Maybe Sony Did the Right Thing

[Quexos]

Well I got a Glo and I must say the light is very nice, I only put it at about a third of it's total light output and it's very comfortable. I'm very happy I've got the Kobo Glo

Originally Posted by Jane12

Kindle Paperwhite v Kobo Glo side by side:

http://goodereader.com/blog/electron...-the-kobo-glo/

Not sure how much is the light settings and camera, but I'm startled how much better the Paperwhite's screen looks in this video. I'd love to see the two side-by-side in person.

[shanghaichica]

I also have a kobo glo and I have no problems. The light is uniform and I have no dead pixels or colour blotches. I think generally Kobo got it right.

[shanghaichica]

Originally Posted by Jane12

Kindle Paperwhite v Kobo Glo side by side:

http://goodereader.com/blog/electron...-the-kobo-glo/

Not sure how much is the light settings and camera, but I'm startled how much better the Paperwhite's screen looks in this video. I'd love to see the two side-by-side in person.

My kobo does not look blue. The light is white and I can read in a pitch black room at the lowest setting. It also does not distort the text at the highest setting. It's still perfectly readable and comfortable.

[david8866]

Originally Posted by shanghaichica

My kobo does not look blue. The light is white and I can read in a pitch black room at the lowest setting. It also does not distort the text at the highest setting. It's still perfectly readable and comfortable.

Have you done extended reading in the pitch black room? My eyes hurt just for a few minutes of computer/tablet reading in the dark, even lowest light setting.
Although I have many book lights, built-in light sounds like a wonderful thing.

[scrapking]

Originally Posted by david8866

Have you done extended reading in the pitch black room? My eyes hurt just for a few minutes of computer/tablet reading in the dark, even lowest light setting.
Although I have many book lights, built-in light sounds like a wonderful thing.

I have read for hours on my Glo in pitch black at night. The light bothers my attempting-to-sleep partner less than my tablet did, and it doesn't bother my eyes at all. I had to view my Kobo Vox at a greater-than-45-degree angle to read it for any length of time in the pitch black (you wouldn't believe how steep an angle I viewed it at in the dark), but the Glo I can look at it straight on with no eyestrain at all. The light goes lower, and I'm now looking at reflected light rather than the lightsource itself.

[scrapking]

Originally Posted by shanghaichica

My kobo does not look blue. The light is white and I can read in a pitch black room at the lowest setting. It also does not distort the text at the highest setting. It's still perfectly readable and comfortable.

I perceived the light on my Glo as being white at first, but after looking at that goodereader review I now perceive it as having a slight blue-ish tinge. I don't really care, but it is there. It's interesting how that goodereader review found the Kindle PW was whiter when front-lit, and the Glo whiter when un-lit. But as I say, I don't much care. I'm not looking to mimic the experience of reading on paper, I'm looking for a great e-reading experience.

[shanghaichica]

Originally Posted by scrapking

I perceived the light on my Glo as being white at first, but after looking at that goodereader review I now perceive it as having a slight blue-ish tinge. I don't really care, but it is there. It's interesting how that goodereader review found the Kindle PW was whiter when front-lit, and the Glo whiter when un-lit. But as I say, I don't much care. I'm not looking to mimic the experience of reading on paper, I'm looking for a great e-reading experience.

I think it depends on the lighting for me. In darkness and outside it looks white. Its only under bright lights that it looks blue. Strange they would say that, i''ve not seen the paperwhite in through flesh but the Kobo has a grey contrast when un-lit at least mine does.

[shanghaichica]

Originally Posted by david8866

Have you done extended reading in the pitch black room? My eyes hurt just for a few minutes of computer/tablet reading in the dark, even lowest light setting.
Although I have many book lights, built-in light sounds like a wonderful thing.

I did an hour on the first night, 1 and a half hours the second night and half an hour last night. So far so good

[filmo]

Your vision sort of does auto white balance making surrounding room light the norm. If your room lighting is matching old incandescent light 2700K color temperature producing a more warm orange light the daylight balanced glow light will look blue. If your reading in day light the glow light will look white.

