How is the screen's contrast on the Kobo Aura HD?

[tsolignani]

I bought one a month ago, out of curiosity, since I mainly read on Apple devices, and to be able to read while I am under the sun.

But the screen's contrast seems lacking to me. The background of the "electronic paper" is gray, not white, how I guess it should be.

I haven't seen any other ereader, apart from a basic model of kindle, which looks better than the Kobo contrast wise, it seems whiter, a tad.

Is it just me or is that true, is the kobo lacking regarding contrast?

I am just curious to know how you value your experience on the matter, especially if you had way to compare with other ereaders.

Thank you.

Tiziano

[mr_nihilism]

When reading under direct sunlight I notice that turning light on a high setting will result in what appears to me to be a whiter screen. That might help you.

[dordale]

e-ink screens are not completely white--but are grayish in tint--even the Kindle paperwhite. But to be fair, when reading from books the paper isn't completely white either.

To get more contrast on the HD, if you haven't done this already, you can go into the advanced settings under the font settings and adjust the weight of the font to make the font bolder on the screen.

[AbPho]

Originally Posted by dordale

To get more contrast on the HD, if you haven't done this already, you can go into the advanced settings under the font settings and adjust the weight of the font to make the font bolder on the screen.

Thanks for the tip. I did not know this.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by AbPho

Thanks for the tip. I did not know this.

Note that (without patching) this will only work on the builtin fonts, not on any fonts you install yourself.

[tsolignani]

Thank you, those are good workarounds, still the screen's quality seems a bit lacking to me, I just wanted to know it's just an impression of mine or rather the Kobo has a worse screen than other ereader, the Kindle especially. Thanks again.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by tsolignani

Thank you, those are good workarounds, still the screen's quality seems a bit lacking to me, I just wanted to know it's just an impression of mine or rather the Kobo has a worse screen than other ereader, the Kindle especially. Thanks again.

Kobo and Kindle use the same Pearl screens (except the latest Kobo H2O and Kindle Paperwhite 2 which use a higher contrast Carta screen), so the underlying contrast should be the same.

But a Pearl screen with a frontlight (such as Kobo Aura HD and Kindle Paperwhite 1) has an extra layer for the light guide which might reduce contrast a little (when the light is off) compared to a Pearl screen without a frontlight (such as on the Kobo Touch or basic Kindle).

[sysKin]

Originally Posted by tsolignani

Thank you, those are good workarounds, still the screen's quality seems a bit lacking to me

Well yeah, e-paper is not white.

The black isn't perfectly black either, so I agree, contrast is probably very low compared to most other technologies. It might be as low as 1:25 or so.

BUT -- does it matter at all? It's still the best reading display we've got, and it's perfectly serviceable for reading text. Out of all complaints I've ever had with my e-reader, whiteness of white or blackness of black never actually crossed my mind.

Most books aren't white either, in fact all my books seem to be yellow (and not really that much brighter, actually).

I just wanted to know it's just an impression of mine or rather the Kobo has a worse screen than other ereader, the Kindle especially

They use exactly the same screen (when comparing Perl vs. Perl and Carta vs. Carta) so I wouldn't expect so.

[jandrew]

Personally, I'm not interested in the whitest whites and blackest blacks. Most books don't have the whitest paper, I don't choose the highest brightness factor when I buy printer paper, and whenever possible I set background and foreground colors on my computer and tablet applications to be less stark than pure black/white (see Solarized for a well designed palette that's easy on the eyes).

I find the Aura HD has a very comfortable contrast to my eyes. In fact, if anything, I'd prefer to have a contrast adjustment to tone down the whiteness of the background a bit when using the frontlight.

[dordale]

Originally Posted by tsolignani

Thank you, those are good workarounds, still the screen's quality seems a bit lacking to me, I just wanted to know it's just an impression of mine or rather the Kobo has a worse screen than other ereader, the Kindle especially. Thanks again.

I have an Aura HD and a Kindle PW2. I think the screens on both of them are very similar--both seem very good to me. The Aura HD has the "pearl" screen and the Kindle PW2 has the newer "carta" screen which is supposed to be be better. But truthfully, I don't notice a lot of difference between the two--and if I had to say one was better then than the other, I'd actually say the Aura HD had a little better screen.

[RobertJSawyer]

The just-announced Kobo Aura H2O -- which I have held in my hands at the launch party -- is the replacement for the Kobo Aura HD and uses the newest Carta E Ink screen, which has noticeably better contrast than the HD. That said, I like the Kobo Aura HD screen just fine as it is; too much contrast is hard on the eyes.

[tsolignani]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Kobo and Kindle use the same Pearl screens (except the latest Kobo H2O and Kindle Paperwhite 2 which use a higher contrast Carta screen), so the underlying contrast should be the same.

But a Pearl screen with a frontlight (such as Kobo Aura HD and Kindle Paperwhite 1) has an extra layer for the light guide which might reduce contrast a little (when the light is off) compared to a Pearl screen without a frontlight (such as on the Kobo Touch or basic Kindle).

Understood. That should be what accounts for the small difference I see.

Thank you.

[tsolignani]

Originally Posted by sysKin

Well yeah, e-paper is not white.

The black isn't perfectly black either, so I agree, contrast is probably very low compared to most other technologies. It might be as low as 1:25 or so.

BUT -- does it matter at all? It's still the best reading display we've got, and it's perfectly serviceable for reading text. Out of all complaints I've ever had with my e-reader, whiteness of white or blackness of black never actually crossed my mind.

Most books aren't white either, in fact all my books seem to be yellow (and not really that much brighter, actually).

Maybe it's just me (I have to wear glasses), but ... the contrast between the background and the foreground colours the bigger the better for me. I just love white bg and darkest fg and thought an e-ink screen should be similar to the best paper, but I guess it's not.

And you're right, most paper books are printed on lame paper.

Thank you.

[tsolignani]

Originally Posted by dordale

I have an Aura HD and a Kindle PW2. I think the screens on both of them are very similar--both seem very good to me. The Aura HD has the "pearl" screen and the Kindle PW2 has the newer "carta" screen which is supposed to be be better. But truthfully, I don't notice a lot of difference between the two--and if I had to say one was better then than the other, I'd actually say the Aura HD had a little better screen.

Thank you. I read some review around and many people say the new «carta» isn't so different from the former pearl.

Go figure.

Thanks again.

[tsolignani]

Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer

The just-announced Kobo Aura H2O -- which I have held in my hands at the launch party -- is the replacement for the Kobo Aura HD and uses the newest Carta E Ink screen, which has noticeably better contrast than the HD. That said, I like the Kobo Aura HD screen just fine as it is; too much contrast is hard on the eyes.

Thank you.

As a matter of fact, I use the Kobo almost only in really sunny condition (summer, Italy, around noon), so that the screen really gets a bit washy.

But I guess that's not the typical user case, so many users wouldn't notice it and Kobo wouldn't bother either.

Thanks again.

Tiziano