Given the current media coverage surrounding supply and demand issues with the new Sony Reader 'Daily Edition' and Barnes & Noble Nook, online retailer Amazon has moved to push its own Kindle electronic book reader back into the spotlight, courtesy of an automatic firmware update that hands Kindle owners not one but two feature upgrades.
The best just got better? Image: madaise/Flickr.
According to Seattle-based Amazon, the free firmware update will increase the single-charge longevity of the latest generation Kindle's battery by a whopping 85 percent, which will provide up to seven days of operation – even with the device's wireless functionality turned on. The discharge time with wireless turned off remains unchanged for an impressive return of up to two weeks.
“Battery power management for portable wireless devices is a complex technical area, and the battery life improvement announced today is the result of a six month firmware improvement and testing program,” outlined the retail giant in an official statement.
Not satisfied with just enhancing the user experience in terms of longevity, Amazon has also revitalised its 6-inch Kindle platform by introducing full support for a built-in PDF reader that allows owners to open and read personal and professional Adobe PDF documents in their native format and without having to rely on conversion.
“To read their personal documents, Kindle customers simply email PDFs to their Kindle email address or move them over using a USB connection,” explained Amazon. “Customers that prefer to have their PDF documents converted to the Kindle format simply type “Convert” in the subject of the email when sending documents to their “@kindle.com” address.”
Beyond delivering the improvements via a firmware package through the Whispernet network, all new retail models of the Kindle will now come with the upgrades as standard.
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