Paperwhite Second Gen: First Impressions

[sirmaru]

The best and fastest charger for all Kindles can be purchased here for $ 19.99:

http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-PowerFa...kindle+charger

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by Rahvin

It's a Universal socket/travel charger I got off Ebay. No brand that I can see.
AC Max: 100-240 Vac 50/60Hz 6AMax
USB Max. 1000mA 5Vdc

Thanks, good to know. Specs seem perfectly compatible, but maybe it is faulty - if the charger/cable is at fault. Of course, "no name" products may be of various quality and origin.

[soulfuldog]

Got mine today and I *think* I'll be keeping it at the first attempt. No pinholes and with the light on high it looks pretty good. In a dark room I can see a little shadowing but nothing to worry me, my only concern is that when the light is low in a dark room it looks quite blue. Turn the light up brighter and it's fine, but then it's too bright, turn it down quite low, and then it doesn't look so great...

Couple of pics of it, alongside my K3 with the light off, then with the light on (both in normal light) then one of the PW in the dark.

I wouldn't have worried about it looking less than perfect with the light up high in a dark room, but I'm just not sure about how it looks with the light down low.

[sparklemotion]

Hmm it does look quite blue. I didn't have any like that for the PW2's. I guess you'll have to see how it is reading on it at night to see how you find it. You might be fine with it. Glad it didn't have any pinholes.

[VictoriaP]

Mine is also a bit blue at night, and it seems even more so when contrasted with f.lux running on both my iPhone & iPad--that gives you MUCH warmer tones on screen at night (jailbreak required for f.lux).

However, the "blueness" of the PW2 in the dark kind of fades from my consciousness quickly enough as I read. And it doesn't seem to keep me awake...at least, not more so than reading late at night does anyway! I'd prefer warmer light aesthetically, but as my PW2 is otherwise quite good, I'm fine with it.

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

Hmm it does look quite blue. I didn't have any like that for the PW2's. I guess you'll have to see how it is reading on it at night to see how you find it. You might be fine with it. Glad it didn't have any pinholes.

Mine is blue like that in my home office room, but more pee yellow in my living room. I have a recessed ceiling light in my home office room that has a fluorescent spot bulb in it, and I think that might be why it is blue there. No ceiling lights in the living room.

[stickybuns]

Originally Posted by l_macd

Got mine today and I *think* I'll be keeping it at the first attempt. No pinholes and with the light on high it looks pretty good. In a dark room I can see a little shadowing but nothing to worry me, my only concern is that when the light is low in a dark room it looks quite blue. Turn the light up brighter and it's fine, but then it's too bright, turn it down quite low, and then it doesn't look so great...

Couple of pics of it, alongside my K3 with the light off, then with the light on (both in normal light) then one of the PW in the dark.

I wouldn't have worried about it looking less than perfect with the light up high in a dark room, but I'm just not sure about how it looks with the light down low.

Mine sometimes looks blue as well, but I think it has something to do with the ambient light in the room.

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by l_macd

Got mine today and I *think* I'll be keeping it at the first attempt. No pinholes and with the light on high it looks pretty good. In a dark room I can see a little shadowing but nothing to worry me, my only concern is that when the light is low in a dark room it looks quite blue. Turn the light up brighter and it's fine, but then it's too bright, turn it down quite low, and then it doesn't look so great...

Couple of pics of it, alongside my K3 with the light off, then with the light on (both in normal light) then one of the PW in the dark.

I wouldn't have worried about it looking less than perfect with the light up high in a dark room, but I'm just not sure about how it looks with the light down low.

Sounds like (didn't check your photos in detail) you got a good PW2. By good I mean it sounds like the best I think the product can deliver. In the link in my signature, on the last pages of the thread, I describe very similar experiences with a good PW2 unit I received as a replacement to the first pin-holed/crooked screen one.

PW2 light, especially at middle levels, does still show unevenness although much less pronounced than on PW1. On very high and very low light-levels, it is more even, especially in ambient lighting - this was true with PW1 as well. Finally, on low light levels in darkness reading can be a bit hard on the eyes, but upping the light isn't optimal either in that scenario because it starts to look like an LCD screen and that's not nice either. Also, while my PW2 also is more yellow than PW1, it is true that in isolation, on lower light levels (like 6-7), it does start look pretty blue - I just noted this myself last night, before I read your message.

Finally, unit to unit differences do exist in PW1/PW2 a lot more than on other, non-lighted e-ink Kindles, because of LED variances, layer alignment and purity issues etc. I guess PW2's may be more uniform than PW1's, but still unit to unit variances are larger than with regular e-ink Kindles.

There is a reason why I think my $69 Kindle "4B" with its official lighted cover is still the best solution for reading in darkness.

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

Hmm it does look quite blue. I didn't have any like that for the PW2's. I guess you'll have to see how it is reading on it at night to see how you find it. You might be fine with it. Glad it didn't have any pinholes.

My PW2 is also quite blue when reading in darkness at low light levels, even though next to my PW1 it looks way more yellow than the PW1.

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Mine is blue like that in my home office room, but more pee yellow in my living room. I have a recessed ceiling light in my home office room that has a fluorescent spot bulb in it, and I think that might be why it is blue there. No ceiling lights in the living room.

While I'm sure that can affect things, my experience of reading on PW2 in darkness is without overhead (or any other) lighting at all - some vague ambient lighting from distant windows that can't possible fall directly on the screen. Even though my PW2 looks yellow next to PW1, in darkness, in low light-levels it does look quite blue.

