BTW, I'm the "good Jack".

I've noticed the blotchiness or sporadic fading of random screen areas too, and I've reported it in the beta test group. The lighter and thinner the font, the worst I think it is. Notice the attached photos where the Lexia DaMa font in a kePub looks very crisp but the system font used to display page numbers is nearly unreadable.

Just for reference, I'm 53 and my eyes don't work as well as they did 30 years ago, so fading like that shown for the page numbers, as well as many of the menus and system screens, make reading a literal headache for me. Fortunately book text seems to be pretty good though.

I must state that even though the Kobo Touch has some weak areas, that the support from Kobo has been exceptional. If not for their willingness to make timely and constant improvements, I would have not bought one nor kept the one I've got. So I'm confident they will eventually get this issue resolved. I can state from experience that B&N won't do much to improve the Nook STR, Sony won't do squat--ever--to improve their readers, and Amazon will do a little bit but never in a timely fashion. Some of these other branded readers are definitely more refined with more elegant firmware, but I think Kobo can narrow the gap if they continue on their current track.
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