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Old 05-14-2009, 01:36 AM   #23
elmoglick
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Posts: 165
Karma: 206
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Kansas City
Device: Kindle1, Kindle DX, Kindle DXG
Quote:
Originally Posted by sirbruce View Post
It's entirely possible that Amazon isn't checking for the sun fading issue on refurbs, but that says nothing about whether or not refurbs are better or worse than new ones. You can always keep sending Kindles back until you get one you like; there have been people who have returned 3 or 4 already.
I may hold the record. It took 8 (eight) replacements before I got one without sun-fade. I don't believe any of them are/were refurbs.

Amazon support was outstanding throughout the entire four week ordeal. They actually encouraged me to keep trying another until I got one that worked properly - I think I also ended up with $30 or $40 worth of book credits to assuage the inconvenience, which was a nice touch.

So, I've played with a total of 9 Kindles and spent quite a bit of time documenting and comparing screens, in all kinds of lighting conditions. I've found that the one with the darkest text also had the darkest background (and vice versa), so the ratio of screen darkness to text darkness appears to be pretty consistent in all units - the actual Vizplex screen manufacturing codes (Waveform Version) didn't correlate at all to screen or text darkness. My guess is that it's either a controller calibration or QC issue (perhaps both).

I'd be glad to provide further specifics if there's any interest in my observations.

El
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