Paperwhite Second Gen: First Impressions

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Barty

Blossom, supposedly the blue edges are "normal." They are due to the filters Amazon is using. The blotches, though, are defects ( I hope.)

Off topic: I just got the iPad air. It's nice and light alright. And fast. But I don't think the screen is as good as the iPad 3. There's a bit of ghosting while scrolling, noticeable when using white text on dark background, as I like to do. I guess with the intense pressure to "innovate" while keeping profit up, something's gotta give. The home button doesn't feel as good when I press it. Just a tad stiff and noisy. The edge between where the bevel and the back is a little rough, not smooth. Finally, the cable feels flimsy, like one of those cheapies you get from eBay for $1, and the edges of the USB plug are sharp.

Yeah I'm a tough customer. But I'm paying $500 for this thing, dang it.

PS: click here to subscribe to my Journal of Obsessive Compulsive Tech Reviews.

It depends really The blue border is suppose to a thin border around the edges not something that bleeds into the entire screen. My first one was great. The blue border was light and only around the edges and bleed into some corners but didn't bother the text. This one doesn't know where to stop and it's neon blue! My replacement will be here today. I am hoping it looks like the first one or better.

My first one had a faulty brightness controller according to Amazon.

[Drew0020]

Originally Posted by Barty

Six? I thought I was bad with three.

At what point does Amazon say "no soup for you!"

I bought 3 from Amazon. I kept two and returned the other. I gave them both as gifts so my return rate doesn't get too high. The others I saw were friends and families Kindle's so I should have been more clear on giving up after 6.

Of course my question to Amazon would be does any bother to QA the screen???

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Drew0020

Of course my question to Amazon would be does any bother to QA the screen???

Individually inspecting each and every screen would probably significantly increase the price - it's a compromise between a the proportion of good screens, and the cost of manufacture. A large majority of owners appear to be happy, which probably suggests they've got the compromise about right.

[Drew0020]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Individually inspecting each and every screen would probably significantly increase the price - it's a compromise between a the proportion of good screens, and the cost of manufacture. A large majority of owners appear to be happy, which probably suggests they've got the compromise about right.

It was a facetious remark, but their screen QA really needs to improve.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Drew0020

It was a facetious remark, but their screen QA really needs to improve.

As a matter of interest, how much more would you be willing to pay for a Kindle with a guaranteed defect-free screen? The Kindle is sold essentially at cost price, so any increase in QA inevitably would result in a price increase.

[Drew0020]

Originally Posted by HarryT

As a matter of interest, how much more would you be willing to pay for a Kindle with a guaranteed defect-free screen? The Kindle is sold essentially at cost price, so any increase in QA inevitably would result in a price increase.

I'd imagine the QA may add another $75-$100 to the price, but I'd be willing to pay whatever it costs. The Paperwhite is all about the screen to me.

[stickybuns]

Originally Posted by HarryT

As a matter of interest, how much more would you be willing to pay for a Kindle with a guaranteed defect-free screen? The Kindle is sold essentially at cost price, so any increase in QA inevitably would result in a price increase.

What's the hourly wage of the workers? How much would it cost to increase the allotted QA time by an additional minute?

What percentage of devices are defective? Without a doubt, Amazon already factors in the cost of refurbishing returned devices, but would tighter quality control result in even higher refurbishment costs?

I would be willing to pay $200 for a WiFi Kindle if Amazon could re-establish itself as a top notch Kindle maker. I never worried about quality when ordering a Kindle before the PW1 was introduced. Now Kindle quality is little more than a crap shoot with the PWs. Even though I kept my first and only PW2, I rate it at 3 to 3.5 stars maximum. I didn't desire to play the shell game with Amazon again this year, so I kept a mediocre PW2 that requires me to modify each book with bold text so that I can read without eyestrain. So would it be worth $200 to know I would get a 5 star PW2 with no thin text or pinholes or blotches or overly yellow screen? Darn right it would be worth it!

[stickybuns]

Originally Posted by Drew0020

I'd imagine the QA may add another $75-$100 to the price, but I'd be willing to pay whatever it costs. The Paperwhite is all about the screen to me.

That sound like a plan for economic suicide. The consumers who would be willing to pay over 50% more would be far out numbered by the ones that would jump ship for a Kobo, Sony, or Nook.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by jswinden

So would it be worth $200 to know I would get a 5 star PW2 with no thin text or pinholes or blotches or overly yellow screen? Darn right it would be worth it!

The problem is that the big mass of monkeys... eh... normal people don't care about quality. They only care about cheap.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by stickybuns

That sound like a plan for economic suicide. The consumers who would be willing to pay over 50% more would be far out numbered by the ones that would jump ship for a Kobo, Sony, or Nook.

$100 more on a device which currently costs $109 is virtually a 100% increase. I really don't think there are too many people who'd go for that.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by HarryT

As a matter of interest, how much more would you be willing to pay for a Kindle with a guaranteed defect-free screen? The Kindle is sold essentially at cost price, so any increase in QA inevitably would result in a price increase.

If someone would be able to offer me a hyper-speed Kindle with the processing power of a top mobile phone, one that has a perfect screen, gets software updates and warranty through Amazon for 5 years, I'd easily pay €250 for it. That's €50 a year: less than half of what I'd pay if I buy the latest Kindle each year.

I habitually buy notebooks in the range of €1500; three times as expensive as a low-end notebook. The difference is that I get 5 years of warranty, and a well-built notebook, that can easily be upgraded, while the people buying the €500 systems get told "Go away and die" after the first year, both by the store and the manufacturer, if something goes wrong. Also, many of these cheap plastic notebooks tend to fall apart after 1 or 2 years (after the warranty ends of course), and need to be replaced. When looking at "cost per year", my "expensive" notebook is often cheaper than a cheap notebook.

My desktop computers are in the same price range; my current one was €1200 or something when I bought it. It's now 6 years old. It was upgraded with a new graphics card, CPU and SSD in 2011 for peanuts, especially after selling the older graphics card and CPU. Half a year ago it got an extra hard drive. It still stomps many of the cheaper new systems of today into the ground.

So yes, I'd pay for quality, but then again, I can, because I don't want to (and don't need to) replace my stuff every year.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

If someone would be able to offer me a Kindle that's perfect, gets software updates and warranty through Amazon for 5 years, I'd easily pay €250 for it.

Unfortunately it's what the mass market will stand that determines the price. Personally I completely agree with you, but as someone's already said, it would probably be economic suicide for Amazon.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Unfortunately it's what the mass market will stand that determines the price. Personally I completely agree with you, but as someone's already said, it would probably be economic suicide for Amazon.

I said so myself: the mass only goes for cheap.

I see it everywhere in daily life: the only thing that counts for most people in the end is the money. Everything from principles to ethics and even common sense goes overboard to either get more, or pay less.

edit: Mind you: I won't pay more than is necessary of course. I'm not going to pay €10 for an ebook when I can get it for €2 somewhere else. But I WILL pay €1500 for a device if I know that it can last 3-5 times as long as a €500 device. Not having to upgrade over and over and over saves me a lot of headaches and time.

I bet there are. There are plenty of people who are willing to pay a significant premium to buy a Toyota or Honda because the Detroit cars are crap when it comes to quality control. And concerning jumping ship. Please, jumping to a Kobo would be like trading a Lexus for a 1972 Ford Pinto! Sony went screaming from the US market because they never got the concept of how to make a eBook store work. And Nook is trying to keep that huge anchor attached to it from pulling it to the bottom of the sea. Another example is to look at how many people buy premium Apple products. We know they are way over priced, yet we buy them anyway because we know the quality is a sure thing.