My New $69 K4 is here!

[jswinden]

I certainly wouldn't base a comparison solely on a photo, but I will say in that photo the two black Kindles both look to have a truer black tint to text and images than the silver Kindle. The silver Kindle almost looks like it has a slight brown tint. However, it is a photo and weird tints can happen in photos. If they look like that in real life, then the black models have better screens IMO due to truer blacks and deeper blacks.

[GA Russell]

Blossom, I'm delighted that you consider the text of your new unit to be blacker than previous eInk models. That's very important to me, and why I have always liked the reflective TFT screen of the jetBook line the best.

[Blossom]

Here you guys go.


As you can tell there is a huge difference in contrast between the two. The grey background is really hard to catch on camera. I'm still trying to though. You can tell from this pic how cleaner the screen looks on the K4B.

[Zeebra]

Originally Posted by aceflor

Exactly, but I don't have a working camera so I used my phone. There is a big bay window on the right side too. This pic was made as an answer to Zeebra, not to prove my point since I really believe that the grey K4 Displays did vary quite a lot from one device to another.

Hey I just wanted to see it not make any judgments based on the picture. Thanks Blossom!!

[Zeebra]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Here you guys go.


As you can tell there is a huge difference in contrast between the two. The grey background is really hard to catch on camera. I'm still trying to though. You can tell from this pic how cleaner the screen looks on the K4B.

The blacks look way blacker on the new device from that picture.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Here you guys go.
...
As you can tell there is a huge difference in contrast between the two. The grey background is really hard to catch on camera. I'm still trying to though. You can tell from this pic how cleaner the screen looks on the K4B.

Sadly, I can only see a very slight difference. Perceived image color and contrast is highly dependent on CRT or LCD settings, ambient lighting, and viewing angle for LCDs. And JPEG adds compression artifacts that affect the edges of the letters (which is what we are analyzing here). Be sure to set your camera image "quality" to maximum, for less compression artifacts causing "fuzz" around the letter edges.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

Sadly, I can only see a very slight difference. Perceived image color and contrast is highly dependent on CRT or LCD settings, ambient lighting, and viewing angle for LCDs. And JPEG adds compression artifacts that affect the edges of the letters (which is what we are analyzing here).

This is why I only posted the pic that perceives to what my eyes see when I look at it. I took several but this how it looks to my naked eye with the exception the K4S has a grey background and K4B looks off white (creme). I can't seem to catch that on camera.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Zeebra

The blacks look way blacker on the new device from that picture.

Not only blacker but cleaner and crisper too. The K4S has that jagged issue that is really noticeable in bright lighting. The K4B doesn't seem to suffer from it. I am thrill! There nothing worse than a font that looks like anti alias has been turned off.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by Blossom

This is why I only posted the pic that perceives to what my eyes see when I look at it. I took several but this how it looks to my naked eye with the exception the K4S has a grey background and K4B looks off white (creme). I can't seem to catch that on camera.

Except what you see may not be what I see, because we have different computer monitors, adjusted differently, in different ambient lighting conditions, and perhaps viewed from different angles. Some LCD panels are very bad at color quality when viewed from different angles (even the difference from the top to the bottom of the screen).

And things that look good on a CRT can look horrible on an LCD. And there are gamma differences between Apple PCs and Windows PCs. It made web page development "interesting" back in the day, trying to make web pages with images that looked good in all conditions.

Unless we can duplicate your viewing conditions, we will have to take your word for it. You may very well see much more perceived contrast difference (even on your photos) than I am seeing when viewing your photos on my computer display (in a darkened room).

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

Except what you see may not be what I see, because we have different computer monitors, adjusted differently, in different ambient lighting conditions, and perhaps viewed from different angles. Some LCD panels are very bad at color quality when viewed from different angles (even the difference from the top to the bottom of the screen).

And things that look good on a CRT can look horrible on an LCD. And there are gamma differences between Apple PCs and Windows PCs. It made web page development "interesting" back in the day, trying to make web pages with images that looked good in all conditions.

Very True. LCD color does vary so that is correct others may not being able to see the same thing but that's not something I can fix.

[David58117]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

Except what you see may not be what I see, because we have different computer monitors, adjusted differently, in different ambient lighting conditions, and perhaps viewed from different angles. Some LCD panels are very bad at color quality when viewed from different angles (even the difference from the top to the bottom of the screen).

And things that look good on a CRT can look horrible on an LCD. And there are gamma differences between Apple PCs and Windows PCs. It made web page development "interesting" back in the day, trying to make web pages with images that looked good in all conditions.

But since they're both in the same picture together - wouldn't they both be affected by the changes similarly, so the differences would remain?

Anyway - I definitely see a contrast difference in those pics Blossom. If that's what you're seeing under different conditions and positions, then I'll have to check one out in person!!!!!!

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Not only blacker but cleaner and crisper too. The K4S has that jagged issue that is really noticeable in bright lighting. The K4B doesn't seem to suffer from it. I am thrill! There nothing worse than a font that looks like anti alias has been turned off.

I am very happy for you.

We can only hope that later shipments do not contain screens with the same variable quality issues as older K4/K5 models.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by David58117

But since they're both in the same picture together - wouldn't they both be affected by the changes similarly, so the differences would remain?

Anyway - I definitely see a contrast difference in those pics Blossom. If that's what you're seeing under different conditions and positions, then I'll have to check one out in person!!!!!!

Well the K4S background on mine looks grey but due to how cameras work it's really hard to capture that. The K4B background looks alot lighter and cleaner more like the background on my K3.

By cleaner I mean where the text is there is no fuzzy dingy look behind the text like on the K4S. This has always bothered me.

Originally Posted by geekmaster

I am very happy for you.

We can only hope that later shipments do not contain screens with the same variable quality issues as older K4/K5 models.

Thank you! I've feel Amazon has redeem themselves in my eyes. I do know eInk varies but After 3 K4S units I was ready to give up on a non lighted Kindle. I'm so happy I traded my K3 for this! It has better contrast than my K3.

[Kumabjorn]

Congratulations, I was just as happy when I got my K4S even though it was just ten days ago and I wish I had waited a few days more for the new model.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Congratulations, I was just as happy when I got my K4S even though it was just ten days ago and I wish I had waited a few days more for the new model.

Did you return it after all or decide to keep it? I love the black. It's prettier, feel more nice in my hands and on my unit the contrast is very good.

I would exchange it for the newer one. Seeing you are still in your 30 day window you should have no problems getting upgraded and $10 back on it.