Kindle Touch Software Upgrade Makes it More like the Paperwhite

aThe Kindle Touch, a now discontinued, Kindle has a major software upgrade today.  The Touch now has an entirely new menu and interface to make it almost exactly like the Kindle Paperwhite. The new Kindle Touch Software upgrades the firmware to 5.3.2.1.

Whispersync for Voice (ability to sync in between Audible.com Audiobooks and Kindle books) is now working on the Touch.  I believe from reading the documentation that unlike the Paperwhite you can both listen to the audiobook and read the kindle book on the Touch directly.  The Paperwhite does not have speakers or headphone jack so this is one area where you might be better off with the older Touch than the newer Paperwhite.

I have not personally tried the new software, but my main complaint about the Touch was its generally laggy software.  Hopefully this update will help with that as well.

Other updates include better handling for graphic novels and coming books, the new “time to read” features which tracks your reading speed and tells you how long till the end of the chapter or book (I love this feature), more info about the Author and book and ‘recommended content’.  If you have not updated since 5.1 you also will get free access to wifi at AT&T wifi hotspots throughout the US.

Recommended Content is Amazon’s way of advertising without calling it advertising.  You can turn this off.

Here is the announcement from Amazon, the link to manually update (your touch should automatically update over the next few days or weeks if you leave it on and connected to wifi) and the new User Guide.

Amazon still sells refurbished Kindle Touch for $89 (which is $30 cheaper than the new Kindle Paperwhite, but only $15 cheaper than the refurbished Paperwhite.)

h/t liliputing

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