Screen cracked on Kindle Keyboard...

[apastuszak]

So, the screen on my Kindle Keyboard cracked. This is now my fourth cracked screen, but this one is out of warranty.

Amazon gave me the option to buy a new Kindle Touch for $80, a refurb Kindle Touch for $74 or they can credit my account $30 and I can order a new Paperwhite.

What do you guys think I should do?

[ucfgrad93]

First of all, I would figure out how you keep cracking the screens of your Kindles. I would take the $30 credit and get a Paperwhite and a good case.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by apastuszak

What do you guys think I should do?

Treat your Kindle with more care. Breaking one screen could be accidental; breaking four assuredly isn't. Keep your Kindle in a good case and treat it with respect.

[soulfuldog]

If they are giving you $30 credit towards a new Paperwhite, I'd go for that one. But agree with the other comments, make sure you buy a case for it.

Although, if you've had your other four Kindle's in a case and still managed to break the screen every time, perhaps you should just go with the cheapest option and take the refurb!

[patrickt]

You guys weren't reading. It was the passive voice. The Kindle screen just cracked. Spontaneously. It was sitting in it's padded box, from which it was never removed, and suddenly the was a sound and the Kindle screen had cracked. Nobody cracked it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by patrickt

You guys weren't reading. It was the passive voice. The Kindle screen just cracked. Spontaneously. It was sitting in it's padded box, from which it was never removed, and suddenly the was a sound and the Kindle screen had cracked. Nobody cracked it.

That could happen due to temperature fluctuations, but it seems a little unlikely.

[SteveEisenberg]

If you want a lower cost option than Amazon's, you could try a high-volume buy-it-now dealer who sells via Ebay. In the US, the Kindle Keyboard 3G is now $55, shipping free. Or it's $45 for the Kindle 2. Or you could go back to paper books for five years or so. By then the screens should be stronger and/or the eReaders much cheaper to replace.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Keep your Kindle in a good case and treat it with respect.

I know this would be expensive, but do any case reviewers scientifically stress the eReaders, when in the case, to see how much frontal impact each case can take before the screen cracks?

As for respect: I have had BlackBerries, employer supplied, for the past four years or so. I take that everywhere. I treat a BlackBerry just the same as I do the Kindles I have taken almost everywhere for the past 2 1/2 years -- with respect, except for the occasional clumsy moment. And I've never had the embarrassment of having the tell my employer my BlackBerry broke. And my Kindle Keyboard main window says "STEVEN's 4th Kindle" at the top.

This isn't an ad for BlackBerry, or a suggestion that Amazon makes poor eReaders. I think that smaller screens are inherently more robust.

Admittedly, one of those Kindles died in the wash, a mistake I've never made with the BlackBerry.

[apastuszak]

I'm off by one. The screen cracked 3 times before. This is the fourth. All four times, it was obviously an act of God. At least the first 3 times were. :-)

I do have the thing in a case.

So, here's the crack story:

1. Came home from work and pulled out out of laptop bag. Lines all down the left-hand side. Something must have hit it in my trunk, since it was in the pocket in the very front of the bag.

2. Left it overnight in my car in January. Came in to work, left it on my desk, turned it on at lunch and it's cracked. That one may have been expansion and contraction due to temperature variation.

3. My son stepped on it. It was one of those perfect storm moments where the cats knocked it off the end table just as my son was walking by.

4. The latest. Was found on the floor. Obviously something was dropped on it or it fell down.

In all four cases, the Kindle was in the Kindle lighted cover with the cover closed and strap secured.

eInk screens in general seem to be a bit more fragile than other types of screens. Of all the screen cracks, the first one is the only one I don't understand, since the Kindle was in my laptop back (in it's own pocket with nothing else in it), with the cover on it, closed and secured.

My wife has the nook STR, and it's screen is recessed somewhat due to the IR touch layer. That offers some protection against a direct impact with the cover on. I'm hoping the Kindle will do the same, since the new ones are also touch.

I do, however, wish that the touch and paperwhite had physical page turn buttons.

[apastuszak]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

And my Kindle Keyboard main window says "STEVEN's 4th Kindle" at the top.

It's just the eInk technoogy. The screens can't handle warping or pressure of any kind really. My understanding is that eInk has newer screens made of plastic that are flexible and paper thin. When those start getting put in eReaders, we will have a lot less screen breakage.

[hunnymonster]

Originally Posted by apastuszak

So, the screen on my Kindle Keyboard cracked. This is now my fourth cracked screen, but this one is out of warranty.

Amazon gave me the option to buy a new Kindle Touch for $80, a refurb Kindle Touch for $74 or they can credit my account $30 and I can order a new Paperwhite.

What do you guys think I should do?

Follow your own instinct... And order a replacement screen for the K3 for around $40 (www.aliexpress.com choose your own seller there and wait a week or two for it to arrive, 20-30 minutes fitting it and voila a spare Kindle)

[apastuszak]

I watched the disassembly and reassembly videos on YouTube and it's far more effort that I am willing to go through at the moment. Besides, this is the perfect excuse to upgrade to a Paperwhite.

I will offer the Kindle Keyboard for the cost of shipping to anyone that wants to do a screen swap themselves. No reason to throw it out.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That could happen due to temperature fluctuations, but it seems a little unlikely.

I suppose it could happen if you lived in an oven and read in the freezer. Now, four times?

[Ripplinger]

In your case, you might look into an extra warranty which includes accidental damage. Square Trade offers them at discounted prices at times. I paid only $35 for 3 additional years for my reader 2 years ago using a promotional coupon, thinking they were that fragile (I've since discovered they're not and never bought one for the 2nd reader). I think now the regular price might be $44 for 2 years. But in your case, I think it's money well-spent.

I have 2 ereaders since late 2010 and they both are in perfect condition, not even a scratch on the shells or the screen, and I use them daily. They are glass so of course they're fragile. That means keep them away from where pets will walk on then or can knock them down. Don't pack them in backpacks or bags/purses where other object can get pushed up against them at any angle, the screen will break.

I've even dropped mine on concrete several times from about a 3' height (cover on them but they were open), and they didn't even break then. I can't imagine more abuse than that. But with a little caution, short of hardware failures on a bad reader which can happen, there's no reason they can't last for years.

[apastuszak]

My wife's nook STR has held up very well and she uses it daily. My coworker had a Kindle 3 like I did, and he cracked the screen by dropping it off the end table onto carpet. I think there is some impact point that the Kindle is exceptionally susceptible to, and it seems some people seem to hit it more than others.

Most people have no issues with a Kindle, but I have seen lots of stories of people with cracked screens, and others on their 3rd or 4th kindle.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

Don't pack them in backpacks or bags/purses where other object can get pushed up against them at any angle, the screen will break.

I have it in a backpack every day when I leave the house. I'm not sure it's more likely to be elbowed there than anywhere else.

Also, if I carried it in my hand everywhere, which is the alternative, I'd lose it. If I didn't take it everywhere, for me, there isn't much point in having it. I might as well then go back to using a Palm PDA. We have three in the house, all no longer used. None ever broke, although that could have partly been luck.