Kindle 2 finally gets native PDF support, screen rotation

Newly sold Kindles will come with an expanded battery, and those with the Kindle 2 will get a holiday gift as well: native PDF support and screen rotation.<BR><BR><a href='http://meincmagazine.com/gadgets/news/2009/11/kindle-2-finally-gets-native-pdf-support-screen-rotation.ars'>Read the whole story</a>

 

[Gatton]

I'll be curious to see how well PDFs display on the Kindle. It's a show stopper for me as many of the documents I read are in this format. Unfortunately mangled PDFs are par for the course on pretty much every e-reader I've seen.

 

[Inscitia]

PDFs look fine.

 

[Fentras]

If only I gamed (DnD and the like) as much as I did back in college, the Kindle would have been a buy.

 

[Yo_DA]

Actually, Amazon says that the improved battery life is part of the firmware update, so many of the existing Kindle 2's will be able to enjoy it.<BR><BR>And the dig against Apple in the first paragraph... You mean that to be able to use iPhone OS 3 I have to buy a new iPhone? :-/

 

[ksgant]

This is also a direct result of Barnes & Noble's "Nook" coming out...which has native PDF support right out of the box.

 

[ShuggyCoUk]

Suggestion, maybe it already exists.<BR><BR>Make the Kindle expose itself as a printing device (perhaps even over the network).<BR>'Print' your things to it from any app, read as you go...<BR><BR>I'm seriously considering an e-reader but I really would like one that is at least _very_ splash proof, even better limited (1m) water proof) would be great but more importantly *sand and grit proof*. I want to take it to the beach.

 

[archie4oz]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"><I>ksgant said...</I><BR><B>This is also a direct result of Barnes & Noble's "Nook" coming out...which has native PDF support right out of the box.</B> </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>I doubt the Nook had much to do with it. Pretty much all other eInk based readers have had some sort of rotation facility and native PDF support a year before the first Kindle ever hit the market. The Kindle has been the odd man out in that regard.<BR><BR><BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"><I>ShuggyCoUk said...</I><BR><B>Make the Kindle expose itself as a printing device (perhaps even over the network).<BR>'Print' your things to it from any app, read as you go...</B> </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>That's actually quite a cool idea...

 

[ScottTFrazer]

I was hoping they would throw in DRM-free epub support :-(

 

[slalah]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Yo_DA:<BR>Actually, Amazon says that the improved battery life is part of the firmware update, so many of the existing Kindle 2's will be able to enjoy it.<BR><BR>And the dig against Apple in the first paragraph... You mean that to be able to use iPhone OS 3 I have to buy a new iPhone? :-/ </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>Yeah, I don't quite get that dig either. I've been happily chugging along with the latest version of the OS on my 1st generation Touch for some time now. Same story with my iPhone 3G that originally came w/ 2.0.

 

[Alfonse]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I was hoping they would throw in DRM-free epub support :-( </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>True. But Mobi is just as DRM free as E-Pub. And it's very similar in terms of capabilities.<BR><BR><BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Make the Kindle expose itself as a printing device (perhaps even over the network).<BR>'Print' your things to it from any app, read as you go... </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>It would probably require putting back the WiFi, though (which I'm totally for, btw).

 

[nbs2]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Alfonse:<BR><BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Make the Kindle expose itself as a printing device (perhaps even over the network).<BR>'Print' your things to it from any app, read as you go... </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>It would probably require putting back the WiFi, though (which I'm totally for, btw). </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>Why? How does it present when you plug it in via USB? That wouldn't be as elegant as a WiFi connection, but it could get the job done.<BR><BR>But, I don't think Amazon would go for it. Instead of buying a book, people could just go to PG or any other open source library and print to the Kindle. It would be a great idea though.

 

[foetusinc]

Based on their description of the pdf feature, I'm guessing you could write an application to do that in a matter of a day or two. You'd just need to script the process of rendering a regular pdf, and then sending it to the kindle via @Kindle or a plugged in USB connection. Totally trivial, and totally making me want one now...

 

[rivertrip]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by archie4oz:<BR><BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"><I>ksgant said...</I><BR><B>This is also a direct result of Barnes & Noble's "Nook" coming out...which has native PDF support right out of the box.</B> </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>I doubt the Nook had much to do with it. Pretty much all other eInk based readers have had some sort of rotation facility and native PDF support a year before the first Kindle ever hit the market. The Kindle has been the odd man out in that regard.<BR><BR><BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"><I>ShuggyCoUk said...</I><BR><B>Make the Kindle expose itself as a printing device (perhaps even over the network).<BR>'Print' your things to it from any app, read as you go...</B> </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>That's actually quite a cool idea... </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Anything can be "printed" as a PDF.The kindle can display PDFs.

