[beninma]

I just received a 3G w/o SO in the mail yesterday, I had ordered it so long ago..

If there was a "new batch", I think I got one of them.. mine is fantastic. I was very worried monitoring this forum the past month while I waited.

The dark/light variations at the bottom of the screen are very faint on mine, they are noticeable in certain lighting conditions but they don't extend very far up the page and they disappear as soon as you start reading.

I think I may be able to detect an ever so slight change in color temperature in the upper right corner, but again it is so fleeting and you only see it when the lighting is just right, that it's hard to tell if I'm imagining it. This is really only noticeable in a pitch black room with the light set to the 3-6 range. (That is where I seemed to settle on reading in bed.)

It just looks absolutely fantastic in most light though. I have a Nook Glo as well, and there is no comparison, the contrast on the PW is considerably better. It's like looking at an original eInk screen vs. a Pearl screen. The black is BLACK on the PW. The entire package is just so well thought out with the leather cover, the way the UI works, etc.. I am very happy. (Past history, I had a DX-G, then I got the Nook Glo and sold the DX-G, now I have the PW. I also have several smartphones and tablets, I'm a software engineer and somewhat of a gadget hound.) At this point I wish I had kept the DX-G and then I'd be selling the Nook Glow, but the PW is so sharp and usable with small fonts that I think it will be quite good for technical material.

I may take some comparison photos, I have a very nice DSLR & studio lighting equipment and could do some pretty decent tests.. A lot of this could be expectations though, maybe someone else would think I have a "bad" one. To me it looks great. I did not expect it to look like my Galaxy S3 screen when reading in pitch black darkness.

I did clean the screen with a "Klear Screen Wipe" first thing when I got it just in case there was some possibility any chemicals were left on it from manufacturing.. I don't think it had any effect.