4 issues my Kindle from 2009 does higher than the newest mannequin

Ventures again to your childhood bed room are sometimes accompanied by treasure hunts via cardboard containers and drawers that have not been opened in a decade or two. Over the vacations, my most up-to-date journey down reminiscence lane yielded an sudden boon: a second-edition Kindle from 2009.

My mom shared this particular machine with me, and after I introduced the traditional factor to her in a match of squeals, she smiled fondly upon it and stated, “This modified all the things again then.” Any bookworms who bear in mind struggling to resolve between bodily novels to pack for trip know what I imply.

Whereas the battery life held on by a thread, I spent some stolen minutes studying previous Starvation Video games novels on the geriatric machine over the previous couple of weeks. I need to say, there is a little bit of previous {hardware} that makes me need to write to Amazon and beg for its return. Right here they’re.

A sliding energy button

That you do not unintentionally activate

My Kindle Paperwhite wakes up by urgent the easy, skinny energy button on the underside of the machine, simply to the fitting of the charging port. Whether or not it is my thumb or propping it up too firmly towards my desk, the quantity of instances I’ve unintentionally woken up or put to sleep my e-reader is sufficient to make your eye twitch — particularly in the midst of a suspenseful scene. Why would Amazon put the facility button on the underside of the pill, the place it is sure to be activated by unintended placement as simply as intentional contact?

It is an issue I by no means had again in 2009 with my second-gen Kindle. Not solely was the facility {hardware} positioned out of attain on the prime of the machine, but it surely wasn’t a button that could possibly be unintentionally pressed in any respect; reasonably, it was a swap. Customers would slide and launch the spring-powered toggle to wake the Kindle, put it to sleep, and maintain it in place to close down the e-reader completely.

Granted, the spring mechanism left previous Kindles weak to water, mud, and different supplies getting inside and presumably jamming the {hardware}, which would depart you unable to even flip the machine on — so, I can see why Amazon did away with it because the touchscreen initiative actually took maintain. However, I loved the swap over the button for each its placement and tactile certainty — all the things is a button these days, and there was one thing each satisfying and nostalgic about sliding the toggle over to shake your e-reader awake.

Web page-turning {hardware}

Fewer interruptions, paradoxically

It is uncommon to come across private gadgetry with out a touchscreen these days, wanting many laptops and most TVs. Touchscreens can render virtually any {hardware} moot, wanting energy buttons and charging ports (however even then, wi-fi charging capabilities pose a menace), by folding the controls into a tool’s software program. Additionally they permit the show to increase into the {hardware}’s previous actual property and enhance the specs in that division.

I confess, my second-gen Kindle from 2009 has a standard and frustratingly small display screen — largely because of the QWERTY keyboard taking on practically a 3rd of the floor space. With out contact capabilities, it additionally has a joystick toggle, menu button, again button, house button, and former and subsequent web page buttons. Whereas I might dwell with out most of them, the earlier and subsequent web page buttons are one thing I actively miss on my 2024 Kindle Paperwhite.

Eradicating {hardware} in favor of software program seems like a logical improve, proper? Positive, however studying is healthier when your fingers haven’t got to maneuver as a lot. My Kindle Paperwhite’s touchscreen show takes up virtually your complete machine, which is certainly one of my favourite attracts to it, however when it is time to flip a web page, I’ve to raise my thumb up from the bezel and swipe to get there. Is it a nuisance? Not essentially, but when Amazon might strategically place a tiny page-turn button on new Kindles’ already-small bezels, it’d take away that motion completely — it is the place my fingers are resting anyway.

Web page-turning {hardware} on new Kindles would additionally scale back the errors that typically include touchscreens, like missed faucets, highlighting textual content you did not imply to, and unintended web page turns if you shift your grip. And now that it is winter, nicely, let’s simply say my gloves aren’t the most effective of pals with my e-reader’s touchscreen.

Headphone jack

For these of us that also rock wires

This one could be unpopular, however I do not suppose any machine suffers an excessive amount of from a headphone jack. The world could have gone Bluetooth a very long time in the past, however there is not any denying the presence wired headphones nonetheless have. Each every now and then, they reemerge as vogue statements, however true audiophiles know that lossless audio is finest achieved with a wired connection — Bluetooth compresses audio an excessive amount of to realize a really lossless expertise. Some say it is definitely worth the comfort trade-off, however I digress.

I nonetheless stroll round with my vivid inexperienced, discontinued Bose wired headphones, and I would like to have the ability to plug them into my Kindle to take heed to an audiobook with out leaping via the hoops of the Bluetooth connection course of. It feels bizarre sufficient to attach my e-reader to Wi-Fi, and it simply feels plain alien to attach my Powerbeats Professional 2 to the machine that is purported to be disguised as a guide.

TL;DR: Bluetooth is not handy on Kindles. Wired headphones could also be extra analog, however plugging them right into a easy headphone jack is far more handy than linking an e-reader as much as an entire new exterior machine.

Exterior audio system

A resurrection might open doorways if completed proper

After I first acquired my fingers on an iPod contact again in 2010, I used to be most enthusiastic about one characteristic: built-in exterior audio system. Not a touchscreen, not the chance to obtain apps or textual content my pals, however the means to play iTunes songs with out headphones. It was an apparent and substantial improve from my third-gen iPod nano (that was nearly ineffective with out a 3.5mm jack), however within the Kindle world, it is a primary characteristic misplaced to time and the campaign of simplicity.

My second-generation Kindle sports activities two exterior audio system on the again of the machine, plus a delicate quantity toggle on the fitting edge. Should you’ve learn any of my other articles, that I’m a proud Kindle minimalist, so why would I be advocating for the return of such a frilly characteristic? You get what you pay for with Kindles, even when the additional bells and whistles aren’t my bread and butter. However should you’re somebody who likes audiobooks and does not essentially need to don your Bluetooth headphones whilst you’re alone in your home, exterior audio system could possibly be a beautiful addition to among the higher-end fashions. In pure Amazon vogue, too, the corporate might name exterior audio system a premium characteristic and cost extra, prefer it does with wi-fi charging on the Signature Editions.