Paperwhite Second Gen: First Impressions

[AnemicOak]

Seems like eInk has a problem in their manufacturing process of lit screens since the pinhole issue is not unique to Kindle or the Paperwhite (I'm assuming the screens come assembled from eInk since they advertise front-lit screens for sale). It's been a problem folks have had with multiple models of Kobo's too.

[nynaevelan]

So far I am impressed with the PW2. The text is a little crisper and the page turns are noticeably quicker. Although I can see a slight difference in the lighting, I was one who was lucky and did not have too many problems with my PW1. Those tiny little spots which were on the bottom (that did not bother me) are not visible on the PW2. But I have not really checked it out in a dark room yet so take that statement with a grain of salt. I am thrilled though that Amazon has finally added the feature to progress back and forth in chapters, something I am going to use a lot I am sure.

I have not used the flip page yet, but once again that is a feature I anticipate I will be using a lot as well.

So far so good, but we will see if my impression improves or diminishes as I use it more, since I've really only been able to read with it for a couple of hours.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

Those "pinholes" are an OPTICAL ILLUSION just like all the complaints last year. Its like dozens seeing flying saucers or seeing big cities in the Sahara Desert. They do NOT exist.

Yes. They do.

Those pinhole reports here today on the PW 2013 are like the multicolor reports here last year.

You're right, they are alike. Both are real problems.

[Poodlemom1]

I received my KPW2 yesterday. I had a good KPW1 and was amazed at the difference between the two. It is much faster than the KPW1. The lighting is much better than the KPW1, especially when I am in a darker room. The lighting is very even. One thing I noticed, is that in the dark on the KPW1, I had the setting on 1. With the KPW2 I have it set at 6. I still use 12 for normal light. I don't see any pin holes in mine.

I had submitted the paperwork to trade in my KPW1, but I was waiting for the KPW2 before making the final decision. It didn't take but a few seconds beside each other to make the final decision to trade in the KPW1.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

On the top of my head, I think you need to set the list to sort on Collection instead of Author or Title. If you set it to Author or Title, and then set the display to My Items, you'll probably see all your items: books AND collections.

Djeez; this is hard to describe. It's the two options on the top right, in the book list.

If this doesn't solve it, then I don't know.

I am familiar with the sorting by collection, author, title, or recent. I had tried all of those. After reading what you wrote, I also played around with the "my items" heading. I still can't, in any combination, get it to show just collections, instead of collections plus books which are in collections, resulting in 7 pages instead of 1 or 2, when "collections" is selected.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Poodlemom1

I received my KPW2 yesterday. I had a good KPW1 and was amazed at the difference between the two. It is much faster than the KPW1. The lighting is much better than the KPW1, especially when I am in a darker room. The lighting is very even. One thing I noticed, is that in the dark on the KPW1, I had the setting on 1. With the KPW2 I have it set at 6. I still use 12 for normal light. I don't see any pin holes in mine.

I had submitted the paperwork to trade in my KPW1, but I was waiting for the KPW2 before making the final decision. It didn't take but a few seconds beside each other to make the final decision to trade in the KPW1.

What is today's offer amount?

I submitted mine a week or so ago, but was waiting to mail until I had both. Now that I have the new one, no question, the PW1 is going back.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by booklover6

I am familiar with the sorting by collection, author, title, or recent. I had tried all of those. After reading what you wrote, I also played around with the "my items" heading. I still can't, in any combination, get it to show just collections, instead of collections plus books which are in collections, resulting in 7 pages instead of 1 or 2, when "collections" is selected.

Then you would need to contact Amazon, and ask them if this is expected behavior, or if it's a bug. I think it'd be useless to have collections if the books still stay on your normal homescreen as well. Instead of cleaning that up, the collections just clutter it further

[7hir7een]

Originally Posted by benjamin11900

Just because you don't see them doesn't mean nobody sees them. You might just have a bad vision.

If you can't see pink and green blotches on the following picture, good for you but everybody sees them.

*shudder* Those are two of my paperwhites. One of which (the right) is the one I unfortunately kept because it was the best out of 4.

The paperwhite 2 is definitely better!

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by xendula

About the color blobs: In complete darkness at light level 8, my screen is partly faint pink at the top, while the rest looks yellowish, getting very faintly greenish towards the bottom. It's almost like having two poles on the device, each with its own light temperature.

I thought I detected something earlier, but didn't want to say anything until I could confim in the dark.

Again, the color differences are very slight, but I can see them.

That's disappointing to hear. Will you be returning yours?

Originally Posted by sirmaru

Those "pinholes" are an OPTICAL ILLUSION just like all the complaints last year. Its like dozens seeing flying saucers or seeing big cities in the Sahara Desert. They do NOT exist.

