After allowing users to set book covers as lock screens on their Kindle e-readers, Amazon has now announced to roll out a new firmware update with a redesigned navigation UI on its latest Kindle models. With this update, owners of the newer Kindle models will get easier navigation controls and a new swipe-down UI for accessing quick functions like Airplane mode, brightness settings, and more.
The company announced the new update via an official blog post recently. So, as per the post, the update will be available for the standard Kindle (8th-Gen or above), Kindle Paperwhite (7th-Gen or above), and Kindle Oasis models.
Now, coming to the new features, the update will add a new quick-settings UI to the aforementioned Kindle models. This will allow users to simply swipe down from the top on any screen to access the Airplane mode toggle, brightness bar, sync button, and a button to jump to the “All Settings” page. So, as you can imagine, the UI will be similar to the swipe-down control center that we have on Android.
Users will also be able to easily switch between their Home screen, the Library page, and the current book they are reading with a dedicated navigation bar at the bottom of the screen.
Apart from these, Amazon will add improved Home and Library pages on compatible Kindle devices. The new Library UI will add new filter options and sort menus to easily filter and sort books. There will also be a new collections view and an interactive scroll bar to improve the user experience. Coming to the new Home page, users can see up to 20 of their recently-read books with a left swipe from the Home screen.
As for the availability of the new changes, Amazon says that it will start rolling out the new navigation UIs, including the swipe-down quick settings UI and the bottom navigation UI, in the coming weeks. The new Home and Library page, on the other hand, will be added later this year.
