MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

jswinden · 10-09-2013, 02:01 PM

Okay, this is a very preliminary review as I just unboxed and set up my Paperwhite 2013 (PW2).

I attached a photo (see below) that very accurately portrays my PW2 the way I see it. The photo was taken with a Canon Powershot G1X in RAW format and post-processed in Adobe Photoshop CS6. When I place the actual PW2 next to this photo displayed on my computer monitor, they look virtually identical. So this is what I consider a highly accurate photo.

Screen Tint Light OFF: My PW2 screen tint when the light is at the lowest setting looks like most of the Pearl eInk screens I've seen. It is a bit dull with a light grey tint and perhaps just a hint of cream color. That is, it looks good. (Note: The light is not actually off but it is set to the lowest level possible.)

Screen Tint Light ON: My PW2 screen tint when the light is at the optimum setting for reading has a very slight blue tint. It does not have any blobs or pink tinting. This is definitely a slight blue tint rather than the yellow tint some have on their PW2s. So far it looks good. (Note: I set my light level to 16 in my lit room where I read, use the computer, watch TV. The room is not very brightly lit, but it is lit. Level 16 seems to be the optimum setting for this lit room.)

No color blobs or shadowy blobs! My first PW ever to not have these.

One of the demo models at Best Buy had horrible color and shadowy blobs, so I lucked out big time.

No noticeable pinholes or dust while reading. When the screen goes black during a reboot, I have a cluster of possible pinholes, or more than likely just dust particles, that appear apprx. near the beginning of the 5th line of text in the attached photo. I only saw them when there was a black screen in that area. They do not shine at me with text on the screen. The cluster was about the size of a lowercase letter i seen in the photo, but of course is not visible itself in the photo. So thus far the cluster does not appear to be problematic. I'll examinine and clean the screen later and perhaps it will go away then.

Text: The text does seem to be much darker than it was on any of the three PW1s I had. The text is still too thin, but that is a software issue with all Kindles. I think the text looks darker with the light OFF than ON. The brighter the light, the lighter the text looks, in general. The contrast level is still to low for my tastes though.

Light: The light is much better than on the three PW1s I had. The light falls a bit more uniformly across the entire screen than on PW1s, and there are no blobs or headlight shadows. However, there is light leakage around the edges of the screen. As someone else noted in a post, there is a faint, blue, horizontal line of light across the very top of the screen. You can see this in the photo. It doesn't bother me though. There is a 1/2 inch tall vertical light leakage line at the bottom-right side. Again this doesn't bother me as it is mostly noticeable when a black background is present. Over all, the screen looks lighter around the edges and a bit dark in the middle. By middle of the screen I mean the entire screen minus a perimeter band about 1/4" to 1/2" wide all the way around. So the text still seems to be in a shadow of sorts. I won't know how I feel about this until I read on it for an extended period of time. But it is kind of dark in the middle for my tastes.

Screen refresh and touch speed: I don't notice the extra zippiness Amazon claims. My PW2 is not indexing anymore as I only downloaded one book and it already indexed it. But if anything it seems less zippy than my Touch when I select a word to define or select text.

Preliminary Thoughts: While the PW2 seems much better in many ways than the PW1, I'm not sure yet whether I will keep it. To determine that I must read on it for quite a while to see how my eyes are affected. I'll get back to you on that decision in a day or so.

10-09-2013, 02:01 PM	#934
jswinden Nameless Being	Very Preliminary Review Okay, this is a *very preliminary review* as I just unboxed and set up my Paperwhite 2013 (PW2). I attached a photo (see below) that very accurately portrays my PW2 the way I see it. The photo was taken with a Canon Powershot G1X in RAW format and post-processed in Adobe Photoshop CS6. When I place the actual PW2 next to this photo displayed on my computer monitor, they look virtually identical. So this is what I consider a highly accurate photo. Screen Tint Light OFF: My PW2 screen tint when the light is at the lowest setting looks like most of the Pearl eInk screens I've seen. It is a bit dull with a light grey tint and perhaps just a hint of cream color. That is, it looks good. (Note: The light is not actually off but it is set to the lowest level possible.) Screen Tint Light ON: My PW2 screen tint when the light is at the optimum setting for reading has a very slight blue tint. It does not have any blobs or pink tinting. This is definitely a slight blue tint rather than the yellow tint some have on their PW2s. So far it looks good. (Note: I set my light level to 16 in my lit room where I read, use the computer, watch TV. The room is not very brightly lit, but it is lit. Level 16 seems to be the optimum setting for this lit room.) No color blobs or shadowy blobs! My first PW ever to not have these. One of the demo models at Best Buy had horrible color and shadowy blobs, so I lucked out big time. No noticeable pinholes or dust while reading. When the screen goes black during a reboot, I have a cluster of possible pinholes, or more than likely just dust particles, that appear apprx. near the beginning of the 5th line of text in the attached photo. I only saw them when there was a black screen in that area. They do not shine at me with text on the screen. The cluster was about the size of a lowercase letter i seen in the photo, but of course is not visible itself in the photo. So thus far the cluster does not appear to be problematic. I'll examinine and clean the screen later and perhaps it will go away then. Text: The text does seem to be much darker than it was on any of the three PW1s I had. The text is still too thin, but that is a software issue with all Kindles. I think the text looks darker with the light OFF than ON. The brighter the light, the lighter the text looks, in general. The contrast level is still to low for my tastes though. Light: The light is much better than on the three PW1s I had. The light falls a bit more uniformly across the entire screen than on PW1s, and there are no blobs or headlight shadows. However, there is light leakage around the edges of the screen. As someone else noted in a post, there is a faint, blue, horizontal line of light across the very top of the screen. You can see this in the photo. It doesn't bother me though. There is a 1/2 inch tall vertical light leakage line at the bottom-right side. Again this doesn't bother me as it is mostly noticeable when a black background is present. Over all, the screen looks lighter around the edges and a bit dark in the middle. By middle of the screen I mean the entire screen minus a perimeter band about 1/4" to 1/2" wide all the way around. So the text still seems to be in a shadow of sorts. I won't know how I feel about this until I read on it for an extended period of time. But it is kind of dark in the middle for my tastes. Screen refresh and touch speed: I don't notice the extra zippiness Amazon claims. My PW2 is not indexing anymore as I only downloaded one book and it already indexed it. But if anything it seems less zippy than my Touch when I select a word to define or select text. Preliminary Thoughts: While the PW2 seems much better in many ways than the PW1, I'm not sure yet whether I will keep it. To determine that I must read on it for quite a while to see how my eyes are affected. I'll get back to you on that decision in a day or so. Last edited by jswinden; 10-09-2013 at 02:16 PM.