Kobo Aura H2O - First Impressions

[Haesslich]

Originally Posted by meeera

There's no such thing as a dead pixel on an e-ink device. Are you seeing dark spots or bright spots?

It might be a stuck pixel - that's happened with some of the Kindle PW's and Kindle Touch readers as well.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Haesslich

It might be a stuck pixel - that's happened with some of the Kindle PW's and Kindle Touch readers as well.

There can be fixed dark spots (burst eink microcapsules), or there can be bright spots that show when the front light is one (defects in the light guide layer, either from manufacturing or from damage, or possibly from dust caught between layers in manufacturing). Or bright spots from muck on the screen.

[Haesslich]

Originally Posted by meeera

There can be fixed dark spots (burst eink microcapsules), or there can be bright spots that show when the front light is one (defects in the light guide layer, either from manufacturing or from damage, or possibly from dust caught between layers in manufacturing). Or bright spots from muck on the screen.

It sounds like a burst microwavable, as bee doesn't seem to be talking about bright pinpricks (which are lightguide faults).

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

For those of you who have H2O, how black is black? Because on my PW1 black is actually very dark grey. I only had a brief glimpse at H2O in a crowded shop so I cannot tell. I'd be grateful if you could give some comparison (PW1 or PW2) Many thanks!

Comparing my H2O to my Aura HD (carta to pearl), the white is noticeably lighter and when I displayed a black image, the black is darker, there also seems to be a slight cream (very slight yellow) tinge to the H2O screen while the Aura HD appears more neutral. When reading, I really don't notice that much difference but then I'm using a heavier font for most of my reading.

Comparing it to a co-worker's Kindle PW2, the larger screen and higher resolution hid any other differences though we had fun trying to get the lighting to the same level. Being able to tweak the H2O's light level by 1% steps helped there. I had hopes of bringing another Kindle user to the dark side but he was last heard muttering about ordering a Voyage.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by robko

In the U.S. they don't sell very many which is why you maybe don't hear much. I've never seen hard numbers but they are definitely a bigger player (likely #2 or #3 in the market I'd guess) outside the U.S. so we are talking a decent number of devices.

Averaging several sets of numbers I found for worldwide e-reader market share -- none of which agreed with each other all that well, the average was Amazon at #1 with ~53% and Kobo at #2 with ~22%. In the USA, Amazon is #1 and anything after that is downright murky as several research firms seem to have difficulty with their research methodology. Oddities such as one report on eInk ereader market share listing Apple being #2 with the Microsoft Surface Pro being on the list. B&N and Sony were also there but Kobo was noticeably missing.

Going by the results from several studies, it would appear that Kobo is very slightly behind or ahead of B&N in the US market though again, there seemed to be some issues with separating eInk ereaders sales from LCD tablet sales and two of the three studies which were purportedly from 2014 still showed Sony as a player in the US ereader market.

But then "In 2014 eBooks will begin their inevitable decline and readers will once again be populating their local bookstore." to quote one "industry expert".

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by meeera

There's no such thing as a dead pixel on an e-ink device. Are you seeing dark spots or bright spots?

I thought dead pixels were bright spots? I have a couple on my 6 inch Aura

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I thought dead pixels were bright spots? I have a couple on my 6 inch Aura

A dead pixel can either light or dark on an eInk screen depending on which state it gets stuck in. Bright spots tend to be issues with the lightguides for the frontlight or grunge stuck on the screen. To check for dead pixels, you can display an white image filling the screen and then a black image filling the screen. Assuming your screen is clean, any black spots on the white or white spots on the black are dead pixels. For the lightguides, I display a black image, turn on the front light and look for any bright spots and a white image and look for even lighting.

This is unlike a LCD screen where the most common failure mode for pixels leaves them clear so they don't block the backlight from shining through and you get bright spots.

[beedaddy]

Well, the pixels (not that much, two or so, but once you have seen them...) seem to be inverted. They are normally black and during page refresh (or when the screen is black, for example while connected to the PC) they appear white. Or it just appears so and they are always grey? They are definitely no bright spots.

[Chi Cygni]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Comparing my H2O to my Aura HD (carta to pearl), the white is noticeably lighter and when I displayed a black image, the black is darker, there also seems to be a slight cream (very slight yellow) tinge to the H2O screen while the Aura HD appears more neutral. When reading, I really don't notice that much difference but then I'm using a heavier font for most of my reading.

