Kindle Paperwhite for Dummies (43 page)

If your Kindle Paperwhite is adequately connected via Wi-Fi or 3G but you’re still having trouble downloading content, try this: From the Home screen, tap the Menu icon and select Sync and Check for Items.

Ensure that the battery is charged sufficiently.
When the battery level is low, connectivity may be affected. If the battery charge meter, which is displayed in the top-right corner of the Home screen, is less than 25 percent, plug in your Kindle Paperwhite and let it charge for a few hours.

Make sure the e-book is in your library at Amazon.
When you make a purchase, you receive a confirmation e-mail from Amazon. If you don’t receive the e-mail and the book doesn’t appear in your library, you may not have successfully completed the purchase. In that case, buy the book again. If the problem persists, contact customer service (see “Contacting Amazon Kindle Customer Service,” earlier in the chapter.)

Another reason why an e-book might not download to your Kindle is a problem or delay with Amazon’s servers. Try waiting for a few hours and see whether the e-book downloads eventually.

What to Do as a Last Resort

If all else fails, you can reset your Kindle Paperwhite back to factory specifications.

A factory reset is also a way to wipe your Kindle Paperwhite clean if you ever decide to give it as a gift or sell it.

Resetting your Kindle Paperwhite is a last-resort step. Before you carry out a factory reset, try the more common and less drastic fixes we describe in the “Common Problems and Solutions” section, earlier in this chapter. Also, consider calling Amazon Kindle customer service before undertaking a factory reset on your own. (See “Contacting Amazon Kindle Customer Service,” earlier in the chapter.)

To reset your Kindle Paperwhite to its original out-of-the-box state, follow these steps:

1. Tap Menu
⇒
Settings.

2. Tap Menu
⇒
>Reset Device.

3. When you see the warning, tap Yes. (Or tap No to back out without resetting.)

Your Kindle Paperwhite resets. You have to re-register the device with Amazon and download your Kindle e-books and other content from the Cloud at your Amazon account. You also need to retransfer any personal documents that you’ve loaded on your Kindle Paperwhite from your computer.

Personal documents that you have sent to your Kindle Paperwhite via e-mail are stored in the Cloud at your Amazon account. You can transfer these documents to your Kindle Paperwhite just like any other content stored in the Cloud.

If you have a Wi-Fi–only Kindle Paperwhite, be sure to have the Wi-Fi password for your router. You will need that password to connect the device to the wireless service. Without a Wi-Fi or 3G connection, you won’t be able to transfer content.

Chapter 11

Ten Helpful Kindle Paperwhite Tips

In This Chapter

Be a bargain hunter

Personalize your device

Be clever with collections

Have fun with words

Keep your device safe

Fly with your Kindle Paperwhite

Drive with your Kindle Paperwhite

Troubleshoot your device

Buy great gifts

Convert a friend

I
n trademark
For Dummies
style, this chapter contains ten tips to make your Kindle Paperwhite more useful. These concise and easy-to-digest tips can benefit power users and casual readers alike.

Be a Bargain Hunter

Many people ask if you can buy an e-book version of a previously purchased printed book for free or for a reduced price. Generally, no — but that doesn’t mean you can’t look for bargains. Amazon has a Daily Deal, where you can buy current, popular books at deeply discounted prices, often $1.99 or less. These deals last only a day, so make sure to take advantage of them when you see them.

Another way to find out about free books is to peruse the Top 100 Free Books at the main page of the Kindle Store. This list is updated hourly and new free books appear on a regular basis, so be sure to check it often.

Whispersync for Voice allows you to read a Kindle Paperwhite book and listen to an Audible book at the same time. When you switch between devices, you can pick up where you left off in the other version. At the present time, many Audible books are being offered at discounted prices, often $3.95 or less (the usual price is generally over $20). A handful of classics, including
Dracula
and
A Tale of Two Cities,
are offered for free (both the Kindle Paperwhite e-book and Audible version). Now you can catch up on some of those books that you’ve been meaning to read. If the Audible version is available at a reduced price, it will say so on the Kindle version’s product page.

Personalize Your Device

Make your Kindle Paperwhite unique. Here are two tips to personalize your Kindle Paperwhite so that everyone knows it’s yours:

Name your device.
Give your Kindle Paperwhite a special name that reflects your — and its — personality. Perhaps you want to give your Kindle Paperwhite a character’s name from a favorite book, a name you love (or even wish you had), or a meaningful phrase. We know of a Kindle Paperwhite named
Catalyst
because it’s a catalyst for reading. To change the device name, tap Menu⇒Settings to display Device Options, and make your change. You can name your device also on Amazon’s Manage Your Kindle area (
www.amazon.com/myk
).

Change the font and font size.
The Kindle Paperwhite has six fonts. Play around with them to find the one that’s most comfortable for your eyes.
Note:
You have to be in an e-book (or other content) to choose the font options. While reading a book, tap the top region of the screen to display the toolbar. Tap the Text (Aa) icon, on the left of the toolbar, and then tap through the eight font sizes, six fonts (Baskerville, Caecilia, Caecilia Condensed, Futura, Helvetica, and Palatino), line spacing, and margins. (See Chapter 2 for details.)