[HN Gopher] Amazon's Older Kindles Will Start to Lose Their Inte...
___________________________________________________________________
Amazon's Older Kindles Will Start to Lose Their Internet Access in
December
Author : theduder99
Score : 190 points
Date : 2021-07-29 16:05 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theverge.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theverge.com)
| pgrote wrote:
| This is for cellular connections.
|
| "Amazon's Kindle e-readers with built-in 3G will begin to lose
| the ability to connect to the internet on their own in the US in
| December, according to an email sent to customers on Wednesday.
| The change is due to mobile carriers transitioning from older 2G
| and 3G networking technology to newer 4G and 5G networks. For
| older Kindles without Wi-Fi, this change could mean not
| connecting to the internet at all."
| floatboth wrote:
| Huh, they made _cellular-only_ models? That 's such a bizzare
| idea.
| hellotomyrars wrote:
| It _kind of_ made sense at the time. I have a Kindle DX, and
| that came out in 2009. Wifi was less ubiquitous and more
| terrible, and the idea with the Kindle anyways is you could
| be anywhere and buy a book, and it would just work.
|
| It did open up some very interesting homebrew applications
| too!
|
| Also the early models with WiFi had the absolute worst radios
| and constantly tripped over themselves. When I worked for
| Centurylink in/around 2011 one of the most common issues with
| wifi was Kindle devices. Thankfully most customers could
| figure that if their 3-5 other devices were connected and
| working, the issue was their Kindle, and not the CPE.
| ghaff wrote:
| WiFi was pretty terrible for quite a while after it came
| out in general. I remember, in the early to mid 2000s, the
| Intel Developers Forums had desks set up to try to help
| press and analysts get, often plug-in PCMCIA card, WiFi
| working. And it was almost certain to fall over during
| general sessions anyway--well some things mostly don't
| change.
|
| But if you actually needed a working network connection in
| the press room, you plugged an Ethernet cable into your
| laptop.
| ssully wrote:
| It was actually wonderful. My girlfriend at the time, now
| wife, had a grandmother who was an avid reader but didn't own
| a computer or have internet. They were able to get her to
| switch to a Kindle because of the cellular delivery feature.
| She was able to figure out how to buy stuff directly from the
| device, but I always thought it was neat how they could buy
| Grandma books and have the auto delivered to her a device.
| Cd00d wrote:
| I pre-ordered the first Kindle and knowing that I could order
| a book from my airplane seat for a flight before they closed
| the cabin door was a huge gratifier for me!
| filmgirlcw wrote:
| In 2007, putting WiFi and cellular in the same radio stack
| was a real challenge. The iPhone was one of the first phones
| to have both radios in it -- a handful of other devices did
| too, but it was really rare. Heck, I remember it took years
| for BlackBerry to successfully ship a phone with both 3G and
| WiFi (as opposed to having to choose between WiFi and 2G or
| only a 3G connection).
|
| The big selling point of the first Kindle was the idea that
| you could access the store to download stuff anywhere. WiFi
| wasn't ubiquitous like it is now (and even now, it isn't as
| ubiquitous as I think we all would have hoped), which made
| having a free 2G connection really nice, especially when
| outdoors in areas that the E Ink display really shined.
| michaelbuckbee wrote:
| At the time it was pretty clever as WiFi wasn't as ubiquitous
| and the bandwidth used by them was so low.
| ghaff wrote:
| The cellular was included with the device. I'd have to
| stretch my mind back but WiFi wasn't as ubiquitous, as easy
| to use, or as cheap to implement as today.
| sumtechguy wrote:
| Don't know why but this reminds me of one support ticket on
| those things. 'i can not download any books' 'uh sir
| according to our data you are 10 miles off the coast of
| florida?' 'oh yeah I am on my boat' 'do you see any cell
| towers?' 'no' 'they need those to work' 'ohhhhh'
|
| We were surprised that it even had enough signal to figure
| out the GPS cords.
|
| Even back then cell coverage was not as good as it is now.
| So many times it was 'go stand at the end of your driveway
| and try'.
| ghaff wrote:
| >So many times it was 'go stand at the end of your
| driveway and try'.
|
| Like my dad's house in Maine today :-)
|
| In the early years of the iPhone in the US, there was--
| including on this site I imagine--much wailing and
| gnashing of teeth over AT&T's coverage.
| sumtechguy wrote:
| Think with early kindle it was altel and sprint. Verizon
| buying altel fixed a lot of that issue. But there were
| still gaps.
| jhbadger wrote:
| Amazon was targeting book readers who may not have been
| computer users, so they wouldn't necessarily have Wifi (or
| any Internet) at home. The cellular connection (which was
| free and not dependent on any data plan of the user) allowed
| the user to purchase and download books, and so paid Amazon
| for the very small amount of data used given that a typical
| book is only a couple of megabytes.
| Nition wrote:
| You could also plug it in via USB if you needed to transfer
| data another way.
| ghaff wrote:
| Home broadband connectivity was only about 2/3 of where it
| was today. The iPhone was _just_ rolling out.
|
| As much to the point, Amazon was also very much aiming for
| the use case of the business traveler who wanted to buy a
| book before hopping on the plane in an airport that
| probably didn't have WiFi and almost certainly didn't have
| free WiFi.
|
| I won't say 2007 was the stone ages. But a lot of things we
| mostly just take for granted today didn't exist or were
| relatively nascent.
| Dylan16807 wrote:
| I don't think a Kindle would need broadband, though there
| probably weren't all that many dial-up connections
| plugged into wifi routers.
| ghaff wrote:
| Right. You don't need the bandwidth. But while it's
| presumably possible, also presumably almost no home users
| had WiFi before they got broadband.
| tomjen3 wrote:
| We didn't but we did have a LAN. That was probably a
| special case though.
| vessel wrote:
| TheVerge purposefully left that out of the headline for
| clickbait. It's really not hard to write "Amazon's Older 2G/3G
| Kindles" or "Lose Their Cellular Connections"
| jjeaff wrote:
| I know that with many publications, the journalists don't get
| to pick their own headlines. There has been a lot of talk
| about how journalism is dead, but I have found that often,
| the article is well done, but the headline paints an
| inaccurate or divisive picture. I think the editors and maybe
| the MBAs are more of a problem than the journalists.
| eli wrote:
| Also really buried the fact that you are eligible for a free
| upgrade to a new Kindle
| echelon wrote:
| It's not free? You get a $50 coupon.
