Kindle Paperwhite Signature 2024 colour temperature

[davedeacon]

For years I've read about the lucky dip regarding colour temperature on kindles. I guess I've always got lucky and had cool ones. But my new 2024 Signature one is very warm (full brightness, min warmth), and a bit of a search on reddit reveals this to be the case more now than previously. How are the fine denizens of this forum finding it? I suppose I'll get used to it (and it's going to be less noticeable when I'm using the internal light less and instead using sunlight etc) but given the choice I'd have gone with the same temperature as my previous 4 or 5 kindles.

[cgsmom]

I don't have a recent Paperwhite to compare to. I have an Oasis. Compared to the Colorsoft SE (Full brightness, no warmth) the Colorsoft looks a little grayer but not warmer.

Edit: After reading other replies, I got out my old Paperwhite 4. It doesn't have warm lighting. The background of the PW4 is very similar to the Colorsoft SE. The text contrast is a lot worse than the Oasis and the Colorsoft with all settings the same.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by davedeacon

For years I've read about the lucky dip regarding colour temperature on kindles. I guess I've always got lucky and had cool ones. But my new 2024 Signature one is very warm (full brightness, min warmth), and a bit of a search on reddit reveals this to be the case more now than previously. How are the fine denizens of this forum finding it? I suppose I'll get used to it (and it's going to be less noticeable when I'm using the internal light less and instead using sunlight etc) but given the choice I'd have gone with the same temperature as my previous 4 or 5 kindles.

I bought three 12th Generation Paperwhites from Amazon. A Signiture Edition on Black Friday, a Kids Paperwhite in January and another Signiture Edition at full price (thinking maybe they knew what batches had yellow screens and were sending them out during sales). All three kindles had yellow screens. The picture attached is of my last one next to my other three kindles. All kindles on full brightness with no warmth.

I returned all three. I then bought three 12th Gen Paperwhites from eBay. Hubby and I have kept two and are re selling the other one. From the Warranty dates shown in the Devices section on Amazon it appears the newer they are (I.e the longer Warranty period left) the warmer they are. We have two whitish ones and a cream one, nothing as bad as the ones I got from Amazon.

I have no idea what Amazon are playing at but it’s not good. Hubby and I had 11th Gen PWs and only wanted the 12th Gen’s as they are much faster navigating through menus and downloading books.

[davedeacon]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I bought three 12th Generation Paperwhites from Amazon. A Signiture Edition on Black Friday, a Kids Paperwhite in January and another Signiture Edition at full price (thinking maybe they knew what batches had yellow screens and were sending them out during sales). All three kindles had yellow screens. The picture attached is of my last one next to my other three kindles. All kindles on full brightness with no warmth.

I returned all three. I then bought three 12th Gen Paperwhites from eBay. Hubby and I have kept two and are re selling the other one. From the Warranty dates shown in the Devices section on Amazon it appears the newer they are (I.e the longer Warranty period left) the warmer they are. We have two whitish ones and a cream one, nothing as bad as the ones I got from Amazon.

I have no idea what Amazon are playing at but it’s not good. Hubby and I had 11th Gen PWs and only wanted the 12th Gen’s as they are much faster navigating through menus and downloading books.

Right. They're not really "paperwhite" any more, are they? Not unless they're talking about the colour of 30+ year old books. I like it other than that. It is a bit faster and I like double tap to turn. Can't really notice the extra screen size although perhaps it'll save battery by needing fewer page turns per book! Not sure if I'd return it if that were possible; I got this via a work reward scheme I've never used before and can imagine it's a faff. I'll probably get used to it. Not really sure how the warmth is implemented - isn't it a mix of warm and cold LEDs? Couldn't a software update allow it to use fewer warm LEDs when warmth is zero? Or do they have batches of warmer cold LEDs?


Edit: Because it's in warranty Amazon are going to send me a replacement tomorrow, so I'll update this thread when I see it.
Note that when I asked if it was likely the replacement would be less warm I got some replies which, despite being slightly ambiguous due to grammar issues, suggest it's a known problem:

"The issue will be a random which will be occurred only with the few device not all the device will have this issue so please don't worry."
"This is caused by the intermediate hardware issue over the device.You will not encounter this same issue over the replacement device."

Your "send 'em yellow screens during sales" idea is intriguing and plausible; perhaps by the same token they have known non-warm screens to use for replacements?

[davedeacon]

Trying to delete...gave up. You'll have to ignore this comment manually.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by davedeacon

Right. They're not really "paperwhite" any more, are they? Not unless they're talking about the colour of 30+ year old books. I like it other than that. It is a bit faster and I like double tap to turn. Can't really notice the extra screen size although perhaps it'll save battery by needing fewer page turns per book! Not sure if I'd return it if that were possible; I got this via a work reward scheme I've never used before and can imagine it's a faff. I'll probably get used to it. Not really sure how the warmth is implemented - isn't it a mix of warm and cold LEDs? Couldn't a software update allow it to use fewer warm LEDs when warmth is zero? Or do they have batches of warmer cold LEDs?


Edit: Because it's in warranty Amazon are going to send me a replacement tomorrow, so I'll update this thread when I see it.
Note that when I asked if it was likely the replacement would be less cool I got some replies which, despite being slightly ambiguous due to grammar issues, suggest it's a known problem:

"The issue will be a random which will be occurred only with the few device not all the device will have this issue so please don't worry."
"This is caused by the intermediate hardware issue over the device.You will not encounter this same issue over the replacement device."

Your "send 'em yellow screens during sales" idea is intriguing and plausible; perhaps by the same token they have known non-warm screens to use for replacements?

It’s worth trying a replacement, good luck, unfortunately e-reader screens are a lottery.

[davedeacon]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

It’s worth trying a replacement, good luck, unfortunately e-reader screens are a lottery.

It turned up. Well...it's a little better I guess. From left to right (first 2024 -> today's -> 2021).

It's hard to see in the photo but clear when they're in front of you that the 2021 model is still quite clearly cooler than the 2024 ones.

I'll keep today's - it's not terrible, it's just not white.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by davedeacon

It turned up. Well...it's a little better I guess. From left to right (first 2024 -> today's -> 2021).

It's hard to see in the photo but clear when they're in front of you that the 2021 model is still quite clearly cooler than the 2024 ones.

I'll keep today's - it's not terrible, it's just not white.

I think they are warmer anyway. I read somewhere that they added more amber lights. It’s about the same as the second hand one I got from eBay. But ironically my Colorsoft is far whiter.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by davedeacon

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