Kindle Users - Update Required

bnt

If you have one of those Kindle e-readers, and it's from 2012 or older, it might need an "over the air" security update before 22 March. Amazon has all the details here. If you don't, it won't be "bricked", but it will be unable to connect to any Internet services and require a manual upgrade (attached to a computer) before it will work properly again. (I thought I'd best post this here, where it will get many more eyeballs than the Gadgets forum.)

kneemos

Security eh.

FrStone

Oh I got that email, I was convinced it was some sort of scam.

super_furry

This is far too helpful and useful for After Hours, I'm going to have to gussy it up for you....Kindles suck, Kobo is better, something, something a Fine Gael!

MacauDragon

Got me an amazon fire the other week. Just €100. Great little thing.

Rooted and unlocked the wee bastard with a video and files off youtube.

They sell it to you in a locked down mode where you cant buy any third party apps and must browse only with their 'what can we advertise to you' pedo-browser only.

DO NOT register any amazon device with amazon unless you want to them to stalk you with adverts and promotions.

Edit: ironically the thing crashed about 5 min after I wrote the above. The zen ui I installed needed an update and crashed. Had to factory reset it. Now I'm back in gimp mode. Looking like spending an extra 30 or 40 would have been a smarter choice.

Alf Stewart.

The good wife got me a kobo for Christmas, only put the two books on it so far, the divine comedy, and catcher in the rye.

I'm out on the whole kindle v kobo root swinging malarkey, but can someone tell me why ones supposedly better than the other?

kneemos

Hope nobody steals my complete works of Harry Potter.

Alf Stewart.

kneemos wrote: »

Hope nobody steals my complete works of Harry Potter.

That Harry fella is a much better authour than Rowling any day of the week.

boobar

Nice one bnt

Thanks for the heads up....

I would definitely have missed out there.

Speedwell

This is absolutely true; I found out about it a few weeks ago when I had to reset my third-gen keyboard Kindle and thought I might as well take advantage of any updates. My Kindle has both 3G and wi-fi. I never get good use out of a data plan for my cell phone, so I don't pay for one... I use the Kindle to check my e-mail when I'm away from home. Clunky but it works.

As for the difference between Kindle and other e-readers, I've had e-readers since the Palm Pilot, and unless you absolutely need functionality other than "show words to my face", the difference between them is negligible, other than the increased battery life of non-backlit units. With a cover for my Kindle that has a pull-out LED light (that I mostly use for darkened restaurants, in bed, and to find my way to the loo at night when my husband's asleep), I'm golden.

By the way if you're reading this after the 22 March, you can still get the update; you just can't get it via wireless. You will have to download and apply it manually, as the OP says. Worth repeating so we don't get a lot of panicky posts in a couple weeks It might be worth it to apply it manually anyway if you know how. I had to leave my Kindle plugged in an extra half day so it could re-sort my couple thousand books into my thirty-odd categories. Ugh.

LDN_Irish

MacauDragon wrote: »

Edit: ironically the thing crashed about 5 min after I wrote the above. The zen ui I installed needed an update and crashed. Had to factory reset it. Now I'm back in gimp mode. Looking like spending an extra 30 or 40 would have been a smarter choice.

Yeah, my brother in law bought my kids one. Paid 50 pound for it online I think. Feckin awful thing. The hardware although poor is sufficient and fair enough for the price but the UI and unavailability of "essential" apps like YouTube and other Google apps is just ridiculous. I can't see a place for them in the market at all. There's no advantage to them over a normal android tab. Except maybe the few apps they give for free but I wouldn't have thought they'd make it a worthwhile purchase.

OU812

LDN_Irish wrote: »

Yeah, my brother in law bought my kids one. Paid 50 pound for it online I think. Feckin awful thing. The hardware although poor is sufficient and fair enough for the price but the UI and unavailability of "essential" apps like YouTube and other Google apps is just ridiculous. I can't see a place for them in the market at all. There's no advantage to them over a normal android tab. Except maybe the few apps they give for free but I wouldn't have thought they'd make it a worthwhile purchase.

Agree with this. Kids got one for Xmas. They're dumb. Gonna be upgrading them to either iPad mini 1 or android. Best thing I found about them was the kids carry case.