| eli wrote:
| Depends which model I guess
| prophesi wrote:
| From the article:
|
| For customers with Kindle (1st Generation), Amazon is
| offering a free Kindle Oasis (10th Generation) device and
| cover.
|
| Customers with Kindle (1st and 2nd Generation), Kindle DX
| (2nd Generation), and Kindle Keyboard (3rd Generation)
| can receive $70 off a new Kindle Paperwhite or Kindle
| Oasis, plus $25 in ebook credits.
|
| Customers with Kindle Touch (4th Generation), Kindle
| Paperwhite (5th Generation, 6th Generation, and 7th
| Generation), Kindle Voyage (7th Generation), and Kindle
| Oasis (8th Generation) can receive $50 off a new Kindle
| Paperwhite or Kindle Oasis, plus $15 in ebook credits.
| renewiltord wrote:
| This is a _tremendous_ deal. Makes me so confident in
| buying first gen Amazon products. The Oasis is their high
| end reader. I have one and it's better than the normal
| kindles by far.
| filmgirlcw wrote:
| Getting a $250 device and cover for a device first sold
| in 2007 is pretty great, honestly. Even getting $50 off a
| Kindle and $15 credit is a pretty good option, all things
| considered.
| vbsteven wrote:
| I'm not familiar with their product line but from reading
| just this comment I would guess that old devices that
| lose connectivity get a full new device and devices with
| WiFi losing partial connectivity get coupons and credit
| for their inconvenience (caused out of Amazons hands
| through the carriers)
|
| That sounds like a fair deal to me. Although it's pure
| speculation. I haven't checked if that is actually the
| case.
| cmiles74 wrote:
| I have a DX, as far as I can tell it does not have any
| WiFi capability. It's only network connectivity is
| cellular.
| Cd00d wrote:
| That's very generous.
|
| And, now I'm kicking myself for dropping my 1st gen
| Kindle off at the e-waste recycler!
| kreddor wrote:
| Doesn't "Kindle (1st and 2nd Generation)" include "Kindle
| (1st Generation)"? Getting a new device is a pretty nice
| gesture though I guess very few still have a working 1st
| generation Kindle.
| rchaud wrote:
| It never occurred to me that the headline meant anything
| other than Whispersync, which uses 2G/3G bands.
| deadmutex wrote:
| Kudos to you?
|
| Clearly, a lot of people felt like the headline was
| misleading.
| dhosek wrote:
| I think a lot depends on whether you actually had one of
| those early generation kindles or not. I saw the headline
| and figured it was about WhisperSync and guessed it was
| probably due to sunsetting of the cellular networks and
| not Amazon turning off a feature to get people to
| upgrade.
| [deleted]
| Rd6n6 wrote:
| Seems like a good opportunity to ask: what are some news
| agencies that do not use deliberately misleading headlines?
| For the blizzard thread, Bloomberg was the only article I saw
| linked with an accurate title
| echelon wrote:
| The default Kindle models did not have WiFi for several
| years. That cost an extra $30-50 or so.
|
| I remember thinking at the time that hacking these would make
| nice sensors to deploy in the field and that they could stay
| online for free, essentially. Kindle had a built-in web
| browser, so HTTP calls wouldn't be too hard to make.
|
| Controversial HN opinion: ten years ago everyone would be up
| in arms about this change. Something happened. We no longer
| care about device obsolescence. It's like our concept of
| ownership and longevity has been stripped from us.
|
| You stream music instead of owning it, you download games
| instead of owning physical copies, devices are locked down,
| you can't run software you want, and we tolerate devices no
| longer working after a certain date.
|
| It's _okay_ if things stop working, because they weren 't
| meant to work forever. It's sad.
| laGrenouille wrote:
| Well, that's not exactly what is happening here. Devices
| will still work after the internet connection stops, books
| will still be readable, and it will still be possible to
| load books through USB (or in some cases WiFi). The free
| cellular connection was an extra service that was clearly
| part of the sale pitch but I doubt most people who bought
| these expected that component to last forever.
|
| Also, there is a clear reason they are turning these off
| (dropping on 2G and 3G coverage) as opposed to companies
| that needlessly brick devices just because they turned off
| a easy-to-maintain DRM server somewhere without an
| alternative recourse.
| johannes1234321 wrote:
| I'm fascinated how long they support that feature (while
| I haven't seen a software update on my old kindle for a
| while)
|
| That feature was quite nice while travelling as it got me
| free Wikipedia everywhere, which is nice to read up on
| sights etc.
| filmgirlcw wrote:
| > Controversial HN opinion: ten years ago everyone would be
| up in arms about this change. Something happened. We no
| longer care about device obsolescence. It's like our
| concept of ownership and longevity has been stripped from
| us.
|
| I don't think this is true at all. Ten years ago, we had
| already gone through the analog to digital transition in a
| number of countries [1], obsoleting a lot of older
| television sets without the aid of a converter box.
|
| In the US, TDMA and AMPS cellular networks were shut down
| by 2008 (TDMA shutdown started even earlier), obsoleting
| tons of early cellular phones, but also many phones from
| the early 2000s (again, TDMA). People were often given
| vouchers by carriers IIRC, since phones were largely
| subsidized by rate plans.
|
| DIVX, a terrible DVD rental scheme that helped put Circuit
| City out of business, went under by 1999, leaving the
| devices essentially worthless (fortunately, most did
| receive a firmware update allowing them to be used as
| regular DVD players).
|
| I'm sure there were some grumbles about some of this stuff
| (people were very mad about TV, even though converters were
| given away for free), but it is largely accepted that
| progress obsoletes certain technologies. This isn't new.
| tomjen3 wrote:
| TV updates coincided with the changeover to HD tv so I
| don't think people really cared - it ruined my portable
| since it had a builtin antenna, but that was that.
|
| However there has been many more fights about turning of
| the FM signals, at least here in Denmark, mostly because
| people can't upgrade the radio in their cars easily but
| probably also because the new type of radio is a lot
| worse than FM. So now we have both.
|
| I suspect that when/if they turn it of people won't get a
| new radio and will just play music from their phones.
| jhoechtl wrote:
| Thank you for the comment. As a ham radio operator and
| radio junky in general I was wondering how the transition
| to all dab+ went for Denmark. Here in Austria we have
| both (more important and larger stations not receivable
| via dab though) and my car head unit has both. I find the
| sound of dab awful (to much compression and artefacts)
| and on fringe areas it pales compared to FM which will
| deteriorate in quality but still be continuously
| receivable. DAB just stutters. A real set back at least
| when used mobile.
