Paperwhite Second Gen: First Impressions

[ProfCrash]

You could try and exchange it in a couple of months. There seems to be a large decrease in the number of issues as the months pass. I don't think it is because new users are less likely to complain three months after a release but that Amazon identifies that there is a problem and gets the manufacturer to fix said problem.

Amazon will take a return for screen issues in a month or so. Just tell them that there is clouding at the bottom and you tried to live with it but couldn't.

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

You could try and exchange it in a couple of months. There seems to be a large decrease in the number of issues as the months pass. I don't think it is because new users are less likely to complain three months after a release but that Amazon identifies that there is a problem and gets the manufacturer to fix said problem.

Amazon will take a return for screen issues in a month or so. Just tell them that there is clouding at the bottom and you tried to live with it but couldn't.

PW1 experiences have been eating my confidence a little on that. I'd expect some improvement over time of course with regards to any manufacturing process and product, but it seems some of it may be just that active posters buy their devices early and later months are more quiet because less posters are buying... Maybe I'm being too pessimistic about this, but over at KBoards there are some individuals who spent re-getting PW1 during the year without the end-result changing (well, it did change in the sense that almost every PW1 was different, but that's not really the expected result).

Maybe it just is hard to manufacture something like this well. After all these years, we still have dead pixels, light bleeding and whatnot on LCDs too. Maybe the nature of PW is adding literally layers of complexity that will take more than a few more manufacturing rounds to change. Considering PW2 itself is just an evolutionary update, one might have assumed if this was easy to fix, it would have been fixed with the PW2. It isn't like the PW2 is a brand new product in the same sense PW1 was.

Well, that was just the pessimist in me pondering. Ignore that. Here's hoping!

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by fearindex

PW1 experiences have been eating my confidence a little on that. I'd expect some improvement over time of course with regards to any manufacturing process and product, but it seems some of it may be just that active posters buy their devices early and later months are more quiet because less posters are buying... Maybe I'm being too pessimistic about this, but over at KBoards there are some individuals who spent re-getting PW1 during the year without the end-result changing (well, it did change in the sense that almost every PW1 was different, but that's not really the expected result).

Maybe it just is hard to manufacture something like this well. After all these years, we still have dead pixels, light bleeding and whatnot on LCDs too. Maybe the nature of PW is adding literally layers of complexity that will take more than a few more manufacturing rounds to change. Considering PW2 itself is just an evolutionary update, one might have assumed if this was easy to fix, it would have been fixed with the PW2. It isn't like the PW2 is a brand new product in the same sense PW1 was.

Well, that was just the pessimist in me pondering. Ignore that. Here's hoping!

I bought my PW1 in September last year, I immediately needed a replacement. Hubby got his in March this year, it was better than mine, and I got mine replaced in August this year, and it's slightly better than hubby's.

For me the latest PW1 is the best.

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I bought my PW1 in September last year, I immediately needed a replacement. Hubby got his in March this year, it was better than mine, and I got mine replaced in August this year, and it's slightly better than hubby's.

For me the latest PW1 is the best.

Good to hear some progress there.

I'm looking forward to getting my PW2 and joining the vote on the other thread. It will be interesting to see how it compares.

Originally Posted by fearindex

I must say, it seemed to me too that joehunt dismissed the concerns of disappointed PW2 owners here awfully casually with his comment. It seems like he only regarded the positive comment as useful, which indeed is odd.

And he not so subtly implied those who saw imperfections were liars in a post a few pages back.

[Yolina]

Mine's here and... and.... I got a good one *squeeeeeeee*

No colour blotches; no pinholes that I can see; no light leak; more even lighting; contrast is fine; and the screen is a more pleasing, more natural white than on my PW1 (a touch creamier but without too much yellow)

After all the disappointment and hassle with the PW1, I extremely pleased and relieved to have a good PW2

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Yolina

Mine's here and... and.... I got a good one *squeeeeeeee*

No colour blotches, no pinholes that I can see, no light leak, more even lighting, contrast is fine, and the screen is just more natural white than on my PW1 (a touch creamier but without too much yellow)

After all the hassle with the PW1, I extremely pleased and relieved that I don't need to exchange or anything

YAY! That's awesome. So glad you're happy!

I finally picked up a Paperwhite 2013 this morning at Best Buy. I haven't taken it out of the box yet, but will be testing it out very soon.

BTW, the BB store had two PW2s on demo display, but one was listed as a PW2 and the other as a K4B at $69. I mentioned to the clueless clerk that they had a PW2 demo as a $69 K4B and suggested that it might piss off someone who bought a K4B thinking it was like the incorrect demo display. At first he said I was wrong, but then I asked him if the K4B had buttons and a touchscreen. Of course I already knew the answers. He replied they have buttons but no touchscreen. So I pointed to their incorrect K4B demo and said then where are the buttons? Then I touched the screen and it reacted. His eyes got as big as saucers! I smiled and said he probably should re-label the demo display and put an actual K4B on display as well.

