Oasis 3 lighting gradient

[BionicGecko]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I know some people cannot see the shadows, and some likely choose to conveniently ignore it, but the shadows exist on every lighted Kindle I’ve ever seen. Perhaps some people can see it more than others because of their eyesight. But it is definitely there. If it bothers you then definitely return it.

Originally Posted by Atunah

I know e-ink is hard to photograph, but if your Oasis looks like your pictures in real life, then I would try another unit also. I can clearly see dark shadows on one side. That would distract me to no end. Looks pretty bad.

Originally Posted by Kolja

I'm very picky about screens and returned the Oasis 1 and 2 because I found the gradient on the screens unacceptable. I have the Oasis 3 now and the screen is near perfect. Most people have reported that the Oasis 3 has an improved screen. Definitely return your device even if you have to wait for a new one.

Originally Posted by rcentros

The gradient is pretty obvious in your pictures. I don't think I would be happy living with that. I know it's a pain but, if it were me, I would return it. Sorry.

Thank you all for confirming my feelings; I was just on the phone with an Amazon rep, and they will replace my Kindle. On the bright side (ahem), it turns out they do keep some devices around as a reserve for replacements when an item is out of stock. Will still have to wait a week but it's better than a month!

[SusanReads]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I have the same experience. The gradient on my Oasis 3 is so small it's not really noticeable to the naked eye. I can certainly see gradients on my other ereaders, Voyage, Oasis 2, Kobo. The Nook also has a small, but noticeable gradient. So it's not only Amazon who can't get it right, it's the plague of all eink readers. The Oasis 3 is actually the best of the bunch in that regard.

Do you know how lovely it is to see someone else who has several e-readers. I'm thinking of getting an Oasis 3 alongside my Kobo Libra and Kindle Voyage, but I thought that I was just being too spoiled with all these e-readers.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by SusanReads

Do you know how lovely it is to see someone else who has several e-readers. I'm thinking of getting an Oasis 3 alongside my Kobo Libra and Kindle Voyage, but I thought that I was just being too spoiled with all these e-readers.

If your wallet allows it, of course get the Oasis. It's a wonderful reader. Well yes, the metal design is a strange decision, but you can always put a skin on it.

[BionicGecko]

Hello all,

Coming back to you again for advice. I received the replacement for my Oasis 3, and as I have until November to return the previous one, I held onto it for the sake of comparing the two.

Now, the new one is different, but I can’t say it’s better. With the brightness off, the two screens are identical. When it’s on, the new one has a more yellow tinge, even with the warmth turned off. It’s also “flatter”, i.e, the text pops out less, seems to have slightly lower contrast. The screen appears a bit more uniform (fewer isolated “blotches” of uneven brightness), but it does have a gradient like the first one, maybe a bit less pronounced on the brightness side, but with a more obvious colour shift.

I’m not putting pictures because I realized I can’t trust my phone - putting them size by side, the one on the left always seems to have the worst gradient, regardless of which one it is.

Now I spent the last week trying both and I can’t make up my mind as to which is better; I’m tempted to send both of them back, but I’m afraid that if they do send a replacement, it will be the same thing again.. Maybe they’re all the same, and it’s just me being too picky? Although I don’t remember being bothered by this on my (now gone) PW3.

For those of you who did send back a device several times, did you experience a change in service quality or tone from Amazon? Am I being unreasonable?

[SusanReads]

Originally Posted by BionicGecko

Hello all,

Coming back to you again for advice. I received the replacement for my Oasis 3, and as I have until November to return the previous one, I held onto it for the sake of comparing the two.

Now, the new one is different, but I can’t say it’s better. With the brightness off, the two screens are identical. When it’s on, the new one has a more yellow tinge, even with the warmth turned off. It’s also “flatter”, i.e, the text pops out less, seems to have slightly lower contrast. The screen appears a bit more uniform (fewer isolated “blotches” of uneven brightness), but it does have a gradient like the first one, maybe a bit less pronounced on the brightness side, but with a more obvious colour shift.

I’m not putting pictures because I realized I can’t trust my phone - putting them size by side, the one on the left always seems to have the worst gradient, regardless of which one it is.

