Amazon has released a firmware update for the 10th and 11th-generation Kindle e-readers. The 5.17.1 firmware is only available for older models. The update includes a few minor features. The “Whispersync for Books” setting within Device Options is called “Sync.” The underlying synchronization functionality has not been changed. It also fixes a bug customers may have experienced when opening the reading toolbar, where “time left in the chapter” is unavailable. It crashes using Japanese ruby characters or the “Go To” option from Home and Library.
Users have claimed that the new update reduces the percentage left in a book at the bottom of the screen to its original size but still aligns with the margins of the main text. Highlighting seems less buggy, but highlights are still close together, without the gap between lines. However, sideloaded fonts are still busted; they always revert to Bookerly.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.