Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
I’ve owned a Kindle for as long as I can remember. It’s easily one of my most used gadgets and the one that’s accompanied me through more flights I can count, weekend breaks, and long sleepless nights engrossed in the latest horror or thriller read. But even as a Kindle die-hard, the more I use it, the more I’ve realised that for all its strengths, it’s a device that is truly living in Amazon’s walled garden, and is essentially behind much of the competition.
You can’t really change how it looks beyond the basics. While you can add fonts, they won’t work with every e-book format. You can’t stop ads without paying extra. You can’t even stop it from downloading updates. The Kindle is designed to be a fully gated experience, and over time, that’s started to bother me. Even more so once I discovered that there is a way to unlock the Kindle’s full capabilities and bring it on par with competitors like the Kobo lineup. All it takes is a jailbreak to unlock the Linux-based Kindle’s full functionality.
The Kindle is designed to be a fully gated experience and over time, that's started to bother me.
Jailbreaking a Kindle isn’t hard, but it does require you to be on specific firmware versions and sideload a few files. Once done, you unlock full access to the software and file system that Amazon keeps hidden. Jailbreaking removes restrictions on things like custom wallpapers, lets you install third-party tools, and even makes your Kindle perform just a bit faster. Of course, there’s the potential downside of bricking your device in case something goes wrong, and voiding your warranty. So, if you’re risk-averse, it might not be for you. But if you’re like me and want to unlock your Kindle’s full potential, it’s absolutely worth taking on as a weekend project. Here are seven reasons why.
Have you considered jailbreaking your Kindle? 40 votes Yes, KOReader is a must for me. 30 % Yes, but i'm not sure if I'll gain much from it. 30 % No, I have no utility for it. 5 % No, I didn't know you could do that. 35 %
A better reading experience powered by KoReader
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
Amazon’s reading app is simple, but that simplicity also brings with it a range of limitations. You’re stuck with a few basic formatting options, limited file type support, and an interface that’s serviceable, but certainly not geared towards power readers. It’s consistent and simple, but my Kindle from 2015 and the latest model really don’t differ all that much. But there’s a better solution available.
KOReader is an open-source reading app that completely transforms the Kindle’s reading experience. For one, it adds support for a wide range of file formats that the Kindle doesn’t natively support. This includes everything from ePubs to DJVU, CBZ, Docx as well as significantly better PDF rendering. You can control every aspect of the layout including margin width to line spacing and custom fonts. Sure, you can do some of these on the default eReader as well. However, KOReader offers a significantly higher degree of control and lets you make much more sweeping changes to suit your need.
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