Kindle Paperwhite owners. Are appreciably the better resolution? or it isn't

[RainingLemur]

I can see where the "washed out" look comes from, but it doesn't bother me much at all. To me, it is more of an extremely minor inconvenience. The text itself looks sharper to me, but not so much that I've thought "Holy batflaps, grandma. This looks so much better." It's noticeable, but not really worth writing home about.

[Binko]

I'm quite disappointed by the lack of sharpness of the text on the Paperwhite display.

When you use the light (and that's the entire purpose of the Paperwhite over standard Kindles) it lightens the background and increases the relative contrast between background and text. But, at the same time, it washes out the text itself and reduces it from black to dark grey.

My guess is that light does not only lighten the background and the text but will also completely wash away some of the fainter shades of grey that are used for font hinting.

Also there is the effect of looking through the additional layer of plastic that is used for light dispersion. All in all, the fonts are no where near as sharp as I had hoped.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Binko

Also there is the effect of looking through the additional layer of plastic that is used for light dispersion. All in all, the fonts are no where near as sharp as I had hoped.

This is how it appears to me as well. I notice when I look at the screen of my Touch the font seems sharper, darker, and more on the surface.

[BugA]

One of the users on another forum (source) has just posted some comparison pictures of Kindle 2, Kindle 3 and Kindle Paperwhite on-screen fonts, zoomed in. Pictures are shown respectively.

While the higher resolution is clearly visible, what surprised me is the looks of PW font edges, their blurriness, like the actual text is submerged into water, and that we look at it through some kind of a water layer...?



I haven`t seen this on pictures posted so far, anyone else noticed it? K2 and K3 pictures have clear pixelization, but I don`t think that`s the issue with PW, where the edges are rather smudged then pixelized :/

As the user mentioned there, this is probably because of the light diffusing layer above the eInk screen, and probably the touch layer has its part in it, too. He also states that all this is practically impossible to see in regular use. But, it might be (one of) the reason(s) why some people say that fonts are not as clear on PW as on the previous generation Kindle.

edit: I just read this post, that is exactly what I was talking about:

Originally Posted by Binko

Also there is the effect of looking through the additional layer of plastic that is used for light dispersion. All in all, the fonts are no where near as sharp as I had hoped.

[oldbook]

Do you remember when Sony made a step backwards in readability introducing the first touch several years ago? Then they switched to the IR technology.

[neonbible]

Originally Posted by BugA

One of the users on another forum (source) has just posted some comparison pictures of Kindle 2, Kindle 3 and Kindle Paperwhite on-screen fonts, zoomed in. Pictures are shown respectively.

While the higher resolution is clearly visible, what surprised me is the looks of PW font edges, their blurriness, like the actual text is submerged into water, and that we look at it through some kind of a water layer...?



I haven`t seen this on pictures posted so far, anyone else noticed it? K2 and K3 pictures have clear pixelization, but I don`t think that`s the issue with PW, where the edges are rather smudged then pixelized :/

As the user mentioned there, this is probably because of the light diffusing layer above the eInk screen, and probably the touch layer has its part in it, too. He also states that all this is practically impossible to see in regular use. But, it might be (one of) the reason(s) why some people say that fonts are not as clear on PW as on the previous generation Kindle.

edit: I just read this post, that is exactly what I was talking about:

Isn't this related to the texture of the PW screen? It's a little rougher than previous models. And if you zoom in that closely I'm not surprised you see that effect.

[AZImmortal]

Originally Posted by BugA

While the higher resolution is clearly visible, what surprised me is the looks of PW font edges, their blurriness, like the actual text is submerged into water, and that we look at it through some kind of a water layer...?

I don't own a PW, but I think that this watery aspect is definitely what's behind a large part of the complaints. The edges of the text look fluid, which probably tricks the brain into thinking that the edges are moving.

[BugA]

^^ AZImmortal, that seems quite possible.

Originally Posted by neonbible

Isn't this related to the texture of the PW screen? It's a little rougher than previous models. And if you zoom in that closely I'm not surprised you see that effect.

I didn`t quite understand the zoom part... The point is that the edges of the text are blurry, which has nothing to do with zooming - zooming in should bring pixelization (as in previous Kindles), but here even before we zoom enough to see the actual pixelization (which should occur with bigger zoom, as the resolution is bigger on PW) we see that edges are not sharp, but smudgy. In other words, it heavily degrades what otherwise bigger resolution could actually show on the PW screen.

