Kindle Paper White review : Mobileread users

[JoeC]

Originally Posted by jswinden

At first I was just going to return mine, but I think I'll do what you did and try a replacement. Except for the screen flaws on my unit I really like the PW. So many others seem to have good units that surely I can eventually get a good one too.

I think that's a good plan.

[zwarbles]

Originally Posted by maxbookworm

Sounds like the real problem here is that Amazon overpromised. The name "Paperwhite" and all the advertising they did before launch really set up the expectation that you would see a perfectly evenly lit, nearly white screen. The fact that it isn't that is a disappointment to a lot of users. If they had played it a bit more low key, the way Nook did, (i.e., "It's a Kindle, only better now because it has integrated lighting!"), I bet people would be much more positive in their reviews.

I agree 100%!!

[JoeC]

I spent time with the Paperwhite reading in bed last night. It is much better than the Touch in terms of light spilling over the room. The lighting is muted - my wife certainly likes it a lot more. The odd thing is every time it does a refresh (when it flashes black) it's annoying (kind of like someone flipping on and off the light switch in the room) - you don't notice the screen refresh with the Touch's integrated light on the case. I changed the refresh rate to every 6th page and it's much better except when reading a book/manual with a lot of images. I was reading a computer book with a lot of images and the flashing was pretty random. The flashing doesn't bother me - I'm speaking from someone sharing your bed trying to sleep. Again, it's still better than the Touch.

The shadowing on the bottom is more noticeable on a blank page. On a page with a lot of text it disappears.

[McNutt]

My only disappointment with the device is that the background didn't seem to be much whiter than my Kindle 3. The text seemed sharper though.

There is certainly some lack of uniformity in the lighting at the bottom of the Kindle, but for me the light becomes totally, and I mean TOTALLY, uniform from the bottom line of text up. I'm not trying to say that people are overreacting, but mine might just be a better example. Maybe I got lucky. Regardless, I'm very satisfied with this product and am happy I upgraded.

[andrys]

Originally Posted by jswinden

You got a good WHITE one and I got a bad PINK/TAN one.

I think you're exactly right.

I had close contact with two Paperwhites at the media event Sept 6. Yours is just obviously (to me) a defective one. I haven't seen such uneven font darkness/lightness since Kindle 2 when they had some defective batches.

Re what you can expect, I took pictures and a video while there. I think one thing with those who have normal, not defective ones, there ARE mild differences in brightness if you look for them, as in concentrating on the screen rather than trying to read on it, because there are light sources way at the bottom and it is somewhat brighter where they start. There IS a slightly darker something in the top half but it's barely noticeable to me in real life.

What I saw had minimal problems, and I was coming from not liking the unevenness of the Glowlight, so the Paperwhite screen looked very even as a result. It was beyond my own expectations.

It's hard to take pictures that come out well, when you're photographing, essentially, Light and then trying to also get the text on top of that light that is affecting your camera badly, which when it sees bright light, tries to shut down its aperture (to grey it out) or just gets overwhelmed by the light and shows only white for awhile.

The blotches described are faintly there but don't bother any of us who were used to having lamps shining on ours or who were using a Glowlight. When photographing it or video'g it, I was aware that I could never get it the way I SAW it, which was with darker text, due to shooting Light coming off a surface.

Here are the photos I took, and the video, and you can see both the faint shadows and more obvious ones at the very bottom but also ... if you're trying to read the text, you don't tend to notice them. Also, I prefer very little light and usually turn mine way down. On the Nook Color, I read text at about 7% of what brightness is. On the Kindle Fire and KF HD, at about 45%

A few photos:
http://www.pbase.com/andrys/image/146426552/original

http://www.pbase.com/andrys/image/146176726/original

http://www.pbase.com/andrys/image/145892507/original

and
a screen capture from the video I took of a demo being done for me.
- http://www.pbase.com/andrys/image/146368875/original

BELOW that picture there, you can see the video, but since it's in HD, it's better to tap the bottom status line and then the gear/wheel to "ChangeQuality" upwards (depending on whether your Internet hosting is speedy enough) and go full screen to see it best.

OR, you can just go direct to youtube to see the video there, where it's easier to change quality to 1080p or 720p and go full screen.

So, video directly at youtube:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3__m0aFKtw

When the camera is underexposing it again, in the middle, you'll see the mild splotches.

