Back in February Amazon released a software update for Kindles, version 5.12.4, that was supposed to add a new Aa menu after a couple of weeks.
It took longer than expected, but now the new Aa font menu has officially started showing up on Kindles across the globe.
Unfortunately it doesn’t really change anything; there are no new features.
They just rearranged things a bit and consolidated some of the extra settings into one section.
The Aa menu now opens up on the lower half of the screen and there are four different sections for themes, font, layout, and more.
The “more” tab contains a number of reading settings for things like Word Wise, the highlighting menu, the clock, reading progress, etc.
One thing I like about the update is now you can easily see the font and layout changes taking effect on the upper half of the screen without the font box covering most of the screen like before.
One thing I don’t like is how the Aa menu defaults to the themes section every time you re-open a book. It will remain on whatever tab you selected while the book is open, but once you close it the default is always the themes section. That’s fine if you switch themes often but I’d prefer it to default to the font section.
Another thing that’s a bit odd is the fact that the invert setting is not available anywhere from the new Aa menu. If you want to invert the text to show a black background with white text, you still have to leave the book and go to the main settings menu, select accessibility, and turn on inverted mode from there. I don’t why this wasn’t added to the “more” tab—it’s not very accessible for being an accessibility feature.
What do you think of the Kindle’s new Aa menu?
Wait a minute! No new font sizes? Margins? Line spacing options? Seriously devastated right now.
It would be nice to have the invert screen option in BOTH places. That way people who switch it for accessibility reasons can still find it there (if they are making any other changes) and those of us who like to read that way can find it in the quick AA menu.
I agree. I like to read that way all the time on my Paperwhite 4.
And the caracter shape (bold) setting is still inactive.
I have 5.12.4 for my Oasis but no new format. Is this only for Android and iOS?
Wifi needs to be connected and you might try a restart to get the new format to appear.
Restart got it going on my Oasis and Voyage
Nathan, when will the book covers come to the closed screen?
Nobody knows. It was just a reference someone observed in the software code. There’s no guarantee it will become an actual feature, but I’m hoping it will.
I absolutely hate the new Themes setting. I’m ready to go back to my nook.
MEEE TOOO! GO BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS!
I do NOT like the new format! I want to go back to the old version. I can’t even see the whole thing on my screen. I have to scroll left to right to see everything and have to tap the thing twice to get it to disappear.