Paperwhite Second Gen: First Impressions

[sparklemotion]

I picked up another Paperwhite at Best Buy last night. I truly do not want to be Debbie Downer on here, but I'm just telling it as I see it. Three pinholes and color hues. Worst one I have seen of the 3 I've had. They had two PW display models (one wi-fi and 1 3G) and I saw faint hues on both of those as well. Mind you, the color hues were much more faint than on last years PW1 and in general the screen is much more uniform.

From what I have seen this year though the pinholes are much more prominent and the background tint still varies widely as does the brightness of the lights. The one I picked up yesterday is more blue, not as yellow. This does make the contrast appear better, but there are other issues like the pinholes. My friend has 2 pinholes on hers, but is keeping it.

Obviously I'm returning the one I picked up. I have to say from the PW2's I have seen, the PW1 had better contrast and blacker text. At least the PW1's I've seen. Just my personal experience, so please there's no need to tell me that hasn't been your experience and I'm incorrect. Everyone's experience is different, but equally valid, so hopefully this post won't open that line of discussion again.

Anyway, I'm happy for those of you that have good ones and are pleased and I'm also happy Amazon has improved the color hue issue even if it's still not where it should be, to my eyes at least. Unfortunately, overall, I remain very disappointed in Amazon's quality control on the Paperwhite. Ah well. Maybe next year.

[ixtab]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

That link should be reported to eBay and PayPal. It should not be allowed there.

Well actually, there are legit blacklisted Kindles. I remember the case of someone on this forum who had a Kindle Touch (I believe) which was stuck on the "Your Kindle needs Repair" screen. Amazon decided to send him a new unit, but did not want the old one back because the shipping cost would be too high (that user was somewhere in Asia IIRC). They simply blacklisted the old device and told him to do whatever he wants with it.

And by now, a Kindle Touch can easily be debricked to be fully functional again. There you have it: a legit, legal, working, but blacklisted, Kindle.

Plus, this side thread is irrelevant to the Original Post. It should be ended. Start a new thread in the proper section of this Forum to continue it.

Yep, but this thread has taken so many different directions that it doesn't matter anymore

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

I picked up another Paperwhite at Best Buy last night. I truly do not want to be Debbie Downer on here, but I'm just telling it as I see it. Three pinholes and color hues. Worst one I have seen of the 3 I've had. They had two PW display models (one wi-fi and 1 3G) and I saw faint hues on both of those as well. Mind you, the color hues were much more faint than on last years PW1 and in general the screen is much more uniform.

From what I have seen this year though the pinholes are much more prominent and the background tint still varies widely as does the brightness of the lights. The one I picked up yesterday is more blue, not as yellow. This does make the contrast appear better, but there are other issues like the pinholes. My friend has 2 pinholes on hers, but is keeping it.

Obviously I'm returning the one I picked up. I have to say from the PW2's I have seen, the PW1 had better contrast and blacker text. At least the PW1's I've seen. Just my personal experience, so please there's no need to tell me that hasn't been your experience and I'm incorrect. Everyone's experience is different, but equally valid, so hopefully this post won't open that line of discussion again.

Anyway, I'm happy for those of you that have good ones and are pleased and I'm also happy Amazon has improved the color hue issue even if it's still not where it should be, to my eyes at least. Unfortunately, overall, I remain very disappointed in Amazon's quality control on the Paperwhite. Ah well. Maybe next year.

You have had incredibly bad luck with Paperwhites. Maybe try a Kindle Fire HDX. They are being shipped starting this week.

You must also have great eye sight. My very old eyes are probably missing lots of stuff.

If all this happened that much to me, I'd be buying a new iPad being introduced on Oct 22.

[Katsunami]

I wonder if previous Kindles (Touch and before) also had so many screen issues.

I also wonder if I did win the lottery with my perfect KPW1. No pinholes, no color blobs (and my score on Xendula's test showed that I would be able to see them if they were there ), no fuzzy letters, no light leakage to mention (about ¼th of an inch on the lower left, visible only in complete darkenss with the light set to at least 15 or so), and hardly any shadows on the bottom, unless I jack the light WAY up higher than the ambient light. In this room, it means I must set it to at least 18 to start noticing the shadows a tiny bit.

To be honest, if I was lucky, I'm happy with it, because "just returning a Kindle to Amazon" is not easily done from The Netherlands. You'd need to order it in Germany, get it delivered there, and pick it up, and also send it back from that side of the border. I'm close to it, but not so close that I can just walk out the door and drop it at the next post-office half a mile away.

