MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Search for the perfect lighted Kindle e-ink reading experience (alternatives to PW)

fearindex · 10-09-2013, 05:38 AM

As these comments started to seep into off-topic in the Paperwhite Second Gen: First Impressions (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...223764&page=60) thread, I thought I'd make a post of my own.

Quick background, my Kindle story started with the first international Kindle, the Kindle 2. Since then I have purchased one or more of every generation, mostly on launch. I still have a Kindle 2, Kindle 3 Keyboard (have had two), $79 Kindle 4 Silver, Kindle Paperwhite and $69 Kindle 4B/5 Black (have two). Not a single Kindle has ever broken (knock on wood), nor have I ever returned or exchanged any one of them.

What really got me hooked on e-books was the e-ink screen. I'm so in love with the concept that I often jokingly say I even love the full-screen page refreshes (I always use them to avoid ghosting), because they remind me of the magic. E-ink is a really great invention for reading books on, that text right there on the top of the screen, staying without power, looking almost like printed text and not like a screen at all. I already loved it on Kindle 2, but from Kindle 3 Keyboard forwards the addition of Kindle-powered lighted covers made the story even more compelling. With the integrated reading light one still gets the book-like benefit of the e-ink screen, but with an independent lighting solution for dark moments. Also the light in the third generation Kindle was very well positioned in the sense that it shone on the Kindle, not into your eyes.

My troubles with Kindle started with Kindle 4, when intially they didn't offer the always-on page refresh (luckily that came later) and also I had various issues with the lighted cover - its lower quality feel, but most importantly a light that shone into my eyes. I wasn't crazy about the silver color either. I found myself missing the K3 a little, but I gave it to a family member to use, and persevered. I liked page turning buttons too, so it was disappointing to see them lost on the high-end version of Kindle in this generation. When Kindle Paperwhite was announced, I put those concerns aside and I ordered it and had it shipped to Europe via third-party courier right around launch day. From what I can tell, my PW is pretty good - the screen is slightly crooked, it has one "dead" pixel and the light is more even than on some, but still I couldn't get used to it. It has lower contrast and text blackness, but mostly the "milky" (as some said here) look of the lighted screen in dark just kills that e-ink magic for me.

My Kindle PW text blackness compared to $69 Kindle 4B/5:

Bigger image: http://imageshack.us/a/img20/2248/ki...paperwhite.jpg

After the Kindle PW disappointment (I still have it, though, and unlike my initial concerns using touch on the PW is just fine), I went onto finding a better solution than I had at the time. I read mostly in dark, so a lighted solution is necessary for me and I was still miffed about the Kindle 4 lighted cover, even after reading many books on it. I briefly considered using the PW with light turned down to minimum and an external clip-on light, but the awkwardness of a non-integrated solution kept me away from that - it would have weighed a lot too...

Here is my mock-up (PW placed on top of lighted Kindle 4) how a lighted cover would have looked on my Kindle PW:

Bigger image: http://imageshack.us/a/img9/6817/lightedpaperwhite.jpg

I then read positive reviews of the new screens they put in the $69 Kindle (some call the black one Kindle 4B, some Kindle 5) and ordered one - and indeed, it was the inkiest, blackest black I have seen in any Kindle. Indeed, this small improvement, along with the mature software the baby Kindle now had, were enough to finally make me like the baby Kindle more than my old Kindle 3 Keyboard.

That still left the problematic official lighted cover for the Kindle 4/5. Most of the external issues I could deal with, but the biggest thing was the glare from the light that shone in my eyes and meant I tended to keep the Kindle in an abnormally straight position to avoid that glare. Turns out, the solution to this problem is fairly simple: a bit of double-sided tape and a piece of opaque cardboard attached to the light. I posted some more pictures of that here: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,131020.0.html

My baby Kindle lighted cover fix:

Bigger image: http://imageshack.us/a/img23/6103/ki...dcoverfix3.jpg

Now, this is not the end of that story though. Later or different versions of this same cover have different LEDs (pics: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,164293.0.html), some warmer and less bright, so when I was getting some more covers for family, I ended up having to use glossy cardboard instead to intensify the light shining towards the Kindle itself - this can help if you need a little extra punch so that the light reaches all corners of the page better. OTOH, some might actually prefer the newer warmer LED, because they cause less hotspotting on the top of the screen.

Here is the 2011 light compared to the TeckNet cover (another cover I tried: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,130865.0.html) and below it official 2011 and 2013 lights compared:

Bigger image: http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/2...kindledark.jpg

Now, I'm still on the case of perfecting the Kindle e-ink reading experience. Kindle PW2 is on international pre-order (starts shipping the 15th), to give another go at that, and I'm planning on putting some DecalGirl on the baby Kindle to lessen glare and finger prints on the front bezel. I still have one more baby Kindle cover to try out, too, to see if the light remains the same.

That's my story so far.

