Kobo Aura H2O - First Impressions

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Haesslich

I saw one at the store this afternoon. It's definitely a lovely screen - much whiter than the Aura HD they had in display, and clearer/sharper than my Kindle PW1. It's not as blue as the PW1, but it's not very yellow either - more a creamy neutral white.

My PW2 is a lovely creamy colour. I can live with the H20 being yellower but I do think mines too yellow, and the top is slightly darker than the bottom. It's 4am here and this is my screen at 30% brightness, taken with my ipad. It's actually more yello than the picture shows but it's the best I can do

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I Just can't believe everyone is raving about a screen when I look at the one I got today. (picture in post above) either i have a different opinion to most or I have a bad one.

I'm so upset.

I'm sorry you're upset, that stinks. I cannot say that I blame you though going by your pic. It really is very yellow. I find it hard to believe that could be the norm for the screen.

[Haesslich]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

My PW2 is a lovely creamy colour. I can live with the H20 being yellower but I do think mines too yellow, and the top is slightly darker than the bottom. It's 4am here and this is my screen at 30% brightness, taken with my ipad. It's actually more yello than the picture shows but it's the best I can do

That's not quite what the H2O I saw in the store looked like - more white, less yellow. Even with the light off, the background was a lot lighter than my Aura HD or my PW1 at its lowest level.

[Josieb1]

This picture will be hard to judge but I took it this morning, I didn't realise that when you sign out it resets the reader back to the sign in process. I doesn't delete any books or tweaks (I loaded a font and the readersettingtrue to the config, they are still there, but you have to set up the reader again. I loaded an email unconnected with my kobo account just to get me into the reader.i can delete the one book still on it and sign out again at Argos later.

I'm convinced that regardless of the yellow issue it's darker at the top than the bottom, like the LED lights are struggling to light the whole screen. As much as I know now I really do want one this one is going back today as faulty.

Nb I have no idea why it's sideways! But I think it's more obvious that way, the top is on the left.

[Iefmathias]

Josieb1, mine was even worse, it had a very green look (not even yellow, green!) at 30 procent.

I sent it back, am expecting the replacement to arrive today. If it bothers you that much you should too. This is a pretty expensive reader after all!

Mine certainly looked absolutely nothing like the one posted by mr_nihilism.
Like all lit ereaders different batches will have different hues. You have to get a bit lucky I guess...

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Iefmathias

Josieb1, mine was even worse, it had a very green look (not even yellow, green!) at 30 procent.

I sent it back, am expecting the replacement to arrive today. If it bothers you that much you should too. This is a pretty expensive reader after all!

Mine certainly looked absolutely nothing like the one posted by mr_nihilism.
Like all lit ereaders different batches will have different hues. You have to get a bit lucky I guess...

Good luck with your replacement. I got my refund without any hassle in Argos I just don't know what to do now. If I order another one from Argos I'm nervous of it being the same, but we have no other sellers of it here except Kobo direct. Whsmith should sell them but there's no sign yet of them getting it

[Chi Cygni]

Originally Posted by Haesslich

I saw one at the store yesterday afternoon. It's definitely a lovely screen - much whiter than the Aura HD they had in display, and clearer/sharper than my Kindle PW1. It's not as blue as the PW1, but it's not very yellow either - more a creamy neutral white.

It is really lovely, isn't it. I don't think I ever saw such nice screen yet. I'm quite sure it will be my next ereader, only don't know when. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with my PW1. I wonder if I should "accidentally" sit on it or something...
By the way new Kindle Voyage leaves me cold, first time ever not interested.

[slantybard]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

This picture will be hard to judge but I took it this morning, I didn't realise that when you sign out it resets the reader back to the sign in process. I doesn't delete any books or tweaks (I loaded a font and the readersettingtrue to the config, they are still there, but you have to set up the reader again. I loaded an email unconnected with my kobo account just to get me into the reader.i can delete the one book still on it and sign out again at Argos later.

I'm convinced that regardless of the yellow issue it's darker at the top than the bottom, like the LED lights are struggling to light the whole screen. As much as I know now I really do want one this one is going back today as faulty.

Nb I have no idea why it's sideways! But I think it's more obvious that way, the top is on the left.

Josieb1 - I am attaching 3 photos I quickly took showing my KPW2 and Aura H2O. They were taken using my iPhone. I used the cover page of the same book since due to the different resolutions, I can't match the fonts perfectly and did not want the fonts to distract from the screen photos.

The first photo shows both in ambient light with the ereader light turned all the way down. It's angled to minimize any glare and shadows on the screens from the window and overhead light.

