Paperwhite Questions Before Buying

[mracct14]

Hi all - I would appreciate your input on a few questions before I buy a Kindle Paperwhite directly from Amazon. As you all know more than most people about Kindles, I assume this is the right place for these questions, but please let me know if I should post them elsewhere.

1. Privacy. Is it possible to prevent a Paperwhite from ever connecting to Amazon's servers? I would like to use the device without ever signing it into an Amazon, Google or Facebook account. (I would consider jailbreaking if necessary, but I understand that the latest firmware is not compatible with existing tools.)

2. Reliance on Amazon servers. Do any core features (e.g., local bookmarks or basic dictionary lookups) require access to Amazon's servers?

3. Automatic wifi syncing. Is it possible to automatically transfer new books in a Calibre library to a Paperwhite over a wifi network without going through Amazon's servers (e.g., without having Calibre email the books to an Amazon administered email account)? I use Calibre to download articles from a number of websites on a scheduled basis and would like them to show up on my device without any intervention on my part.

4. Browsing Calibre over wifi. Is it possible to browse and download books from a Calibre library over a local wireless network?

5. Screen quality. Are there any common complaints about the quality of the Paperwhite's backlight or screen (e.g., uneven lighting at the edges, persistent black dots or unevenness of the color of the screen). I have used E Ink readers before so I am familiar with issues like slow and distracting refreshes that affect all E Ink screens.

6. Use in pitch darkness. I plan to use the device in a completely dark room immediately before sleeping. Is there any reason the Paperwhite is a bad fit for this kind of use?

[susan_cassidy]

1. You can't register a Paperwhite without using wi-fi or 3G. If you aren't registered, you can't buy books. There is no need to register with Facebook, etc. That's entirely optional.
2. No, syncing is only done to keep track of last page read, to back up annotations, etc.
3. I believe so, but you'd have to check with a Calibre person. There is a very active Calibre forum on mobileread.com. You might ask there, if no one can answer the question here.
4. I don't know. See comment under #3.
5. If you get a good screen, there should be no screen issues.
6. It should be fine for that. Lots of people use it for that.

[mracct14]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

1. You can't register a Paperwhite without using wi-fi or 3G. If you aren't registered, you can't buy books.

Thanks for your responses. Is registering a Paperwhite with Amazon or logging into an Amazon account required if you only sideload content?

[HarryT]

Not required, but there are some features that only work if it's registered (eg collections). Easiest thing to do is just register it, then leave wifi turned off.

[mracct14]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Not required, but there are some features that only work if it's registered (eg collections). Easiest thing to do is just register it, then leave wifi turned off.

Thank you. What are the other features that don't work if you never log in to an Amazon account? I expect to use wifi daily to download updated news, and I wouldn't want usage statistics to be sent to Amazon every time I did that.

[HarryT]

In all honesty, if you're this concerned about it, I'd get some other brand of reader. Integration with the Amazon infrastructure - syncing, etc - is one of the whole points of buying a Kindle.

[eschwartz]

1. Registration to Amazon is needed to manage collections. On a hacked device, this can be faked, also there is a firewall to block their servers.
2. Connecting to Amazon is needed for two things: they proxy the Wikipedia lookup, and Bing translations, through their servers. (This is why it works over 3G).
3. You cannot sync books wirelessly, although you can mail them to your Kindle through Amazon's servers. It is possible you can also rig something up with USBNetwork on a hacked device.
4. By using the calibre content server, you can browse the mobile version of the content server using the Kindle's experimental browser.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

1. You can't register a Paperwhite without using wi-fi or 3G. If you aren't registered, you can't buy books. There is no need to register with Facebook, etc. That's entirely optional.

Every kindle I've bought direct from Amazon (no paperwhites) has come preregistered. So I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to download bought books in a browser and copy over USB to a kindle that has never had wireless on.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Every kindle I've bought direct from Amazon (no paperwhites) has come preregistered. So I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to download bought books in a browser and copy over USB to a kindle that has never had wireless on.

If you buy it direct from Amazon then yes, it will come pre-registered, but you still need to log on with WiFi turned on in order to activate collections, etc.

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by mracct14

3. Automatic wifi syncing. Is it possible to automatically transfer new books in a Calibre library to a Paperwhite over a wifi network without going through Amazon's servers (e.g., without having Calibre email the books to an Amazon administered email account)? I use Calibre to download articles from a number of websites on a scheduled basis and would like them to show up on my device without any intervention on my part.

4. Browsing Calibre over wifi. Is it possible to browse and download books from a Calibre library over a local wireless network?

5. Screen quality. Are there any common complaints about the quality of the Paperwhite's backlight or screen (e.g., uneven lighting at the edges, persistent black dots or unevenness of the color of the screen). I have used E Ink readers before so I am familiar with issues like slow and distracting refreshes that affect all E Ink screens.

6. Use in pitch darkness. I plan to use the device in a completely dark room immediately before sleeping. Is there any reason the Paperwhite is a bad fit for this kind of use?