 

[Alfonse]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">But, I don't think Amazon would go for it. Instead of buying a book, people could just go to PG or any other open source library and print to the Kindle. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>If that was Amazon's thinking, then Kindle wouldn't be able to read .TXT files, HTML, or any of the other free formats that it can read.

 

[Dawn Falcon]

Neither is Sony putting its customers on a treadmill.<BR><BR>It's upgrading its original PRS-500 readers (via having them sent in, someone at Mobileread will probably do a teardown to look for hardware changes soon) to read ePub, since they're moving their store to it (and otherwise the 500 could not use the store anymore).<BR><BR>Also, ironically, Amazon use Adobe's ADE for PDF rendering. But they don't support the main ADE format, ePub...

 

[ceb]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Yo_DA:<BR>Actually, Amazon says that the improved battery life is part of the firmware update, so many of the existing Kindle 2's will be able to enjoy it.<BR> </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>I came here to post the same. Nothing about a new battery in Amazon's press release. Reading about it yesterday, it was claimed the firmware update made existing Kindle 2 batteries last up to 85% longer with wireless on. No increase in battery life with wireless off.

 

[kaldec]

Anyone have enough experience with the various e-readers to make a recommendation for me? I'm ready to buy one if anyone has made one that will do what I want:<BR><BR>* my primary use would be reading academic articles I've downloaded in pdf format. Being able to view figures and tables is important. It's critical that this works well ( probably means zoom and rotate) as these pdfs are highly structured and meant to be printed on letter-sized paper.<BR><BR>* secondary use for reading free books off Project Gutenberg<BR><BR>I don't care at all who has the better store or drm-riddled format. I don't imagine myself paying for anything I read on the device ( University licenses the journals).<BR><BR>Thanks to anyone inspired to help!

 

[EatingPie]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dawn Falcon:<BR>Neither is Sony putting its customers on a treadmill.<BR><BR>It's upgrading its original PRS-500 readers (via having them sent in, someone at Mobileread will probably do a teardown to look for hardware changes soon) to read ePub, since they're moving their store to it (and otherwise the 500 could not use the store anymore).<BR><BR>Also, ironically, Amazon use Adobe's ADE for PDF rendering. But they don't support the main ADE format, ePub... </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>The PRS-500 -- the very first eInk eReader available in the US -- can now be upgraded to ePUB. This is a far more significant move, since ePUB came out after the PRS-500, and PDF was around -- and on every eReader -- prior to the Kindle 2's launch.<BR><BR>Amazon is <I>not</I> supporting ePUB for the simple reason that they want you to buy from their store, not from somewhere else. <B>This</B> is the real lesson learned from Apple: tie your hardware to your store. Sony did that too, originally, but it couldn't compete with Amazon on content. So it moved its devices to ePUB, and allows purchase from any store that sells ePUB. This is how <I>all</I> readers should be, Kindle included.<BR><BR>Ars in general is somewhat anti-Sony. However, this is a case where Sony is the one making strides to an "open" format, while Amazon is actually locking down as tightly as they can.<BR><BR>-Pie

 

[Dr. Jay]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by ceb:<BR><BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Yo_DA:<BR>Actually, Amazon says that the improved battery life is part of the firmware update, so many of the existing Kindle 2's will be able to enjoy it.<BR> </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>I came here to post the same. Nothing about a new battery in Amazon's press release. Reading about it yesterday, it was claimed the firmware update made existing Kindle 2 batteries last up to 85% longer with wireless on. No increase in battery life with wireless off. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>I've got an e-mail in with Amazon's press contact to sort this out, but i wouldn't be surprised if i don't hear back today. Some of Amazon's statements say the battery life is "on the newest hardware" and it's not mentioned in the email that went out alerting existing users to the firmware update. It's pretty ambiguous, and I'm trying to get to the bottom of it.

 

[alxx]

Dr. Jay how about a comparison review between kindle 2 , nook , Sony's e-reader and other e-readers ?

 

[Eric]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by alxx:<BR>Dr. Jay how about a comparison review between kindle 2 , nook , Sony's e-reader and other e-readers ? </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>If we could round up the hardware, it's something we'd be interested in doing one sometime next year.

 

[archie4oz]

Hrm, I actually have access to an EV-DO Kindle 2, an HSDPA Kindle 2 (which is noticeably slower), a Kindle DX, a Libré, a PRS-500, 505, 700, 300, 600, and a 900... No Nook yet though...

 

[prattleonboyo]

PDF is a step in the right direction but I still see nothing compelling about the Kindle, which, BTW, is aptly named. I'd rather take a $6.99 paperback to the beach with me instead of dragging around a $300.00 electronic gadget whose content may or may not be deleted the next time I interfaced it with Amazon's DRM servers. When I buy a book, it's mine forever. The seller can't turn around and delete the content because it caved to the writer's guild demand to nix a feature that it didn't like.