EDIT: One of the BB demo PW2s looked good and the other looked like it was pink and blue with the pronounced headlight effect on the bottom. I didn't pick up either demo and examinine them, but after I left BB I started to wonder if perhaps the bad one was a PW1. The bad one was PW2 demo model and the good one was the one labelled as a K4B.

[sparklemotion]

LOL They really are so clueless at Best Buy. Glad you picked one up, Jack. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts. I have tinkered with the idea of trying one more at Best Buy, but so far I haven't yet. If yours is great, it may spur me on to give it one more try.

Originally Posted by jswinden

EDIT: One of the BB demo PW2s looked good and the other looked like it was pink and blue with the pronounced headlight effect on the bottom. I didn't pick up either demo and examinine them, but after I left BB I started to wonder if perhaps the bad one was a PW1. The bad one was PW2 demo model and the good one was the one labelled as a K4B.

At my local Best Buy the demo PW2 (I checked to make sure it was PW2) has pink on it. It's mainly at the top and left side. It has some light leaks too.

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

LOL They really are so clueless at Best Buy. Glad you picked one up, Jack. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts. I have tinkered with the idea of trying one more at Best Buy, but so far I haven't yet. If yours is great it may spur me on to give it one more try.

Yes they are. I almost ordered one on line for an in-store pickup. I sometimes do that at BB so I can just run in and pick it up rather than looking for where an item is located in the store. But a little voice in my head said I should go verify the model instead. I looked over the box carefully and finally saw "©2013" in small print on the back. It is indeed a 2013 model as I see "Amazon" on the back of the PW2 rather than "Kindle". Okay, now to turn it on and hoping for the best!

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Yes they are. I almost ordered one on line for an in-store pickup. I sometimes do that at BB so I can just run in and pick it up rather than looking for where an item is located in the store. But a little voice in my head said I should go verify the model instead. I looked over the box carefully and finally saw "©2013" in small print on the back. It is indeed a 2013 model as I see "Amazon" on the back of the PW2 rather than "Kindle". Okay, now to turn it on and hoping for the best!

Good luck!

[Yolina]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

YAY! That's awesome. So glad you're happy!

And so much for the naysayers who were adamant that those of us who could most definitely see problems with the PW1 last year and some of the PW2 this year would never be happy with any PW2 either

See, when Amazon sends me one without screen problems, then oh magic, I'm delighted.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Yolina

And so much for the naysayers who were adamant that those of us who could most definitely see problems with the PW1 last year and some of the PW2 this year would never be happy with the PW2 either

See, when Amazon sends me one without screen problems, then oh magic, I'm delighted.

Exactly!

[fearindex]

Great to hear some positive experiences! Congrats, guys, and good luck to those just opening them. And good luck me next week when the PW2 international shipments start.

(I do think there is a good chance I won't prefer PW2 over the baby Kindle no matter what because I dislike the lighted screen idea vs. pure e-ink with an external light in the dark where I read most, but I can live with that if the rest of the experience is what my eyes consider good. Then I'm sure I'll find uses for it, it has some nice features after all. Plus I like keeping up with Kindle stuff.)

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

LOL They really are so clueless at Best Buy.

Same with the big retailers in the Netherlands.

Spoiler:

True (off-topic) story...

"See, this Sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4.5 lens has a much bigger range and higher aperture range than this Canon 24-70 f/2.8L."
- "Then why is the Canon about 5 times more expensive?"
"Uh... Because it's a Canon. You're just paying for the brand."



Let's just say the Canon is like waaay up there in the clouds with regard to better brightness, sharpness, focusing speed, build quality and camera compatibility when compared to the Sigma. It stomps the Sigma twice, and then spits on it for good measure, especially in sharpness. Mind you, Sigma has some great stuff in their line-up, for good prices. This 17-70 is good enough for the money it costs, but it can't hold a candle to a 24-70L.

Originally Posted by jswinden

Yes they are. I almost ordered one on line for an in-store pickup. I sometimes do that at BB so I can just run in and pick it up rather than looking for where an item is located in the store. But a little voice in my head said I should go verify the model instead. I looked over the box carefully and finally saw "©2013" in small print on the back. It is indeed a 2013 model as I see "Amazon" on the back of the PW2 rather than "Kindle". Okay, now to turn it on and hoping for the best!

It may be just me, but I think it's a very bad practice to "go Apple" on this one. What purpose does it serve to NOT give a device a distinct name? In the photography world, Leica started to do the same after more than 50 years. Their new camera is just called "M". (All previous ones were called M2... M9.)

I think it's stupid. Amazon should have just called it the Kindle Paperwhite II.