As of right now at the PW 2013 page at Amazon there are 45 reviews of which 33 are five star and 2 are one star. One of those two complains he cannot play audible books on it and the other says his instructions came in French (he probably pressed French on the opening screen).

Its like last year's complaints here of discolored screens. The PW 2012 shows right now 17,087 reviews of which 10,964 are five star reviews and 813 are one star reviews.

If you want to find flaws, stare at any surface for 30 minutes in a concentrated way and you WILL find them aplenty. That is called Optical Illusions as contrasted with hallucinations which are only in one's mind. Optical Illusions are REAL as perceived but do not exist in reality.

Those pinhole reports here today on the PW 2013 are like the multicolor reports here last year.

No offense intended, but you often tell us how you cannot see very well due to cataracts and other severe eye problems. You might not see these issues in the 2012 or 2013 PW units, but others damn sure do. Your statements are downright offensive to those who can CLEARLY see the flaws in their PWs since it implies they are lying or hallucinating.

[7hir7een]

Originally Posted by haydnfan

Thanks for that! The PW2 does look slightly whiter on the screen, but it looks like the black is not quite as black, the contrast could easily be the same. I was hoping for night and day difference, instead I guess Carta is just slightly better than Pearl.

The second picture (with the two on top of each other) is more representative of what I actually see than the first side-by-side picture.

I do think that the contrast is improved. It might not be a "night and day" difference, but it's certainly noticeable to me.

Originally Posted by Trauma Doll

Yeah, I was here for ColorBlobWatch 2012 (and sirmaru's fervent denials, and his later admission that his sight is not 100%), and those screenshots above could have come from my first three PWs, including one that Amazon support had me send directly to their engineers in Cupertino. I gave up after the third one and went back to my Kindle Keyboard (and that is saying a LOT for a serial early-adopter such as myself). I finally found a good one at Best Buy back in July of this year or so.

My PW2 is out for delivery today, and you can bet I will be giving an honest report.

Originally Posted by xendula

I was one of the ones being told repeatedly that I was imagining things.That's why, this time around, I wanted to be sure my eyes weren't playing a trick on me.

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

You and me both, xendula! Seeing the pics of the new PW next to the old I really don't see how anyone can possibly deny it.

Yes, we were blasted at every turn by those who wanted to deny Amazon could make a bad screen! Even one of the MR moderators continually attempts to downplay the screen issues of the PW1.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Also yes sparklemotion, the KK is okay but the lack of light is annoying, even with my side lamp on its still dark. It will take a while to get all my genre books set up in the correct collections on the PW as on my KK I use the collections plug in on Calibre but once its done they don't move about, I just add the odd new one. They will all be side loaded so I'll add them one collection at a time.

I know what you mean. I could never read my kindle touch with my bedside lamp, it was still much too dark. Now that I have the lighted PW it's difficult for me to imagine not having one, it's just so much nicer. No more fiddling with book lights, yay.

As far as setting up collections on your PW, I know it can be time consuming. I'm probably a major geek though, in that I actually enjoy and look forward to getting everything set up just right when I get a new reader.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by booklover6

I am familiar with the sorting by collection, author, title, or recent. I had tried all of those. After reading what you wrote, I also played around with the "my items" heading. I still can't, in any combination, get it to show just collections, instead of collections plus books which are in collections, resulting in 7 pages instead of 1 or 2, when "collections" is selected.

At the Home page press Menu and then change from Cover View to List View. Then tap Collections at the Home Page and click Collections in the choices.

Also, use numbers (01, 02, etc.) to precede your Collection titles to arrange them any way you wish.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Yes, we were blasted at every turn by those who wanted to deny Amazon could make a bad screen! Even one of the MR moderators continually attempts to downplay the screen issues of the PW1.

I have a feeling that said moderator is a major Amazon/Kindle fan To each his own. For me, the Kindle is not the Holy Grail. Far from it. I'd much rather have a Kobo with regard to customization, if it weren't for their crap firmware. (Too many bugs, way too much space wasted on-screen, and their weird KEPUB format to be able to use all features of the reader.)

Even though I'm normally pretty demanding myself with regard to technology, I must admit that I sometimes think people on MR may be going a tiny bit over the top in their expectations.

edit: over here in the Netherlands, the three only "officially obtainable readers" are Sony, Kobo and Kindle. The Sony drops off, because it has no light. The Kobo drops off because I think the software is crap (apart from the customizations). That only leaves the Kindle. The rest of the readers are either too expensive, or too difficult to get or import (with all bumps and caveats in customer support added as well).