Kindle 4 screen is THE SAME as K3.

[JoHunt]

I just got my KT

The screen is exactly the same as my K3, which I bought right after it was released (I believe in August/September 2010). There's no difference whatsoever in background/contrast.

[Yomat]

Joehunt, how does your serial number end? It's "1444 xxxx" or "1425 xxxx" like the user ThomasC or it's different serial number?

[JoHunt]

Originally Posted by Yomat

Joehunt, how does your serial number end? It's "1444 xxxx" or "1425 xxxx" like the user ThomasC or it's different serial number?

My serial number has neither of those numbers.

[shinew]

yesterday I checked out another friend of mine's K3 which he bought when it just came out last year, same screen.

[ThomasC]

Under the right lighting conditions (very strong indoor, or outdoors in the sun) all these screens look the same imho. Under lower indoor lighting conditions (the ones I normally read in) the new K4nt background appears grey and because of this, the contrast is not nearly as good as my older K3 and DXG units. Both these units appear to have an off-white background.

If any of you have managed to get a K4nt that actually has a light coloured screen, you are very lucky since I have yet to see one. If you currently don't see any difference, you are probably viewing it under pretty strong lighting conditions imho.

Cheers,
Tom

[Blossom]

Well my Black skin from Decalgirl arrived today. It's defective. Buttons does not align up right and now it's a mess after trying for hours. I Finally had to cut it places and it looks hideous but my K4 now has a black bezel. It may have helped a little on the text. It pops out a little better The K4 with a black bezel now looks even more dirty. I think I prefer grey over the dirty look. The K3 wins the better contrast and clarity of screen. So while the gray bezel may give a more gray tint to the K4, I'm not sure a black bezel works any better because now it's muddled looking.

I paid $20 for this so it's staying. I sent Decalgirl an email asking for a replacement front piece. I read I have to pay for shipping even though it was their mistake.

[ThomasC]

Sorry that you not happy with your new skin but I do not think that this adds very much to this thread.

Cheers,
Tom

[madmaxmedia]

Okay, I now have 2 Kindles side by side myself- 1 Kindle Touch, 1 Kindle wifi. Here is what I see-

The backgrounds are virtually indistinguishable (in brightness and color), but the Kindle wifi has more contrast. Not a lot, and if they weren't side by side I might not know for sure. But it is a bit better. This is after setting the Touch to do the refresh thing on every page turn.

That being said, I am sure that there is variation from unit to unit, so I doubt this is indicative of how all the models are.

The touchscreen is definitely more versatile, but in terms of practical UI usage (which is basically just turning pages 99% of the time), I prefer the hard page turn buttons overall. You don't have to be as careful when handling the Kindle, and while the slight pause between page turns is the same on both units, you know when you've clicked the hard button so there's less hesitation on my part.

But both units is great, I would really be perfectly happy with either.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by ThomasC

Sorry that you not happy with your new skin but I do not think that this adds very much to this thread.

Cheers,
Tom

I'm sorry you feel that way but earlier in this thread it was said several times the reason for the K4 contrast being different was do to it's grey bezel. So I bought a black sticker for the K4 to see if they were right. The Black stick covers the gray bezel making it black and much dark than the K3's graphite bezel. I can say that is not the case. The contrast still hasn't improve much at all with a black bezel thus the reason for my post to disprove that theory.

[Zeebra]

All this talk about screens and yet it still boils down to when the Kindle was produced, and where it was produced. Like I mentioned weeks ago, I had 2 Kindle Keyboards (mine and my wife's). One was purchased in October of 2010 and the other in March of 2011. The one in October 2010 had a much better screen than the March one. Way whiter background, better contrast. Not to say the March screen is bad, if I didn't have the October 2010 Kindle I would have never known.

Now that I have my Kindle 4, the screen is not as good as the October 2010 one, but it's actually better than the Kindle Keyboard from April 2011.

[sieg66]

Originally Posted by Blossom

The Black stick covers the gray bezel making it black and much dark than the K3's graphite bezel. I can say that is not the case. The contrast still hasn't improve much at all with a black bezel thus the reason for my post to disprove that theory.

Thanks for reporting this. I was curious to see your conclusion and I think it's usefull as i wondelf myself if the color of the bezel is important or not and I have someone's opinion now.

[ThomasC]

Originally Posted by Blossom

The Black stick covers the gray bezel making it black and much dark than the K3's graphite bezel. I can say that is not the case. The contrast still hasn't improve much at all with a black bezel thus the reason for my post to disprove that theory.

Gotcha, thanks. Had a cranky old fart moment, sorry!

Cheers,
Tom

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by sieg66

Thanks for reporting this. I was curious to see your conclusion and I think it's usefull as i wondelf myself if the color of the bezel is important or not and I have someone's opinion now.

Welcome, I guess it helps to know and puts an end to a theory. It was worth losing $20 maybe.

Originally Posted by ThomasC

Gotcha, thanks. Had a cranky old fart moment, sorry!

Cheers,
Tom

S'okay Right now I am frustrated myself and out $20 but at least we know a darker bezel does not change perception of background on the K4 at least not on mine.

[ThomasC]

Originally Posted by Zeebra

All this talk about screens and yet it still boils down to when the Kindle was produced, and where it was produced. Like I mentioned weeks ago, I had 2 Kindle Keyboards (mine and my wife's). One was purchased in October of 2010 and the other in March of 2011. The one in October 2010 had a much better screen than the March one. Way whiter background, better contrast. Not to say the March screen is bad, if I didn't have the October 2010 Kindle I would have never known.

Now that I have my Kindle 4, the screen is not as good as the October 2010 one, but it's actually better than the Kindle Keyboard from April 2011.

I think we need to let Amazon CS know that it looks like they have lowered their screen quality since last year and that they need to address this.

I've recently been down to a Sony store and their new 6 inch reader's screen is the same good original K3 quality (almost white background). I know what reader I'll be buying next time.

Cheers,
Tom

[ThomasC]

Originally Posted by ThomasC

I think we need to let Amazon CS know that it looks like they have lowered their screen quality since last year and that they need to address this.

I've recently been down to a Sony store and their new 6 inch reader's screen and it is the same good original K3 quality (almost white background). I know what reader I'll be buying next time.

Cheers,
Tom

Here's the note I've sent to Amazon Customer Services;

Dear sir,

This is the 2nd replacement K4NT that I have received. In my opinion the screen quality of this unit is not nearly as good as my +12 month old K3 wifi/3g or DXG readers. Both of these older units have a much lighter (off-white) background and much better contrast.

Also, I have compared this with the new Sony 6 in reader screen quality and it is identical to my older K3 and DXG readers.

The newer K4NT has a much greyer background screen and because of this the contrast is not as good, esp. in low light conditions. Under strong lighting it is fine. However, under normal low-med indoor lighting conditions I find I need to go to a larger font size in order to read it comfortably.

In my opinion the current E-ink Kindles screens are not as good a quality as the +12 month old Kindles (or the new Sony reader). I strongly suggest that Amazon technical services review this issue asap.

While I do not intend returning my current replacement K4NT I'm certainly not 100% happy with it. I'll probably order a lighted cover for it when they are available to see if this helps. I have experimented by placing it over my K3 screen and using it's lighted cover improves the K4NT contrast quite a bit.

I'm probably only going to get the usual polite 'thanks for you input' reply, lol!

Cheers,
Tom