Kindle Touch - Major Enhancements, Landscape Mode and Full UK Compatibility Right Now

Published on 12 April 2012 10:04 GMT by Frank

With the newly released Software update 5.1.0 from Amazon, imported US Kindle Touch models now have full compatibility with the UK Kindle Store which means that you can finally shop direct from the Kindle Touch menus without the inconvenience of having to use the built in browser.



This means that those who imported a US Kindle Touch prior to Amazon's announcement of a UK releases earlier this month can enjoy the new Touch enhanced Kindle Store on their devices several weeks before official models ship.

As well as enabling UK functionality, the new update also includes a number of enhancements which further compound the Kindle Touch's status as the leading e-ink reader available today.

Among the enhancements are the long-awaited Landscape mode for books and PDFs, something that was a major omission from the feature set and a point of contention among Kindle Touch owners. Thankfully, the new implementation is solid and works exactly how you would expect with the touch-zones rotating in line with the display.

Also new is the ability to touch-select a word and see language translations in a wide number of languages including non-latin scripts such as Chinese, Korean and Hindi.

Another welcome feature is auto-suggest when typing on the virtual keyboard. This now adds a line of potential word matches based on your input so far for easy selection and looks very similar to the feature found on Android devices including the Kindle Fire.

Other enhancements include the ability to connect to WPA2 enterprise wi-fi networks, text-to-speech improvements and also support for the new Kindle Format 8.

The Kindle Touch has finally come of age !!

Download the Kindle Touch 5.1.0 Firmware Here (UK download for US / UK Kindle Touch models).