Even More Paperwhite Thoughts

[twowheels]

I know there are about 100 threads on this topic already, but I believe that I have a few new points worth mentioning now that I've [finally!] received my Paperwhite.

Overall, I'd say the device is a winner. As a former K3 user and having borrowed a Touch for the last few days to see if I liked the touch interface, I'd say this beats them both. That said, I do see some of the issues mentioned. Here are my thoughts on those, and some new ones:

• Clasp on magnetic cover rattles! Anybody else have that? If my cover is open and I tap it, there's a rattle! Probably not enough to bug me once I get used to it, but I do hear it now! Haven't seen anybody mention this one yet.
  
• Unlit color: My K3 is slightly whiter, but it's also far whiter than any other Kindle that I've ever compared it to. I think that I just got VERY lucky when buying it. With the light up a little bit the PW looks whiter.
  
• Blue tinge: I see it too, but I don't think it's a defect. I think that there color temperature of the light is uncomfortably white... too white for a dark room. They focused so much on making it look white, that it's hard to look at and hurts your night vision. I think that a cooler light temperature would have been a big improvement. I'm not sure I like it yet, and find the case light on my K3 to be much more comfortable.
  
• Color blotches: I think I see what people are talking about. There are regions of dark & light text if I look closely. I strongly suspect that this is due to the font rendering. It appears to me that they've taken advantage of the higher resolution and tweaked the font rendering engine for improved shape and kerning. The problem is that going for best shape & kerning means that some letter strokes will fall on a pixel boundary and some will fall between pixel boundaries and the sharp edges will become part of the anti-aliased gray region. This causes some letters to look very sharp and bold and some to look weaker and washed out. I think I'll quickly stop noticing as it's rather subtle and the benefit of improved rendering will outweigh the blotches. I especially love the Baskerville font.
  
• Shadows: I see them. That said, I find that I prefer to use the device at a low enough level that I can barely tell that it's lit. Just enough to give a contrast boost. At this level I don't see the shadow. In brightly lit rooms I don't need lighting, and in dark rooms it's more even than the case light I had before, so I'm not complaining about that. I find 5-11 to be a comfortable level in most indoor settings and ~2 to be best at night.
  
• Bright spots: I saw some... wiped away a fleck of dust and they went away. Might not be the cause of all, but possibly the cause of some!
  
• Bezel Depth: FAR better than the touch. The touch cast BIG shadows on the device outside. This one casts much smaller shadows. The K3 casts none, so it still wins here.

While there most definitely are some defective units out there, I think that I got a good one and I think some of the noise is disappointment from Amazon over-promising and under-delivering and a little bit of the power of suggestion due to the bad devices that did come out. My GF saw it, and she's not been privy to any of the ongoing discussions here, and she immediately said it's MUCH better and that she wanted to take it. I offered to upgrade hers, but she said not to waste the money, the K3 w/ case light was good enough.

[haydnfan]

Originally Posted by twowheels

I think that a cooler light temperature would have been a big improvement. I'm not sure I like it yet, and find the case light on my K3 to be much more comfortable.

I think you meant warmer. Our eyes are less sensitive to red as they are to blue. That is why alarm clocks usually have red displays, that way they don't kill your night vision.

[xendula]

I am so glad you got a winner, God knows you waited forever for it!
The color blotches and the font stroke are two different issues, though.
The color blotches are areas of blue/green and pink, not bright and dark (those obviously do exist as well), and my first two did not show any. Then the second one started developing it. The first one is the least colored of the 4 that I have that turn on, but it has so many other issues that I can't keep it. The other two had colored backgrounds out of the box.

[Barty]

Originally Posted by twowheels

[LIST]

[*] Unlit color: My K3 is slightly whiter, but it's also far whiter than any other Kindle that I've ever compared it to. I think that I just got VERY lucky when buying it. With the light up a little bit the PW looks whiter.

My k3 is quite a bit lighter. I need to increase front light on the pw to 9 or 10 to match the ow background to k3

Originally Posted by twowheels

[*] Blue tinge: I see it too, but I don't think it's a defect. I think that there color temperature of the light is uncomfortably white... too white for a dark room. They focused so much on making it look white, that it's hard to look at and hurts your night vision. I think that a cooler light temperature would have been a big improvement. I'm not sure I like it yet, and find the case light on my K3 to be much more comfortable.

