Has the quality of Paperwhites improved?

[Andy_T]

I sent back my Paperwhite when I received it through a friend who came to Europe from the US (had ordered it way before it was launched in Germany) because the sharpness of the text was considerably worse than that of my Kindle Keyboard.

Had the possibility to see a Kobo Glow on an airport display in Milan last week, and wow, that was really nice! Had the Paperwhite I received been up to this, I would have been very happy. But I see that there are lots of people who obviously received good ones and are happy with them (as well as there are others who were not happy) - seems the production is possibly not consistent yet.

So I will wait some more time and then possibly order another one from Germany.

Best regards,
Andy

[jmilica]

I ordered PW 2 weeks back and it was supposed to be shipped "after 20 December". I received email from Amazon yesterday however, that it will be shipped earlier and that it is supposed to arrive on 6 December. I don't know if that means a lot of people are cancelling their orders or they have managed to speed up production.

[new]

Originally Posted by graycyn

I saw one today in Best Buy finally, screen lighting was very uneven. Could see different colors on the screen, also did not like the shadows on the bottom. The uneven lighting makes it a no go for me, my eyes are fussy about that.

On the plus side, loved the feel of the screen, and the color temperature of the light is much better and whiter than the lighted Nook, which is quite blue. Contrast and crispness of text, very nice.

Would miss page turning buttons though, I read one-handed a lot and I don't like to tap to turn pages, causes pain after a while.

Will stick with my Sony readers, with the lighted covers, light is not a problem, nor one-handed reading. Further, dictionary access seemed quite slow on the Paperwhite. I was surprised by that!

Actually I thought the same as you, I want buttons! But now I am use to turning pages and don't miss trying to find the button.

Actually the dictionary is great! If you click on it twice it opens in big print. My older Kindles kept it in small print and you had to find the keyboard to use it. So I never used it. But I do like the dictionary and actually use it.

With the Lincoln book I am reading though a few words were not in there. The book was written back in Lincolns time so it is sometimes like reading the KJV of the bible for me. But still good.

They must have had a bad PW on display. I decided not to do that since you couldn't test the PW in the store, it isn't dark like at home in bed.

[new]

Originally Posted by jmilica

I ordered PW 2 weeks back and it was supposed to be shipped "after 20 December". I received email from Amazon yesterday however, that it will be shipped earlier and that it is supposed to arrive on 6 December. I don't know if that means a lot of people are cancelling their orders or they have managed to speed up production.

That is what happen to me I got it a month early! I think they are exaggerated the date of arrival because of their problems. Hope you get a good one like I did. Play with the light settings before you decide if you like it. I ended up using setting 5. Even though it is at the end of the recommended setting to use in the dark. I am light sensitive and suffer migraines. But it doesn't bother me at all now. Now I can open my book in the middle of the night and not bother anyone and read!

[new]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Note that I didn't claim to know anything about shutting down production. It is just 'as if' they had. Maybe it is just that they are diverting supply to other markets (Europe, Japan). But it seems odd that you can't get a PW from Amazon before Christmas in Amazon's primary market, the USA. They are losing sales that will never come their way again (unless it is part of some plan to sell more Kindle Fires). I'm sure the reasons are more complicated than I can imagine however.

I see what you mean now. They are exaggerated the expected arrival date. I think some will actually get it before Christmas if they move the date up like they did on mine.

[jmilica]

Originally Posted by new

That is what happen to me I got it a month early! I think they are exaggerated the date of arrival because of their problems. Hope you get a good one like I did. Play with the light settings before you decide if you like it. I ended up using setting 5. Even though it is at the end of the recommended setting to use in the dark. I am light sensitive and suffer migraines. But it doesn't bother me at all now. Now I can open my book in the middle of the night and not bother anyone and read!

Thanks a lot for advice. I am going to get it brought to me to India by a friend, so I'll have to wait a bit longer, but I do plan to be patient. I'll try to adjust the light the way it suits me best and see how it goes.
And even if it doesn't work, I still have my good old KB

[beautifulsoup]

Originally Posted by jmilica

I ordered PW 2 weeks back and it was supposed to be shipped "after 20 December". I received email from Amazon yesterday however, that it will be shipped earlier and that it is supposed to arrive on 6 December. I don't know if that means a lot of people are cancelling their orders or they have managed to speed up production.

