Paperwhite Second Gen: First Impressions

[xendula]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

There are a few things that keep me away from Kobo:
1. Kobo wastes a lot of screen space with line height and headers and footers.
2. It's an EPUB reader, but many functions only work with their KEPUB format. It seems that the internals of AZW3 are closer to EPUB than KEPUB, and the AZW3 format seems to be understood better at this point. If I have to convert from EPUB, then I'd rather convert to the better known format.
3. The fracking bugs that always crop up... at least the ones I see when lurking in the Kobo forum. (I rarely post there, because I don't have a Kobo, but I do read it.)

4. Kobo's famed worst in class customer service.

[xendula]

Originally Posted by cadele

I find it a nicer colour and much more evenly lit than the PW1, and the increased resolution and speed are noticeable to me.

The screen resolution is the same as on last year's Paperwhite.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by ixtab

I dimly remember a report here of the USE_ALT_FONTS thing actually bricking a Paperwhite - probably because of a dodgy font.

I've had some fonts do the Kindle restart loop so it's best to use commercial or tried and tested fonts.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by jswinden

We are talking about the Paperwhite in this thread, and quite frankly some of us don't care about the Fire HDX. Try to stay on subject for a change.

Oh don't get me started on the HDX's Kindle Reader. It seem to me it's been dumb down. Mobi books will not show a table of contents. Only AZW3 does. Font wise I've yet to be able to get the publisher's font to show which means embedded fonts don't work! Then there are the covers. Only Amazon Book covers show. Sideloaded and Personal documents only have a generic cover. One looks like plain blue cover with text and the other like a windows icon you would to associate a file type. Not impressed at all with the Kindle Reader but the font rending on the default fonts is amazing but that's all it's got going for it as a reader.

[fearindex]

I wrote my PW2 review in another thread, but just for the sake of the screen quality discussion here are the main flaws in my PW2:

- Crooked screen, top left is higher than top right but also top right is not quite glued onto the frame making it sort of caving in a little
- Two specks: one light-shining pin-hole quite center in the bottom quarter, a grey speck in the the top quarter

Lighting is more yellow than on PW1, but it is more even especially for the LED shadows on the bottom. It is not "even" in the full sense of the word by no means, very light-leaky on the borders and shadowy in the middle, but it is better than my PW1 in that regard.

The first of the two flaws above probably mean it is going back, though. The crookedness of the screen is much worse than on my PW1 which is also slightly tilted.

[cadele]

Originally Posted by xendula

The screen resolution is the same as on last year's Paperwhite.

Ah, thank you, my mistake. The text on my PW2 is crisper than my PW1 which appeared to me as an increased resolution.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Oh don't get me started on the HDX's Kindle Reader. It seem to me it's been dumb down. Mobi books will not show a table of contents. Only AZW3 does. Font wise I've yet to be able to get the publisher's font to show which means embedded fonts don't work! Then there are the covers. Only Amazon Book covers show. Sideloaded and Personal documents only have a generic cover. One looks like plain blue cover with text and the other like a windows icon you would to associate a file type. Not impressed at all with the Kindle Reader but the font rending on the default fonts is amazing but that's all it's got going for it as a reader.

That is disappointing, that the Kindle Reader on the new HDX is even worse than on the 2012 HD. You'll just have to use Mantano for everything on yours. I don't use the Kindle Reader on the HD, in fact I wiped the Fire UI and use n2a now. (But now Mantano Essentials doesn't work, so I have to use Cool Reader to get my font. Argh! Cool Reader is good, though. Retains my formatting, my font works, TOC works, it's acceptable.)

Maybe next year Amazon will get it right...the PW2 with embedded fonts is really great. But I want it smaller and lighter, next year.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

There are a few things that keep me away from Kobo:
1. Kobo wastes a lot of screen space with line height and headers and footers.
2. It's an EPUB reader, but many functions only work with their KEPUB format. It seems that the internals of AZW3 are closer to EPUB than KEPUB, and the AZW3 format seems to be understood better at this point. If I have to convert from EPUB, then I'd rather convert to the better known format.
3. The fracking bugs that always crop up... at least the ones I see when lurking in the Kobo forum. (I rarely post there, because I don't have a Kobo, but I do read it.)

1. I use side loaded epubs, no header, and footer is fine.
2. Epub is a better known and much more widely used format than AZW3.
3. I don't experience bugs on mine. Then again, I never turn on wifi, never sync, and only upgrade firmware if I feel an upgrade would benefit me. I sideload upgrades, too.

