A couple weeks ago Amazon released a software update, version 5.17.1, for 10th and 11th gen Kindles, but the new Kindles were left out, and so was the Kindle Scribe.
Amazon released two more software updates this week, one for the Kindle Scribe and one for the new basic Kindle for 2024. But the new 12th gen Paperwhite and the Kindle Colorsoft are still left out; they don’t even have a listing for either on the software page yet.
The new software version for the Kindle Scribe is 5.17.1.0.1. Unfortunately it appears to be a minor update, but maybe page turns are faster now like they are for other Kindles after the 5.17.1 update. Amazon is expected to add some new features to the Kindle Scribe when the newer model comes out in December, but so far this update doesn’t appear to have anything to do with that.
The new software for the 2024 Kindle is 5.16.21. The release notes don’t say anything useful, and the date is from August, which is two months before the basic Kindle was released.
In fact the “new” 11th gen Kindle is running an older software version than the 2022 11th gen Kindle after this update—yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Just like having two different 11th gen Kindles makes sense.
So it looks like they are in fact going to have two seperate software releases for each 11th gen Kindle moving forward, one for the 2022 model and one for the 2024 model (why they didn’t just call the new one a 12th gen model like the new Paperwhite is anyone’s guess).
My 12th gen Kindle Paperwhite is running software version 5.17.0, and that’s what it arrived with; it’s surprising they haven’t released the 5.17.1 update for it yet. The 2021 and 2018 Paperwhites are both on 5.17.1 now so none of this really makes any sense.
My Kindle Colorsoft is running software version 5.18.0.1, so that means all the newer Kindles are running different software versions, and none are the same as previous 10th and 11th gen models.
Apparently Kindle Software updates are going to get a lot more confusing moving forward. Gone are the days when they all ran the same software version.
Like usual, you can download the new software from the Kindle Software Updates page at Amazon. Or you can just sit back and do nothing while the update downloads and installs automatically on its own at some point in the near future.
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