Hi everyone!
I just registered to add a "me too".
I bought a PRS600 last Friday (first time buyer) and found this forum thread. I decided to try the reader under bright sunlight, only to discover that my unit was suffering from the problem people are describing here:
- display seems to be fine when exposed to direct sun light
- turning page will show a washed out, unevenly printed page
- turning page again will fade screen even more
- turned page one more time and the screen was hardly displaying anything anymore
I tried with the screen half under my shadow, half under the sun, and only the sun lit portion of the screen will display this strange behaviour. I don't think it is heat related; I was not outside for long, and it's still kind of cool here in Ontario.
Aaargh! I was so looking forward to spending sunny afternoons reading in the backyard, which I cannot do with a laptop computer screen. And now this!
I went back immediately to FutureShop (Canadian big retail store, same thing as Best Buy) and had it exchanged. I checked the serial numbers to make sure that both units were not from the same batch, and proceeded to charge the new reader.
I took a break from work a few minutes ago and stepped out under the sun to check it: Hurray! The e-ink remains stable even after changing pages!
This was just to confirm that:
1. There is a problem with some screens not displaying e-ink properly under direct sun light
2. Not all screens are affected, which means that this is a manufacturing defect and that e-ink technology is not supposed to fade under direct sun light.
That's it
