Kindle software update 5.13.7 revamps the home screen and brings swipe gestures to the user interface.
Thats not to say that the changes arent welcome.
Its just that Amazon could do so much more.
felipepelaquim / Unsplash
Why do e-books still mimic paper books so closely?
Where are the new features?
It’s better than the always plain black and white."
Amazon
Amazon
“Home” contains your current read, your reading lists, and a bunch of recommendations.
Its almost the same as the old home screen.
The new “Library” tab shows only your books, documents, and samples.
Amazon
The look is cleaner, but its just a re-organization of the existing home screen.
More interesting are the swipe gestures.
Instead, its like the Control Center gesture on an iPhone.
Amazon
Swiping up brings you to the page web client.
The new UI is a clear improvement.
Adjusting brightness is now one tap away, not two, for example.
But shouldnt there be more?
But do we really need new features just to read books?
E-readers dont need all the bells and whistles that tablets and phones have."
The problem isnt that we need those bells and whistles.
As mentioned, the Kobo lets you adjust brightness by swiping on the screen.
And the Kobo integrates the Pocket read-later service, making it easy to save articles from your phone.
We definitely dont want email or Twitter on our e-readers, but that doesnt mean the e-reader is perfect.
What else might it do?
Better Reading
The worst aspect of an e-readers UI is navigation.
Its still easier to get around a paper book.
How about a web internet tool-style history in the back button?
That way, you could easily get back, even after a lot of exploration?
The Kobo integrates Pocket, but you cant highlight any of the article text.
Given how great e-readers are for reading, this seems essential.
The Kindles search and dictionary lookups are also pretty bad.
Search is so poor that Ive given up using it.
Its not all bad.
And the accessibility advantage of zoomable text is just great.
An e-reader doesnt need to get fancy, but can we really not improve on paper?
That seems like a low bar.
