new scroll bar is completely unusable. The down arrow takes forever to move to the next record and the scroll jumps 20-50 books with the smallest nudge down on the bar. This is actually something that we may want to bring to some of the American Disabilities people. It is now a mostly unusable product.
Got the new update, it sucks big time! Managed to get it to view my collections but where are all the books that aren’t in a collection?? Really not happy, had a kindle for 11 years so I’ve purchased alot of books over the years!
Just got my Kindle Paperwhite update yesterday (March 18)–its awful! What was Amazon thinking? An almost perfect e-reader is now practically unusable. The Home tab is an advertising vehicle for Amazon. This new update resembles the Kindle app for the iphone.
Forced update appeared on my kindle the other day. It’s ruined my collections, the books are now in my collections and on the homepage.
I have collections for a reason. I want my books kept in there.
Samples that I downloaded directly from my kindle apparently need to be downloaded again to be read on my kindle.
Pathetic response from Amazon, ‘oh it’ll be fixed in 24-72 hours. Did we help you with your problem?’
That was several days ago.
Utter rubbish. This isn’t an update this isn’t progress and this certainly isn’t to benefit kindle readers, this is the development team tinkering to warrant their jobs to the detriment of the customer.
Dreadful update. Neither my husband and I can use it. Please go back to the previous lay-out. Whoever developed it??!
New update is awful on my Paperwhite. I can’t find view of just downloaded books. It’s slow. It constantly reverts back to a view of “recommendations” (i.e., ads) instead of my books. I can’t see just a view of favorite collections. It’s slow. Really slow! Battery life is worse. It’s almost unusable. Normally I roll with whatever changes are made to the Kindle but this change reflects a total lack of understanding of how people read.
Got the update today and it is almost unusable. Instead of simply selecting ‘all’ or ‘downloaded’ you have to go through multiple steps (once you figure them out). Also can’t figure out how to ‘go to’ books beginning with xxx. I guess that function has gone away – so now I get to look through 3000+ books to find the one I want. I also have a ticket open as, when I couldn’t open the book I was currently reading, the tech person said he couldn’t find that book in my records. He also could find only a few hundred books when I should have over 3000. So if they have lost a few thousand books are they going to refund my money????? The new interface is horrible – don’t know what the developers thought they were doing.
The Bezos Bozos have struck again. Most of them, obviously, are comic book viewers who think pictures are better than text. Now I can only see the “covers” of the books which often have displays that make it very difficult to read either title or author.
Only have had the “update” for a day and a half so maybe I’ll find an actual improvement somewhere in the next few weeks while I browse for an alternative way to read my Kindle books.
I totally agree with what others have said about this update . Did Amazon even get any user input for this.? I’m guessing not. I want my list view back in collections. I also don’t need to see all of my books across the screen. If I read it and removed it , I don’t want to see it on my home page . Too bad they didn’t give us a choice to update or not . I’m heavily invested in Kindle, both with books I’ve purchased and with advanced copies I receive, so it’s hard for me to leave , but I don’t like this at all .
Horrid update, can’t really add anything to what’s already been said, every bit of the update is annoying, especially the way books in collections are also viewed in the lists – I put the books in the collections for a reason, I’ve too many books in the list otherwise (especially on the Oasis with its 4 or 5 books per page view).
Sadly it’s also affected my old Kindle Voyage, not the total update that the newer ones have had, it’s just listed all my books from the collections in the main list as well, that’s bad enough though.
There’s a setting to change how collections are viewed from the Advanced section of Device settings.
You can’t change it to show books outside of collections. It’s an either/or situation. And I HAYE it! If I wanted all the books to show I wouldn’t have collections. Thus may be the update that makes me look for a new e reader!
I have to chime in with those who have probably emailed about the difficulty with the new update. I am not computer illiterate, and this update has made finding and opening books extremely difficult. For example, I have a group of 9 books by one author that I have purchased over the years and I am unable to open any of the downloads unless I do a search for the exact title.
Loss of the back button and loss of the list of books, being able to switch between all books and downloaded books contribute to making this update *extremely* user unfriendly.
