Quote:
Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze
Yes, I was just at my local B&N . . .
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Several months back, I saw a video review comparing the old original eInk Nook to a Sony and Kindle, and paradoxically, the Nooks screen was, if anything, a little whiter than the others (the reviewer even commented on it).
Seeing a supposedly standard Vizplex eInk screen that was as white or whiter than the newer Pearl screens, with blacks that were nearly the same, made me wonder about their consistency.
But the older Nook being BETTER then spec, is hardly something to complain about, right? . . .And sure enough, when I got a PRS-650 for my mom, it's screen looked pretty nice, so I stopped worrying about it.
Then, just before 650's became so scarce, I managed to find another one for myself, but was disappointed to see that side-by-side with my Mom's PRS-650, under identical lighting, showing the EXACT SAME BOOK, hers is noticeably whiter.
Whiter, whites; darker blacks; just flat out better contrast.
The whites on my PRS-650 are very slightly darker, and have the very slightly greenish gray tint of some older Vizplex screens, and the blacks are not quite as dark.
My stepdad just got a new Kindle a few days ago, and if anything, it is even better then my moms PRS-650 . . . So, though the difference between her Sony and mine is slight, and between the Kindle and her PRS-650 is slight, the jump between that new Kindle and my Sony is pretty noticeable.
Yes, I know about the font difference (a better font helps but there is still a difference)
Yes, I know about masking out the background, and matching lighting.
. . . any font, any lighting, any background, any time - you pick it, my PRS-650 is going to get the short end of the stick.
So the Vizplex screens
have varied quality wise, both better, and worse (unfortunately).
That Nook that I saw in the video several months back was doing a damn fine job trying to keep up with some of the newer 'Pearl' screens (and succeeding).
. . . and, sadly, my Sony is trying pretty hard to look like a 3 year old 'Vizplex' Kindle (it's not quite
that bad, but it's sure working on it)
This may be fixed now, with Sony getting screens that are every bit as good or better than any of the others, but it's still a little aggravating.
Getting back to your comments on the Nook . . .
- Ability to select the default font (and override book CSS settings if needed)
- Lots of fonts already loaded.
- Side page-turn buttons PLUS touch screen page turns
..(Kobo seems to have missplaced their page-turn buttons)
- Rootable Android OS
If they gave Acadamy awards for "Best performance by a new eReader"
the new Nook STR would be a shoe-in for the Oscar. 