Paperwhite Second Gen: First Impressions

[sparklemotion]

Last night while reading I noticed a tiny pinhole on mine when restarting it. Sigh. It's minor, but it irks me.

Another thing I noticed that is bothering me is when I turn a page the letters get ever so slightly thinner and then quickly return to their normal thickness. It's odd. Has anyone else noticed this? It starts to bother my eyes after awhile. My PW1 does not do this at all. So I'm returning mine and going to stick with my PW1. I just can't see spending money (yet again) on a PW I'm not totally satisfied with. Maybe I'll try another one later in the year or maybe I'll just wait until the next PW comes out next year.

[Ocicat]

Originally Posted by NNolan

I got my PW2 today, and the screen and lighting are a marked improvement over any of the PW1s I tried last year. I still have "Blotchula", the least bad PW1 from my quest last year. The new PW2 doesn't have any noticeable (to me, anyway) pink or gray blobs, like Blotchula has.

I haven't had time to compare it to either of my Kobos yet.

"Blotchula" !!!

Sarcastically, I called mine "Blanche", white in french.

[Ocicat]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If you've not previously used a touch-screen Kindle, it takes a day or two to discover how to hold it comfortably without doing accidental page turns. There's no reason to suppose that the PW2 is any more prone to them than the previous touch-screen devices; the touch-screen technology is the same as that of the previous PW.

The PW2 screen is more sensitive than the PW1, got mine last evening and I had some accidental page turns, forward and backward, in spite of being an old techie with years of touch-screen familiarity.

[Ocicat]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

Last night while reading I noticed a tiny pinhole on mine when restarting it. Sigh. It's minor, but it irks me.

Another thing I noticed that is bothering me is when I turn a page the letters get ever so slightly thinner and then quickly return to their normal thickness. It's odd. Has anyone else noticed this? It starts to bother my eyes after awhile. My PW1 does not do this at all. So I'm returning mine and going to stick with my PW1. I just can't see spending money (yet again) on a PW I'm not totally satisfied with. Maybe I'll try another one later in the year or maybe I'll just wait until the next PW comes out next year.

PW5 might be the one which comes close to perfection.

There seems to be some quirks with the refreshing, will have more time to read this evening and will set it to refresh every page.
Last night, paging thru the cloud books in cover view, it was refreshing/flashing every other page, after displaying the screen, a somewhat blinding effect.

My PW2 is definitely not a "miracle", the screen is somewhat better, the text is greyer, I miss the alternate fonts.
I still have some dark smudges at the bottom from the LEDs, less noticeable than the PW1, no color blobs, but a bit too yellow for my liking.
I do like the new flip-thru and bookmarks, possibly available to the PW1 in the next update.
So far, I have not noticed any pin holes, will load a black pix today and check.

So, I agree with the reviews which said this is a 25% improved PW, worth the $10 I paid for it.

[Chi Cygni]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

Last night while reading I noticed a tiny pinhole on mine when restarting it. Sigh. It's minor, but it irks me.

Another thing I noticed that is bothering me is when I turn a page the letters get ever so slightly thinner and then quickly return to their normal thickness. It's odd. Has anyone else noticed this? It starts to bother my eyes after awhile. My PW1 does not do this at all. So I'm returning mine and going to stick with my PW1. I just can't see spending money (yet again) on a PW I'm not totally satisfied with. Maybe I'll try another one later in the year or maybe I'll just wait until the next PW comes out next year.

Are you sure this is a pinhole? I thought I had one too but I cleaned the screen and it disappeared. I would go mad if I had a pinhole, I would not see anything else and I'd hate (OCD here I come). I've been hovering over this thread like a hawk because as you perhaps remember I could still return my PW1 when the new one was announced. But I decided to keep it. Is not so easy to return to US from Europe so I cannot really afford and would not want to play Russian roulette with pinholes and somesuch. I cannot just walk into a store and return it. My PW1 is very good, I have no complaints. But I'd love to have ivory/yellow screen even though mine already has yellow tint to it.

