Is Paperwhite un-contrasting fonts?

[johndoesecond]

I own a Paperwhite 2 and noticed one curious behaviour on it.

When flipping to another page, the fonts for a very brief (very brief!) moment appear bolder and, it seems to me, more contrasted, but then they turn less contrasted.

This is particularly noticeable with smaller fonts (especially serif, especially especially when the book uses publisher-embedded serif fonts you cannot change).

My assumption is it has to do with some kind of (software) anti-aliasing or font-"enhancement" algorithm that runs at every page flip.

And it just makes me think that the technology therein might in principle allow even better contrast, but that Amazon somehow spoiled it.

Has anyone else noticed this? Did the developers here have chance to find ways to tinker with this font post-processing?

[Antoinekamel]

E-ink is based on humans. Unstable, as you see.

[robko]

I'm not sure what the "big" answer to this is, but the temporary darkening is not something only you are seeing and is not just Kindle but (I'm guessing) all e-ink (I only have a Kobo).

[sparklemotion]

I have noticed it as well.. some seem to do it more than others. (I had a few PW2 replacements.)

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by johndoesecond

I own a Paperwhite 2 and noticed one curious behaviour on it.

When flipping to another page, the fonts for a very brief (very brief!) moment appear bolder and, it seems to me, more contrasted, but then they turn less contrasted.

This is particularly noticeable with smaller fonts (especially serif, especially especially when the book uses publisher-embedded serif fonts you cannot change).

My assumption is it has to do with some kind of (software) anti-aliasing or font-"enhancement" algorithm that runs at every page flip.

And it just makes me think that the technology therein might in principle allow even better contrast, but that Amazon somehow spoiled it.

Has anyone else noticed this? Did the developers here have chance to find ways to tinker with this font post-processing?

E-ink requires going black and then back to "white" to maximally erase screen content. That is probably behind what you are seeing, irrespective of whether or not also some anti-aliasing is intended.

Are you using every page refresh (set from reading options in settings)? If not, I'd assume that is actually the partial page refresh in process, trying to make sure there is no ghosting around your text. Actually, in any case I imagine what you are seeing is related to the e-ink page refresh and the need to go black and then white to erase maximally.

On the PW1 this showed quite annoyingly when exiting a dialog such as the light adjustment and the area where the box was, was refreshed (partially always, the every page refresh didn't affect it as I recall) and the text there was bolder than rest of the text on the page until page change. It probably refreshed the text a little differently in that case and thus it remained that way.

As the page refresh is controlled in software, it may be improvable in software over time. Although of course particular e-ink screens may have some variance in how well they react to software, I have seen some e-ink screens (on same device models) that were a little more prone to ghosting, or had variances in contrast etc.

E-ink is a somewhat exotic technology, indeed. After all, it is pure magic to have a screen that can hold an image without requiring power.

[Barty]

OP is not talking about the erase operation that causes the flash, but the text appearing darker before settling in its final state. I see it too. Kind of frustrating because it seems like it is capable of blacker black. Either it is an optical illusion, or it is not something that can be sustained, or it is a deliberate design choice.

[johndoesecond]

Just to clarify two things.
No, I am not using refresh after every page.
I kind of have years of user experience with eInk; I wrote my post in the first place because this behavior isn't there (or at least is much less noticeable) on my K4.

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by Barty

OP is not talking about the erase operation that causes the flash, but the text appearing darker before settling in its final state. I see it too. Kind of frustrating because it seems like it is capable of blacker black. Either it is an optical illusion, or it is not something that can be sustained, or it is a deliberate design choice.

Even when there is no flashing erase operation (which is basically just the whole page being erased), there is still an erase operation going on e-ink screens. I still believe the OP is in fact observing an erase operation, aka partial screen refresh, in action. More subtle perhaps than before due to the higher resolution of Kindle PW1/2 or because of a new algorithm.

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by johndoesecond

Just to clarify two things.
No, I am not using refresh after every page.
I kind of have years of user experience with eInk; I wrote my post in the first place because this behavior isn't there (or at least is much less noticeable) on my K4.

OK, thanks, I suspected it would be with partial screen refreshes. Try full-screen refreshes some time and see if you can spot it then?

