Kindle Touch Update 5.1.0

Kindle Touch Update 5.1.0

Amazon just rolled out their update for the latest firmware version starting from last week. Apparently if you go online it'll automatically download and install itself on your Kindle Touch whether you want it to or not. Jeez I wish there was an opt out button. Especially since there's a significant number of FUBARed kindle comments on the official forum: Kindle Update Thread.. Considering the fact that I'm in Malaysia and Amazon doesn't ship here, I"ll be seriously fucked if my KT dies. If that happens I might be desperate enough to get that sexy Nook Glow instead.

New Features:

* Language Support: Customize your Kindle with the language you prefer: English (US and UK), German, French, Spanish, Italian, or Brazilian Portuguese.
* Kindle Format 8: Formatting and layout improvements make Kindle books look even better.
* Portrait and Landscape Mode: Switch between portrait and landscape orientation in books and PDFs to read maps, graphs, and tables more easily.
* Instant Translations: Tap any word or highlight a section to instantly translate into other languages, including Spanish, Japanese, and more. Translations by Bing Translator.
* Wi-Fi Enhancements: Connect your Kindle Touch to Wi-Fi with WPS and select WPA2 Enterprise networks.
* Read-to-Me With Text-to-Speech: Have Kindle read English-language content out loud to you, now including summaries of newspaper and magazine articles when available from the publisher.
* More Sharing Options: Tell others what you're reading on Facebook or Twitter from anywhere within a book - just tap to share a link along with your comments.
* Onscreen Keyboard Suggestions: Search and shop faster with automatic word suggestions as you type.

So far so good, my KT is running just fine. I did notice that a few books are missing their table of contents. The new system is showing the chapters directly via the Go-To screen rather than sending you to the hotlinked chapter page. Here's a pic I took with my shitty phone. There's shadows in every pic because the light is on in my room and I'm too lazy to turn it off.

The following picture shows the new landscape mode in action. As you can see, the text for PDFs is FINALLY readable. Damn sexy in fact. I'll be able to read my netgalleys without having to convert them to mobi.

Next is the new home screen. It's a lot more detailed and even shows how many books you have in your respective collections, and separates the Title and Author into two rows. The text is a bit smaller compared to the original. I guess they had to sacrifice size to fit more content. Heck  I can't remember what the old home screen looked like.

They've also updated your Amazon account content with new dictionaries that you'll have to manually download. They have all the major European languages. Performance-wise, it's a bit faster than 5.0.4 and and the KT is more responsive than before. Oh I almost forgot. In case you don't have a wifi line or just want to get the new features you can manually download it from here:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_200529680_touchupdate?nodeId=200790650

Update:


Bugs
i) Dictionaries aren't detected. 
- Due to the update the KT no longer detects the old dictionaries. You're going to have to archive the dictionaries you have and then re-download it to your kindle via wifi. That will fix the problem.
-This problem according to a post I found I on goodreads can also be resolved by switching the language to UK/US and then back again.


5th June 2012
ii) Book instantly goes to the first page when you tap the screen. I've noticed this twice in the week. It might be due ads or software bugs that have just appeared. No solution yet.


What to do if you Kindle Touch is bricked (non-responsive, dead or unusable)
Here's a guide I found on mobilereads on how to debrick your Kindle: Simple debricking method for K5(Touch) and K4(Mini), with K3 links