Amazon has been employing JavaScript for their entire UI for the Kindle since they started making them in 2017. In the past year, the company has been dramatically changing the home screen and user interface. Many people are upset about the changes, since it effects their reading flow. Do you know the real reason why they have constantly been changing all aspects of the Kindle? This is because they are trying to get rid of all of the legacy JavaScript code and switching to React Native. This is a new programming language that many people in the industry are familiar with and it is easier to hire dedicated web programmers who specialize in this language and will be easier to introduce new features in the Kindle in the future. You can expect more sweeping changes in the Kindle sometime this year.

Amazon has brought the new home screen experience to a select number of Kindle e-readers. This is because they are still being supported with firmware updates. This includes the 10th generation Kindle Basic and the 9th generation model. The 11th Generation Kindle Paperwhite and the 10th generation model. They also brought it to the Kindle Oasis 3. Why don’t older e-readers like the Voyage or previous generations of the Paperwhite get the new home screen experience? This is because Amazon pivoted to only support Kindles for maximum of five years, and this countdown starts the first day the product was first available on the Amazon website.

Amazon told Good e-Reader in a statement “We’re always working to improve the customer experience on Kindle devices. Following last year’s software update to navigation and access to settings, we’ve made changes to Home and Library that will make it easy for customers to manage and access their content. This update includes new filter and sort menus, refreshed grid and list views, new collections view, a new interactive scroll bar, and the ability to access up to 20 of your recently read books on Home.”

What is React Native? React Native applications are written using a mixture of JavaScript and XML-esque markup, known as JSX. React Native is an open-source JavaScript framework, designed for building apps on multiple platforms like iOS, Android, and also web applications, utilizing the very same code base. Basically, the UI that is created on the Kindles are easier to maintain and introduce new features. I think the ultimate goal is to be able to have the same UI on Fire tablets and also Kindle for Android and Kindle for iOS.

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