| filmgirlcw wrote:
| Yeah, the timing of HD Radio coincided with the rise of
| smartphones/iPods/nascent streaming, so it didn't really
| take off in the US (and there was never a huge reason to
| b/c the FCC didn't shut off analog radio waves), but I do
| agree that if they cut off analog radio signal (or more
| accurately, if more stations moved to a pure digital
| format), some subset of users would complain (tho less as
| you said, thanks to phones), but that's sort of my point:
| this obsolescence acceptance thing isn't new, it's how
| we've treated the changing nature of tech for decades.
| Yes, there might be fewer loud neckbeards who are irate
| online about it, but the fantasy that we used to all care
| a lot more about the longevity of devices and tech just
| isn't true.
| dhosek wrote:
| I'm pretty sure my first cell phones from the 90s and 00s
| won't work anymore because the networks no longer exist. I
| should get out the pitchforks and torches. I think there
| might not even be cellular network access for my first
| iPhone anymore.
| Wowfunhappy wrote:
| > Ten years ago everyone would be up in arms about this
| change. Something happened. We no longer care about device
| obsolescence. It's like our concept of ownership and
| longevity has been stripped from us.
|
| Broadly speaking, I absolutely agree. People are impressed
| that Apple supports 6-year-old iPhones, whereas I think
| that's an unconscionably short length of time. (
| _Particularly_ given how Apple makes customers reliant on
| them for everything.)
|
| _However_ , in the case of these Kindles, I'm a bit more
| sympathetic to Amazon here. They're not the ones who are
| turning off 3G networks, so I'm not really sure what they
| could do.
| ghaff wrote:
| And they're actually giving pretty reasonable promo
| codes.
|
| For some reason, I didn't get one--probably because my
| device is no longer registered on Amazon.com. Not that I
| have any real reason to run out and buy a new Kindle
| anyway.
| LorenPechtel wrote:
| A lot better than than what happened with my TracDot
| luggage trackers with lifetime service. They were 2G
| based and simply died when the 2G went away.
| spike021 wrote:
| The Verge really fell off a cliff after the first year they
| launched.
|
| I guess that's too tangential for this post, though.
| knolan wrote:
| In fairness their attempt at building a PC was at least
| entertaining.
| httpsterio wrote:
| Rarely have I ever seen a serious tutorial or guide be so
| wrong on so many levels. I was flabbergasted, entertained
| and felt pity at the same time. Truly a train wreck of a
| video, would strongly recommend watching.
| arthurcolle wrote:
| Link? This sounds funny. Like a "The Verge" branded pc?
| detaro wrote:
| No, just one of their people making a video showing "how
| to build a custom gaming PC" and ... not doing a
| particularly good job of it. After a few days of mocking
| they took the video down, and then a while later made
| sure everyone remembered again by copyright-striking some
| Youtubers that had made reaction videos using material
| from the original video. "the verge PC build" on youtube
| should find stuff.
| Wowfunhappy wrote:
| Seeing as how many of these older Kindles lack wifi (or any
| other way to get online), I actually find your headline more
| misleading.
|
| Headlines are hard.
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
| NelsonMinar wrote:
| Minor nit, but the article talks about "an old-fashioned micro-
| USB cable". That'd be _mini_ -USB cable for many of the oldest
| Kindles and Amazon stuck with that connector for far longer than
| most manufacturers (it's apparently prone to mechanical failure).
| I still have to keep one of these cables around for my old
| Kindles and it's a nuisance.
| franciscop wrote:
| Rumors of a "new Kindle with USB-C" have been going around for
| years. Hopefully this year is _the year_.
| WalterBright wrote:
| I just tried the "Experimental" browser on my Kindle Keyboard and
| DX. It won't connect to many sites, with an error message about
| being unable to establish a secure connection. I presume it's
| because the migration to https left them behind.
|
| Unfortunately, Amazon has provided no updates to address this.
| The DX cannot connect to Amazon update because it can't establish
| a secure connection.
| reflexe wrote:
| Alternative title: "3g is old and going away" What a crappy
| clickbait.
| WalterBright wrote:
| > according to an email sent to customers on Wednesday ... check
| your email for a promo code
|
| I have 7 or 8 Kindles, and Amazon sends me email all the time.
| But not this one.
| impute wrote:
| I'm the owner of a 3rd gen with 3G but haven't received an
| email either. Wow, it was 10 years ago this month I bought it.
| asciimov wrote:
| I have the same 3rd gen. I got my $70 offer emailed to me
| late last night.
|
| Maybe they are slowly rolling out emails.
| okamiueru wrote:
| Out of curiosity, are any of them affected models?
| WalterBright wrote:
| Most of them are affected, like my precious DX.
| Terretta wrote:
| DX owner, active, no email.
| mdavidn wrote:
| I have an impacted Voyage and did not receive the message
| either. Perhaps they only notified customers that use 3G? I
| always have mine connected to WiFi to extend battery life.
| maerF0x0 wrote:
| > the only way to get new content onto your device will be
| through an old-fashioned micro-USB cable.
|
| This makes it a non story. The device is old, you can still
| download things and get them on the device. Moving along.
| gnicholas wrote:
| If this were a smooth process, I would agree. But a relative of
| mine, who is a retired computer science professor, was unable
| to sideload books onto his Kindle. I worked with him to
| troubleshoot it, and it took us nearly an hour to complete the
| transfer.
| mabub24 wrote:
| Have they changed something? It shows up in your
| finder/explorer as a drive like any other USB drive. You can
| drag and drop books into the documents folder.
|
| If it's azw3 stuff, push it through Calibre to mobi, then
| drag and drop like anything else.
| gnicholas wrote:
| IIRC, it wouldn't even show up. We uninstalled/reinstalled
| the software on his Windows computer, wiped the device, and
| tried several different USB cables. It was some mix of
| these steps that finally got it working.
| maerF0x0 wrote:
| I've noticed devices seem to be doing away with basic
| computing primitives. File systems for example. Opening a
| file in a program should be a simple feature, but lately it
| seems that they deny you the opportunity to target what it is
| you want to open....
|
| (yes of course it's still a file system under the hood, but
| it's abstracted away by a less powerful gui)
| Foobar8568 wrote:
| Well as an European who bought the kindle keyboard back in 2011,
| I received nothing :(
| AnssiH wrote:
| Well, presumably in your country 2G and/or 3G still works.