[xendula]

Sparklemotion, thank you for this post. I already sent one back, and am sending the yellow-tint one back next week. I was thinking of trying a BB one, but now don't feel like dealing with yet another return hassle, so I am sticking with my blotchy PW1 for now, and will give it another try either in a few months, if reports come in that QC has increased considerably (I am thinking of the more uniform screens that started appearring a few months after the PW1 announcement) or I'll wait until the PW3. Maybe by then, someone has found a way to include alternative fonts on the new firmware - I am sick of the included ones.

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

I picked up another Paperwhite at Best Buy last night. I truly do not want to be Debbie Downer on here, but I'm just telling it as I see it. Three pinholes and color hues. Worst one I have seen of the 3 I've had. They had two PW display models (one wi-fi and 1 3G) and I saw faint hues on both of those as well. Mind you, the color hues were much more faint than on last years PW1 and in general the screen is much more uniform.

From what I have seen this year though the pinholes are much more prominent and the background tint still varies widely as does the brightness of the lights. The one I picked up yesterday is more blue, not as yellow. This does make the contrast appear better, but there are other issues like the pinholes. My friend has 2 pinholes on hers, but is keeping it.

Obviously I'm returning the one I picked up. I have to say from the PW2's I have seen, the PW1 had better contrast and blacker text. At least the PW1's I've seen. Just my personal experience, so please there's no need to tell me that hasn't been your experience and I'm incorrect. Everyone's experience is different, but equally valid, so hopefully this post won't open that line of discussion again.

Anyway, I'm happy for those of you that have good ones and are pleased and I'm also happy Amazon has improved the color hue issue even if it's still not where it should be, to my eyes at least. Unfortunately, overall, I remain very disappointed in Amazon's quality control on the Paperwhite. Ah well. Maybe next year.

So sorry you got another bad one. I think Amazon's quality control must be nearly non-existent. My PW2 is okay, but just. If I didn't modify my books to make the text bold, I would have severe eyestrain. The text is washed out compared to Kindles that do not have the light layer and compared to my iPhone and iPad. I'm only keeping it because it is better than my Touch was, and so I got rid of the Touch.

Another complaint I have about the PW2 is the battery life is SHORT! I bought my PW2 on Wednesday morning, did the set up routine, then fully charged it. I then read on it from Wed afternoon until last night. I read perhaps 10 or 12 hours during that period with the light averaging about level 12. The result was that I had only about 20% charge left. WiFi was on, but that shouldn't eat the battery. I always left the WiFi on on my Touch (and all other Kindles I've owned) and they last at least a week or two, usually two, with heavy usage. Basically I'm getting two days of usage before having to recharge. (BTW, I only loaded two books so indexing was not the issue.)

BTW, I believe I can read longer periods with less eyestrain on my iPhone and iPad than on my PW2.

[xendula]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I wonder if previous Kindles (Touch and before) also had so many issues.

I have not had a single issue with any of the other eink Kindles I've bought over the years, other than the KT freezing during a TTS session while driving, so it must be the new layers that were introduced for the light....

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

You have had incredibly bad luck with Paperwhites. Maybe try a Kindle Fire HDX. They are being shipped starting this week.

You must also have great eye sight. My very old eyes are probably missing lots of stuff.

If all this happened that much to me, I'd be buying a new iPad being introduced on Oct 22.

I have indeed had bad luck. I actually do have a Kindle Fire, but I prefer e-ink for reading so I'm sticking with my PW1 for now.

Originally Posted by xendula

Sparklemotion, thank you for this post. I already sent one back, and am sending the yellow-tint one back next week. I was thinking of trying a BB one, but now don't feel like dealing with yet another return hassle, so I am sticking with my blotchy PW1 for now, and will give it another try either in a few months, if reports come in that QC has increased considerably (I am thinking of the more uniform screens that started appearring a few months after the PW1 announcement) or I'll wait until the PW3. Maybe by then, someone has found a way to include alternative fonts on the new firmware - I am sick of the included ones.

Maybe I'll try again next year, I guess I'll see. Especially if people start reporting less pinhole issues. I'm something of an optimist so I hate to give up on it, especially knowing good ones are out there, but at this point I'm weary of the whole process. Hopefully we will both be able to get a great PW eventually. Even if it's a PW5.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by xendula

I have not had a single issue with any of the other eink Kindles I've bought over the years, other than the KT freezing during a TTS session while driving, so it must be the new layers that were introduced for the light....

Same here. All my previous Kindles have been absolutely perfect. Like you said, the new lighting technology is introducing potential problems that weren't there before.

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I wonder if previous Kindles (Touch and before) also had so many screen issues.