3. Yes. I do this all the time. There are are several ways to do this between Android devices and Kindle, only two for Kindle.
4. See #3
5. The screens on my PW2s are excellent. I am sensitive to crappy screens. YMMV
6. I do this every night. That's why I'm sensitive to crappy screens.

[mracct14]

Thanks all -- I picked up a Paperwhite this afternoon based on your input and am quite pleased with it. The hardware is better than I expected, and the TOC interface for periodicals is great. Since I bought it locally, it wasn't preregistered with Amazon, and I don't expect to register it.

I plan to get by without using WiFi until the firmware is compatible with the firewall eschwartz mentioned. As far as I can tell, the only features I'd be foregoing by using the firewall are "collections" (I doubt I'd need these, whatever they are, as I don't ever expect to have more than 20 active documents at a time) and Wikipedia lookups (this is a shame).

Originally Posted by eschwartz

1. Registration to Amazon is needed to manage collections. On a hacked device, this can be faked, also there is a firewall to block their servers.

Can you let me know what the firewall is called or where I can read more about it? That's the sort of functionality I was hoping for, so I'm curious to see how hard it would be to set it up in practice (once version 5.4.3.2 is compatible).

Originally Posted by pghaworth

3. Yes. I do this [automatically transfer new books in a Calibre library to a Paperwhite over a wifi network without going through Amazon's servers] all the time. There are are several ways to do this between Android devices and Kindle, only two for Kindle

Can you let me know how you do this?

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by mracct14

Can you let me know how you do this?

I'll be back in a bit. Tracking down the post where I explained how to do it.

[pghaworth]

Here's the link: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...1&postcount=16

And here's the info from the link:

"You can connect to it via wifi and download your drm-free reads. I only realized this somewhat recently, and it does take some fiddling to get it right and connected, but once it's in place and bookmarked, it can be quite handy.

A few provisos:
1. If away from home, you must remember to connect before you leave. I haven't found a way to force it to auto connect whenever started.
2. You need to have a basic understanding of your home network, ports, etc. that will work to allow the access.
3. Some devices - Kindles here - accept password protection, and some don't. I recommend pw protection if your K accepts it. PW1 does for sure, and I feel sure PW2 does, as well. It just might take a bit of fiddling before it works for you.
4. If you're at home, it's probably just as quick to usb your books over. Its speed of delivery is dependent on the speed of your Kindle's EB, which as we all know is sometimes like watching paint dry. OTOH outside and away, it's a nice alternative to have if you've forgotten to download something, want to just look at something, etc.
5. The default port - 8080 - has never worked for me. 443 has been the best one, YMMV.
6. In Calibre: Preferences, Sharing Over the Internet to configure port, username, password, etc.
7. In Calibre: Connect/Share, Start Content Server. Once connected you can see your home IP and whichever port is being used by the content server.
8. In EB: You can browse by various things, I keep a column in Calibre called Next, mark the books I want to read next with one star and browse by that.
9. In EB: You can't bookmark and browse to the tagged pages, at least mine won't let me, but you can browse to "your IP and port" and once bookmarked return there each time easily. That's what makes it like watching paint dry. If you could auto browse to the tags/columns area and make it your start point it would be less time consuming.
10. Example: for bookmark 127.0.0.0:8080 yours will be different, but you can also test at home.

Hope this helps and wasn't TMI!"

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by mracct14

Thanks all -- I picked up a Paperwhite this afternoon based on your input and am quite pleased with it. The hardware is better than I expected, and the TOC interface for periodicals is great. Since I bought it locally, it wasn't preregistered with Amazon, and I don't expect to register it.

I plan to get by without using WiFi until the firmware is compatible with the firewall eschwartz mentioned. As far as I can tell, the only features I'd be foregoing by using the firewall are "collections" (I doubt I'd need these, whatever they are, as I don't ever expect to have more than 20 active documents at a time) and Wikipedia lookups (this is a shame).



Can you let me know what the firewall is called or where I can read more about it? That's the sort of functionality I was hoping for, so I'm curious to see how hard it would be to set it up in practice (once version 5.4.3.2 is compatible).



Can you let me know how you do this?

Here is the firewall: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=205925

Requirements:

• Jailbreak
• KUAL (Kindle Unified Applications Launcher)

Firmware 5.4.3.2 has been jailbroken, in fact any device under 5.4.5 can be jailbroken , and the PW2 with the newer firmware can be downgraded to jailbreak it... but more in the JB thread.

Good thing you don't have a KT2 2014, or the KV... those have not been jailbroken (yet, one hopes) although possibilities ensue with a teardown and serial port usage, which is TMI for most people.

[mracct14]

Thank you very much, eschwartz! As you have seen, thanks to your help in another thread, I have jailbroken and installed the firewall.

Pghaworth, thanks for the instructions on how to browse a Calibre library using the experimental browser. I was hoping for something that requires a little less action on the part of the user. KindleButler seems like a good option, although it isn't quite automatic (and requires a working USBNetwork installation, which is difficult to get working).