Stop fixating on screen and glow light color and just read. You will soon put this color non problem back into it's secondary place. We all have read without problems paper back books and news papers with far from white paper to words on bright white, pink, yellow, orange and blue paper without giving paper color much thought.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_temperature

[Kolenka]

Originally Posted by scrapking

Since you've been researching this up the ying-yang, how do the Kobo and Amazon approaches differ from Nook's approach?

Hard to say, the more I see the Kobo, the more it looks a bit more like the Nook's approach, just further along with that particular light guide design. I'd probably need to have one in hand to describe it better.

I've only used the Paperwhite and Nook personally at this point, and the Paperwhite's approach has a few pluses to the Nook, although the Nook ain't all that bad either. The Paperwhite feels less like a "light over a display" and more like a "white display". It's kinda hard to describe.

But the thing I do want to point out is that at this point, none of them are going to be perfect. But they are all good enough that if I were given any of the three for free, I would use them no problem. If it was my money, I'd be pickier, but I don't see a reason to ignore this generation really, unless you expect a completely even display (or at least on par with a tablet's backlight).

Originally Posted by l_macd

Some interesting stuff there Kolenka, but regards the capacitive screen on the Paperwhite, it's been suggested that this is in effect a layer that is painted on, like a coat of nail varnish, so would that mean it's not a layer than needs bonded with the other layers? Sorry of that's a daft question, I'm clueless about the tech of these screens!

You still need to run wiring in a grid for the touch sensor to work, and it needs to be precise. Unless you manufacture the sensors at the same time as the light guide or eInk panel, the wiring needs to be embedded into a film so it can be assembled correctly later (common). You could in theory embed the wiring in the bonding agent that you use between the guide and the eInk panel, but that comes across as pretty tricky when using the labor available at places like Foxconn. Either the touch layer comes in complete as a film that needs to be bonded, or it is included in the manufacturing of the light guide, which comes as additional cost though complexity of a custom part.

Originally Posted by filmo

Your vision sort of does auto white balance making surrounding room light the norm. If your room lighting is matching old incandescent light 2700K color temperature producing a more warm orange light the daylight balanced glow light will look blue. If your reading in day light the glow light will look white.

I'm not concerned about white balance per se. Some here might be, but white points closer to blue have other things that concern me.

Studies tend to show that the more blue lights tend to trick your brain into staying awake thinking there is still daylight, while warmer incandescent lights don't do this nearly as much. I have screwed my sleep cycles quite a bit for a couple years because of this little quirk before I started understanding what was going on. Granted, this is not exactly what I'd consider a well-understood phenomenon at this point.

But another stance for me is that the Nook's light was actually harsher on my eyes and made them tired more quickly, while the warmer light on the Paperwhite was easier to use in a completely dark room.

The exact color temperature doesn't bother me, but these other things are somewhat important, IMO. But in the end, you really just have to use whichever one you actually enjoy using.

[filmo]

Nook's light placement at top of screen runs counter to my tendency to hold a book with top tilted away and never having top tilted toward me.

[rashkae]

The Light on the Kobo applies a blue tinge on everything, including the text, and reducing the contrast of the text. Of course, it's a perfectly good trade-off for reading in innadequate light. The paperwhite, however, has done something so far completely different from everyone else. I'm only speculating, but the light from the Paperwhite reflects very differently from the e-ink 'white' pixels, and the black, by comparison, really pops out. That's why amazon suggests leaving the light on all the time, (actually, turning it up to bright when in a well let room.)

I can't speak about what percentage of Kindles have the multi-colored blotches, but it seems to me lots of people jump in on that problem to complain about the 'shadowing' at the bottom, (which is normal, happens on the Kobo as well, and should not be visible unless you're turning the light so high in the dark you can use it as a flashligh. ie. making it 'glow' rather than easy to read.)

The unknown percentage of faulty Kindle screens (and the obvious supply problems probably frustrating returns,) in terms of tech used, I think Kindle is the one who got it right, by a very large margin.