It is hard to judge photos, though. White-balance could be off, our screens calibrated differently etc. We can't know if our experiences are comparable.

[soulfuldog]

Yes the blue is only noticeable with no other light source at all, and with the light on the PW set quite low. When I read in bed at night I have a small bedside light on, and even with the PW light low, the screen looks absolutely perfect. However, if I turn the bedside light off, the PW immediately looks a little blue and I can notice shadows.

The higher I turn up the light, the better it gets, by the time it's at 9, the blueness and any shadows disappear, turn it up to 16 or higher and it's very even and just looks yellow-y/white. But even at 9 when the blue tinge disappears, I find it too bright, like fearindex says a bit like looking at an LCD screen.

My particular need for a light is in daytime on really dull, murky days we have here when its wet (which is often!). I'll need to keep it for a few days and see how it is in those conditions.

I'm tempted to return it but just because of that blue tinge, but at the same time, if it's fine to have the light set at 9 on dull days, I'm not likely to use it in complete darkness anyway. And as that apart it seems absolutely perfect, I might just keep it. Comparing it side by side with my K3, I am quite impressed with how it measures up in terms of contrast. I was worried the black text wouldn't look that good, but while I can see a small difference, it's actually pretty ok. In the first photo I took of them side by side, which one had the slightly lighter looking screen depended on which one was on the left (despite the light from the window coming from the bottom not the left), in reality, there is very little difference between them.

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by l_macd

Yes the blue is only noticeable with no other light source at all, and with the light on the PW set quite low. When I read in bed at night I have a small bedside light on, and even with the PW light low, the screen looks absolutely perfect. However, if I turn the bedside light off, the PW immediately looks a little blue and I can notice shadows.

The higher I turn up the light, the better it gets, by the time it's at 9, the blueness and any shadows disappear, turn it up to 16 or higher and it's very even and just looks yellow-y/white. But even at 9 when the blue tinge disappears, I find it too bright, like fearindex says a bit like looking at an LCD screen.

My particular need for a light is in daytime on really dull, murky days we have here when its wet (which is often!). I'll need to keep it for a few days and see how it is in those conditions.

I'm tempted to return it but just because of that blue tinge, but at the same time, if it's fine to have the light set at 9 on dull days, I'm not likely to use it in complete darkness anyway. And as that apart it seems absolutely perfect, I might just keep it. Comparing it side by side with my K3, I am quite impressed with how it measures up in terms of contrast. I was worried the black text wouldn't look that good, but while I can see a small difference, it's actually pretty ok. In the first photo I took of them side by side, which one had the slightly lighter looking screen depended on which one was on the left (despite the light from the window coming from the bottom not the left), in reality, there is very little difference between them.

Thanks for the reports.

Personally I find the light unevenness most troublesome at middle light levels, but I must add there is some unevenness in very low light levels too, I just don't perceive it much then because by then the light is so low. At full blast the light is most even, as it is with any significant ambient lighting that will even out the screen. But it is never fully even, that just isn't possible - I expect - with the technology at this time. And there is an unfortunate amount of unit-to-unit variance.

In any case, compared to PW1, a good PW2 is a lot more even. But still, of course, not perfectly even. For me, good enough though. Much bigger problem - for me - is that reading in darkness, either the screen is too dark or too lit, both tiresome for eyes. Color tinges are an issue with some people, but then any PW will have some color tinge depending on the light level and ambient lighting, so it comes down to personal preference what people may or may not like - some find PW2s too yellow, a more common complaint, but as l_macd says, in darkness, on very low light, it does become bluish - at least our respective units do.

From experience I must add that blue or yellowness of light is relative, though. Something that looks yellow compared to something that looks blue, might in isolation or compared to something even more warmly lit, look blue too.

[sirmaru]

For low ambient light environment I only use the HDX 2013 with white text on a black background at a 50% illumination level. The PW 2013 is simply unsuitable for me in those conditions and is much better in a high ambient light environment at level 15 illumination out of 24.

Plus, if one is performing other tasks, nothing beats the HDX 2013 sound projection of the eBook. The PW 2013 cannot do that at all.

[Barty]

Originally Posted by fearindex

While I'm sure that can affect things, my experience of reading on PW2 in darkness is without overhead (or any other) lighting at all - some vague ambient lighting from distant windows that can't possible fall directly on the screen. Even though my PW2 looks yellow next to PW1, in darkness, in low light-levels it does look quite blue.

It is hard to judge photos, though. White-balance could be off, our screens calibrated differently etc. We can't know if our experiences are comparable.

What the screen looks like is a combination of the color of the screen itself, the color of the LEDs, and color of external, ambient light.

The PWs use cool (white LEDs) which will cast blue in the dark when there is little competing ambient light. The screen and/or the diffusion layer on the pw2 is yellower than the pw1, otherwise it would look even bluer in the dark.

It's unfortunate that the pw looks bluer in the dark, because that is exactly when you want it to look warmer. That's why I think they need to make the screen neutral gray and use yellower LEDs, so user can control the warmth of the screen with the light. But I don't know how much control amazon has over the eink screen as they don't make it.

[GoSharks]

Originally Posted by Barty

It's unfortunate that the pw looks bluer in the dark, because that is exactly when you want it to look warmer. That's why I think they need to make the screen neutral gray and use yellower LEDs, so user can control the warmth of the screen with the light. But I don't know how much control amazon has over the eink screen as they don't make it.

I am one of those who prefers the 'bluer' or 'cooler' color . I find my wife's PW2 'warmer' screen color annoying...so I can see the value in being able to adjust the warmth of the light. Not sure how they could do that however.