Paperwhite Second Gen: First Impressions

[sirmaru]

Just to see how bad the pin hole effect really is, I went here:

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Ereader...DateDescending

I only read the 335 ONE STAR reviews of the total of 6,005 reviews. There were some pretty bad stories there but not one mention of a pin hole. Most complainers were sworn off Kindles altogether after their experiences.

Most reported broken screens, no instructions and totally dead units. I only read the first two pages of the 34 total.

Of course that compares to 4,050 FIVE star reviews without any problems.

My other question is how many folks with pin hole problems here see them using GLASSES? The problem may be related to the effects of light on vision through eye glasses. If you take off your glasses, can you still see the pin holes?

Originally Posted by Yolina

When I got mine last week, I spent 5 minutes no daring to open the box and then followed with a huge sigh of relief when I saw it was a good one.

Fingers crossed for you.

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

I did the same with my box a while ago! Somebody said in another thread it felt like defusing a bomb

I did the same thing! It was like opening a letter you suspect will contain bad news. I let it sit on my desk for a few minutes before opening it. In years past I would have torn it open like a kid with a Christmas present.

Originally Posted by sirmaru

Just to see how bad the pin hole effect really is, I went here:

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Ereader...DateDescending

I only read the 335 ONE STAR reviews of the total of 6,005 reviews. There were some pretty bad stories there but not one mention of a pin hole. Most complainers were sworn off Kindles altogether after their experiences.

Most reported broken screens, no instructions and totally dead units. I only read the first two pages of the 34 total.

Of course that compares to 4,050 FIVE star reviews without any problems.

My other question is how many folks with pin hole problems here see them using GLASSES? The problem may be related to the effects of light on vision through eye glasses. If you take off your glasses, can you still see the pin holes?

Geez, give those stupid Amazon reviews a rest! BTW, you chose a different model than the PW2 to look up reviews. I would like to tell you explicitly what we think of your constant reference to those stupid reviews, but I don't want to get put into time out by the mods.

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

With the circles I can see them but they are so faint as to be irrelevant to me.

I get my eyes checked 4 times per year because of the macular degeneration for which there is no cure. Checking that won't cure it. I can also see through the cataract with just an effect of nearsightedness ever so slightly.

However, I can read on the PC monitor, my Kindle screens and other printed material PERFECTLY. I don't need to detect pin holes in my situation.

The fact that I am reading this now without any glasses or surgery and almost every pin hole "fan" probably has eye glass corrected vision may also be a factor here. Maybe the eye glasses exaggerate the pin holes.

As I said earlier, MOST folks have defective vision making PIN holes irrelevant to them. That is the reason I have always received Kindles with perfect screens. I cannot see the defects seen by others.

By the way, there was a video testimonial on the review section of the PW 2013 saying that a 90 year old woman with macular degeneration, who could not read any books for TEN YEARS, was able to now read clearly with the PW 2013. Maybe Amazon is catering to the elderly like me and focusing on giving us good reading experiences and simply forgetting those with eye glass perfected vision who are bothered by pin holes.

If you don't see the pinholes, or they don't bother you, that is perfectly fine of course. Also, I'm glad you are enjoying your Kindle and it is quite possible your own Kindle is also better than is being portrayed here in defect reporting. I'm sure majority of Kindle PW2 readers are like you.

But I do have to wonder why you have to make such wide-reaching (and obviously faulty) conclusions about people who see these imperfections. While I agree they aren't (likely) any kind of majority, I think it is a stretch to assume people who are seeing them do so because of laser-corrected eye surgery or eye glasses exaggerating the effect or whatnot. That just sidetracks the conversation. There is probably a very large host of different reasons why people are susceptible to seeing imperfections and why not.

Personally I don't wear glasses on the computer or when reading on Kindle, but I also don't have that good vision, nor have I ever had any eye surgery done... and I could see those pinholes the second the picture opened to my screen. They are very obvious to me.

The problem with pictures like that, of course, is that we don't know how our respective monitors are or are calibrated and thus, how well they represent the original device on our own screens. Some of us might have more accurate representation on our screens than others.

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

The Monitor I had before the present one had one dead pixel in the upper left corner. I never returned it since it did not interfere with anything.

Personally I used to be quite picky about dead pixels at one time, but over the years I've come to accept screens that have one dead pixel as a reality not worth fighting against in most cases. Raised resolutions have also made dead pixels smaller and less problematic. More than one or two would probably be a deal breaker. I accepted a single pinhole in PW1 too - and a crooked screen and uneven lighting... well, I don't use that one much though.

That said, what I personally can accept on a computer or even on a television (although dead pixels on a large television are easily so large that they may bother me more), is different from what I can accept on a reading device. The reason is simple: Most of the time LCD monitors and TVs are displaying diverse color imagery that will much of the time hide any imperfections anyway. You'll notice dead pixels and light leaks mostly in solid color screens and those are fairly rare.

But reading a text book is different. You'll be watching a solid background color and simple single-color text hours on end. That's something where imperfections pop up much easier and can stop some people from "getting lost in the book"... and that's when it becomes a problem. It seems to vary a lot from individual to individual, who is bothered by what.