|
| At least here in Finland, while 3G shutdowns are planned by
| most major carriers, 2G shutdown is probably at least a decade
| away - the 2G network has slightly better coverage in some
| rural regions, and there are a lot of M2M 2G data users (like
| electricity meters - those installed over 10 years ago
| generally use 2G, which is the majority of electricity meters
| overall).
|
| Large books will take some time to download over 2G, though...
| patwolf wrote:
| I always suspected this day would come for my 2nd gen Kindle. I
| still remember getting it over a decade ago and feeling that
| there was something magical about having content delivered to it
| wirelessly. Now that smartphones and smart devices are ubiquitous
| it seems mundane, but at the time it was amazing.
| amerkhalid wrote:
| I absolutely love Kindle Keyboard, in fact, even more than my
| Kindle Oasis. Luckily, it has WiFi. But if needed, I rather use
| cable to transfer content than give it up. Hoping one day we will
| have another non-touch screen Kindle.
| kweks wrote:
| Now that it's closing, it seems safe to reveal - the SIM cards
| from these kindles made for the best emergency data SIM that
| money could (not) buy.
|
| Everything passed via an http proxy, with a key that could be
| easily extracted from the Kindle via SSH.
|
| The SIM worked globally - I'd used it in China, Iran, Iraq, etc -
| all sorts of places that normally are not covered by providers.
|
| At some point others must have abused the system, because the
| unlimited data got capped to 150MB a month, but in a pinch, it
| was an incredible tool.
|
| Ditto with first generation Lime scooters that had unlocked
| global twillio SIMs ...
| azca wrote:
| this was one of the main reasons I acquired the kindle keyboard
| :) worked excellent as an emergency device when you _needed_ to
| rebook travel things with nothing else around.
| mabbo wrote:
| I was an Amazon intern in 2011 and there was another intern I
| met at a party who told me about this fact. We all thought it
| was hilarious.
|
| His entire intern project was a small piece of the system being
| built to detect abuse of these SIMs and stop it. Given it's a
| decade later now, I doubt it still works or works for very
| long.
| kweks wrote:
| I can't even begin to imagine the bills that were racked up
| via this and others (like the Lime SIMs)..
|
| For the Lime SIMs, there was a day when the pipe was turned
| off - I can imagine it was the day someone looked into their
| twillio billing in detail..
| simonebrunozzi wrote:
| I'm pretty sure Amazon agreed to a fixed fee from a number
| of carriers, and moved on. The few outliars might have
| costed a few $M over the years, which is a rounding error
| for Amazon.
| renewiltord wrote:
| If you have a Google Fi connection, their extra data SIMs are
| perfect. Zero extra cost and you get global roaming.
| dharmab wrote:
| Even the Fi roaming doesn't include US embargoed areas like
| Iran.
| renewiltord wrote:
| Oooh I didn't know that. Good observation. Thank you.
| encoderer wrote:
| Yeah, must have been those "others" abusing the system while
| all you were doing was accessing free data in China, Iran and
| Iraq!
|
| Seriously, though, great comment!
| amelius wrote:
| They said: " _emergency_ data SIM "
| hdjjhhvvhga wrote:
| > Yeah, must have been those "others" abusing the system
| while all you were doing was accessing free data in China,
| Iran and Iraq!
|
| Seriously, what's the problem with that? That model had a
| basic web browser, so it was basically designed to be used
| this way. I used it in emergency situations (without taking
| the card out) for checking email and the like. It was slow
| and clumsy, but it worked. It would not occur to me that
| since I'm abroad I'm doing something wrong because the device
| was actually advertised as having global Internet
| connectivity, and it was one of the reasons I bought it.
| kweks wrote:
| I postulate there are two categories of people: those who
| assume that if the activity was minimum, the service would
| continue, and others that assume the service will end, so
| will pump as much as possible.
|
| I'd found it to be invaluable solving the after-landing-
| before-you-have-a-local-SIM conundrum.
| peterburkimsher wrote:
| I'm of the latter variety: use it until it ends.
|
| It wasn't a Kindle, but another country's prepaid SIM that
| I continued using while in Japan. Phone companies in Japan
| don't do prepaid: only phone rentals by the day, or 2 year
| subscriptions. Neither of those were suitable for the 2
| months I lived there.
|
| Some international SIM cards would run out of balance and
| send an SMS as a warning. But others would redirect me to a
| topup page. Let's just say that wasn't the only page that
| was available, and the "send this page to a friend" email
| function is very convenient when Japanese phones have
| incoming email addresses for sending email-to-SMS.
|
| Google calendar used to be a great way to get free email-
| to-RSS-to-SMS notifications, but that shut down a couple of
| years ago unfortunately.
| [deleted]
| random_savv wrote:
| For what it's worth, it's possible to get 1GB/mo of global
| roaming, for $130/mo - World offer here:
|
| https://fiber.salt.ch/en/mobile/plans/standard
| lbotos wrote:
| When I travel I use airalo to get local e-sims for data and
| pay probably something like $10 on average for 5GB for 30
| days. (Another option for people who's phones support e-sims)
| mortenjorck wrote:
| I had no idea there was a company doing this already! I
| just downloaded their app, and will have to give it a try
| when my next travel destination opens its borders again.
| lbotos wrote:
| Tips:
|
| - Set up the sim before you leave. It's the worst trying
| to do it once you land. (Ask me how I know)
|
| - You will get some interesting networks, but I've never
| had problems with them.
|
| - I think they just fixed it on iOS, but be prepared to
| type in the details manually (not hard, just not
| seamless) because they expect you to scan a QR code???
|
| Even with those quirks, it's been great, simple, no
| problems, and I've used in US/UK/Australia.
| sjf wrote:
| Fi has data roaming for 10$/GB, free after 6GB (speed reduced
| after 15GB, unless you opt-in to pay extra). This is actually
| the normal Fi plan- there are just no roaming charges. This
| is single #1 reason why I am on Fi, no more messing around
| with local SIMs.
|
| https://fi.google.com/about/international-rates/
| arthurcolle wrote:
| yep, even for an infrequent traveler it is 100% worth it
| vinay427 wrote:
| FWIW, T-Mobile US had free throttled global data roaming in
| most countries since a few years before Fi was launched. It
| was typically more expensive than Fi for a single line,
| although usually cheaper for family plans.
|
| https://www.theverge.com/2013/10/9/4821692/t-mobile-
| announce...
| simonebrunozzi wrote:
| What I need is something that could work on a boat, too.
| Couldn't find anything below several $,000 per month.
| GekkePrutser wrote:
| Iridium Go is not 1000s per month but still 100s.