Now I spent the last week trying both and I can’t make up my mind as to which is better; I’m tempted to send both of them back, but I’m afraid that if they do send a replacement, it will be the same thing again.. Maybe they’re all the same, and it’s just me being too picky? Although I don’t remember being bothered by this on my (now gone) PW3.

For those of you who did send back a device several times, did you experience a change in service quality or tone from Amazon? Am I being unreasonable?

My new Oasis 3 has a slight gradient as well. Now it is something I can live with, even though it does bother me right now (I keep seeing it). I have ordered a second one to see how the lighting is on that one and I will keep the best one. (I think I can make peace with my current screen if I see that another device has a worse gradient or weird color hue.)

Now I for one would be quite annoyed if both deviced weren't what I'd hoped. So perhaps try one more time and then choose the best and be done with it?

[BionicGecko]

Originally Posted by SusanReads

My new Oasis 3 has a slight gradient as well. Now it is something I can live with, even though it does bother me right now (I keep seeing it). I have ordered a second one to see how the lighting is on that one and I will keep the best one. (I think I can make peace with my current screen if I see that another device has a worse gradient or weird color hue.)

Now I for one would be quite annoyed if both deviced weren't what I'd hoped. So perhaps try one more time and then choose the best and be done with it?

Thank you; I'm not sure I'd be able to hold onto all three devices and choose the best, as I have to send the ones I have soon. It's worth a shot though, I'll call Amazon today and see.

To be honest though I'm starting to think that they might all have this defect; maybe some people are more sensitive to it than others. I see the gradient on two devices, you see it as well on yours, and it's also visible on Sirtel's pictures; it looks better on his pictures than on mine, but my camera is not great and it might just be the reason.

If it was a cheaper device I wouldn't care that much I suppose, but every evening as I see the brightness fade off on every line I read I do get a mild case of buyer's remorse. Someone is selling a Voyage for a decent price in my area, I might just get that and call it a day.

Good luck with your second device, I do hope this one makes you happy!

[SusanReads]

Originally Posted by BionicGecko

Thank you; I'm not sure I'd be able to hold onto all three devices and choose the best, as I have to send the ones I have soon. It's worth a shot though, I'll call Amazon today and see.

To be honest though I'm starting to think that they might all have this defect; maybe some people are more sensitive to it than others. I see the gradient on two devices, you see it as well on yours, and it's also visible on Sirtel's pictures; it looks better on his pictures than on mine, but my camera is not great and it might just be the reason.

If it was a cheaper device I wouldn't care that much I suppose, but every evening as I see the brightness fade off on every line I read I do get a mild case of buyer's remorse. Someone is selling a Voyage for a decent price in my area, I might just get that and call it a day.

Good luck with your second device, I do hope this one makes you happy!

My Voyage has a gradient as well, but it's in the upper left corner (it's slightly yellow). But I do have to say that when I was only reading on my Voyage, I got used to it. So much so that when I tried to see the gradient by really looking for it, I couldn't even discover it.
Now that I'm reading on my Oasis, the gradient on my Voyage is very clear to me again. Weird how that works doesn't it.

So I think that after I've compared the second Oasis device to see if it's better I can put it to rest and eventually won't notice it anymore.

The gradient on the Kobo Libra was way worse by the way, so the Oasis feels like it doesn't have much light gradient to speak of. And I've noticed that when I turn the light up one bit from what I normally have it's less noticeable.

That being said, I did own an Oasis 2 for a while, and when I look back at pictures, there is no gradient. So I kind of feel that it is possible to get an even lighted Oasis....

Edit: I've added a pic of the Oasis 2 I once had. Can you see a gradient? I don't see it. It looks pretty even to me.

[BionicGecko]

Originally Posted by SusanReads

My Voyage has a gradient as well, but it's in the upper left corner (it's slightly yellow). But I do have to say that when I was only reading on my Voyage, I got used to it. So much so that when I tried to see the gradient by really looking for it, I couldn't even discover it.
Now that I'm reading on my Oasis, the gradient on my Voyage is very clear to me again. Weird how that works doesn't it.

Indeed; from what I gather the Voyage is lit from the top though (or is it the bottom), so the gradient is mostly top-down? If that's the case, I suppose it's less distracting than having a drop in brightness at every line read?