In case anyone is interested in my comparisons of different Kindles, here they are:

My Kindle PW review: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,129852.0.html
$69 Kindle 4B/5 and $79 Kindle 4/4S vs. Kindle PW: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/top...tml#msg1921055
Kindle 3 Keyboards vs. the above: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/top...tml#msg1921549
Kindle 2 vs. the above: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/top...tml#msg1923663

10-09-2013, 05:38 AM	#1
fearindex Addict Posts: 207 Karma: 279043 Join Date: Oct 2013 Device: Kindle(s)	Search for the perfect lighted Kindle e-ink reading experience (alternatives to PW) As these comments started to seep into off-topic in the Paperwhite Second Gen: First Impressions (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...223764&page=60) thread, I thought I'd make a post of my own. Quick background, my Kindle story started with the first international Kindle, the Kindle 2. Since then I have purchased one or more of every generation, mostly on launch. I still have a Kindle 2, Kindle 3 Keyboard (have had two), $79 Kindle 4 Silver, Kindle Paperwhite and $69 Kindle 4B/5 Black (have two). Not a single Kindle has ever broken (knock on wood), nor have I ever returned or exchanged any one of them. What really got me hooked on e-books was the e-ink screen. I'm so in love with the concept that I often jokingly say I even love the full-screen page refreshes (I always use them to avoid ghosting), because they remind me of the magic. E-ink is a really great invention for reading books on, that text right there on the top of the screen, staying without power, looking almost like printed text and not like a screen at all. I already loved it on Kindle 2, but from Kindle 3 Keyboard forwards the addition of Kindle-powered lighted covers made the story even more compelling. With the integrated reading light one still gets the book-like benefit of the e-ink screen, but with an independent lighting solution for dark moments. Also the light in the third generation Kindle was very well positioned in the sense that it shone on the Kindle, not into your eyes. My troubles with Kindle started with Kindle 4, when intially they didn't offer the always-on page refresh (luckily that came later) and also I had various issues with the lighted cover - its lower quality feel, but most importantly a light that shone into my eyes. I wasn't crazy about the silver color either. I found myself missing the K3 a little, but I gave it to a family member to use, and persevered. I liked page turning buttons too, so it was disappointing to see them lost on the high-end version of Kindle in this generation. When Kindle Paperwhite was announced, I put those concerns aside and I ordered it and had it shipped to Europe via third-party courier right around launch day. From what I can tell, my PW is pretty good - the screen is slightly crooked, it has one "dead" pixel and the light is more even than on some, but still I couldn't get used to it. It has lower contrast and text blackness, but mostly the "milky" (as some said here) look of the lighted screen in dark just kills that e-ink magic for me. My Kindle PW text blackness compared to $69 Kindle 4B/5: Bigger image: http://imageshack.us/a/img20/2248/ki...paperwhite.jpg After the Kindle PW disappointment (I still have it, though, and unlike my initial concerns using touch on the PW is just fine), I went onto finding a better solution than I had at the time. I read mostly in dark, so a lighted solution is necessary for me and I was still miffed about the Kindle 4 lighted cover, even after reading many books on it. I briefly considered using the PW with light turned down to minimum and an external clip-on light, but the awkwardness of a non-integrated solution kept me away from that - it would have weighed a lot too... Here is my mock-up (PW placed on top of lighted Kindle 4) how a lighted cover would have looked on my Kindle PW: Bigger image: http://imageshack.us/a/img9/6817/lightedpaperwhite.jpg I then read positive reviews of the new screens they put in the $69 Kindle (some call the black one Kindle 4B, some Kindle 5) and ordered one - and indeed, it was the inkiest, blackest black I have seen in any Kindle. Indeed, this small improvement, along with the mature software the baby Kindle now had, were enough to finally make me like the baby Kindle more than my old Kindle 3 Keyboard. That still left the problematic official lighted cover for the Kindle 4/5. Most of the external issues I could deal with, but the biggest thing was the glare from the light that shone in my eyes and meant I tended to keep the Kindle in an abnormally straight position to avoid that glare. Turns out, the solution to this problem is fairly simple: a bit of double-sided tape and a piece of opaque cardboard attached to the light. I posted some more pictures of that here: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,131020.0.html My baby Kindle lighted cover fix: Bigger image: http://imageshack.us/a/img23/6103/ki...dcoverfix3.jpg Now, this is not the end of that story though. Later or different versions of this same cover have different LEDs (pics: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,164293.0.html), some warmer and less bright, so when I was getting some more covers for family, I ended up having to use glossy cardboard instead to intensify the light shining towards the Kindle itself - this can help if you need a little extra punch so that the light reaches all corners of the page better. OTOH, some might actually prefer the newer warmer LED, because they cause less hotspotting on the top of the screen. Here is the 2011 light compared to the TeckNet cover (another cover I tried: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,130865.0.html) and below it official 2011 and 2013 lights compared: Bigger image: http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/2...kindledark.jpg Now, I'm still on the case of perfecting the Kindle e-ink reading experience. Kindle PW2 is on international pre-order (starts shipping the 15th), to give another go at that, and I'm planning on putting some DecalGirl on the baby Kindle to lessen glare and finger prints on the front bezel. I still have one more baby Kindle cover to try out, too, to see if the light remains the same. That's my story so far. In case anyone is interested in my comparisons of different Kindles, here they are: My Kindle PW review: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,129852.0.html $69 Kindle 4B/5 and $79 Kindle 4/4S vs. Kindle PW: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/top...tml#msg1921055 Kindle 3 Keyboards vs. the above: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/top...tml#msg1921549 Kindle 2 vs. the above: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/top...tml#msg1923663 Last edited by fearindex; 12-01-2013 at 03:03 PM.