Did Amazon stop trying, once they chose E Ink?

[sophiecentaur]

TL;DR Summary

Operating systems from desktops to tiny Smart Phones seem to work on the same principles. Kindle is nothing like the rest. Are we all out of step but Kindle?

I read a lot of fiction and am on my third kindle E Reader. E Ink is very clever and is easy to read. I can carry more books than a human could ever hope to read. I really don't care that writing a screenfull of text takes my Kindle a long time compared with my other devices. BUT the interface is, for some reason best known to Amazon, in complete quadrature of any other device. Why?
From the earliest Windows GUI to my latest MacOS there are common, recognisable metaphors. Otoh, Kindle is totally foreign territory. The only process that should be slower than other machines must surely be the E Ink display. memory and processors are cheap so why is it so so slow?
When I buy a new Mac or iPhone, I ask my old machine to Migrate and after a few tens of minutes, I have a fully working and familiar new machine. A brand new Kindle (in 2024!!) makes you work hard to get started.
I've been using computers since the 60s and the file structure with folders has always made sense, before GUIs were available. Very undemanding for any modern processor; It's dealing with a tiny database. For some reason Kindle uses thumbnails instead of text. Total waste of time.

Several years ago I went on a Kindle Forum and had my ears boxed when I suggested that the system of 'collections' was confusing and limited. The users on that forum were clearly not abreast of what computers can do and didn't want any change.

Today, I found that I couldn't even read the basic information files because it was looking for the documents on line and no broadband connection.

A real shame.

 

[jedishrfu]

Amazon is focused on reading with their kindles and so the interface must be as simple as possible. My issue with kindle is that all my books show up in the library and I would prefer a floder scheme where I can organize them like I do when using GoodReader with PDF files.

With respect to e-ink, Amazon released a pricier kindle with color soft technology where you see faded colors. It's around $380 USD.

The whole Kindle design is to be low-light battery efficient yet visible in sunlight. E-ink fits that bill. It is also good for nighttime because it eliminates blue light that affects sleep patterns.

The Kindle is slow since the reading use case means casual user interaction, i.e., page switching, and minimal battery should be used; that's why you see a slight flicker when switching pages or the GUI is slow to respond to touch.

Lastly, it's a loss leader for Amazon, designed to sell more books. Therefore, it has to be as cheap to make as possible, which means using slightly older, slower chip technology.