In many ways, for my uses, the Kobo Glo is far superior to the Kindle PW2. The PW2 does have darker text. And I love the "time to read" feature on the PW. So I have, and use, them both

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Oh don't get me started on the HDX's Kindle Reader. It seem to me it's been dumb down. Mobi books will not show a table of contents. Only AZW3 does. Font wise I've yet to be able to get the publisher's font to show which means embedded fonts don't work! Then there are the covers. Only Amazon Book covers show. Sideloaded and Personal documents only have a generic cover. One looks like plain blue cover with text and the other like a windows icon you would to associate a file type. Not impressed at all with the Kindle Reader but the font rending on the default fonts is amazing but that's all it's got going for it as a reader.

Bookmarks on the HDX 2013 are handled like on the PW 2013. All of them are in the upper right. Plus, the screen is light absorbing like on the PW 2013 but not to the same extent. Thus, reading on the HDX 2013 surpasses the HD 2012 by quite a bit.

In addition, the PW 2012, PW 2013 and HD 2012 all require one to press the Sync button to get to the proper page after waiting about 15 seconds. The HD 2013 does NOT have a sync button. It is in CONTINUOUS sync. That may use more power but I won't know that for a couple of weeks.

The X-ray feature on an eBook I'm reading now, "Dirty Wars," at page 149 of 643 shows the following: PW 2012 and PW 2013 shows one link but no details; the HD 2012 shows 2 links but no details; the HDX 2013 shows FOUR links with FULL details for each.

Last, but not least, the Accessibility features of the HDX 2013 do not even exist on the PW 2013 or the HD 2012.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

Bookmarks on the HDX 2013 are handled like on the PW 2013. All of them are in the upper right. Plus, the screen is light absorbing like on the PW 2013 but not to the same extent. Thus, reading on the HDX 2013 surpasses the HD 2012 by quite a bit.

In addition, the PW 2012, PW 2013 and HD 2012 all require one to press the Sync button to get to the proper page after waiting about 15 seconds. The HD 2013 does NOT have a sync button. It is in CONTINUOUS sync. That may use more power but I won't know that for a couple of weeks.

The X-ray feature on an eBook I'm reading now, "Dirty Wars," at page 149 of 643 shows the following: PW 2012 and PW 2013 shows one link but no details; the HD 2012 shows 2 links but no details; the HDX 2013 shows FOUR links with FULL details for each.

Last, but not least, the Accessibility features of the HDX 2013 do not even exist on the PW 2013 or the HD 2012.

Except for PDFs, I don't like or use any tablet for serious reading sessions, honestly. And is sad that companies, even Amazon are shifted their business towards tablets; after all, it seems they are more profitable and appealing to people.

It is my opinion that even an iPad with retina display can't beat the advantages and simplicity of eink.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by jocampo

Except for PDFs, I don't like or use any tablet for serious reading sessions, honestly. And is sad that companies, even Amazon are shifted their business towards tablets; after all, it seems they are more profitable and appealing to people.

It is my opinion that even an iPad with retina display can't beat the advantages and simplicity of eink.

There is an Adobe Reader App for the Kindle Fire which works perfectly with PDF files and can be used in the HD 2012 and the HD 2013 available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Systems-...s=adobe+reader

I rarely read PDF files my Kindles so I cannot vouch to the attributes of that App. I normally read PDF files on my PC using Adobe Reader.

[Chi Cygni]

Originally Posted by jocampo

She "hates" when I buy electronic stuff, she says that I waste too much money on that (actually, she may be right) And that most of the time, I get stuff that looks exactly the same.

Your wife and my husband should be introduced to each other. Dammit. This time Amazon made it easy for me because if I ever order PW2 it will arrive undetected on the day when I work from home and I will just put my cover on it. He will never even know. What a shame to be even plotting like this. I don't buy tons of shoes or handbags and electronic gadgets make me happy. And it's not like I cannot afford an ereader once in a while. He's a great guy, don't get me wrong I just want to spare myself the "why" the "tsk tsk" and the general eyeroll. I have a 3 year old ipad and a cheapo Chinese 7 inch tablet and I heard last time "if you want to buy a new one we will have to get rid of one of them" </end rant>

[Yolina]

I'm really glad I don't have those kind of problems - the cat absolutely does not care if I buy stuff and my PW1 just sold reasonably well on ebay (about £70 after all fees etc) so my cost of upgrading to the PW2 was just under £40

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

This time Amazon made it easy for me because if I ever order PW2 it will arrive undetected on the day when I work from home and I will just put my cover on it.

If I ever? I sense the wheels on this plot are rolling too quickly to be stopped. heheheeee. I love of it, of course. Let's flood Amazon with requests to make the PW look exactly the same EVERY year. Honey, I've held on to my PW1 for 10 years, can you believe it?

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Yolina

I'm really glad I don't have those kind of problems - the cat absolutely does not care if I buy stuff

Hey, my dogs encourage it. You know how dogs are.