Personally I could probably live with most of my PW1 imperfections, but in the end regular e-ink on the $69 Kindle is so superior to PW1 that the choice - for me - is simple. $69 Kindle is the most assured bang for the e-reading buck. We'll see if PW2 changes my mind once it ships.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

Yes! There were maybe 4 or 5 more (yes, really) in the middle and near the top of the screen. I kept finding new ones. Crazy, eh? It also had black specks too. Some were tiny, some larger. It was the last one I picked up at Best Buy. I returned it already - of course! I didn't even notice you had my user name wrong, too funny what you used. LOL.



Clearly I have a black PW cloud hanging over my head!

At least it was easy to return and you could show the return desk people the problem. Eek! I was told by someone here they went and saw the HDX yesterday at their local Best Buy and was not impressed with the screen quality. I am a little worried but I tell myself the demo probably was just really dirty. Mine will be here later this week! You can't screw up a LCD tablet can you? *fingers crossed*

I am on another forum where there is a lady who uses SparkleMom so I go you two mixed up.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Blossom

At least it was easy to return and you could show the return desk people the problem. Eek! I was told by someone here they went and saw the HDX yesterday at their local Best Buy and was not impressed with the screen quality. I am a little worried but I tell myself the demo probably was just really dirty. Mine will be here later this week! You can't screw up a LCD tablet can you? *fingers crossed*

I am on another forum where there is a lady who uses SparkleMom so I go you two mixed up.

Ah I see. It made me laugh. Yes, very easy to return. Best Buy gave me no problems at all. I returned 2 there. I saw the HDX at Best Buy and the display model looked really nice to my eyes. I hope you love it, good luck!

[kyrilson]

Maybe I just have good luck, or maybe I'm not that picky, but I have bought 7 kindles, and never had a problem with any of them. From kindle 2 through to KPW2. Zero quality issues.

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by kyrilson

Maybe I just have good luck, or maybe I'm not that picky, but I have bought 7 kindles, and never had a problem with any of them. From kindle 2 through to KPW2. Zero quality issues.

Previous Kindles had arguably less quality issues than PWs, though. Although Kindle 2's initial launch was plagued with sun-fade issue and some have had lower contrast screens on regular e-ink launches since then, but overall the regular e-ink screen is pretty mature technology by now. Some Kindle generations have had other quality issues, of course, unrelated to screens.

Personally my only issues with Kindle devices have been with the PW screen. I too have owned around 7-8 Kindles starting with Kindle 2.

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

Just to see how bad the pin hole effect really is, I went here:

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Ereader...DateDescending

I only read the 335 ONE STAR reviews of the total of 6,005 reviews. There were some pretty bad stories there but not one mention of a pin hole. Most complainers were sworn off Kindles altogether after their experiences.

...err...

That is the reviews of the $69 Kindle I've been raving about as a great e-ink experience. No wonder people don't have issues with its screen!

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by Blossom

At least it was easy to return and you could show the return desk people the problem. Eek! I was told by someone here they went and saw the HDX yesterday at their local Best Buy and was not impressed with the screen quality. I am a little worried but I tell myself the demo probably was just really dirty. Mine will be here later this week! You can't screw up a LCD tablet can you? *fingers crossed*

I am on another forum where there is a lady who uses SparkleMom so I go you two mixed up.

Its just FOUR days to my expected HDX delivery. I just hope I don't get unlucky with that unit.

When is yours due? Mine still says "Not Yet Shipped."

Originally Posted by kyrilson

Maybe I just have good luck, or maybe I'm not that picky, but I have bought 7 kindles, and never had a problem with any of them. From kindle 2 through to KPW2. Zero quality issues.

I've had a K2, KDXG, 2 K3s, a K4S, and a Touch. That is 6 Kindles in a row that had no issues. But then I got 3 PW1s that were all bad. And my PW2 is only marginally acceptable as it has far less text contrast than advertised and a blue tinted screen rather than a white screen. So for me, the issues started with the PW1, not the earlier Kindles.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

Its just FOUR days to my expected HDX delivery. I just hope I don't get unlucky with that unit.

When is yours due? Mine still says "Not Yet Shipped."

Same as yours but knowing Amazon I expect to see moment either late tonight or early morning. Today's a holiday or I would have expected to see movement today. I think some of us will have one by Wednesday and I expect mine on Thursday even though it says Friday.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Geez, give those stupid Amazon reviews a rest! BTW, you chose a different model than the PW2 to look up reviews. I would like to tell you explicitly what we think of your constant reference to those stupid reviews, but I don't want to get put into time out by the mods.

Its too bad this Forum doesn't have some kind of star rating with a count at the top on a Sticky. Then I wouldn't have to go to the Amazon site.

By the way, I couldn't find my model of the PW 2013 offered there anymore. Can you find it there? Have they just suppressed the WiFi model as they now offer up the 3G model? Have they stopped selling my model to correct all the initial problems?

Finally, my KK 2009 was a disaster. It failed every time I took it to Church to show off my online Bible. It took four months for enough folks to post the same problem in a thread here for me to convince Amazon to take it back for an exchange. I pointed the CS to the thread here.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

Its too bad this Forum doesn't have some kind of star rating with a count at the top on a Sticky. Then I wouldn't have to go to the Amazon site.

By the way, I couldn't find my model of the PW 2013 offered there anymore. Can you find it there? Have they just suppressed the WiFi model as they now offer up the 3G model? Have they stopped selling my model to correct all the initial problems?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AWH595M/