I just got the Kindle (3G) for Valentine's Day from my wonderful wife after having to sell my previous Kindle (2nd Gen) when I needed cash badly. I really missed my Kindle for several months until my wife totally surprised me last week.
So, you can do a lot of cool things with your Kindle, jailbreak or not. Personally, I jailbreak pretty much any electronic I own, but I make an exception for the Kindle. The extra functionality isn't worth it to me to ruin the warranty (although I hear certain things won't void your warranty), and make no mistake, the customer service is fantastic. With my old Kindle, I got a small scratch on the screen and I felt the battery wasn't lasting as long as I'd like. I called customer service and they replaced the thing THE NEXT DAY.
Anyways, some shortcuts:
Take a screenshot: Alt + Shift + G
You can seen the screenshots in the \documents folder when you connect it to a computer. It looks like this:
Screen refresh: Alt + G
Sometimes this is good for the Kindle Daily Post. In case you haven't noticed, the pages there turn differently...i.e. the whole screen doesn't refresh, just the main body of text, making "page turns" very fast. The 3rd Gen Kindle's screen is noticeably better than the 2nd Gen one, so this command isn't totally needed very often.
Minesweeper & GoMoku: Alt + Shift + M
GoMoku is very fun, but I was never really into Minesweeper. There are several games you can download on the Kindle, some free, some not. Everything from Word Search to Chess. Personally, I love that the Kindle is really just focused on reading. With my iPhone I get too easily distracted...
Alt + Spacebar: Play music! You can also do this from the Experimental screen. As far as I know, you can only play MP3's, but the quality is quite nice. The 3rd Gen speakers seem somewhat quieter than the 2nd Gen ones, but that might be just me.
View Images: Open the Kindle up on the computer and create a new folder in root named "pictures". Create another folder within this and then place the pictures in there. You will then see it in the Home screen.
There are MANY other shortcuts and tricks, here's a list to the absolutely most thorough list that exists:
http://blog.diannegorman.net/2010/09/kindle-3-keyboard-shortcuts-et-al/
Calculator & Modem Info Menu:
There are all sorts of nerdy tricks you can do, like use the search bar as a calculator and even do trig functions and assign variables. I like going to the Settings screen and looking at the secret information screens. Look at your keyboard. Notice how there is no numbers on it, like there was on the previous Kindles. Well, pressing and holding Alt + Q will type a 1. Alt + W is 2. I think you get the point. Try 311, 411, 611 & 711 in Settings.
3.1 Firmware Update:
Also, I highly recommend downloading the 3.1 firmware if you already haven't. The way it manages magazines and blogs is much better. This page has the download link and instructions:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_navbox_top_kindlelg?nodeId=200529700
Manage Your Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle
From there, you can manage all your subscriptions, LEND BOOKS, etc.
Kindle Customer Support:
1-866-321-8851
Like I said before, they are pretty fantastic and picked up the phone within a minute every time I called. If they can't fix your problem quickly they'll elevate you to specialized support as well.
If have any other questions, feel free to ask! KindleGAF unite!
So, you can do a lot of cool things with your Kindle, jailbreak or not. Personally, I jailbreak pretty much any electronic I own, but I make an exception for the Kindle. The extra functionality isn't worth it to me to ruin the warranty (although I hear certain things won't void your warranty), and make no mistake, the customer service is fantastic. With my old Kindle, I got a small scratch on the screen and I felt the battery wasn't lasting as long as I'd like. I called customer service and they replaced the thing THE NEXT DAY.
Anyways, some shortcuts:
Take a screenshot: Alt + Shift + G
You can seen the screenshots in the \documents folder when you connect it to a computer. It looks like this:
Screen refresh: Alt + G
Sometimes this is good for the Kindle Daily Post. In case you haven't noticed, the pages there turn differently...i.e. the whole screen doesn't refresh, just the main body of text, making "page turns" very fast. The 3rd Gen Kindle's screen is noticeably better than the 2nd Gen one, so this command isn't totally needed very often.
Minesweeper & GoMoku: Alt + Shift + M
GoMoku is very fun, but I was never really into Minesweeper. There are several games you can download on the Kindle, some free, some not. Everything from Word Search to Chess. Personally, I love that the Kindle is really just focused on reading. With my iPhone I get too easily distracted...
Alt + Spacebar: Play music! You can also do this from the Experimental screen. As far as I know, you can only play MP3's, but the quality is quite nice. The 3rd Gen speakers seem somewhat quieter than the 2nd Gen ones, but that might be just me.
View Images: Open the Kindle up on the computer and create a new folder in root named "pictures". Create another folder within this and then place the pictures in there. You will then see it in the Home screen.
There are MANY other shortcuts and tricks, here's a list to the absolutely most thorough list that exists:
http://blog.diannegorman.net/2010/09/kindle-3-keyboard-shortcuts-et-al/
Calculator & Modem Info Menu:
There are all sorts of nerdy tricks you can do, like use the search bar as a calculator and even do trig functions and assign variables. I like going to the Settings screen and looking at the secret information screens. Look at your keyboard. Notice how there is no numbers on it, like there was on the previous Kindles. Well, pressing and holding Alt + Q will type a 1. Alt + W is 2. I think you get the point. Try 311, 411, 611 & 711 in Settings.
3.1 Firmware Update:
Also, I highly recommend downloading the 3.1 firmware if you already haven't. The way it manages magazines and blogs is much better. This page has the download link and instructions:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_navbox_top_kindlelg?nodeId=200529700
Manage Your Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle
From there, you can manage all your subscriptions, LEND BOOKS, etc.
Kindle Customer Support:
1-866-321-8851
Like I said before, they are pretty fantastic and picked up the phone within a minute every time I called. If they can't fix your problem quickly they'll elevate you to specialized support as well.
If have any other questions, feel free to ask! KindleGAF unite!
