Kindle paperwhite 2012 vs 2013 (video)

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Agree! I might have perhaps lived with the shadowy blobs on the PW1 if they had been shades of grey (50? ) rather than blue and pink. Though the text was a bit blurry on occasion too, but the blurry text could have been fixed by FW whereas the shadowy blobs were hardware related.

There has been a fix with regard to the text. If you called up the menu and then dismissed it, the KPW showed thinner text on places where the menu had been. This problem suddenly disappeared. It seems the KPW now refreshes all text when a menu or other screen is closed.

The "shadowy blobs" are there on my Kindle in some circumstances, but I don't really care about them. A book was never ever perfectly lighted in the past, and had way more shadow on the pages than even the worst KPW.

I have no screen discoloration, except in a pitch black room with the setting on something like 20+, but I think that discoloration is just because my eyes are getting burned out.

Now that I have (finally) settled on a font (my own DejaVu Serif Fat) and a nice workflow to organize, build and convert my (mostly EPUB) library, I think I'll be using the KPW for a very, very long time to come. I've been known to use hardware for 10+ years if I'm satisfied with it.

"Satisfied" will not always mean it's the best in it's class or it has no disadvantages: it means that I have gotten it to work as I want it to work, possibly working around disadvantages in one way or another. Changing the hardware and/or software causes the need to start optimizing again.

This is also the reason why I'm very reluctant to upgrade software (or firmware) without having my current version on hand, AND a known way to return to that version if need be.

[benjamin11900]

Here's a new video on youtube showing both old and new paperwhite with dim light.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klxgpPi-3po

Looks like the light of the new paperwhite is way better than the old one. Especially at the bottom.

Originally Posted by benjamin11900

Here's a new video on youtube showing both old and new paperwhite with dim light.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klxgpPi-3po

Looks like the light of the new paperwhite is way better than the old one. Especially at the bottom.

I still see noticeable shadows throughout the screen, though they are less obvious than on the PW1. The PW1 has more of a blue tint and the PW2 has a whiter tint. I didn't see much difference in text contrast or speed. I'm glad I cancelled my pre-order.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I still see noticeable shadows throughout the screen, though they are less obvious than on the PW1. The PW1 has more of a blue tint and the PW2 has a whiter tint. I didn't see much difference in text contrast or speed. I'm glad I cancelled my pre-order.

When you say shadows do you mean color blobs? I actually think it looks pretty good. The PW1 is a pink and blue mess, but I think the PW2 looks pretty clean in the video. I don't see much difference at all in contrast though so disappointed there. The text looks fairly washed out on both to me, but maybe it's more noticeable in person.

[freezer2k]

they both looked pretty awful to me,


Am I crazy?
Do i need to operate my eyes?

[Yolina]

I did see some pink on the PW2 screen in that video, but overall it did look better to me than the PW1, also a nicer warmer tint. Ah well, I'll just see what I think of the unit Amazon sends me and take it from there.

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

When you say shadows do you mean color blobs? I actually think it looks pretty good. The PW1 is a pink and blue mess, but I think the PW2 looks pretty clean in the video. I don't see much difference at all in contrast though so disappointed there. The text looks fairly washed out on both to me, but maybe it's more noticeable in person.

No, the PW1 in that video had blue color blobs. But I'm referring to dingy, dirty looking areas of the screen that make the text less readable. I see them on the PW2 and they look like grey blobs, which is what shadows are. Little doubt they are areas that are less well lit, but still it would bother my eyes. Now if the text was truly very dark and thick they probably wouldn't matter as much, but the text on the PW2 didn't appear to be much improvement over the PW1.

[Ocicat]

Originally Posted by Yolina

I did see some pink on the PW2 screen in that video, but overall it did look better to me than the PW1, also a nicer warmer tint. Ah well, I'll just see what I think of the unit Amazon sends me and take it from there.

Ditto here, and I am having 2nd thoughts about having traded my PW1 which was fairly decent.

[Ocicat]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Now if the text was truly very dark and thick they probably wouldn't matter as much, but the text on the PW2 didn't appear to be much improvement over the PW1.

Exactly! We did install alternate fonts, the ones from JS Wolf, and the PW1 was better.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Yolina

I did see some pink on the PW2 screen in that video, but overall it did look better to me than the PW1, also a nicer warmer tint. Ah well, I'll just see what I think of the unit Amazon sends me and take it from there.

Oh no. I'm scared to watch it again now. I'll stick with my pre-order I think though. I'd like to see it in person, I think.

Originally Posted by jswinden

No, the PW1 in that video had blue color blobs. But I'm referring to dingy, dirty looking areas of the screen that make the text less readable. I see them on the PW2 and they look like grey blobs, which is what shadows are. Little doubt they are areas that are less well lit, but still it would bother my eyes. Now if the text was truly very dark and thick they probably wouldn't matter as much, but the text on the PW2 didn't appear to be much improvement over the PW1.

I see. Hmm.. I'm gonna watch the video again more closely.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Yolina

I did see some pink on the PW2 screen in that video, but overall it did look better to me than the PW1, also a nicer warmer tint. Ah well, I'll just see what I think of the unit Amazon sends me and take it from there.

Do you mean an overall pink shade or do you mean you're seeing distinct pink blobs?

[aceflor]

I see blotches too...

I do photography and art work, just for fun, not professionally. So perhaps I notice shades of grey more than some people. But I definitely notice blotchy shadows, especially around text. I attached a screenshot taken from that last video review. The actual screenshot is on the left and another view of it is on the right wherein I turned up the contrast in Photoshop to make the shadows easier to see. Admittedly this is subtle for some people's eyes, if they see it at all. But for my eyes it glares back at me and becomes a distraction. Look at the shadow around the chapter title. That is pretty obviously a shadow.

EDIT: I've seen these blotches/shadows in every review video. At least I'm not seeing blues in this one. I do think the shadows are slightly less evident than in th 3 PW1s I tried. Those were all very blue too. So the PW2 is an improvement, but not enough for my eyes.

.....

[Katsunami]

Weird. It looks like hugely bad JPG-compression. My KPW certainly doesn't do that.

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Weird. It looks like hugely bad JPG-compression. My KPW certainly doesn't do that.

No it is there and not JPEG compression. You eyes/mind just don't detect it. And that is cool, and for the better. But some of us do see it regardless of whether you do.