The second photo shows both in a dark room with their lights at maximum and the third shows them with their lights at 30% for the Kobo and at 12 for the Paperwhite. When I tried to put both ereader's lights at 1/3, the light intensity did not match and I figured it was better to try and match equal light intensities. I think the colour casts noticeable in the photos are mostly from the camera, since I can't see any colour casts in the Aura H2O and the ones in my KPW2 are barely noticeable normally.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by slantybard

Josieb1 - I am attaching 3 photos I quickly took showing my KPW2 and Aura H2O. They were taken using my iPhone. I used the cover page of the same book since due to the different resolutions, I can't match the fonts perfectly and did not want the fonts to distract from the screen photos.

The first photo shows both in ambient light with the ereader light turned all the way down. It's angled to minimize any glare and shadows on the screens from the window and overhead light.

The second photo shows both in a dark room with their lights at maximum and the third shows them with their lights at 30% for the Kobo and at 12 for the Paperwhite. When I tried to put both ereader's lights at 1/3, the light intensity did not match and I figured it was better to try and match equal light intensities. I think the colour casts noticeable in the photos are mostly from the camera, since I can't see any colour casts in the Aura H2O and the ones in my KPW2 are barely noticeable normally.

Thanks for the pictures. My first though was humm I can see yellow, but at least the screen looks the same all over.

I guess I'll see tomorrow.

[Chi Cygni]

Originally Posted by slantybard

Josieb1 - I am attaching 3 photos I quickly took showing my KPW2 and Aura H2O. They were taken using my iPhone. I used the cover page of the same book since due to the different resolutions, I can't match the fonts perfectly and did not want the fonts to distract from the screen photos.

The first photo shows both in ambient light with the ereader light turned all the way down. It's angled to minimize any glare and shadows on the screens from the window and overhead light.

The second photo shows both in a dark room with their lights at maximum and the third shows them with their lights at 30% for the Kobo and at 12 for the Paperwhite. When I tried to put both ereader's lights at 1/3, the light intensity did not match and I figured it was better to try and match equal light intensities. I think the colour casts noticeable in the photos are mostly from the camera, since I can't see any colour casts in the Aura H2O and the ones in my KPW2 are barely noticeable normally.

Aren't we all different. I'd love to get one with this tint.

[hoichi]

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

Aren't we all different. I'd love to get one with this tint.

I'm one with this tint... I'm one with this tint...

[Chi Cygni]

Originally Posted by hoichi

I'm one with this tint... I'm one with this tint...

Tee hee hee

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by slantybard

Josieb1 - I am attaching 3 photos I quickly took showing my KPW2 and Aura H2O. They were taken using my iPhone. I used the cover page of the same book since due to the different resolutions, I can't match the fonts perfectly and did not want the fonts to distract from the screen photos.

The first photo shows both in ambient light with the ereader light turned all the way down. It's angled to minimize any glare and shadows on the screens from the window and overhead light.

The second photo shows both in a dark room with their lights at maximum and the third shows them with their lights at 30% for the Kobo and at 12 for the Paperwhite. When I tried to put both ereader's lights at 1/3, the light intensity did not match and I figured it was better to try and match equal light intensities. I think the colour casts noticeable in the photos are mostly from the camera, since I can't see any colour casts in the Aura H2O and the ones in my KPW2 are barely noticeable normally.

That screen looks really lovely to me. Just a touch of yellow, but in a way that makes the screen look warm and nice. On my computer, Josie's looked significantly more yellow than this one.

So much of it is personal preference, of course. I know with the PW2's the screen tints varied widely. I had some that were very white and some that were more cream. It's a shame when one has a preference and gets a tint they aren't partial to. I think when you have other e-readers and compare the screens side by side, it just ends up making it worse as well.

For instance, when I first got my PW2 and compared it to my PW1, the screen on my PW2 looked yellow and I was pretty disappointed. I kept it though as the screen was otherwise perfect. I then sold back my PW1 and since I had nothing to compare my PW2 screen to after that, the more I used it, the screen ended up looking totally fine to me. In fact, it looks awesome to me now.

[Josieb1]

Well my replacement arrived, screen was lovely, creamy white and clear. Only problem is I can't actually connect it to Calibre. I get a Format Disc message. I phoned Kobo, and honestly I think I'm better trained than they are, tried a factory reset but even the kobo desktop won't recognise it so I've phoned Argos and asked for a replacement.

Third one, am I a gluten for punishment or just an optimist?

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Well my replacement arrived, screen was lovely, creamy white and clear. Only problem is I can't actually connect it to Calibre. I get a Format Disc message. I phoned Kobo, and honestly I think I'm better trained than they are, tried a factory reset but even the kobo desktop won't recognise it so I've phoned Argos and asked for a replacement.

Third one, am I a gluten for punishment or just an optimist?

Are you up to date on the latest Calibre version?