Notice that when it's used with light, the camera sees it as blue or blue-ish at first but gets used to it and then it starts to look

I think that, if you have a Non-defective unit, the key would be to see it as adding light when you need it and only enough to make it easier to read it.

Relative to our other lighting that is available for reading an e-Ink reader in lower light, the Paperwhite's lighting might work best at minimal to medium lighting for actual reading function vs than looking at the screen itself...

In total darkness? Normally you want less light because any light is more evident in darkness, but maybe that brings out unevenness, as the light-distribution method used may be less effective at lowest settings (I don't know).

[ecksor]

Originally Posted by McNutt

... I'm not trying to say that people are overreacting, but mine might just be a better example. ...

Could be also a matter of perception and habit. For example, photographers, graphic artists or people who normally work with calibrated displays tend to notice screen-related things more and are less tolerant of imperfection.

[Cooling1978]

Originally Posted by maxbookworm

Sounds like the real problem here is that Amazon overpromised. The name "Paperwhite" and all the advertising they did before launch really set up the expectation that you would see a perfectly evenly lit, nearly white screen. The fact that it isn't that is a disappointment to a lot of users. If they had played it a bit more low key, the way Nook did, (i.e., "It's a Kindle, only better now because it has integrated lighting!"), I bet people would be much more positive in their reviews.

You hit the nail on the head. Amazon kind of set themselves up for this situation. My PW is supposed to arrive today, so I'll wait to judge for myself, however there is clearly a discrepancy between reality and Amazon's marketing/promotional images. All of the PW marketing shows a perfectly-even lit device with a totally white screen. This leads the consumer to think "Wow! Amazon has done the impossible and created a white e-ink screen with perfectly black text!" When the device arrives and they see that the screen itself isn't much different from the Kindle Touch and it just has a built-in light with uneven lighting, there is obviously going to be disappointment. In that regard, B/N did the right thing with the Nook. They didn't promise a perfect, evenly-lit screen. They simply said "Here's the Nook you know and love, except now it has a built-in light!"

[JoeC]

I just reviewed the Amazon press event online again. If you go about 12:00 minutes in there's a closeup of Jeff B using the Paperwhite where you'll see a beautiful, evenly lighted screen. So far, based on comments here and the reviews that came out on Sunday, that is not the reality of what was delivered. Jeff B cranks the brightness all the way up and there are no shadows or bleeding on the bottom of the screen. It does look white and beautiful.

I'm happy with my device - it's an improvement over the Touch. Both the display and the capacitive touch are better. I do understand, and don't blame, those that press Amazon to deliver what they implied the Paperwhite is supposed to be.

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

As of now, of 32 users voting in a poll, only 59% are fully satisfied with the PW screen per this link:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/pol...ts&pollid=1479

My PW is due Oct 11 and now is labeled "Shipping Soon." I'll try it and, if dissatisfied, will call Amazon CS and request a replacement. I'll use it for at least a week before doing that since one user on the Amazon Forum said the first iPads had the same problem due to glue taking a week to dry between the screens on early deliveries. After that week the iPad displays were just fine.

The poll is still ongoing so it's hard to use it as evidence that there's a big issue. Out of 36 people that voted yes or no, 28 said yes. Only 8 said they're not happy.

[Greg G]

For some perspective of where I am coining from here is my eBook history:

I started electronic e-book reading back when PocketPCs where introduced (talk about burning out your eyes...). I was thrilled when the "high resolution" 640x480 HP iPaq was released. When Sony released the Sony Reader 500 I was completely blown away by eInk. I still see a lot of names here from back in the Sony hacking days - I all I wanted was the @#$# time to display . I broke the screen on the 500 1yr in and and bought the 505 which is still in use today by my wife (being replaced by PW today). I bought the lightwedge cover for night reading but it was pretty awkward and got shelved once the iPad was released. I read exclusively on the iPad for a while but missed the ability to read in the sun so bought a Nook Touch last year and then only used my iPad in bed for night reading due to how much better eInk looks. The iPad 3 retnia display was a huge step forward and started making my Nook look a bit blurry but still does not work well outside and is too bright at night. I got really tired of switching between my iPad and the Nook but was not ready to jump to the Nook Glow as the screen really did not look so good to me. I bit the bullet and went all in for the PW when it was announced even though I HATE that it does not use the ePub standard (thank goodness for Calibre).