|
| But hopefully starlink will help drive prices down once
| they enable mesh communication.
| rescbr wrote:
| Before my provider offered worldwide roaming on my monthly
| plan for an additional fee of the equivalent of USD 6 (that
| you pay whether you use it or not), I've used Flexiroam for
| data when traveling abroad. Good prices if staying for less
| than a month.
| jackson1442 wrote:
| It seems Barnacle made the same mistake:
| https://driving.ca/auto-news/news/students-defeat-new-barnac...
| 43920 wrote:
| For the old Kindles, this'll be close to 15 years of usability,
| which is really good. However the list also includes a bunch of
| newer models:
|
| > Kindle Keyboard (3rd generation), Kindle Touch (4th
| generation), Kindle Paperwhite (4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th
| generation), Kindle Voyage (7th generation), and Kindle Oasis
| (8th generation)
|
| The 7th gen paperwhite, for example, was still being sold until
| 2018 [1]. It seems kind of ridiculous to still be selling a
| 3G-only device 3 years ago, and to only be offering a partial
| credit for a device that's going to stop working so soon after
| purchase.
|
| [1] https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2018/11/09/kindle-
| paperwhi...
| NelsonMinar wrote:
| You think 15 years is good you should see the lifetime of
| books. Some work for hundreds of years!
| 43920 wrote:
| Well, yes, that is true :)
| cromka wrote:
| > Some work for hundreds of years!
|
| Yeah, but you don't really have access to them!
| schwartzworld wrote:
| They'll still be usable as e-readers and still work on wifi.
| gambiting wrote:
| What's up with this clickbait title? Older kindles can absolutely
| maintain their internet connection, just not through 3G as 3G is
| being switched off entirely.
| trutannus wrote:
| This is The Verge, the same place that offered an infamously
| bad build-a-pc tutorial. I'd hardly consider them credible
| technology journalism.
| salamandersauce wrote:
| It's not THAT clickbaity. The oldest Kindles do not have WiFi
| at all. Only cellular. So for Kindle 1s,2s and DXs they won't
| have internet connections at all.
| Apocryphon wrote:
| It's significant enough that Amazon is offering trade-ins
| despite these devices being wi-fi capable.
| frosted-flakes wrote:
| Older Kindle devices didn't have Wi-Fi by default, only
| cellular 2G/3G. Wi-Fi was a paid upgrade.
| deanCommie wrote:
| Actual headline that would get less clicks from the Amazon-hate-
| train:
|
| "Amazon sending free kindle upgrades to customers affected by
| carriers removing 3G network access"
| Johnie wrote:
| Why not both? Write two exact articles with the different
| headlines to capture two separate customer demographic.
| mjparrott wrote:
| But how am I supposed to get mad at that headline?!
| SoylentOrange wrote:
| This isn't accurate, as Amazon is only giving full refunds to
| those with the gen 1 kindle. The rest get a store credit
| towards the purchase of their next kindle. I have a paperwhite
| and the $50 credit is less than half of the cost of a new
| kindle.
| lupire wrote:
| your paperwhite still has wifi, though, doesn't it?
| guidoism wrote:
| That original device was magical. Yes, it was ugly, but first-
| time user experience was magic. 1. You bought it with your Amazon
| account so it was automatically tied to your account. 2. You
| bought some books or got some samples before you got the device.
| 3. When you got the device in the mail you turned it on and Bam,
| everything just worked. All your books were there. There was no
| logging into anything. No wifi passwords. It just worked. I've
| never experienced any product that worked that well from the
| moment you got it.
| WalterBright wrote:
| I have a couple Kindle Keyboards and a DX. I wish Amazon would
| re-release them with a high res screen and updated electronics.
| No other changes.
|
| I've tried the newer Kindles, and keep going back to the KK and
| DX.
|
| Well, I would make one change. Have the last page read be the
| screen display when off instead of those boring and useless
| pictures it shows.
| flatiron wrote:
| The dealbreaker for me is now that I've used a paper white I
| can't not use a backlit kindle. Most of my reading is at
| bedtime and it makes it so much more enjoyable.
| nicoburns wrote:
| Agreed, the buttons on the Kindle Keyboard are much better than
| the touch screen on newer models. Seems like page turning
| buttons are now only available on the premuim versions!
|
| The screens are much better on the new ones though.
| flakiness wrote:
| I would also love to see larger screen Kindle like DX. I loved
| it so much. Nowadays I'm using Boox and it's fine, but Kindle
| DX 2021 would be nicer as a reading device.
| wwweston wrote:
| Glad it's not just me -- I felt like the larger eink screen +
| physical keyboard hit a really nice sweet spot for an ereader
| tablet and nothing else I've tried has quite dialed it in the
| same.
| thrower123 wrote:
| I really miss my old, old Kindle keyboard. It was the perfect
| form-factor for reading fiction, and the physical page turn
| buttons on both sides were literally perfect - holding the Kindle
| in either hand, the page forward button is in exactly the spot
| where my thumb wants it to be.
|
| When the last of my old Kindles with the physical buttons died, I
| broke down and bought an Oasis, and... it's wildly better than a
| modern Paperwhite or a Kindle Fire, but it's pretty shittily
| designed from a usability perspective. The whole thing should be
| as thick as the offset thick edge, in order to hold it
| comfortably, and while it is nice to have physical turn buttons
| back, they're really awkwardly placed to use if you're trying to
| hold the thing in one hand and use your thumb, as one does with a
| Kindle.
| salamandersauce wrote:
| Kindle keyboard is kinda bad form factor itself. You have a
| keyboard that's rarely ever used for the main devices purpose
| taking up a third of the device adding extra bulk and weight.
| wccrawford wrote:
| I actually quite like the buttons on the Oasis. I've had
| regular kindles and then the Oasis, and far prefer it in every
| way. I've thought about buying a new one, but they don't seem
| to have really changed much, so I'm still on my original Oasis.
|
| The buttons are well-placed for me. I hold it in one hand and
| my thumbs naturally rest right there.
|
| My one complaint is that the touch-screen is still active and
| sometimes it changes pages when my thumb moves too far in, or
| when I close the cover. (No idea why the latter happens. Does
| the cover touch the screen and cause a page flip?)
|
| There might be a better arrangement for the buttons, but I
| can't imagine what it is.
| slownews45 wrote:
| Also on Oasis for same reason. I do wonder when there will be
| significant improvements or if it's all going towards ipad
| land etc.