 

[Sisconda]

For the battery life, the amazon page says it only applies to the global version: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/...00324680&#version2.3

 

[Reversible Physicist]

Why in the world would you start a pretty good article with the Bizarro-World statement,<BR><BR>"Companies that make the whole widget, like Apple, are able to nudge consumers towards buying new hardware by limiting the software features that work on older models."<BR><BR>Apple has been extremely good about compatibility with its Mac OS and iPhone OS (and AppleTV OS, etc.). The only features that don't work in new software versions on old hardware are the ones that make use of new hardware capabilities. One of the most dramatic innovations of the iPhone is that it gets regularly updated with new software, unlike almost every phone that came before it. You're not only not giving Apple credit, but citing it as the example of the company that does it wrong. Bizarre!

 

[EatingPie]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by kaldec:<BR>Anyone have enough experience with the various e-readers to make a recommendation for me? I'm ready to buy one if anyone has made one that will do what I want:<BR><BR>* my primary use would be reading academic articles I've downloaded in pdf format. Being able to view figures and tables is important. It's critical that this works well ( probably means zoom and rotate) as these pdfs are highly structured and meant to be printed on letter-sized paper.<BR><BR>* secondary use for reading free books off Project Gutenberg<BR><BR>I don't care at all who has the better store or drm-riddled format. I don't imagine myself paying for anything I read on the device ( University licenses the journals).<BR><BR>Thanks to anyone inspired to help! </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>You're probably looking at a Kindle DX.<BR><BR>PDFs are designed for 8.5x11 paper for the most part. And they are rigidly flowed. They do not shrink and reflow, or grow and reflow. The act more like an image where you zoom in/out, making the text more or less legible.<BR><BR>The Kindle DX is the largest format reader AFAIK. Sony's PRS-700 is its competitor, and is just now taking pre-orders. But I don't know the release date. They are comparably priced, but both are fairly large.<BR><BR>You should check the site <B><www.mobileread.com></B>, which will certainly have better recommendations than you will get here.<BR><BR>-Pie

 

[adminfoo]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by ShuggyCoUk:<BR>Suggestion, maybe it already exists.<BR><BR>Make the Kindle expose itself as a printing device (perhaps even over the network).<BR>'Print' your things to it from any app, read as you go... </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Does already exist, though it's not the 'Print' menu item. You can email files (of many types - if the Kindle doesn't directly support the format, there are translators in the email service) to your Kindle and it'll usually be there within a minute or so. But this costs ten cents every time you do it. <BR><BR>For files which need translation, there's a no-cost way which involves the mail <I>not</I> going wirelessly to your Kindle, but rather coming pack to your PC. From there you transfer to the Kindle via USB. <BR><BR>You can plug the Kindle in via USB and directly copy those filetypes that it supports.<BR><BR>I'd like it if there was a wifi version of the Kindle, so I could 'print' to it directly and wirelessly over my own network, at no charge and without privacy concerns.

 

[archie4oz]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"><I>Eating Pie said...</I><BR><B>Sony's PRS-700 is its competitor, and is just now taking pre-orders. But I don't know the release date. They are comparably priced, but both are fairly large.</B> </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>Correction, PRS-900 (aka, Reader Daily). The PRS-700 is an old model (replaced by the PRS-600 (aka Reader Touch)).

 

[ShuggyCoUk]

Woud the nook support, via android, the capability (fake itself as a printer) if someone wrote it or is it locked down too much.<BR><BR>It would be compelling being able to get webpages, word docs, any thing printable onto the device from any pc/mac/linux box with generic print support.

 

[stickboy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by archie4oz:<BR><BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"><I>ksgant said...</I><BR><B>This is also a direct result of Barnes & Noble's "Nook" coming out...which has native PDF support right out of the box.</B> </div></BLOCKQUOTE>I doubt the Nook had much to do with it. Pretty much all other eInk based readers have had some sort of rotation facility and native PDF support a year before the first Kindle ever hit the market. The Kindle has been the odd man out in that regard. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>The Nook got a lot more media attention and generated a lot more excitement than any of the other eInk-based readers.<BR><BR>That said, I think Amazon probably had this in development well before the Nook announcement, although it's possible that the Nook could have accelerated their plans.

 

[deckeda]

The jury is still very much out in regards to how well today's Kindles will be supported in 5 or 7 or 10 years. Meanwhile, Apple's hardware ... oh nevermind. The article's author isn't really interested.<BR><BR>Kindle can read now PDFs. Neato. Let's shout from the rooftops this "special" support it gained from its maker.

 

[johnnybgoode]

Amazon says on the page for the update that the battery update to the firmware is for the Global Edition only. So, it's not for all Kindle 2's, just the newest model.<BR><BR>Also, Kindle 2 has been able to read PDFs since it came out; it just requires formatting by Amazon, provided for free.