Please, Amazon. Listen to your customers! I hope you are recognizing the overwhelming negative feedback about this update and making plans to correct in the near future. I haven’t read anyone who is head over heels happy about it.
I have had and used a kindle for more than 10 years now (current model 32 GB signature, with 5-14-2). Over this time my library has grown to many hundreds of books, while at the same time, the system on these e-readers seems to make the organization, management and navigation of larger libraries of books steadily more difficult. At least up until 5-14-2, you could put books in collections, and they did not show up in the main library (text) listing — now that is not possible. If anything, after all this time, we should be able to create (sub) collections within collections, etc., and have many more options for how we choose to organize the display of library contents. (Why is it that one of the most common tips for managing your library, when 32 GB kindles are available, is, “remove books which you are not currently using”? Really?) Kindle has to be able to better than this. Very poor customer consciousness.
I have lost the ability to read some of my titles. I can see them listed but they don’t open. Other titles do open. I am so angry. We have thousands of ebooks and I don’t know which ones are now broken. I want to wring someone’s neck.
I saw this happened to someone on Twitter for some of titles and Amazon refunded them after sitting on tech support for hours. I don’t have time to do that! It is their developers who did not actually test adequately!
Have the same problem, and an hour with Amazon tech support accomplished nothing. The book I had open when the update happened—and all the ones I had in the same collection—won’t open from the library screen. A workaround that someone posted at least seems to work. If I go to the listing for the book I’ve already bought in the store, the ReadNow button will open it on my Kindle. Ridiculous to have to do this, but at least I can access the books I own until they fix this awful update!
Beyond frustrated with this new update, which removes functionality and makes my Kindle so frustrating to use. I agree with others that the list view needs to return. I also preferred moving through pages of my titles rather than scrolling down. And agree with the need for subcollections – I can’t believe this isn’t a function they’ve added yet. More customization in how we can display our library is a good thing, but they consistently get things wrong and take away display options.
I am beyond frustrated with this stupid update!! Can’t open any of my books, not a “techy” person, so I’m not sure what to do. Hope I haven’t lost the books I’ve paid Amazon for over the years.
Why on earth did Amazon do this? to prove how “clever” their developers are?
NEWS FLASH AMAZON…….THIS IS A BIG FAIL
All collections are now mixed in with the rest of my library… a right mess!
No more numbered pages to navigate through in the library, no, there’s a long bar to drag up and down that makes it very hard to find anything, and I mean anything, cause if you lose your grip you open a book and there it goes… Thankfully The book you’re reading don’t really go up to the top anymore.. no wait, it still does, and I ave to try and drag the whole bar up there to get to it! No!
And not only that: about every tenth or so book seems to have been removed from my library; I have to re-download them! Including the book I were in the middle of! WHY!!!???
I don’t get it! Why do people have to make new “updates” all the time to create “better” and “new and improved” versions of something, when all it does is make things more difficult.
The last update were a downturn for me. This latest one is another letdown.
If it hadn’t been for the fact that amazon-bought books need amazon-supported gear or stuff that can use apps for this then I’d have chucked the kindle in the wall long ago.
Why can’t we chose wether or not we want the blethering “updates” or not?
I too hate this update. Apart from preferring the ABC list format my biggest gripe is how often I have to charge my 10th generation kindle. It used to be every 2-3 weeks. It’s now every other day! It’s battery use is now no better than my Fire!
The new update that limits “Collections” to displaying book covers instead of a nice organised list is a backwards step. The really ludicrous part is not having the choice to display it as a list. Do they think book readers won’t like reading a list and need pretty pictures?
Here’s another thought. Kindle uses the most power when it’s changing the e-eink display. If I need to scroll through 4 times as many pages of book covers then I’m using 4 times the power just looking for a book. This is on top of the way my kindle now burns through its battery like it’s in a race of some kind.
If this idiocy continues this will be my last kindle. I’m a firm believer in voting with my wallet.