Originally Posted by SusanReads

So I think that after I've compared the second Oasis device to see if it's better I can put it to rest and eventually won't notice it anymore.

I do hope that it doesn't send you into a week of spiraling indecision like it did for me!

Originally Posted by SusanReads

I did own an Oasis 2 for a while, and when I look back at pictures, there is no gradient. So I kind of feel that it is possible to get an even lighted Oasis....

Edit: I've added a pic of the Oasis 2 I once had. Can you see a gradient? I don't see it. It looks pretty even to me.

It does indeed; I also played a bit with your picture by applying the "flipped bottom" method as I did on mine, and there's no gradient at all. Seems like there's hope!

[SusanReads]

Originally Posted by BionicGecko

It does indeed; I also played a bit with your picture by applying the "flipped bottom" method as I did on mine, and there's no gradient at all. Seems like there's hope!

I'm not sure I should have shown the picture, now we'll never be happy with an Oasis with uneven lighting, however minor.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by SusanReads

I'm not sure I should have shown the picture, now we'll never be happy with an Oasis with uneven lighting, however minor.

For me it's easy. I'm lazy. If the screen is not outright horrible, I can't be bothered with returning and exchanging. Fortunately none of my ereaders has been horrible enough for me to get off my a$$.

[BionicGecko]

Originally Posted by SusanReads

I'm not sure I should have shown the picture, now we'll never be happy with an Oasis with uneven lighting, however minor.

It's very possible!

So I just called Amazon, they are sending me a new one, scheduled arrival next Monday. They were very nice and helpful, and I have to say I'm quite happy with their customer service.

Anyway, hopefully the 3rd time will be the charm; if it's not, I'm giving up

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

For me it's easy. I'm lazy. If the screen is not outright horrible, I can't be bothered with returning and exchanging. Fortunately none of my ereaders has been horrible enough for me to get off my a$$.

Seconded. I don't really understand the huge numbers of people here who seem to want totally even lighting. The lighting on most books is wildly uneven unless you are the sort of person who routinely crushes books flat and smashes their spines to read them (in which case death is too good for you :P ), yet nobody ever complains about that...

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by NullNix

Seconded. I don't really understand the huge numbers of people here who seem to want totally even lighting. The lighting on most books is wildly uneven unless you are the sort of person who routinely crushes books flat and smashes their spines to read them (in which case death is too good for you :P ), yet nobody ever complains about that...

The Oasis is expensive. If the lighting is uneven enough to easily see and photograph, it should be returned IMO. I realize some of this may be subjective, but not when a photo shows it that clearly.

Amazon uses returned devices for warranty replacements, or refurbs. This probably in increases the likelihood of getting one with the same problem.

My Oasis 2 is near perfect as far as the lighting goes. The battery life chomps, but that doesn't bother me.

[BionicGecko]

Originally Posted by NullNix

Seconded. I don't really understand the huge numbers of people here who seem to want totally even lighting. The lighting on most books is wildly uneven unless you are the sort of person who routinely crushes books flat and smashes their spines to read them (in which case death is too good for you :P ), yet nobody ever complains about that...

My two cents on this; I think that when one looks at a book, the variations in lighting are consistent with how the light falls on other objects in the room. The brain expects the unevenness as it knows that the part closer to the light source(s) will be brighter.

On an e-ink device, the unevenness brings a kind of cognitive dissonance; the screen is not “supposed” to be brighter here or there, because that’s not how the light is oriented in the room.

I do realize it sounds petty, and I wish it didn’t bother me, but it really does!

[Barty]

Originally Posted by BionicGecko

Indeed; from what I gather the Voyage is lit from the top though (or is it the bottom), so the gradient is mostly top-down? If that's the case, I suppose it's less distracting than having a drop in brightness at every line read?

The voyage is lit from the bottom, but yes you pretty much nail the reason why gradient on the voyage is less bothersome than on the oasis. Of course on the bigger screen it's going to be more noticeable still. Not that there weren't people (including me) who were bothered by the voyage's gradient.

Note that every voyage I've seen has slightly less or more noticeable gradient. I expect the same is true of any model. If you're sensitive the slight difference may be enough for you to decide to keep one over another.