| fumar wrote:
| Oasis is my favorite kindle next to the original. I have
| had many. Oasis is a great travel size. It fits anywhere. I
| wish they would release an updated version of the smaller
| one.
| dunnevens wrote:
| Tap the menu button. Tap "Turn off touchscreen". That takes
| care of what is a major annoyance.
|
| This is on my 3rd gen Oasis. I don't know if this feature is
| available on yours.
| majormajor wrote:
| Yeah, I wish I could turn OFF the screen page turning.
|
| If I'm reading at night as I fall asleep I don't want to wake
| up to a book in a different place because my finger brushed
| the screen as I nodded off.
| dunnevens wrote:
| You can. At least on the Oasis. Tap the menu button. Tap
| "Turn off touchscreen".
| WalterBright wrote:
| I have an Oasis. I kept dropping it, so I compared it with my
| trusty Kindle Keyboard. The KK has a texture that sticks to
| your fingers. The Oasis is slick. I kept dropping the Oasis
| like I kept dropping my slick iPhone until I bought a sticky
| shell for it.
|
| I agree with the button placement. KK got it right, Oasis got
| it wrong.
| jamescontrol wrote:
| I wish they would make a paperwhite with the long next page
| buttons on each side of the screen.
| Geezus_42 wrote:
| I've only ever had a paperwhite but I've never had an issue
| with just moving my thumb over the screen a bit and tapping
| to go the next page. If it was a 50/50 split it would be and
| issue but it's not.
| salamandersauce wrote:
| Yep. I've had buttoned eReaders like the Sony PSR-505,
| original Kobo and used early Kindle models. Buttons just
| aren't needed with the decent touch screens they have now.
| [deleted]
| gordon_freeman wrote:
| Somewhat off-topic but still wanted to share. A while ago, I
| realized that I am consuming so many books through Public Library
| service Libby in the form of Audiobooks nowadays and for a few
| books that I want to "read", I can just read in the Libby app
| itself on my phone. This saves me time in transferring an ebook
| to Kindle mainly but also the entire UX of Libby is just so great
| that I don't even feel a need to read a book on Kindle. Because
| of this, I have not been using either Kindle app or Kindle
| eReader lately and may rarely do so in the future.
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| I've never been able to get public library apps to work. I've
| tried two or three.
| gordon_freeman wrote:
| I'd suggest you to give Libby a try once. All you need is to
| search your local library and add Card Number and PIN and
| that's it. No logins required and a very polished UI.
| jeromegv wrote:
| Libby is indeed an amazing app. Surprising how it came from
| the same company that created Overdrive, which is an awful
| app.
| salamandersauce wrote:
| That's part of why I love my android eReader. I still get all
| that eInky goodness but I can also just use the Libby, Kindle,
| Kobo, Google Play Books etc. apps all on 1 device.
| ben7799 wrote:
| I have an Oasis and was confused about this cause I knew mine was
| not current.
|
| Turns out I'm fine, there are 3 generations of Oasis: The
| original 6" with the weird battery in the cover, then the 7", and
| now the 7" w/color temp adjustment
|
| I've wanted a good excuse to get the latest one for a while but I
| guess this isn't it.
|
| The 3G has never been critical for me but it's always nice enough
| to have that I've paid for it on various models over the last 11
| years. It can save a lot of hassle when traveling, even if
| there's a strange Wifi network you could use. A lot of the time
| the security support on the Kindle has been a bit behind the
| times and it'd be tricky to get on some networks.
| hiidrew wrote:
| paperwhite original kindle + library genesis + calibre = a happy
| reader
| mrfusion wrote:
| When those came out we thought it was free forever :-(
|
| https://xkcd.com/548/
| [deleted]
| solarkraft wrote:
| "I'm happy with my Kindle 2 so far, but if they cut off the
| free Wikipedia browsing, I plan to show up drunk on Jeff
| Bezos's lawn and refuse to leave."
| wccrawford wrote:
| Yeah, that was before they started turning off networks like
| analog TV and stuff, so we didn't think much about that
| functionality just disappearing.
| andrewguenther wrote:
| I mean, free for as long as the cellular infrastructure exists
| is still pretty damn good
| lozenge wrote:
| It didn't actually let you browse websites, did it? The one I
| had would only load the Amazon store and download books.
| ghaff wrote:
| As I recall, browsing was an "experimental" feature (I had a
| second gen I think?) and it was nearly unusable for most
| purposes.
| striking wrote:
| It was good enough for Slashdot on the beach, so it was
| enough for me.
| mattficke wrote:
| You had to click through a few menus to use it, but yes (I
| think it was called "experimental web browser" or something).
| Worked internationally too, I used it to look up some stuff
| when I was on vacation in Turkey in 2010.
| ok123456 wrote:
| The 3rd generation at least had an 'experimental' web browser
| that let you go wherever you wanted.
| BostonEnginerd wrote:
| The 2007 Kindle also had a basic web browser.
| ismaildonmez wrote:
| Amazon is sending brand-new Kindles to replace the affected
| devices: https://i.imgur.com/NiRn1a9.jpg
| zip1234 wrote:
| As someone with 2x Kindle 2s, wondering how you got notified?
| monatron wrote:
| I have a second-gen and was offered $50 off a new one + $15
| kindle store credit.
| TrueGeek wrote:
| I was also offered $50 but you have two weeks before the
| coupon expires. This seems extremely short considering they
| must have had a ton of time to prepare for the cellular
| shutdown.
|
| Plus, if you go to their site to buy a new Kindle it says you
| get $50 + 20% off if you trade in your old Kindle. Customer
| service told me I can't combine offers (plus trade in takes a
| couple weeks anyway) so it seems the $50 offer is worse than
| what normal customers get anyway.
| gurchik wrote:
| FTA:
|
| > For customers with Kindle (1st Generation), Amazon is
| offering a free Kindle Oasis (10th Generation) device and
| cover.
|
| > Customers with Kindle (1st and 2nd Generation), Kindle DX
| (2nd Generation), and Kindle Keyboard (3rd Generation) can
| receive $70 off a new Kindle Paperwhite or Kindle Oasis, plus
| $25 in ebook credits.
|
| > Customers with Kindle Touch (4th Generation), Kindle
| Paperwhite (5th Generation, 6th Generation, and 7th
| Generation), Kindle Voyage (7th Generation), and Kindle Oasis
| (8th Generation) can receive $50 off a new Kindle Paperwhite
| or Kindle Oasis, plus $15 in ebook credits.
