Paperwhite Second Gen: First Impressions

[Belle2Be]

That is most excellent news

[Bookworm_Girl]

Well, I was excited about the possibility of cloud collections, but I ended up deleting them all for now. However I have expectations they'll be improved in the future since it's the initial attempt. Same for Goodreads integration.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

Well, I was excited about the possibility of cloud collections, but I ended up deleting them all for now. However I have expectations they'll be improved in the future since it's the initial attempt. Same for Goodreads integration.

I can say the Goodreads integration on the Kindle Fire is great! It works just like the normal Goodreads app.

I just wanted to updated everyone here who heard me complain about the Kindle Fire HDX through most of this thread. I now own a Kindle Fire HD 2 16GB and I am in love! No blue border or color blobs. So I finally get my happy ending! I also paid the same price the Paperwhite 2 is $119. So I think the PW1 will be the last eInk I go for till PW3 comes out.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Glad to hear you found your happy ending at last!

[ProfCrash]

Collection nuisance?

[VictoriaP]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Collection nuisance?

My experience with Collections on the 5.4.2 update is in the other thread (and over on Kboards). It's not been pretty, but not as bad as some; hence "nuisance".

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by Belle2Be

I just ordered a paperwhite 2 only to come read here and read some dissatisfaction about it! Just tell me, is the light on the screen/ screen layer thickness/color better or worse than my current situation-

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Better, by about 1286.31%. Uh... Aproximately

If you're coming from any reader using an external reading light, *any* lighted reader will be heaven.

I'm not so sure that is so universally true. It come down to personal perception too.

I used to read Kindle 2 with a flashlight and obviously it was an uneven experience in a sense, but then the light would naturally follow my movements and wouldn't be perceived as unevenness on the page, but just a natural way light works. Same with the lighted covers of e.g. Kindle 3, as they are not part of the screen itself.

I found Paperwhite 1 to be far more annoying experience than any e-ink reader and external light, really. When you have a lit page, that is splotchy in a random but constant pattern, that does take away something that no amount on uneven external lighting would - in my view - do. If an external light moves unevenly on my book, the natural reaction is just adjust the book or the light. But if the light is inherent to the "page" itself, and is uneven or has other anomalies, it is far harder to forget about it for me. Plus a lighted screen, even evenly lighted one, looks more like a computer screen than a page from a book.

Paperwhite 2, the replacement I got, is okay-enough for me to read, but even then I do consider non-lighted Kindles better when reading in the dark, more paper-like and book-like, and integrated lighted covers as the best-so-far solution to the lighting problem.

Anyway, my longer views on this explained in my signature link...

[jangell2]

I am torn about whether to post this here or in the Calibre section. Since we're discussing the Paperwhite here, I'll post here.

I have the Kindle 2 (I think, it has the keyboard). I've enjoyed but would like to try out the paperwhite because doing anything besides reading the book is a PITA. I have come to enjoy using Calibre and the Kindle Collections Plug-in for Calibre.

This plug-in will not work with the paperwhite? How easy are collections to do on the paperwhite with just the built-in software? Is there another plug-in that works with the paperwhite that you could recommend?

I appreciate your advice.

[eschwartz]

The Kindle Collections plugin does work with The Touch and PW1 (I assume the PW2 should be no different) but only if the device is jailbroken. That allows the plugin to access the hidden system partitioned file which controls collections.

[NiLuJe]

Nope, no PW2 support (yet?).

[jangell2]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

The Kindle Collections plugin does work with The Touch and PW1 (I assume the PW2 should be no different) but only if the device is jailbroken. That allows the plugin to access the hidden system partitioned file which controls collections.

Over in the Collections thread I am informed the plug-in does not work with the PW2. Which leads me to repeat my questions: How is the PW2 native software for managing collections and is there an alternative plug-in that works with Calibre?

[eschwartz]

I highly doubt anyone will create a plugin to work with the PW2 when they could just update Kindle Collections, so I suggest watching that thread for updates. When the developers figure out the PW2 they will add support there.

Without having a PW2 I can only assume it works the same as the Touch (which I own) and the PW1 (which several friends own) except for the part about how it shows you cloud books, bugs you about wifi, etc.

In other words, clumsy in the extreme for bulk editing of collections, no hierarchy support (which bothers some people) and you can't order them except with naming hacks.

[ProfCrash]

Call it fourth or fifth impression...

Last night my Little Man was struggling to go to sleep. After finishing a level in my video game, he was still crying. I grabbed my PW2 and went into his room. He snuggled his head into my shoulder. I sang a little bit and rocked. As he drifted off I turned on my PW2. The light was far less distracting then the iPad light. He started to become dead weight, I read two chapters. No blobs, pin holes, or any issues. One sleeping toddler, one Mommy who enjoyed the cuddle, felt good for comforting her little man, and enjoyed reading a couple of chapters in her book.

This could have happened with any other front lit e-reader but I have the PW2. Loved it more then ever last night. When the little man was a baby, I would rock him and eventually end up using the iPad. Harder to hold and more light (due to the larger screen size). It would take 30-40 minutes of rocking to get him to fall asleep soundly enough that I could put him in his crib. I wish I had had the PW2 then, it is so much easier to hold and work with.

[Belle2Be]

So first impression, I think I love it! I love the "fancy" stuff, the covers view and touch anywhere and easy access to menu stuff. (Remember I'm comparing to a KK3 ). The light I'm a littttle unsure about, but I think it'll grow on me. Its so evenly lit its almost like a lcd screen and I need to log more hours on it to see if it'll bug my eyes like that, but realistically it shouldn't, I don't think.

Is there a way to change the collections cover?

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by Belle2Be

So first impression, I think I love it! I love the "fancy" stuff, the covers view and touch anywhere and easy access to menu stuff. (Remember I'm comparing to a KK3 ). The light I'm a littttle unsure about, but I think it'll grow on me. Its so evenly lit its almost like a lcd screen and I need to log more hours on it to see if it'll bug my eyes like that, but realistically it shouldn't, I don't think.

The light is an adjustment, you will end up liking it or hating it, I expect. You are right: the lighted PW screen is very much like an LCD. Some like it that way, others don't.

By the way, thanks to your image above I stumbled upon Every Day myself and read it (on the PW2 no less, shudder...) already. A good book. This time I read mostly in daylight so PW2 worked quite nicely there. It is only in "absolute" darkness when I think the PW experience is a bit jarring. In daylight or fair ambient lighting it is better.

Still, what bugged me even reading Every Day on the PW2, I was home sick and had a pack of tissues which spread a little white specks on the screen. On the PW2 those float so high above the text, due to the light and touch layers, that it certainly looses that paper-like-feeling that normal e-ink screens have where e.g. dust settles right above the text.

Anyway, PW2 is its own set of compromises, pros and cons, and I'm sure over time you will adjust to it. Whether you like it the best or not at the end, depends on personal preferences. Some like it, some don't.

Originally Posted by Belle2Be

Is there a way to change the collections cover?

No (at least not without jailbreaking).