Double-Tap Page Turns Are Now Available on Kindle—But There’s a Catch

How much of a premium would you pay to tap twice? $120 sound about right?That’s the cost difference of leaping up to the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition ($280) from the 12th-generation Kindle Paperwhite ($160).What am I on about? Amazon introduced in its latest 5.18.

1 update the ability to double-tap on the sides or back of certain Kindles to turn pages in Kindle books. You can also use the new gestures to scroll through the Home and Library screens.But Amazon introduced confusion in how it released news of the update, and although I get why Amazon wants to nudge would-be buyers toward its more expensive model, it’s galling to make a double-tap gesture the poster child of this nudge.



Cheap form, Amazon.(opens in a new window)AmazonKindle Colorsoft Signature Edition(opens in a new window)Available at AmazonBuy Now(opens in a new window)not for all kindlesWithout any fanfare from Amazon, you have to peer into software update 5.18.

1’s release notes to find mention of the double tap gesture. Even there, the message is muddled.Although those release notes are mentioned under the general headline of notes for the Paperwhite, the double-tap feature doesn’t work on the base-level Kindle Paperwhite.

Bit of confusion caused by Amazon’s oversight in distinguishing them in the release notes.“Although the 5.18.

1 software update is also available for older versions of the entry-level Kindle, Paperwhite, Scribe, and Oasis, the new double-tap feature is only available for the Colorsoft and the more expensive Signature Edition version of the 12th-generation Paperwhite,” Amazon spokesperson Connor Rice told The Verge.Weirdly, you can only use the gesture to go forward a page, not back one, and to scroll down a list of books and not up, according to The Verge’s Andrew Liszewski, who tried out the double tap on his Kindle Colorsoft.How hard would it have been to just make it so that three taps turn back a page or scroll up?(opens in a new window)AmazonKindle Paperwhite Signature Edition(opens in a new window)Available at AmazonBuy Now(opens in a new window)The post Double-Tap Page Turns Are Now Available on Kindle—But There’s a Catch appeared first on VICE.

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