[simplyparticular]

I read for about 40 minutes at bedtime and another 20 this morning, so I think I'm around 90 minutes reading time with the PW2 (I'm not counting all the exploring time with settings menus).

The overly bright left LED with the purple blotch doesn't bother me in daylight, but it's more noticeable at night. I drop down to Level 2 and the purple blotch disappears, but Level 3 and up the purple blotch appears.

I seem to like Level 5 or 6 best in my nearly dark bedroom, and Level 16 while commuting to work, and you can see it at both levels. I think it doesn't bother me too much because it's on the left, where I hold the Kindle, so my eye almost naturally skims over it since it's so close to my hand?

If it doesn't get worse I think I can live with it.

For PW1 owners - do color blotches spread, or did they stay the same over time?

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Ocicat

PW5 might be the one which comes close to perfection.

There seems to be some quirks with the refreshing, will have more time to read this evening and will set it to refresh every page.
Last night, paging thru the cloud books in cover view, it was refreshing/flashing every other page, after displaying the screen, a somewhat blinding effect.

Yes! That's exactly it. Mine was doing this while reading. It started to bother my eyes after awhile. I agree with you it's going to take a few more years for Amazon to work out the kinks and really perfect the PW. I was thrilled not to have color blobs on the screen, but after using it last night and seeing the glowing pinhole speck and then some of the refresh issues, I just think I'm best passing and sticking with my PW1.

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

Are you sure this is a pinhole? I thought I had one too but I cleaned the screen and it disappeared. I would go mad if I had a pinhole, I would not see anything else and I'd hate (OCD here I come). I've been hovering over this thread like a hawk because as you perhaps remember I could still return my PW1 when the new one was announced. But I decided to keep it. Is not so easy to return to US from Europe so I cannot really afford and would not want to play Russian roulette with pinholes and somesuch. I cannot just walk into a store and return it. My PW1 is very good, I have no complaints. But I'd love to have ivory/yellow screen even though mine already has yellow tint to it.

Yes, mine is definitely a pinhole, unfortunately. First thing I did was clean the screen in that area and it's still there. Sad to say that I'm an old pro now at knowing each PW issue and possible solutions for it, LOL.

I definitely think you made the right choice keeping yours. I'm seeing more and more that the variation between PW's can differ more than you might expect. I had 2 PW2s and the lighting and color of the screen was different on both of them. One being a creamy yellow tint and the other being a slightly cooler white. So not all the PW2's have the yellow tint, some are slightly cooler in tone.

They both had pinholes though and the first one also had a few black specks. Dust trapped between the screens, I assume. I think it's a great reader, but since I wasn't 100% happy with mine, I think I'm best off just sticking with my PW1 for now. I'm glad you're so pleased with yours. I'm actually very used to my PW1 now so I'm ok sticking with it for another year.

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

Last night while reading I noticed a tiny pinhole on mine when restarting it. Sigh. It's minor, but it irks me.

Another thing I noticed that is bothering me is when I turn a page the letters get ever so slightly thinner and then quickly return to their normal thickness. It's odd. Has anyone else noticed this? It starts to bother my eyes after awhile. My PW1 does not do this at all. So I'm returning mine and going to stick with my PW1. I just can't see spending money (yet again) on a PW I'm not totally satisfied with. Maybe I'll try another one later in the year or maybe I'll just wait until the next PW comes out next year.

Probably a good decision. It looks like the PW2 is improved screen-wise, but there seem to be a lot more minor issues than with the PW1. I'm thinking Amazon's quality assurance folks have taken a step backwards. So far, most the people on MR I follow who got bad PW1s seem to be getting bad PW2s. And this year there seems to be a higher percentage of MR posters stating they have issues. I think I'll pass on the PW2.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by simplyparticular

For PW1 owners - do color blotches spread, or did they stay the same over time?

No, they don't change with time. They are inherent in the design of the diffraction grating which forms the light diffuser. Only a small number of people seem to be sensitive to them (which is not to say that it's not a real issue for those who are sensitive, of course).

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by simplyparticular

For PW1 owners - do color blotches spread, or did they stay the same over time?