Comparing it to a co-worker's Kindle PW2, the larger screen and higher resolution hid any other differences though we had fun trying to get the lighting to the same level. Being able to tweak the H2O's light level by 1% steps helped there. I had hopes of bringing another Kindle user to the dark side but he was last heard muttering about ordering a Voyage.

Many thanks for your description. I was impressed with what I briefly saw in the shop but the reader was not configured so I couldn't play with it. I am happy to hear about the black and especially the cream color, my PW1 is rather ice cold with dark grey letters. I will not go for Voyage, it doesn't interest me that much this time. I absolutely cannot afford H2O now and I have 3 perfectly working ereaders but it doesn't mean that I can resist it

I will probably order it next week and from a place that gives 30 days free mail returns. There is a shop here across the street but returns are for 15 days on condition that the box is not opened (outrageous and idiotic). As it also is a McDonald kind of electronics shop I don't expect they would accept any possible problems or it would be fuss from here to eternity. I'm not going to take any risks with them.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by DNSB

A dead pixel can either light or dark on an eInk screen depending on which state it gets stuck in. Bright spots tend to be issues with the lightguides for the frontlight or grunge stuck on the screen.

Neither of those things are dead pixels. They are lightguide defects/damage and grunge stuck on the screen. There is no such thing as a bright "stuck pixel" or "dead pixel" on e-ink. It's an LCD phenomenon.

[Haesslich]

Originally Posted by beedaddy

Well, the pixels (not that much, two or so, but once you have seen them...) seem to be inverted. They are normally black and during page refresh (or when the screen is black, for example while connected to the PC) they appear white. Or it just appears so and they are always grey? They are definitely no bright spots.

Burst microcell. That's a physical defect of the screen, and a valid reason to exchange. Europe and the UK seems to have gotten a bad batch.

Either that, or you and Josie are supremely unlucky. Or offended some gremlins recently.

[Skydog]

Originally Posted by shalym

Are you saying that the carta screen on the H2O has better contrast than the carta screen on the PW2?

Shari

Having both, I find the display of the H2O has better contrast, blacker blacks, even lighting and no ghosting. Quite an improvement over the PW2 and even an improvement over the HD, which was and still is a great ereader.

[arspr]

Originally Posted by meeera

Neither of those things are dead pixels. They are lightguide defects/damage and grunge stuck on the screen. There is no such thing as a bright "stuck pixel" or "dead pixel" on e-ink. It's an LCD phenomenon.

Why not?

I mean, why can't the e-ink microspheres get "stuck", "broken", "fixed" or whatever? What makes them unbreakable?

No machine, device, gadget made is fully failure free guaranteed. No matter how robust it is by itself or how robust you try to build it.

So I cannot think a single reason that forever guarantees a perfect e-ink display with no local troubles in it.

[Josieb1]

After my disastrous attempt to get a H20 last week I decided to get a Glo. I wanted a device with a better screen than my Aura and I'd heard good things about the Glo. So I duly placed my order with Argos on Thursday and today my Glo arrived nice and early, (again very good service from Argos) and at first it seemed perfect, until I turned up the light and spotted the red glow coming from the top of the screen, yes I had a light leak! Can you believe it, my fourth Kobo in a week and they were all faulty!

So on a whim I checked the Argos store in my nearest large mall, about 35 miles away, they had a H20 in stock, so I reserved it and went to pick it up.

It's perfect, absolutely gorgeous, no issues with it at all. I've connected it to Calibre and downloaded a few hundred books, add my fonts and the true screen reading hack and everything is running seamlessly. The home screen is at full brightness, the chapter page is at the lowest setting.

I'm very very happy

[simond]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

After my disastrous attempt to get a H20 last week I decided to get a Glo. I wanted a device with a better screen than my Aura and I'd heard good things about the Glo. So I duly placed my order with Argos on Thursday and today my Glo arrived nice and early, (again very good service from Argos) and at first it seemed perfect, until I turned up the light and spotted the red glow coming from the top of the screen, yes I had a light leak! Can you believe it, my fourth Kobo in a week and they were all faulty!

So on a whim I checked the Argos store in my nearest large mall, about 35 miles away, they had a H20 in stock, so I reserved it and went to pick it up.

It's perfect, absolutely gorgeous, no issues with it at all. I've connected it to Calibre and downloaded a few hundred books, add my fonts and the true screen reading hack and everything is running seamlessly. The home screen is at full brightness, the chapter page is at the lowest setting.

I'm very very happy

Congrats, you deserved some luck finally!