It's not a defect, just unfortunate. They use blue LED and phosphor coating to make the light appear white. You mean to say a WARMER temp would have been better. I wish they could have given it a cream or light ecru color to make it more like bond paper or hard back book paper.

I notice the color is warmer during the day and cooler at night. It is nothing to do with the light or diffuser. It is just how they appear to interact with natural light. Unfortunately, this is just the reverse of what we want. We want a warmer color at night. It would've been better if they'd overcompensated and made it warm, then at night when it turns cooler, then it becomes a neutral white.

Originally Posted by twowheels

[*] Color blotches: I think I see what people are talking about. There are regions of dark & light text if I look closely. I strongly suspect that this is due to the font rendering. It appears to me that they've taken advantage of the higher resolution and tweaked the font rendering engine for improved shape and kerning. The problem is that going for best shape & kerning means that some letter strokes will fall on a pixel boundary and some will fall between pixel boundaries and the sharp edges will become part of the anti-aliased gray region. This causes some letters to look very sharp and bold and some to look weaker and washed out. I think I'll quickly stop noticing as it's rather subtle and the benefit of improved rendering will outweigh the blotches. I especially love the Baskerville font.

I don't think you are seeing color blotches. Color blotches are cloudy areas with COLORS. They don't have anything to do with text rendering. You can see color blotches on a blank screen.

What you are seeing is uneven text rendering. Try setting always refresh on.

I think you have a good one. Enjoy!

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by haydnfan

I think you meant warmer. Our eyes are less sensitive to red as they are to blue. That is why alarm clocks usually have red displays, that way they don't kill your night vision.

Yes, I said that backwards. It was late. :-)

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by xendula

I am so glad you got a winner, God knows you waited forever for it!

Yeah. I think I was the LAST day one buyer in the continental US to get one. :-)

The color blotches and the font stroke are two different issues, though.
The color blotches are areas of blue/green and pink, not bright and dark (those obviously do exist as well), and my first two did not show any. Then the second one started developing it. The first one is the least colored of the 4 that I have that turn on, but it has so many other issues that I can't keep it. The other two had colored backgrounds out of the box.

Yes, and those are the ones that I referred to as truly defective. Sorry to hear that you got so many bad ones. I've also seen complaints that there are lighter and darker patches of text, which is what I was referring to, though I do see that I said color blotches. Ooops. Like I said in my last response... "it was late!" :-)

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by Barty

What you are seeing is uneven text rendering. Try setting always refresh on.

Yeah, I shouldn't have titled that color blotches. I've seen two complaints referred to as blotchiness, and shouldn't have used the word "color" there. I was referring to the dark & light patches complaint.

As for page refresh, it was the first thing I did! [once I found it!] I don't mind the refresh flash since I'm so used to it, but really dislike ghosting.

BTW, some have said that they felt like it strobed in a dark room when doing a full refresh, but I didn't feel that last night and felt like it was much less disruptive to my sleeping gf than my K3 light was.

[sparklemotion]

I'm so glad you got a good one, twowheels! Thanks for the thorough overview too.

[ElspethB]

Originally Posted by twowheels

• Clasp on magnetic cover rattles! Anybody else have that? If my cover is open and I tap it, there's a rattle! Probably not enough to bug me once I get used to it, but I do hear it now! Haven't seen anybody mention this one yet.

I don't have any rattle with my cover. You might want to think about exchanging yours since it sounds like a defect.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and congrats on getting a good PW.

[sparklemotion]

I don't have any rattle with my cover either. It sounds like the latch must be a little loose? I don't think it should do that. I agree with Elspeth, I'd exchange it.

[twowheels]

I considered it. It's not too bad, and I'm already not noticing it much. Besides, I'd have to return the Kindle with it because it's permanently bonded inside! [or so it seems... getting it in was quite an ordeal! I was afraid I'd break something!]

[RainingLemur]

Nice overview. Hope that yours stays mostly problem free.

I've been rather surprised at the number of defective units out there.

[Trauma Doll]

Pictures please!

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by Trauma Doll

Pictures please!

Of mine? I can try. Don't have a good camera, mine was stolen, but I can try my iPhone.

[Trauma Doll]

Originally Posted by twowheels

Of mine? I can try. Don't have a good camera, mine was stolen, but I can try my iPhone.

All mine have been taken with an iPhone 4 (which has a pretty bad camera, all told, compared to 4S and onwards), with flash disabled. It seems to show the screen pretty closely to how it 'looks'.