Is it worth replacing your Kindle 3 for a 4? - Page 8

shinew · 10-14-2011, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

I'm leaving WiFi on and I read around 5 hours a day and it's barely budge. I can say the battery life on my K4 is better then the battery life on my K3. My K3 I can't leave the WiFi on without it needing charge every 5 days and that's without using it.

K3's 3G might be the cause, 3G chips uses alot more power than Wifi. If your 3G is off, maybe it's the newer wifi chip they use that has better battery save mode.

Blossom · 10-14-2011, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shinew

K3's 3G might be the cause, 3G chips uses alot more power than Wifi. If your 3G is off, maybe it's the newer wifi chip they use that has better battery save mode.

I always use WiFi on my K3 but I read that the 3G is never really off?

The battery life is just sucked out if I leave WiFi or 3G on.

I do think they tweak something on the K4 to give it better battery life.

Zeebra · 10-14-2011, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

I always use WiFi on my K3 but I read that the 3G is never really off?

The battery life is just sucked out if I leave WiFi or 3G on.

I do think they tweak something on the K4 to give it better battery life.

Could be a case of the new firmware being more efficient, or maybe the partial screen refresh saves more battery then full flash?

Blossom · 10-14-2011, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeebra

Could be a case of the new firmware being more efficient, or maybe the partial screen refresh saves more battery then full flash?

I don't use the partial refresh but I think the firmware could definitely have something to do with it.

Snorkledorf · 10-14-2011, 07:53 PM

As a K3 Wifi owner I would have bought the Touch sight unseen, but this time around Amazon decided (for perhaps totally legitimate reasons) not to sell them overseas at first, so now that I’ve had time to really consider the options, I’m sticking with my K3.

Most importantly for me, the Pearl e-ink screen hasn’t evolved over the last year (or Amazon is choosing similar-grade screens to keep costs down), so unlike the K2-to-K3 transition it’s not a no-brainer to upgrade. If they made a model with a premium screen, I’d so be there...

I do use the keyboard from time to time, so the keyboardless Kindle would be a bit inconvenient in my case. Text-to-speech is the same. I can’t say I’ve ever played a game or listened to an audiobook on the Kindle though, so I don’t care if they’re available or not. It took me about 3 page loads to give up on the K3’s sluggish web browser so that’s completely off my radar. The faster CPU would be nice of course. I’m using just shy of 50% of my K3’s memory with 450 books, so the 2GB memory would probably be OK for me. Nice to have extra breathing room though.

The Touch sounded nice until I realized they also removed the hardware paging buttons so you have no choice but to use the screen. Both options would have been nice. I want touch for keyboard input and selecting text and menu items, and buttons for navigation. And I totally need the “Back” button! In the winter I also use my K3 in the bath (with the handy Ziplock trick) and I’m guessing the plastic lying over the screen would be triggering spurious touches all over the place. So I don’t think the Touch is for me.

As for the Fire, my 64 GB iPad is stuffed to the gills with personally-scanned (image-based, so the files are big) PDF documents, so the Fire’s 8 GB of memory is laughable. On the other hand I remain highly jealous of the smaller form factor. Here in Japan small is good, and reading an iPad while standing for an hour on the train is torturous. I’d kill for a 7” iPad.

So all in all, it’s the K3/Keyboard for me! Now if only we k3 users could get the page turns to not flash the screen every time…boy I wish I had that!

Blossom · 10-14-2011, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snorkledorf

A

So all in all, it’s the K3/Keyboard for me! Now if only we k3 users could get the page turns to not flash the screen every time…boy I wish I had that!

Truthfully the partial refresh isn't worth the the change in screen clarity on the new Kindle. I've gone back to full refresh otherwise the background just looks dirty. It's not what I call ghosting but it's just ugly. It's not the same issue I've seen on the other readers that have this feature. It's could be another quirk of my particular K4 at this point I wouldn't be surprise. One person PM me and said their K4 did a two-tone partial refresh of gray and black letters!