|
| Sounds like you should qualify for the $70 + $25 credits. If
| you are actually considering it, I would contact Amazon if I
| were you. Personally I have the Kindle Keyboard and I'm not
| interested in the credit, I'm still happy with it and it
| still works fine. But I think it's great that they are
| offering it.
| arduinomancer wrote:
| Wow that's pretty generous considering you can still load
| content on the devices with a USB
| Johnie wrote:
| Think of the kindle as a loss leader for them to sell books.
| They probably make more money selling e-books than from the
| device itself.
| notatoad wrote:
| while that's likely true for the cheaper models, an
| oasis+cover bundle is $375cdn. that's a lot of ebooks.
| sib wrote:
| They don't just make _more_ money from the ebooks, that is
| the only source of profit. In general, they lose money on
| the Kindle readers.
| wwweston wrote:
| Hmmm. No email w/ promo-code for replacing my DX sent to me
| yet.
| [deleted]
| xeromal wrote:
| That looks like above and beyond customer service to me.
| jackson1442 wrote:
| Customer Obsession _is_ one of their Leadership Principles,
| after all.
|
| Their LPs are somewhat fascinating to me in that they're
| publicly available and you can see how their actions fall
| into them. Well, save for "Strive to be Earth's Best
| Employer."
| BeetleB wrote:
| > Their LPs are somewhat fascinating to me in that they're
| publicly available and you can see how their actions fall
| into them.
|
| They're very selective. Much of the Amazon web site is the
| opposite of customer obsession. I've yet to find a single
| person I know who agrees with their removing comments from
| reviews, for example.
|
| Their search filtering is very poor as well.
| dnzkw wrote:
| I wouldn't expect less of Amazon - that's why they are where
| they are.
| xeromal wrote:
| 100%. They definitely take customer service seriously.
| [deleted]
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| Except when it comes to providing a filter on their
| website to only show products sold by Amazon. Or not
| commingling inventory.
| queuebert wrote:
| Or filtering out scummy sellers at least. What happened
| to Cliff Stoll was awful.
| jacquesm wrote:
| Him and many thousands of others, who don't have much
| visibility here.
| kevin_thibedeau wrote:
| They learned from Sam Walton's rules about treating the
| customer well. Something Wal-Mart has forgotten since his
| death.
| Finnucane wrote:
| Just treat your employees and suppliers like shit.
| Causality1 wrote:
| My kindle 3 is still a workhorse. It predates the idea that
| physical buttons and text to speech should be premium features.
| With cheap replacement parts still available it may last me for
| decades.
| blhack wrote:
| Ah man this kindof sucks. I've been buying these on ebay for
| ultra cheap when they inevitably break (I bring them everywhere
| with me).
|
| The ability to just sync without having to think about anything,
| is amazing.
|
| There used to be a dream that was ubiquitous free wifi (like
| water fountains), but it unfortunately never materialized.
| Everything requires a password, some terrible captive portal, and
| often a registration of some kind to use now. It's really sad.
|
| These things just _work_. I 'll miss that.
| wly_cdgr wrote:
| You get a $50 coupon towards a new model that can download your
| new purchases, and you'll continue to be able to access
| everything you've already downloaded on your old device. And you
| get a heads up so you have lots of time to download stuff before
| service ends
|
| For anyone who doesn't have an anti-Amazon agenda, this is either
| a non-story or a model example of how to gracefully and
| professionally handle a transition away from obsolete hardware
| teruakohatu wrote:
| The a cover for the new model costs $30. I don't think it is
| particularly generous offer.
| tyingq wrote:
| The free cellular was really nice back when roaming charges
| outside of the US were crazy high. Checked my gmail occasionally
| with the experimental browser from Mexico for free. Though the
| screen lag was pretty bad.
| blantonl wrote:
| Another major set of products facing this same predicament are
| home security systems with cellular backup modems. Quite a few of
| them were deployed with 3G modules that will be useless after
| this year, requiring mass module replacements.
| fortran77 wrote:
| Well, this is because 3G is going away.
| knaik94 wrote:
| Back when I was younger with a limited texting plan, I got a
| google voice number and managed to get a used kindle keyboard
| with free 3g for life. Had some wonderful conversations on the
| kind of solution a broke teenager puts up with. I had to refresh
| the mobile google voice page in order to see any new messages.
|
| It's not really Amazon's fault, I know a relative is receiving a
| free flip phone through AT&T because the old phone they were
| using doesn't have 4g LTE support. In that case I think it has to
| do with being able to call 911.
|
| What actually surprises me is that they have kept backwards
| support through wifi for these devices, to be able to browse the
| kindle store. Whispersync, at least the part of it used for cloud
| sync between kindle and your amazon account, seems to be working
| too.
| OnionBlender wrote:
| I have a Kindle DX with cellular only but Amazon's trade in page
| is only offering me $5. How do I get the $70 off a Kindle Oasis
| plus $25 ebook credit that the verge article mentions? I never
| received an email from Amazon.
| wwweston wrote:
| Fellow cel-only DX owner, also haven't received an email.
| Anther wrote:
| I'd give them a call. Their customer service is amazing with
| things like this.
| tomduncalf wrote:
| Off topic but I'm hoping there'll be a new Kindle announced soon.
| Great device but I would love an adjustable colour temperature
| backlight, but not sure I want to fork out for an Oasis.
| mttjj wrote:
| So the thing you want already exists but you're not willing to
| pay for it but you hope Amazon releases a new version because
| then you'll buy it? Do I have that right?
| heurisko wrote:
| Originally the front light was a Paperwhite-only feature,
| until it was also introduced to the basic Kindle range.
|
| It's reasonable to have the wish that color temperature might
| be similarly introduced to a basic model, when the other
| features of the basic model otherwise suffice.
| tomduncalf wrote:
| Yeah sorry, this is exactly what I meant - I was hoping
| that feature would filter down to the base Paperwhite
| model. However I do now see that they offer 20% trade in
| off the Oasis, which makes it a bit more tempting... seems
| like some sites think they might release a new model this
| year is the only thing, but who knows really!
| chx wrote:
| How hard is it create a microcell which translates from 2G/3G to
| 4G?
| ok123456 wrote:
| People are going to go back and very closely parse what was
| promised. It was billed as being "Free Lifetime 3G". Are owners
| of these devices entitled to a buy out?
| edoceo wrote:
| *for the life of 3G, not the life of the customer.
| ashtonkem wrote:
| It's kind of hard to blame Amazon for cell carriers shutting
| down 2G/3G service.