The fact that it is not (clearly) visible without zooming-in doesn`t mean that it doesn`t affect the users` reading experience - and it might introduce an extra eye-strain, causing that "dancing text" sensation, as AZImmortal pointed out, or maybe even a head-ache for certain people, as the brain is doing some extra work to locate and process the exact font edges (a process we aren`t consciously aware of, but it happens behind the scene).

Of course that all this might be just one (extreme) end of it, but the point is that the font is not as crisp as it might have been with this higher resolution. But, can this make it worse for (long term) reading than the reading on the new Kindle 4 (black), with smaller resolution than PW, but more crisp fonts?

Not to get me wrong, if you are satisfied with your PW, that is the only thing that matters I`m discussing here from more of a technical point of view, being interested in the current technology and possible improvements, not trying to convince anyone that his/her PW is bad.

[Kolenka]

Originally Posted by BugA

I didn`t quite understand the zoom part... The point is that the edges of the text are blurry, which has nothing to do with zooming - zooming in should bring pixelization (as in previous Kindles), but here even before we zoom enough to see the actual pixelization (which should occur with bigger zoom, as the resolution is bigger on PW) we see that edges are not sharp, but smudgy. In other words, it heavily degrades what otherwise bigger resolution could actually show on the PW screen.

You miss his point, even though you both are really talking about the same thing. This effect is expected to be uncovered when you take such a zoomed in photo of the text when talking about a light guide like this. The Nook has a similar effect as well.

It's a trade-off. To have the built-in light that adds so little bulk, you have to use a light guide. And the light guide's surface will cause refraction. That refraction does two things:

1) Directs the light onto the page to provide the illumination.
2) Causes distortions in the image depending on the exact texture used.

Originally Posted by BugA

Of course that all this might be just one (extreme) end of it, but the point is that the font is not as crisp as it might have been with this higher resolution. But, can this make it worse for (long term) reading than the reading on the new Kindle 4 (black), with smaller resolution than PW, but more crisp fonts?

I don't really believe so, the text is still has less aliasing and more well-defined edges, even if they aren't sharp. If the goal here is to replicate print more accurately, the PW does a better job. Is it a revolution in detail? Nope. Ideally we'd get something like a 1600x1200 pixel display at 6" which would be over 300ppi, and even with the light you should get nice sharp text.

At this scale, the eyes are surprisingly forgiving. Take all those LCD monitors where a pixel that we perceive as a single color is really a RGB triplet of subpixels.

But yeah, it isn't tack-sharp... and unfortunately, the physics in the matter say that if we want a light guide over the display, we can't get tack sharp results at such small scales.

[Andy_T]

Give me pixels over blurred text, any day!

For me, the combination of Kindle Keyboard (for bright days) + Kindle Fire (for dark days and nighttime reading) was the clear winner, when I compared the three side-by-side.

Best regards,
Andy

[ath]

Originally Posted by AZImmortal

I don't own a PW, but I think that this watery aspect is definitely what's behind a large part of the complaints. The edges of the text look fluid, which probably tricks the brain into thinking that the edges are moving.

With a JPEG image, that 'fluid' look could also be due to compression artifacts, and possibly even repeated compression. For think kind of analysis, compression should be avoided in all steps of the procexss, which means avoiding JPEG.

[DrunkenDonkey]

JPEG compression produces checkerboard artefacts, not fluid look, these are the result of the added layers and something that put the final nail in pw for me, from something I was dying to get ever since it got presented, to undesirable device, compared to k4b

[Andy_T]

Might that be some kind of "antialiasing" that was purposely built in, in order to reduce the "pixelated" aspect?

For me, the pixelated fonts contribute to my perception of sharpness, so I actually like that on my Kindle Keyboard.

Best regards,
Andy

[pebsuk]

Got mine today and found as long as you adjust the light settings to the optimal setting for the room (adjust until no sign of light shining up from bottom of screen) the reading experience is marvellous (Kindle KB, Touch now Paperwhite) the Touch was returned a couple of weeks and been having to read "books" I'm so pleased it's now here!!!

[tmf2]

Originally Posted by Andy_T

Give me pixels over blurred text, any day! Andy

I agree 100%.