Papi · 10-15-2011, 01:47 AM

I found using partial refresh did make the letters seem more "blurry", less precise like there would be missing some black pixels. It was less readable, so I went back to full refresh also.

HarryT · 10-15-2011, 04:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

I always use WiFi on my K3 but I read that the 3G is never really off?

The battery life is just sucked out if I leave WiFi or 3G on.

3G and WiFi turn on and off together - ie, 3G is on whenever WiFi is on.

Blossom · 10-15-2011, 04:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

3G and WiFi turn on and off together - ie, 3G is on whenever WiFi is on.

That's make sense why the battery goes down so fast then. I thought I had read that before but then couldn't find the info again.

I like that my K4 battery doesn't do that.

HarryT · 10-15-2011, 04:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

That's make sense why the battery goes down so fast then. I thought I had read that before but then couldn't find the info again.

I like that my K4 battery doesn't do that.

It doesn't really matter, though (IMHO). Turning the wireless on and off takes two button presses on the K3. I never have mine turned on unless I'm actually using it.

Zeebra · 10-15-2011, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

Truthfully the partial refresh isn't worth the the change in screen clarity on the new Kindle. I've gone back to full refresh otherwise the background just looks dirty. It's not what I call ghosting but it's just ugly. It's not the same issue I've seen on the other readers that have this feature. It's could be another quirk of my particular K4 at this point I wouldn't be surprise. One person PM me and said their K4 did a two-tone partial refresh of gray and black letters!

I know what you're talking about with the "dirty screen" and I've also seen instances of the letter "a" appearing darker in some words after a partial refresh. Interestingly enough, this only was happening for me with the standard font. As soon as i went to the condensed font I don't notice that darker shading on some letters (two-tone if you will). Maybe I'm less picky than others but for me the partial refreshed screen is good enough for reading. Sure it's not perfectly clean, but then even when reading an actual paperback book you can have marks and smudges on the page so it's really no different. I don't need a pristine screen on every refresh so the compromise Amazon has made in screen refresh seems good to me.

shinew · 10-15-2011, 01:30 PM

I much prefer the current default of 6 page per refresh than 1 per page. The frequent flashing was one of the main thing I dislike about the older generations of ereaders.

Despite the very faint ghosting, which I'll have to stare at one spot to notice(I don't), it doesn't bother me at all in recognizing the words or slowing down my reading a bit. But I understand some people are more sensitive to those things than others.

rplacd · 10-15-2011, 02:45 PM

Just moved to the K4NT after my K3, poor thing, died of undue pressure on its screen. There's little flood-fill flashing any more, actually, and the screen's noticeably creamier. Takes a while to adopt a new grip. Once that's dealt with it , though, feels like they've just removed all the bulk off it. Which is bliss and, in hindsight, makes the keyboard an unacceptably bulky addition - although it's too slick and tapered of a device to hug and caress for all its faults (oh yes) though.

I'd just wish Amazon would move the page turn buttons up just a smidgen more.

Blossom · 10-15-2011, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rplacd

I'd just wish Amazon would move the page turn buttons up just a smidgen more.

You and me Both! My right next page button is getting easier to push the more I use it. I would of loved for them to have reverse the buttons' positions. There's not much to hold on to on the K4 it likes to slide out of my hand.

Blossom · 10-15-2011, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeebra

I know what you're talking about with the "dirty screen" and I've also seen instances of the letter "a" appearing darker in some words after a partial refresh. Interestingly enough, this only was happening for me with the standard font. As soon as i went to the condensed font I don't notice that darker shading on some letters (two-tone if you will). Maybe I'm less picky than others but for me the partial refreshed screen is good enough for reading. Sure it's not perfectly clean, but then even when reading an actual paperback book you can have marks and smudges on the page so it's really no different. I don't need a pristine screen on every refresh so the compromise Amazon has made in screen refresh seems good to me.

For me even with the condensed font the screen became just ugly and the text became harder to read.The Partial refresh also messed with eyes. I think it varies per reader how well the Partial refresh works. On mine it's not as bad as my first but enough to make me blink every few seconds.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shinew

I much prefer the current default of 6 page per refresh than 1 per page. The frequent flashing was one of the main thing I dislike about the older generations of ereaders.

