YouTube: VERY short comparison - Paperwhite 3 and Kobo Glo HD - screen colour

[Richard529]

Juli Monroe is comparing the page turn speed, but I'm more interested in the screen colour.
I wonder whether the Paperwhite is set to full brightness.
Judging by the shadows, the Paperwhite is closer to the light source, which might explain the large difference in screen colour.

[HYPE]

Interesting. The Kobo HD looks nicer to me, which I was not expecting. It does take more time for the Kobo to turn pages however. I think it's an ongoing bug which Kobo just might fix one day, or not.

[HarryT]

The PW looks as if it had the light set to a rather low level.

[cvkemp]

I see it as a very biased comparison, the screen lighting on the PW2 looks to be turned all the way off.

[pdurrant]

It's not a video designed to compare screen colour, just page turn speed. And the PW3 takes about half the time!

[terendel]

Thanks Richard for linking to my video. This explains the number of views, which was higher than I had expected for this, a companion video to my head to head comparison of the Kobo and PW3.

No, I wasn't attempting to compare screen color or lighting, just page turn speed. The Paperwhite was set at lighting level 13, my usual level for reading.. The Glo HD was at 48%.

Richard, yes, the PW3 was much closer to the light source. The 3 is, to my eye, a bit grayer than the PW2, when set to the same lighting level. There's an okay color comparison picture in my PW3 review article. I say okay because I wasn't specifically trying to capture color. I was more going for the difference in resolution.

Happy to answer questions or try to take better photos if anyone would like. Fair warning. Not the best photographer ever.

[Rizla]

This was my experience with the Glo HD. Very slow page turns. It's a software issue because if I turned pages more frequently (i.e. faster than I could read) then the page turns would speed up. But if I read a page, then turned, I could literally check my watch while I waited.

Some users have reported that they have not experienced said behavior and that I had a lemon. I can only comment on my own experience with confidence. That was under 3.14 and 3.15. 3.16 is out. I don't if it's improved.

Saying that, it is possible install Cool Reader or Koreader on the Kobo and circumvent the base software entirely.

[terendel]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Saying that, I'd still take the Glo HD over the PW3 because I can install Cool Reader or Koreader and circumvent the base software entirely, something which sadly is no longer possible on a Kindle.

Oh, now there's something I'll have to try when I get some free time. I searched and found the thread on Cool Reader, but I couldn't tell if it replaced the base software or was another option to select but you could get back to the base software if you wanted.

Since I use the Glo HD for basic how-to articles on TeleRead, I can't afford to wipe out base functionality.

[JSWolf]

Are the lights at an even level for both devices?

[robko]

Originally Posted by terendel

Oh, now there's something I'll have to try when I get some free time. I searched and found the thread on Cool Reader, but I couldn't tell if it replaced the base software or was another option to select but you could get back to the base software if you wanted.

They both sit alongside the base firmware and don't wipe it, so it's possible to use both without having to reload/reimage anything.

[LeJon]

Originally Posted by Rizla

This was my experience with the Glo HD. Very slow page turns. It's a software issue because if I turned pages more frequently (i.e. faster than I could read) then the page turns would speed up. But if I read a page, then turned, I could literally check my watch while I waited.

I have seen you posted this everywhere. How are you sure this is not a hardware issue just cause it turns pages faster rapidly? This should not be expected on a new ereader but it seems normal for Kobo. Good luck waiting for them to fix it.

[barryem]

I think Juli Monroe is a pretty good reviewer and blogger but I don't think I'd put much faith in a video comparing the color on two devices. There are just too many changes by the time we get to see it. I doubt she made intentional changes but it would be difficult not to have significant differences between a video and reality.

Barry

[Richard529]

Originally Posted by terendel

Thanks Richard for linking to my video. This explains the number of views, which was higher than I had expected for this, a companion video to my head to head comparison of the Kobo and PW3.

No, I wasn't attempting to compare screen color or lighting, just page turn speed. The Paperwhite was set at lighting level 13, my usual level for reading.. The Glo HD was at 48%.

Richard, yes, the PW3 was much closer to the light source. The 3 is, to my eye, a bit grayer than the PW2, when set to the same lighting level. There's an okay color comparison picture in my PW3 review article. I say okay because I wasn't specifically trying to capture color. I was more going for the difference in resolution.

Happy to answer questions or try to take better photos if anyone would like. Fair warning. Not the best photographer ever.

Thanks VERY much for your detailed reply.
I've read your excellent reviews. Very interesting to read that you find the PW3 text sharpness disappointing.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by LeJon

I have seen you posted this everywhere. How are you sure this is not a hardware issue just cause it turns pages faster rapidly? This should not be expected on a new ereader but it seems normal for Kobo. Good luck waiting for them to fix it.

For Kobo with latest firmware, if you turn pages without stopping, the speed is roughly 0.4-0.6s. If you actually read the whole page for 30s before turning a page, it gets slower at 0.5-1s.

EDIT: Kobo seems much faster now if you use well-formatted books. Previously I was using a book with broken TOC which is why it felt slow.

That's your post from another thread. It agrees with my post. Odd.

The lag I experienced on the Glo HD is not "normal for Kobo" as you put it. I have since purchased an Aura HD. It has much faster page turns than the Glo HD. It is slower than a Kindle, for sure, but it's features are much richer. Users that are satisfied with the vanilla experience of the Kindle will be happy with it. Users that like to customise will prefer the Kobo.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by terendel

Oh, now there's something I'll have to try when I get some free time. I searched and found the thread on Cool Reader, but I couldn't tell if it replaced the base software or was another option to select but you could get back to the base software if you wanted.

Since I use the Glo HD for basic how-to articles on TeleRead, I can't afford to wipe out base functionality.

It's easy and safe to install Cool Reader and / or Koreader. They both launch from the Kobo Start Menu. I believe they are also easy to uninstall. But I would share your doubts about installing on a review model. If you do go for it, be sure to install ypour own fonts. I find the pre-installed fonts less than pretty and don't do either softwares justice.