Paperwhite Second Gen: First Impressions

[Barty]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@Katsunami: Which is exactly what I was thinking of, except you can replace 'broken' by 'random', because I've had perfectly valid (and simple) fonts make Amazon's FreeType crash/loop, basically badly mess up. Couple that with the "3 strikes and you're out" behavior of the boot process, and that makes for a shiny luminous paperweight in record time.

And then if you actually use a proper FreeType build from upstream's sources, it magically works without a hitch... So, yeah, not surprised they didn't bother to implement it in a saner way, and just killed it outright, because a wide release as is would be a mess to support.

I've used alt font on k3 for years and have tried dozens of fonts. The worst that ever happened was I couldn't open a book. I never got a brick or failure to boot to library screen.

[7hir7een]

Originally Posted by booklover6

USE_ALT_FONTS trick does NOT WORK!!!

UGH!

Looks like it's time to start converting all my books to azw and embedding fonts in calibre again. *sigh*

[Outrager]

Originally Posted by Barty

Thanks for the pics. Is it me or does the text look really faint and washed out.

I think they only look washed out in the pictures because of the way the camera is taking a picture of the bright light. The text looks nice and black no matter the brightness in person.

[sirmaru]

I see no pinholes on my unit. Then again, extremely small pinholes may not be visible to me with my "old" eyes.

I found one significant difference between the PW 2012 and the PW 2013. I am not sure if it is firmware or hardware related. All bookmarks can be accessed in the PW 2013 in the upper right hand corner and deleted there. All notes in the PW 2013 are now handled by the GoTo icon.

Contrast in the PW 2013 beats contrast in the PW 2012 hands down. That was the main reason for my purchase and it was justified.

I notice that downloading and indexing is almost instantaneous in the PW 2013 plus the Cloud eBooks and Documents are arranged with downloaded ones first and non-downloaded ones second making it easy to transfer all the records.

The serial # of the PW 2012 starts with B024 and the PW 2013 starts with B0D4. That's one way to tell if you got the correct model.

[ersott]

Originally Posted by ersott

Please one question.

Could you compare both screen with light off?. Is the new Paperwhite's screen whiter than old Paperwhite?

Thanks in advanced ;-)

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

Hope so!

Could anybody show this?

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by ersott

Could anybody show this?

I am leaving my light at 22 of 24 on both models in all ambient light conditions. In a pitch dark room, the difference in background is pronounced with the PW 2012 being a shade of grey and the PW 2013 being pure white.

Plus, the PW 2012 in a pitch dark room shows 4 blotches on the bottom margin of the screen which are its lighting sources. The PW 2013 does not show any blotches there and has no imperfections at all that I can see.

As a side note, when one taps a bookmark (ALL are shown in the upper right corner) for the PW 2013, the FULL PAGE of the bookmark pops up in a bubble. That did not happen at all in the PW 2012.

I am not sure what part of all these changes are firmware which will eventually be available in the PW 2012 or hardware which will never be available in the PW 2012.

[Psykhe]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

I am leaving my light at 22 of 24 on both models in all ambient light conditions. In a pitch dark room, the difference in background is pronounced with the PW 2012 being a shade of grey and the PW 2013 being pure white.

He wasn't asking that, but the other way around. Not how the PWs compare with max light strength in the dark, but how they compare with min light strength in a normally lit room.

(Besides, max light strength in pitch dark makes no sense. I doubt anyone is using that there, unless they are in need of a flashlight.)

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

I am leaving my light at 22 of 24 on both models in all ambient light conditions. In a pitch dark room, the difference in background is pronounced with the PW 2012 being a shade of grey and the PW 2013 being pure white.

You really read in very dim light or even total darkness with the light on 22-24?

Then you either need an insane amount of light to actually being able read (could be; I don't have your eyes, and I need more light than most people), or you're crazy I get a headache only thinking of doing this.

[7hir7een]

Originally Posted by ersott

Could anybody show this?

Here are a couple pictures with the lights at lowest setting. The difference isn't huge, but to me the paperwhite 2 definitely looks more like a book. It isn't as grey.



(PW2 in pink case without skin)

[Outrager]

Originally Posted by ersott

Could anybody show this?

I only have the new 2013 Paperwhite, but here it is on lowest brightness on top of a white piece of paper to compare. It isn't white, but only a tiny bit greyer than the paper.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by 7hir7een

(PW2 in pink case without skin)

Have you set the column width differently? The KPW2 has a much wider margin on the edges. It seems the text column is about 4, maybe 5 characters wider on the KPW1.

I hope Amazon is not going to waste space in Kobo-like fashion...

What is the number "32" in the top right; the page number? If so, I assume it's part of the book.

[7hir7een]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Have you set the column width differently? The KPW2 has a much bigger margin. It seems the column is about 3 characters wider on the KPW1.

My KPW1 is JBPatched, so yeah, I was able to reduce the margins on that device. Didn't want to unpatch it for pictures . What you see on the KPW2 is the lowest margins you can set on the device by default, unfortunately.

ETA: The 32 is the chapter heading, part of the book.

Originally Posted by 7hir7een

Here are a couple pictures with the lights at lowest setting. The difference isn't huge, but to me the paperwhite 2 definitely looks more like a book. It isn't as grey.



(PW2 in pink case without skin)

The PW2 looks very nice in those photos.

[ersott]

Thanks!

The paperwhite2 is really wither, great!!

[sparklemotion]

Mine arrived and had a tiny, tiny glowing pin hole and also a very tiny black speck. Dust between the layers, I assume. Argh. I went to Best Buy and picked one up and that one is thankfully perfect!

Initial observations are pretty much the same as what everyone has already stated, but I'll give mine anyway.

The lighting is a major improvement to the PW1! Much more even. I LOVE it.

NO color blotches at all. It seems like a miracle!

Noticeably faster!

The software is fantastic. I love all the new additions!

Nicer overall tone, a bit warmer, some people may not like this though

With the light on the lowest setting the background is indeed whiter than on my old PW. Although, mind you, it is still gray and not white. It's just more white than my previous PW. Maybe a shade whiter.

Overall I am pleased.

Making this addition. One thing I did notice after using it more. The font does seem ever so slightly more gray compared to my PW1. A bit disappointing.

However, that said, seeing that pinhole on the one delivered from Amazon was pretty depressing. It's extremely tiny, and so is the black speck, my friend couldn't really see it, but I guess I have the vision of an eagle because I spotted it right away. I went the Best Buy route just because I didn't want to get on the merry go round again with Amazon and wait for them in the mail. If the Best Buy one had issues, I was going to be done with it.

Xendula, I'm so sorry yours has pin holes. Do you have a Best Buy near you? Maybe worth picking one up there. All my local Best Buys have them in stock today.

On a side note, when you buy it from Best Buy they come in nice second box overlay that goes over the main black box.