Despite the very faint ghosting, which I'll have to stare at one spot to notice(I don't), it doesn't bother me at all in recognizing the words or slowing down my reading a bit. But I understand some people are more sensitive to those things than others.

The flashing I don't notice at all to you the truth. The Partial refresh my eyes didn't like. Now if we could set it between to like every 3 pages that might be something I could try.

10-15-2011, 02:45 PM	#118
rplacd Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2011 Device: K3W, K4NT	Just moved to the K4NT after my K3, poor thing, died of undue pressure on its screen. There's little flood-fill flashing any more, actually, and the screen's noticeably creamier. Takes a while to adopt a new grip. Once that's dealt with it , though, feels like they've just removed all the bulk off it. Which is bliss and, in hindsight, makes the keyboard an unacceptably bulky addition - although it's too slick and tapered of a device to hug and caress for all its faults (oh yes) though. I'd just wish Amazon would move the page turn buttons up just a smidgen more. Last edited by rplacd; 10-15-2011 at 02:50 PM.

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10-14-2011, 07:53 PM	#110
Snorkledorf Blue. Not sad...just blue Posts: 218 Karma: 1267018 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Japan Device: Ridibooks Paper Pro	As a K3 Wifi owner I would have bought the Touch sight unseen, but this time around Amazon decided (for perhaps totally legitimate reasons) not to sell them overseas at first, so now that I’ve had time to really consider the options, I’m sticking with my K3. Most importantly for me, the Pearl e-ink screen hasn’t evolved over the last year (or Amazon is choosing similar-grade screens to keep costs down), so unlike the K2-to-K3 transition it’s not a no-brainer to upgrade. If they made a model with a premium screen, I’d so be there... I do use the keyboard from time to time, so the keyboardless Kindle would be a bit inconvenient in my case. Text-to-speech is the same. I can’t say I’ve ever played a game or listened to an audiobook on the Kindle though, so I don’t care if they’re available or not. It took me about 3 page loads to give up on the K3’s sluggish web browser so that’s completely off my radar. The faster CPU would be nice of course. I’m using just shy of 50% of my K3’s memory with 450 books, so the 2GB memory would probably be OK for me. Nice to have extra breathing room though. The Touch sounded nice until I realized they also removed the hardware paging buttons so you have no choice but to use the screen. Both options would have been nice. I want touch for keyboard input and selecting text and menu items, and buttons for navigation. And I totally need the “Back” button! In the winter I also use my K3 in the bath (with the handy Ziplock trick) and I’m guessing the plastic lying over the screen would be triggering spurious touches all over the place. So I don’t think the Touch is for me. As for the Fire, my 64 GB iPad is stuffed to the gills with personally-scanned (image-based, so the files are big) PDF documents, so the Fire’s 8 GB of memory is laughable. On the other hand I remain highly jealous of the smaller form factor. Here in Japan small is good, and reading an iPad while standing for an hour on the train is torturous. I’d kill for a 7” iPad. So all in all, it’s the K3/Keyboard for me! Now if only we k3 users could get the page turns to not flash the screen every time…boy I wish I had that!

10-15-2011, 01:47 AM	#112
Papi Addict Posts: 311 Karma: 547600 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Paris Device: Kindle Keyboard, Kindle NT, PRS-650	I found using partial refresh did make the letters seem more "blurry", less precise like there would be missing some black pixels. It was less readable, so I went back to full refresh also.

10-15-2011, 01:30 PM	#117
shinew Addict Posts: 309 Karma: 1008082 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: NYC Device: Kindle PW, K4 Touch, iPad2, Samsung Galaxy S II	I much prefer the current default of 6 page per refresh than 1 per page. The frequent flashing was one of the main thing I dislike about the older generations of ereaders. Despite the very faint ghosting, which I'll have to stare at one spot to notice(I don't), it doesn't bother me at all in recognizing the words or slowing down my reading a bit. But I understand some people are more sensitive to those things than others.