| [deleted]
| gambiting wrote:
| But Amazon isn't changing anything - and in fact since Kindles
| 3G have global roaming, I imagine they will continue to work in
| countries that still have 3G.
| rchaud wrote:
| They get a $50 coupon for a new Kindle, according to the story.
| asciimov wrote:
| Depends on how old of a unit you have. I have a 3rd Gen, and
| was offered $70 off a new Kindle (paperwhite or oasis) and $25
| in Kindle credits. (I'm not sure the last time that I used
| whispernet, but I did see use when visiting relatives. Not sure
| I am going to pay for that privileged again.)
|
| Some that had a 1st gen have been offered a free Oasis and
| cover.
| BooneJS wrote:
| I have a 1st gen kindle but haven't used it in ages after I got a
| paperwhite. It can be traded in for a free Oasis? Woa.
| LorenPechtel wrote:
| I've got a couple of Kindles that aren't old enough for that
| deal. I've ended up with them in a drawer, only using the
| Kindle app on my phone. The number of times I've wanted to read
| while out in the sun just hasn't been enough to bother with.
| mikestew wrote:
| At least Amazon had the foresight to use 3G. Our Nissan Leaf,
| which was built well after the earliest Kindles, came with GPRS
| in 2011 and it's been several years since AT&T turned those
| frequencies off. No free upgrades, or coupons, either: $250 for a
| new cell radio, please. We just had them remove the radio that
| was there, as Nissan's crap system never worked all that well
| anyway.
|
| Regardless, neither Amazon nor Nissan can help that another
| company turned off those frequencies. Amazon has demonstrated
| more foresight and better customer service, however.
| pradn wrote:
| It seems like practically anything car companies do that's not
| the actual car itself is usually bad unless you pay for the
| superpremium brands.
| lupire wrote:
| $250 one-time upgrade is better than the price premium and
| all the upcharges for regular service on a luxury car.
| don-code wrote:
| This still seems better than BMW's model - cars were shipping
| with 3G modems all the way through 2014, and up through 2015,
| when the whole fleet went 4G. But, since most everything is
| subscription-based, BMW just stopped renewing subscription
| contracts for 3G-only cars in 2017. More confusingly, some
| models are eligible for a new radio (which I assume is a lot of
| money), and some aren't, even though it seems to vary more by
| model than year of manufacture.
| queuebert wrote:
| To be fair, BMW's labor costs are _much_ higher than Amazon
| 's.
| mikestew wrote:
| As I've told my wife when discussing BMWs: "we'd really,
| really like to buy a BMW car, and BMW keeps telling us, 'we'd
| rather you didn't.'"
|
| And I say this as someone with two BMW motorcycles in the
| garage that we're pretty happy with.
| kwhitefoot wrote:
| That's interesting and rather unfriendly of Nissan; after all
| it has been well known that 2G or 3g or both would be scrapped
| for quite some time. Here in Norway Tesla replaced the 3G radio
| with an LTE module at no charge because 3G is being
| discontinued in Norway. I think owners who had upgraded to LTE
| at their own expense earlier were also offered some
| compensation.
| trey-jones wrote:
| For those who bought these devices or used them regularly, what
| do you use the internet connection for?
|
| I've read on a kindle very close to every single day for at least
| 10 years (Kindle Touch first, now Paperwhite), and I keep it in
| airplane mode 99.999% of the time or more. If I buy a book from
| Amazon, I'll put it on Wifi until it's downloaded, then back to
| Airplane Mode.
|
| I know that I can look something up on Wikipedia were I online,
| and this is the only feature I know of that I might sometimes be
| tempted to use. It's difficult for me to imagine a scenario that
| I would want to buy a reading device that could connect to the
| internet on cellular data.
| wwweston wrote:
| At this point I usually only use my DX for reading textbook-
| like content where being able to have a large visual field
| matters.
|
| But for the first few years I owned it, I actually used it to
| read nearly all of my ebooks _and_ do a significant amount of
| web browsing and communication, including HN, Gmail, FB, and
| anything else. The e-ink + physical keyboard made it my
| favorite web mobile device.
|
| Somewhere between 2012 and 2015 sites stopped working as well
| and I realized it was because of https requirements which the
| experimental browser wasn't supporting, and I stopped using it
| as much, and then not too long after became a less frequent
| user of it to read ebooks -- my iphone was always with me and
| almost as good for most ebook content.
| rhplus wrote:
| Cellular can be used to buy and download books while travelling
| without having to connect to random WiFi APs. It could also be
| used for email, if you were patient enough.
| mjparrott wrote:
| I brought my kindle with me on international trips because back
| then it wasn't so common to have a smartphone/wifi everywhere.
| I used its browser feature all the time when traveling. I even
| used it for texting people, gmail, etc.
| cmiles74 wrote:
| As the unit aged, more and more I would also leave the wireless
| on my DX disabled. I would turn it on when I needed it which,
| as you mention, has become more and more rare.
|
| My real use-case for the DX was textbooks because the screen
| was large and it was easier to read code snippets. Back in the
| day I bought a lot of those from Manning or O'Reilly directly
| and then loaded them onto the DX via USB. Reading PDFs was
| nicer as well, but again, I loaded them over USB.
| LegitShady wrote:
| I used a Kindle keybkard for a long time to read all sorts of
| text based websites on the experimental browser as well as
| sending emails. The screen Refresh times weren't good but for
| text stuff it was alright. At the time I had an extremely
| limited data plan that still cost $40/month and provided
| minimal data so offshoring anything to the Kindle was a
| benefit. I took it travelling to the us and the middle East a
| handful of times as well.
| SoylentOrange wrote:
| In 2013 there was a massive snow/ice storm and power outage
| here in Ontario, Canada lasting multiple days [1]. Having the
| paperwhite was amazing, because it had near-unlimited battery,
| and I used the 3G to buy a few books. Nearly every other
| portable electronic device was useless, since most phones at
| that time had maybe 12 hours of battery life. That event made
| me truly fall in love with the kindle.
|
| 8 years later, it still works wonderfully.
|
| [1]: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/toronto-ice-
| storm-2013-...
| frakkingcylons wrote:
| I keep mine connected to the internet so that it automatically
| updates my reading place because I frequently switch between
| reading on my phone and my kindle.
| matsemann wrote:
| I know multiple people that bought it here in the EU, just to use
| the experimental browser while on vacation. Worked basically
| world wide (albeit slow), and at the time roaming charges even
| within EU was insanely high.
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(page generated 2021-07-29 23:00 UTC)