From my experiences they are pretty changeable throughout the day, but always in the same place. For instance, mine seemed to start off ok when I turned on my PW, but the longer I read the worse they would get. It may have to do with temperature? I'm not really sure.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

From my experiences they are pretty changeable. They can become worse over time and even change over the course of the day. Mine seemed to start off ok when I turned on my PW, but the longer I read the worse they would get. It may have to do with temperature? I'm not really sure.

They could certainly change with temperature, yes, but they shouldn't change with the "age" of the screen.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

Last night while reading I noticed a tiny pinhole on mine when restarting it. Sigh. It's minor, but it irks me.

Another thing I noticed that is bothering me is when I turn a page the letters get ever so slightly thinner and then quickly return to their normal thickness. It's odd. Has anyone else noticed this? It starts to bother my eyes after awhile. My PW1 does not do this at all. So I'm returning mine and going to stick with my PW1. I just can't see spending money (yet again) on a PW I'm not totally satisfied with. Maybe I'll try another one later in the year or maybe I'll just wait until the next PW comes out next year.

The big test of the Paperwhite 2013 is its ease of READING. That should be the only requirement. I find it great for reading with crisp, clear fonts, great bookmark management, great note management and other great features.

A PIN hole or slight imperfections in the screen while using a flashlight and / or magnifying glass should not cause one to give it up. That would be like giving up one of the new self driving cars, which I own, because the leather cover on the steering wheel has a WRINKLE.

The function of the device is to READ BOOKS - not be a work of art. Every print book I have seen has occasional page defects (wrinkles, light print, illegible fonts, etc.). Why should the PW 2013 be free of all defects?

I notice that most of the folks with problems last year never actually ended up with a PW 2012. Most of the folks posting problems this year are also doing without a PW 2013. That result is really a tragedy for THOSE FOLKS.

Of 90 reviews posted on the Paperwhite 2013 page at Amazon 59 give it 5 stars and only 4 give it 1 star. Of those 4 the major complaint was the Amazon recommended books which can be turned off by using List Mode instead of Cover Mode and the wrong language for instructions which can also be changed back to English. They probably tapped the wrong language on the first intro screen. Not one of those 4 complained of pin holes or "stuck pixels."

[FacebookVirus]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

I don't think it's extravagant if reading is a favorite hobby of yours and your Kindles are something you use a lot. I generally allow myself some extravagance with my favorite hobbies. Life is short, right?

Do you enjoy reading on your PW a lot more than reading on your KK? If so, then I say you should go for it.

Warning: minor rant against no one in particular.

I understand your point, but the more disposable ereaders have become the more I've questioned my commitment to them.

Batteries that can't be changed, the constant gotta-have-it new cheap plastic gizmo that'll change your life - I get enough of that with my cell phones. I can also do short-term reading on the go just fine with them.

If I traveled frequently my attitude would be different, but the warm fuzzy that having a library in my pocket gives me hasn't amounted to much. On my third ereader now since '08, and I'm not relishing another $100+ that could be spent on pbooks or subscriptions of the same price as e-subscriptions.

However, I'm really wanting a PW2, and may pick one up anyway

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Probably a good decision. It looks like the PW2 is improved screen-wise, but there seem to be a lot more minor issues than with the PW1. I'm thinking Amazon's quality assurance folks have taken a step backwards. So far, most the people on MR I follow who got bad PW1s seem to be getting bad PW2s. And this year there seems to be a higher percentage of MR posters stating they have issues. I think I'll pass on the PW2.

This is my feeling too. Their quality assurance is just not up to par with the PW's. I find I have little tolerance for it this year after what I went through last year with the exchanges. So I'm done with it and sticking with my PW1.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by FacebookVirus

If I traveled frequently my attitude would be different, but the warm fuzzy that having a library in my pocket gives me hasn't amounted to much. On my third ereader now since '08, and I'm not relishing another $100+ that could be spent on pbooks or subscriptions of the same price as e-subscriptions.

For me it was a choice between switching to ebooks, or buying a larger house. eBooks were a pretty clear winner.