Jailbroken Kindle Paperwhite Lets You… Do Normal Tablet Stuff

This article is over 12 years old and may contain outdated information

Recommended Videos

Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite, the newest version of their dedicated E-reader, doesn’t seem like it would be incredibly popular with the reverse-engineering, hardware-hacker set: It’s black and white, and really one designed with purpose in mind… reading. Then again, maybe that’s exactly why someone decided to jailbreak it, opening up to world for adventurous Kindle-users to new and exciting features like… weather widgets, and other stuff you could’ve done if you had gotten a fully-functional tablet instead.

Unlike the iPhone 5, which was initially broken into in a matter of hours, the jailbreaking community didn’t get around to unlocking the Paperwhite for a matter of days: Almost a week went by before someone figured it out. That said, it seems like the “delay” was more a laissez-faire attitude than anything else: According to Slash Gear, the hack is very similar to one used to jailbreak the Kindle Touch.

Jailbreaking the Paperwhite, it seems, is incredibly simple: Just upload a file to the root directory, and you open up the device up to use for a wider variety of your general computing needs. Admittedly, there are some crazy things you can do, like use the Kindle as a monitor/input device for that Rasberry Pi you’ve been waiting for an excuse to use.

(via Slash Gear)

Relevant to Your Interests

 


The Mary Sue is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy
Author