Amazon has released a new update for the current generation, Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Basic. They also have updates for the previous 11th and 10th generation models. The patch notes do not disclose any new features but mention bug fixes and performance improvements. Amazon has been pushing out updates every month and often introducing new features. The stability patches are likely to fix lingering issues.
Amazon does not always fix front-facing features that will be noticeable to most users. Instead, most of the issues are focused on security, bug fixes, and ensuring that the Kindle always performs well at its primary task: reading digital content.
One of the most recent changes that users will notice immediately is the Kindle Scribe update released last week. A new e-book system called Active Canvas is available, which adds some in-book notetaking to the Scribe experience. Active Canvas is simple. If you want to annotate a book, you can start writing right at the top of the section in the book. As you write, the text under where you’re writing fades away, and then a box appears, and the book text automatically flows around it. You select a check to set the box, which you can then resize, but more importantly, that annotation remains anchored to the text in the book. You can also use Active Canvas to mark up Word Docs and other reflowable documents, which you can then share with colleagues.
A new notebook AI summarization feature will convert your handwriting into a readable script, suitable for people with lousy writing or whose writing looks like doctors’ signatures. While in a notebook, click the AI icon and select “Refine writing.” Your notes will be quickly converted into a script font and inserted back into your laptop, making them easier to read, review, and share. If inspiration strikes and you want to make changes, you can still edit and update your refined notes.
You can install the update automatically when the e-reader is in sleep mode. The latest Kindle e-readers have version number 5.17.1.0.4, and the previous generation is now 5.17.1.0.3.
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.
