Amazon releases Kindle Paperwhite with VoiceView

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Conan46

Any idea how volume control is handled with this?

The Oasis ships with the required voice and software (or Amazon sent it out in a firmware update - same diff)

Nope. I'm wrong. These settings can be found from the quick settings menu

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by shalym

Interesting...didn't Nate say that it *did* work on the Oasis? Or is that something different that works on the Oasis?



Shari

The Oasis ships with the required voice and software (or Amazon sent it out in a firmware update - same diff)

[fjtorres]

It sort of makes sense that the sound output won't work without the Oasis cover: Amazon quotes something like 7 hours of playback on the PW3--that would be less than 2 hours on a bare Oasis.

[Conan46]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

You can't control the volume from the Paperwhite or the audio adapter. You also cannot control the speed.

OK, that seems crazy. So it is basically useless without plugging it into a bluetooth speaker or something else with its own volume control? Or hope the default volume is not too low or too high for earphones?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

It sort of makes sense that the sound output won't work without the Oasis cover: Amazon quotes something like 7 hours of playback on the PW3--that would be less than 2 hours on a bare Oasis.

I wonder how much room is available inside the battery compartment of the Oasis cover? If there's sufficient room, Amazon could add the audio adapter to Oasis Cover 2.

[tomsem]

So this is just for English:

lang_en_us.dat (1,935 KB)
vox_en_us_salli22i (148, 795 KB)

Ideally additional voice data will become available for other languages, and can just be added to the voice folder.

I thought there was some reference to a Setting where speed could be adjusted, and maybe there's a volume adjustment in there as well. It could be such that it only appears when an audio adapter is plugged in.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by tomsem

I thought there was some reference to a Setting where speed could be adjusted, and maybe there's a volume adjustment in there as well. It could be such that it only appears when an audio adapter is plugged in.

Indeed, when you have an audio adapter plugged in, 'VoiceView Settings' is one of the options in the 'quick' settings (along with Airplane mode, Sync My Kindle, and LIGHT adjustment slider).

In VoiceView settings you can toggle VoiceView On and Off, engage a Tutorial, adjust Reading Speed (from .66x to 4x with 8 intermediate speeds), and Volume (from 1 to 8, default is 4).

It is significantly simpler than VoiceView on the Fire, which after all is a more complicated device. Not as many fancy gestures to learn. The Tutorial takes you through everything in less than five minutes.

Keyboard entry is not bad either, just drag your finger around until you hear the letter you want, then lift your finger to enter that letter.

Some features are unavailable with VoiceView enabled, such as highlighting, notes, sharing, wikipedia, translate, Kindle Store, Goodreads.

But it is an impressive first release of the feature.

[disconnected]

Originally Posted by Conan46

OK, that seems crazy. So it is basically useless without plugging it into a bluetooth speaker or something else with its own volume control? Or hope the default volume is not too low or too high for earphones?

Where does Bluetooth come into it?

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by disconnected

Where does Bluetooth come into it?

It doesn't, at least as far as we know today. FCC filing for Oasis included test for Bluetooth but that feature has not been verified as present.

In any case, there is a volume adjustment in VoiceView Settings.

[disconnected]

Originally Posted by tomsem

It doesn't, at least as far as we know today. FCC filing for Oasis included test for Bluetooth but that feature has not been verified as present.

In any case, there is a volume adjustment in VoiceView Settings.

Or maybe we could add an adapter for the adapter.

[JoHunt]

Am I correct in assuming that audio will only work on devices with 5.7.4.1 firmware?

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Conan46

OK, that seems crazy. So it is basically useless without plugging it into a bluetooth speaker or something else with its own volume control? Or hope the default volume is not too low or too high for earphones?

I'm actually wrong. The volume and speed settings can be found from the quick settings menu (the sun symbol on the menu bar).

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by JoHunt

Am I correct in assuming that audio will only work on devices with 5.7.4.1 firmware?

It works on the Voyage, Oasis, and latest Paperwhite. We will test other devices when they get firmware updates.

[JoHunt]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

It works on the Voyage, Oasis, and latest Paperwhite. We will test other devices when they get firmware updates.

Thanks! I just bought a cheapo sound adapter on Amazon to hear how it sounds on my Voyage.

[Conan46]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Indeed, when you have an audio adapter plugged in, 'VoiceView Settings' is one of the options in the 'quick' settings (along with Airplane mode, Sync My Kindle, and LIGHT adjustment slider).

In VoiceView settings you can toggle VoiceView On and Off, engage a Tutorial, adjust Reading Speed (from .66x to 4x with 8 intermediate speeds), and Volume (from 1 to 8, default is 4).

It is significantly simpler than VoiceView on the Fire, which after all is a more complicated device. Not as many fancy gestures to learn. The Tutorial takes you through everything in less than five minutes.

Keyboard entry is not bad either, just drag your finger around until you hear the letter you want, then lift your finger to enter that letter.

Some features are unavailable with VoiceView enabled, such as highlighting, notes, sharing, wikipedia, translate, Kindle Store, Goodreads.

But it is an impressive first release of the feature.

Thanks for that info! It was inconceivable that it would not have a volume control.