This was my situation, as well. I received mine two days ago. I see shadowy blobs at the bottom - the three or four, and then another three or four directly above those - but so far it's not bothering me so much. I only tried it in the dark for the first time last night.

Is it weird that I put it at 5, 6, or even 7 or 8 for dark rooms? 3 and 4 are WAY too low for in the dark.

Whatever works, works. Right?

[Michele]

I had to put mine all the way up to read in the dark. Customer service didn't say anything about the recommended levels when I asked them. Just silence.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by new

Actually the dictionary is great! If you click on it twice it opens in big print. My older Kindles kept it in small print and you had to find the keyboard to use it. So I never used it. But I do like the dictionary and actually use it.

It's certainly possible it wasn't a good Paperwhite on display at the Best Buy. Still, it appeared to be working. The dictionary speed was really slow, even on my older Sony 350, my dictionary pops up almost instantly, the wait on the Kindle was excruciating in comparison. It could also simply be user error, I am not used to the Kindle interface. I think I was using a long press like I do on my T-1, rather than a double tap like the 350 uses.

At any rate, the uneven lighting makes it a bust for me, it really was pretty awful looking. And as my Best Buy has only recently gotten these in, I'd have to say that quality on the lighting front is still quite iffy. Hopefully, the complaints Amazon has been getting will move them to get this fixed. But I know I wouldn't buy one right now.

Wish I could see a Kobo in person!

[piperclassique]

Got my husband's paperwhite birthday present here in France arrived two weeks ago. Looks perfect to me, this is the first time I have managed to prise it out of his hands. I want one for me! No blobs, even lighting, much crisper than my KK.

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by graycyn

It's certainly possible it wasn't a good Paperwhite on display at the Best Buy. Still, it appeared to be working. The dictionary speed was really slow, even on my older Sony 350, my dictionary pops up almost instantly, the wait on the Kindle was excruciating in comparison.

Wish I could see a Kobo in person!

As well as blotchy screens there must be some buggy units out there as the two Kindle PW's I've had a play with in Waterstones were very quick turning pages, changing fonts, selecting books & bringing up the dictionary. Also the screens looked pretty good in the 3 or 4 units I've seen in person.

I'll say exactly the same for the Kobo Glo too. I've played with the Glo in two different shops, and it too was very quick, with a great screen. I'd find it pretty hard to choose between them on the limited testing you can do in a shop.

[HYPE]

I decided to wait for the next generation of PWs. For now, I bought a black non-touch.

[vxf]

There certainly seems to be a lot of variability here.
My PW screen, at 5, looks completely dark - I can't even tell the light is on. Well, I guess I can, in complete darkness, but there is no way anyone could read at that.
In a dark room, I read at 12-14.

[xendula]

I don't like articifial light, so my eyes are already used to half darkness. When I read in bed in the dark, where the PW is right in front of my face, I only have the light at around 4-5, otherwise it blinds me. I have, however, never seen any two PW to output the same brightness, so a combination of variation in device brightness and personal preference is probably at play here.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Michele

I had to put mine all the way up to read in the dark. Customer service didn't say anything about the recommended levels when I asked them. Just silence.

What they would probably recommend is what the PW tells you when you bring up the light adjustment: 0-5 for dark rooms, 20-24 for bright rooms, in between for in between rooms (in full sun you might as well turn it all the way down). But nobody can really tell you what is going to work best for you.

I usually set it at 0-1 so I can retain some night vision, in case I need to get up and move around said dark room. But it is not suitable for long reading sessions. Reading books by candlelight was never superior to reading with daylight, and this is no different. You are asking your eyes to work a lot harder.

Another trick is to enlarge the type size and put it in landscape orientation. This makes it a little easier on the eyes while retaining good justification of the text. Seems to be a little easier to hold that way, also.

I can understand why you might prefer to turn it all the way up (makes it easier for eyes to focus when there's more light coming into your eyes, causing your irises to contract—pinhole effect etc.) but at that point it is probably no different physiologically than reading a backlit screen in terms of messing up sleep cycles. And let's face it: if you are reading in the dark, your sleep cycles are probably already messed up!