I also wonder if I did win the lottery with my perfect KPW1. No pinholes, no color blobs (and my score on Xendula's test showed that I would be able to see them if they were there ), no fuzzy letters, no light leakage to mention (about ¼th of an inch on the lower left, visible only in complete darkenss with the light set to at least 15 or so), and hardly any shadows on the bottom, unless I jack the light WAY up higher than the ambient light. In this room, it means I must set it to at least 18 to start noticing the shadows a tiny bit.

To be honest, if I was lucky, I'm happy with it, because "just returning a Kindle to Amazon" is not easily done from The Netherlands. You'd need to order it in Germany, get it delivered there, and pick it up, and also send it back from that side of the border. I'm close to it, but not so close that I can just walk out the door and drop it at the next post-office half a mile away.

The K2 or K3 had issues with the bezel cracking near the screen. Early K3 units had issues with the labels rubbing off of the keyboard buttons. The Touch had issues with some screens being a dark tan rather than grey.

BTW, I personally never encountered any issues with my Kindles until the PW1.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by xendula

(I am thinking of the more uniform screens that started appearring a few months after the PW1 announcement)

Hm... That could be it. I preordered the KPW1 at Amazon Germany (through a friend who lives just across the border), and received it around Christmas; I don't know anymore which day exactly. So, that was be why my KPW1 is good; it was already available for a few months, in other parts of the world, so maybe QA did increase.

[Yolina]

Originally Posted by jswinden

.

Another complaint I have about the PW2 is the battery life is SHORT! I bought my PW2 on Wednesday morning, did the set up routine, then fully charged it. I then read on it from Wed afternoon until last night. I read perhaps 10 or 12 hours during that period with the light averaging about level 12. The result was that I had only about 20% charge left. WiFi was on, but that shouldn't eat the battery. I always left the WiFi on on my Touch (and all other Kindles I've owned) and they last at least a week or two, usually two, with heavy usage. Basically I'm getting two days of usage before having to recharge. (BTW, I only loaded two books so indexing was not the issue.)

Could be the wifi As I've said in another thread somewhere, I transferred about 650 books in one go from Calibre, then did a full charge. After about 10 hours of reading on it (light anywhere between 7 and 15), the battery indicator had moved 1 notch from full. I do however always keep the wifi off.

[aceflor]

I have alienated my dear husband to fly back to me with the two PW2s. Since he is only carrying a cabin case, he will need to make room in it so needless to say, he is not delighted (and that is a huge understatement). Now I am really worried about getting one (I don't even want to think of 2) bad PW2, because that would just really, really ruin the mood...

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by jswinden

So sorry you got another bad one. I think Amazon's quality control must be nearly non-existent. My PW2 is okay, but just. If I didn't modify my books to make the text bold, I would have severe eyestrain. The text is washed out compared to Kindles that do not have the light layer and compared to my iPhone and iPad. I'm only keeping it because it is better than my Touch was, and so I got rid of the Touch.

Another complaint I have about the PW2 is the battery life is SHORT! I bought my PW2 on Wednesday morning, did the set up routine, then fully charged it. I then read on it from Wed afternoon until last night. I read perhaps 10 or 12 hours during that period with the light averaging about level 12. The result was that I had only about 20% charge left. WiFi was on, but that shouldn't eat the battery. I always left the WiFi on on my Touch (and all other Kindles I've owned) and they last at least a week or two, usually two, with heavy usage. Basically I'm getting two days of usage before having to recharge. (BTW, I only loaded two books so indexing was not the issue.)

BTW, I believe I can read longer periods with less eyestrain on my iPhone and iPad than on my PW2.

Thanks Jack. I'm really glad you got a good one. At least a few people from the original PW1 color blob club were successful. I agree the battery life isn't great, I have to charge my PW1 quite often, but I so love having a lighted reader that I don't mind really.

My experience is actually the same as yours with back-lit tablets. I find them very easy to read on and I don't get any eyestrain. However, the catch for me is that you can't read on them in bright light and I do a lot of reading outside on the deck and I don't like to switch between readers, I guess. I prefer having one dedicated reader to read everything on, in any light situation, no syncing between devices and so forth. That's why I'm so hung up on the darn PW! lol. I just wish I could have got a good one, but maybe next time.

Originally Posted by Yolina

Could be the wifi As I've said in another thread somewhere, I transferred about 650 books in one go from Calibre, then did a full charge. After about 10 hours of reading on it (light anywhere between 7 and 15), the battery indicator had moved 1 notch from full. I do however always keep the wifi off.

It is certainly possible. Perhaps the PW2 phones home more often since it has so many internet-connected features. None of my other Kindles ever drained the battery that fast, and I always left WiFi on.