 

[allen]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dr. Jay:<BR>.....<BR>I've got an e-mail in with Amazon's press contact to sort this out, but i wouldn't be surprised if i don't hear back today. Some of Amazon's statements say the battery life is "on the newest hardware" and it's not mentioned in the email that went out alerting existing users to the firmware update. It's pretty ambiguous, and I'm trying to get to the bottom of it. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>It was certainly mentioned in the email I received, as an owner of the Kindle international version, which says:<BR><BR><I>A new Kindle software update is now available and will be automatically delivered to your Kindle. We are constantly working on improving the Kindle user experience and have included the following features in this update:<BR><BR>- Longer Battery Life: Now read for up to 1 week on a single charge with wireless on, a significant improvement from the previous battery life of 4 days.<BR></I><BR><BR>The firmware update had already happened by the time I looked at my Kindle.<BR><BR>The fact that the firmware has been modified to improve battery life may have something to do with the fact that the GSM-based international Kindle has (or used to have) quite poor battery life with the wireless on - something around 1 day in areas with a weak GSM phone signal. I'm looking forward to seeing how much better it is now.

 

[allen]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by johnnybgoode:<BR>Also, Kindle 2 has been able to read PDFs since it came out; it just requires formatting by Amazon, provided for free. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>This is true, but the conversion PDF to AZW has serious limitations - when I tested it on a set of my organisation's publications and press releases, all the tables were scrambled and unreadable. The native PDF rendering could be a huge step forward (I haven't tried it yet).

 

[metamatt]

Yeah, the promised battery life increase is only for the GSM version.<BR><BR>And, they've stopped selling the CDMA version. As of 2 weeks ago, they sold the small one in both CDMA (Sprint, $259) and GSM (AT&T, $279) versions, and the bigger DX one is still CDMA only. Now the small GSM one is $259 and the small CDMA one is only available refurbished/used (refurb is $219), not new. I'll bet this means there's a GSM model of the DX coming.<BR><BR>I just bought a refurb CDMA one since Sprint works way better than AT&T in my area.

 

[spurster]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Reversible Physicist:<BR>Why in the world would you start a pretty good article with the Bizarro-World statement,<BR><BR>"Companies that make the whole widget, like Apple, are able to nudge consumers towards buying new hardware by limiting the software features that work on older models."<BR><BR>Apple has been extremely good about compatibility with its Mac OS and iPhone OS (and AppleTV OS, etc.). The only features that don't work in new software versions on old hardware are the ones that make use of new hardware capabilities. One of the most dramatic innovations of the iPhone is that it gets regularly updated with new software, unlike almost every phone that came before it. You're not only not giving Apple credit, but citing it as the example of the company that does it wrong. Bizarre! </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>It's not bizarre, just long-term experience. I had Macs from System Software 4.x (or something like that) up to Mac OS 9. Every time the OS had a major increment, you had to buy new versions of about half of your software. I don't think it's an Apple conspiracy though, just a lower priority on backward compatibility.

 

[dragula53]

As a Kindle 2 owner, the PDF support blows ass. I was excited about it for a few moments and then reality started setting in.<BR><BR>There is no zoom.<BR><BR>It does not actually view the PDF text. So no definitions or searching.<BR><BR>PDF's are mostly generated to be viewed on 8 1/2" x 11" paper. a 6" diagonal screen means that your pdf text is SMALL.<BR><BR>Boo on this update. I'll be sticking with mobi format.

 

[adminfoo]

Bingo!<BR><BR>Anyone who has been paying attention realizes: very, very few PDFs are going to be directly usable on <I>any</I> 6" eInk device. PDF does not re-flow. eInk screen refreshes are not fast enough for a comfortable experience panning around the page. <BR><BR>Therefore, on a 6" screen, the only PDF's that have a chance of looking good are those sent through the Amazon translator or the rare PDF which is pre-made for the smaller 6" screen.<BR><BR>If you want to view PDFs natively and your PDFs are normal 8.5x11" size, you want the Kindle DX or the iRex DR1000S.

 

[Kilkenny]

About PDF-reflow... a few months ago I'd gotten some demo time with a Sony PRS-505, and when I threw a PDF onto it (a user manual for some barcode scanners), I was surprised to see that it DID reflow the text for the screen size and as you change the text size. <BR><BR>The B&W images (device line diagrams mostly) in the PDF also looked really sharp.<BR><BR>The 505 also had ePub support, but the Sony library application would refuse to run on any of my 64-bit Windows systems. However, once the library app was installed, Adobe Digital Editions could be used to manage DRM'd content (well - Adobe's DRM at least) on the device. For DRM-free content, you could just drag 'n drop the files onto it like a USB flash drive.