Update 5.14.2 appeared automatically on my paperwhite. To be honest not enjoyed the previous update and this did nothing to improve it. Worse still the battery life has taken a massive hit and looking through the comments I am not alone in this. Now get 8 hours reading time per charge with no internet connection. Previously I never had low battery warnings, just topped up every 2 or 3 weeks. Amazon need to sort this quickly or they will lose a customer. I have no use for an e-reader that cannot be used on camping trips when no power is available. More recharging will also shorten the life of the device.
This update sucks. It’s the Windows 8 of Kindle updates. Cannot make any sense of it. I’m not sure how Amazon could be so stupid.
Books I haven’t read I kept in the “downloaded”section. After I read a book I would remove the download and it would go into the “all” section.
Where do I find the “all” section on this new
layout??
All is the default layout with no filters applied. Downloaded can be applied from the filters menu on the left.
Now why can’t Amazon train its customer service people to answer a question as simple as where are my downloaded books!. I spent almost an hour in a chat and a phone call with Amazon trying to get this information from them. I finally gave up when another call came in. Thank you Nathan for this simple to follow response.
This up date is crap. I can’t find anything and it seems to have added all the old books I deleted from it.. Some of the books it won’t let me open saying I need to connect to the internet. Thought the idea was I didn’t need internet once I’d down loaded.! Updates should be if you want them and there should be the option of going back to the previous version. Why do we need to see a picture of a book cover?? I’d rather be able to see a lot more books like it used to be. I often have a few different books all open at the same time reading different books depending on the mood I’m in. Now I can’t find them. Might be now looking for a new ereader that does what I want not what some gumpty in an office thinks I want. Had kindles since they came out but now not happy. You don’t by a coupe only to come down in the morning to find out the company has decided you need a 4×4 .
I have become inured to how awful Kindle updates are over the years. Every time my Kindle updates, I fully expect some fresh hell to endure. And as expected, every update, the UI gets a bit worse and a bit worse.
But this is a whole new level of evil.
This update is by far the worst UI update I’ve ever seen on any device or website – ever in my life. With this update, I have finally lost all faith in Amazon’s development team, and have finally been forced to accept – even though the evidence has been gradually accruing over time – that they DO NOT HAVE MY INTERESTS AT HEART as a reader. I have given it a lot of honest reflection, and I cannot understand why they would think anything about this interface was a good idea.
The new split library/home view thing I hated, but it was an annoyance I would have to bypass every time I restarted my Kindle. This, I cannot bypass. This, there is no workaround for. Forcing thumbnail view on readers is beyond ridiculous, and it’s clear Kindle has no competent usability people on their development team.
Most of the documents I have on my Kindle do not have book covers, and the thumbnails that I’m seeing I cannot make any sense of, and there is no legible title. But even the books that DO have a proper cover, most of them have illegible titles.
Yeah, I can swap to list view when I’m in Library view, but that gives me everything on my bloody Kindle in one huge mess, unsorted and endlessly scrolling. It’s like trying to drink from a firehose.
Being unable to view my sorted collections in list view is simply a deal-breaker for me, and the last straw. I’m going to give them a week or two to push out a fix, and if they don’t, I’m going to find a new ereader. This is ridiculous.
My wife is a severe dyslectic who nevertheless could use the old Kindle Paperwhite with ease (if I loaded and organised all her books for her). After a month with the new interface she is still very much confused. The old interface may have looked a bit old-fashioned but was much easier to use, and faster (not having to drag up the cover thumbprints). And many book covers are not designed to be viewed and make sense on a Kindle black and white e-ink screen. Amazon probably thinks that that is the responsibility of the publishers. At least the earlier comment by Jean Hawks works to get a list view of collections and in collections, although you only see a few collections/book on the screen at a time.
An upgrade of this magnitude should never have been just rolled out like this, taking many customers by surprise. In comparison, Microsoft has been bugging me for months to upgrade to Windows 11, sometimes annoying, but at least they have the decency to ask.
The kindle list view is worse than pathetic. Many of the covers are unreadable as they are light text on a light background..
I had been a Kindle lover almost since they were launched but now have a passionate hatred for the lists. BRING BACK THE TEXT LIST OPTION – the new interface is virtually unusable and I may well just cut my losses (of several hundred books) and just run.
I would like not just to curse the instigator(s) but to curse their children and their children’s children’s children