Yes, I agree what happens on PW1/2 is new compared to the basic Kindle, but I still believe it probably is the screen refresh in action. I refer to my experience with the light adjustment pop-up on PW1 above.

It is possible - probable even - that because PW1/2 has a higher resolution and new fonts that there is a new refresh algorithm there. Perhaps the partial refresh is done by first painting the text in black and only then adding the anti-aliasing to the text so make sure the result is uniform, so there is no ghosting on the sides of the fonts.

It is likely that PW's higher resolution enables more finesse in the fonts, which in turn demands more from the partial screen refresh algorithm, to keep that finesse from being messed up by ghosting. By loosing the anti-aliasing from the fonts (grey on its sides) they could of course increase contrast, but at the same time decrease the finesse of the fonts.

I'd probably prefer more contrast too.

[Gazella]

Originally Posted by johndoesecond

I own a Paperwhite 2 and noticed one curious behaviour on it.

When flipping to another page, the fonts for a very brief (very brief!) moment appear bolder and, it seems to me, more contrasted, but then they turn less contrasted.

This is particularly noticeable with smaller fonts (especially serif, especially especially when the book uses publisher-embedded serif fonts you cannot change).

This happens on my Kindle as well, using a font called Gentium Basic. When I see that the font/text is bolder than usual (typically after flipping to another page, as you said), out of habit, I tap on the top area, the toolbar shows up, I then tap anywhere on the page to hide the toolbar, and the text goes back to how it should look like.

[Blossom]

This happens on the PW1 as well with certain fonts. I don't think we will ever see a fix for it.

[johndoesecond]

Thank you all for your kind replies.

OK, so I see you're all seeing what I'm seeing, and I learn it works similarly on the PW1.

So, my further question would be: does anyone here have experience with alternative reader software (those installable on jailbroken PWs like KOReader or even Duokan) and can tell if this "issue" occurs there as well?

If not, what would you suggest as the less invasive alternative reader to install? (By less invasive I mean the possibility to use as an addition or at least side-by-side with the PW Kindle OS, so Duokan: I would prefer not to...)

[johndoesecond]

Originally Posted by johndoesecond

Thank you all for your kind replies.

OK, so I see you're all seeing what I'm seeing, and I learn it works similarly on the PW1.

So, my further question would be: does anyone here have experience with alternative reader software (those installable on jailbroken PWs like KOReader or even Duokan) and can tell if this "issue" occurs there as well?

If not, what would you suggest as the less invasive alternative reader to install? (By less invasive I mean the possibility to use as an addition or at least side-by-side with the PW Kindle OS, so Duokan: I would prefer not to...)

Sorry for bumping, it will be first and last time.

Just in case someone can help with a kind and a learned suggestion...

[max99]

Originally Posted by johndoesecond

Thank you all for your kind replies.

OK, so I see you're all seeing what I'm seeing, and I learn it works similarly on the PW1.

So, my further question would be: does anyone here have experience with alternative reader software (those installable on jailbroken PWs like KOReader or even Duokan) and can tell if this "issue" occurs there as well?

If not, what would you suggest as the less invasive alternative reader to install? (By less invasive I mean the possibility to use as an addition or at least side-by-side with the PW Kindle OS, so Duokan: I would prefer not to...)

as someone else pointed out above, the fading is supposed to be there to avoid smudging or ghosting between partial pages refreshes. you can make something look darker simply by adding more dark pixels but you'd end up with badly defined text.

increase the font size to maximum and closely watch what is happening on page turn. the algorithm is removing excess pixels around the edge of the letters...that's what you perceive as a contrast reduction. note also you don;t see a contrast drop when page flipping at maximum font size...that's because what you're seeing is an illusion of sorts. believe me you would not want to disable this feature unless you enjoy reading smudged text.

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by johndoesecond

Sorry for bumping, it will be first and last time.

Just in case someone can help with a kind and a learned suggestion...

Some people have used Calibre to re-format their books and then sideload them. For example bolding the text has apparently allowed some contrast increase. On PW1 people have also been able to introduce their own fonts via various methods. For PW2 a jailbreak thread recently surfaced I think, which might allow some further solutions. All three methods have been discussed on this forum, so look for some recent threads.

Then again, the $69 Kindle aka Kindle 4B in these parts has superior text blackness compared to the PW2 straight from the box.