Anyway, I have to say that I am very happy with the PW so far. I managed to get most of the current ePubs I've purchased converted to mobi though getting cover art to show up was a bit tricky. I think the light looks great and keep it on all the time (assume most will). The cover is probably the best ebook cover I've used since it does not make it much bigger, folds back behind the reader perfectly (I destroyed a bunch of Sony covers due to folding), and turns the PW on and off.

I love the hardware but the software could use some work. Again, the handling of covers in side loaded books is weak - hopefully someone will figure out a fix to that but for now I made them "sharable with facebook" in Calibre so they show up as personal documents with an annoying banner telling me so that covers up 20% of the cover.

Another complaint is that in addition to the ads (I assume it does not turn off if you pay the $20 to remove ads) they use up a row on the home screen for advertising their bests selling books. I know the Nook does the same thing and I was not thrilled with it there either. I would much prefer to have two rows of my books like I see when I swipe to the second page. I can go into list mode if I want but I like the covers!

Anyway, I am very pleased with the PW and think it is the best ebook reader yet!

[andrys]

Here's a good video -- this one shows the Paperwhite both in normal room light (and looks more like what I saw, except for an overhead light that's blotting some of his out) and in a pitch black room.

What's good is he shows why you'll see the difference in full darkness, and I'll start you at that point, though you can just back up to the Start at any time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-SEYSHSVKc#t=1m27s

He also gives a good demo of the features.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by Pookeysgirl

The poll is still ongoing so it's hard to use it as evidence that there's a big issue. Out of 36 people that voted yes or no, 28 said yes. Only 8 said they're not happy.

Even those 8 may be totally happy with their PW's after holding it a week. Many folks are disappointed with new toys on receipt and later forget the problems and get into just enjoying them.

In fact an iPad user on the Amazon Forums stated the original iPads had a similar problem on first receiving them due to glue not being fully dry between the screens. In one week after the glue dried the problems disappeared totally.

No one can change their vote in that poll so we will never really know if the 8 ended up totally satisfied after a week.

In any event Amazon CS will gladly give a new PW to anyone, who really wants one, in exchange for the defective one.

[JoHunt]

Originally Posted by maxbookworm

Sounds like the real problem here is that Amazon overpromised. The name "Paperwhite" and all the advertising they did before launch really set up the expectation that you would see a perfectly evenly lit, nearly white screen. The fact that it isn't that is a disappointment to a lot of users. If they had played it a bit more low key, the way Nook did, (i.e., "It's a Kindle, only better now because it has integrated lighting!"), I bet people would be much more positive in their reviews.

From Barnes & Noble's ad for the Nook:

Breakthrough GlowLight Technology illuminates entire screen evenly

From Amazon's ad for the Paperwhite:

Patented built-in light evenly illuminates the screen to provide the perfect reading experience in all lighting conditions

I don't see a difference in marketing the screen illumination. Look at the pictures/video of the Nook in B&N's ad and try to find a similar unit anywhere.

[jocampo]

I think I should make this additional comment.

I am at my office now. No windows close to my cube, but good light above me. Took my Kindle out (while I wait for a billion records to be inserted on a database ) and the minor uneven light distribution at the bottom IS GONE! You can't see it at all!

I asked a coworker and he saw nothing wrong or lighting problem, so it's not a "placebo" effect from my side.

Based on that, rooms with very low light or in absence of total light (at bed), you can barely see the spot light at the bottom. This maybe explains why during press conference it looks so good. Lighting is almost perfect on those events.

Again, not justifying Amazon, but I thought it was nice to clarify.

[andrys]

Originally Posted by joehunt

From Barnes & Noble's ad for the Nook:

I don't see a difference in marketing the screen illumination. Look at the pictures/video of the Nook in B&N's ad and try to find a similar unit anywhere.

Good points. I'll add that as of a couple of days ago, Barnes was still marketing the Glowlight (now reduced to match Paperwhite) as "NO ads" when some of us consider "You may also like..." taking up 40% of the Home screen definitely an ad.

I think that because Amazon is more of a 'general store' people get more sensitive over the recommendations to customers whereas people didn't seem to realize the Barnes version at the bottom of the Nook Simple Touch home screen IS an ad. B&N did market the Nook Simple Touch for over a year as having no ads, vs Amazon's Special Offers).