Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Using the Carousel on the Amazon Kindle Fire

The home-screen in your Kindle Fire is the starting place for just about every thing you'll do with the Kindle, and features a carousel interface that allows user quick access to their latest content. Items are included within the carousel in chronological order. For instance, if you read a book during the day and a magazine later, the magazine will be located near the top of your carousel. It’s simple to navigate around the carousel by swiping your fingers in either direction - the items revolve in a merry-go-round fashion. Tap any item to open it. Changing the orientation of your Kindle Fire from portrait to landscape view means your items will automatically rotate accordingly. As you switch back and forth between 'portrait mode' and 'landscape mode, your Kindle Fire will automatically rearrange its display so that text and graphics appear right-side-up.
To navigate around in carousel view, tap on any menu item to get to the corresponding section. When you are browsing your library items (books, videos, music), you can switch between using a list viewpoint and a grid view. The grid view presents you with thumbnail images of the handles of your books and publications, whereas the list view reveals smaller thumbnails but more written description.
The Newsstand of your Kindle Fire serves up your magazine and newspaper subscriptions.



If you would not have any subscriptions yet, you may pick the 'Store' button on the top of the Newsstand interface to visit the Amazon store. When you purchase a magazine, it will automatically download to your Kindle and your Kindle will store the latest seven issues. (If you have a magazine that you’d like to remain on your Kindle following the default storage period, tap and hold the magazine's cover in your library and tick 'Keep' from the popup menu. This will make certain that it is not automatically erased from your Kindle. After you have collected back issues of more than one publication, issues will be grouped by title, enabling you to easily browse your library of this particular publication. Along the top of your Kindle screen, just below the search bar, you'll find a menu with links to your Newsstand as well as other popular destinations:


Publications library:.The Books section of your library contains every one of the eBooks you have purchased from Amazon. Once you register your device, the titles and thumbnails are downloaded. The text of your various ebooks is not saved to your Kindle until you actually open the document.

Amazon Kindle Newsstand Newspapers: these can also be reached from the Newsstand menu. You can subscribe to new newspapers by choosing the 'Store' button, just like magazines.
Magazines and newspapers are displayed using either 'Text' or 'Page' views: Text view gives you the text, while Page view shows the magazine's original layout, including illustrations. Page view aims to stay faithful to the magazine in the same way it is rendered on paper. Note that some magazines and newspapers do not can be found in the regular Newsstand format, but are instead provided as apps. If you want to acquire one of those, you have to buy the subscription in the Apps store and down load the app to see the periodical.
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Save Battery Life on Your Kindle Fire

People used to the original E-Ink Kindle (which lasts for over a month on a single charge) may be shocked to find out that the Kindle Fire has an only about eight hours of battery life. This is because of the backlight in the Kindle Fire display and its in-plane switching technology requires significantly more power than the original Kindle and its E-Ink display. With that in mind, here’s some battery power savings suggestions for your Kindle Fire.

Use the Sleep Mode

The primary battery is used whenever the Kindle is turned on. By setting the Kindle Fire to 'Sleep Mode,' the Kindle will time out after a period of inactivity. This is especially important if you like to browse the Internet or watch videos. Sleep mode can help extend the battery to last for many of days. Sleep Mode is activated by pressing and releasing the 'Power' button at the bottom of the Kindle. You can assign the number of minutes of inactivity before your Kindle Fire automatically goes into sleep mode, anywhere from '30 seconds' to '1 Hour'. Another option to auto-sleeping the screen is to set your Kindle Fire to auto-lock after using. By locking the Kindle Fire, it will go into a 'sleep' mode thus conserving energy and extending your battery life. To change the lock settings, tap the settings bar at the top of the display and choose the ‘More’ option. Then select 'Security' and establish a password for your lock screen.

Turn Off Wi-Fi Whenever you are not using Wi-Fi

You can turn Wi-Fi 'On' and 'Off' as needed. If you’re on the Internet or interacting with Amazon’s Cloud, then you won’t be able to turn off Wi-Fi to preserve your Kindle’s battery power. If you don’t need the Internet, then you can turn off the Wi-Fi by tapping the settings bar at the top of the Kindle Fire and choosing 'Wi-Fi'.

Use Your Headphones Instead Of Speakers

Do not use the built-in speakers on your Kindle Fire. Use earphones instead.

Manage Your Kindle Screen Brightness

You can also optimize the Kindle Fire's battery life by lowering the brightness of your Kindle’s screen by dimming the screen so it’s not as bright. As far as reading books and novels, it's generally preferable to read on a darker screen. You can lower the brightness of the screen by tapping the settings bar at top of the screen or via the Display screen. Slide the bar to dim or brighten to your personal taste.


Charging Your Kindle Battery

Lithium Ion rechargeable batteries, like the one found in the Kindle Fire (and used in many other tablets like the iPad), shouldn't be continuously charged. For optimal battery life on your Kindle, only charge the battery when the power gets low. Other wise your Kindle battery will develop a memory effect and not last as long. To prolong your battery’s life, you should completely drain the battery once a month, then charge it back to its full capacity.

Give the Boot to Battery Hungry Apps (including your e-mail app)

There are many greedy apps or a battery-starving app may be sucking your battery dry. Use the free app “Badass Battery Monitor” (available on the Amazon App store) to keep an eye on what apps are draining. Also note that the Kindle Fire’s e-mail app will check for new messages significantly reduce power use. Tap the e-mail app icon, go to the menu to tweak your settings. Set it to ‘manual’: although you will need to refresh your inbox manually, you’ll save battery life.