Permanently screen fading over time problem in e-ink readers

[PeteS]

Jack,

I have been ruminating on your problem and after a lot of thought I think I have the solution - see what you think.

If you don't want to change to a different ereader - the other option would be to change your location. You could move to join us in the UK, we are very rarely troubled by sunshine.

[dedgod]

I have in my possession, two PRS-T1 Readers that were purchased 2 years ago. One has been used almost daily, and the other was hardly used at all.

The one that was heavily used is markedly faded compared to the rarely used one. I did not think that the heavily used one was faded and I would have vociferously defended it as such until I tried using the rarely used one. The difference is significant enough that I noticed right away. It was only after seeing how good the rarely used one looked, that I bothered to compare.

I also have a PRS-600 that was heavily used which appears to be very faded. I had chalked this up to technological improvements, but now I have my doubts.

It has been posted in this thread that the manufacturer will replace a bad screen under warranty, but this screen has faded over the course of two years and there is no warranty now.

I think that this problem hides behind the tendency for ereader folks to constantly buy the latest and greatest, and I'm guilty of this too. When I take my ereader to the store and compare it to the newest ereaders, it looks quite shabby with its faded screen and I feel justified in buying a new one.

Shame on Eink for its sneaky planned obsolescence or poor quality.

[AnemicOak]

I just noticed this fading issue in person. My mother's Kindle 3 (she's had since release day) was giving her problems and when I was checking it out I noticed something was rattling inside and whatever it was must have been metal as it would cause the device to reboot itself sometimes. So I set up my old K3 which due to it being a replacement is about 8 months newer than hers. The difference between to two is night and day, the newer one has hugely better contrast.

Of course now I've fixed hers (some mainboard screws had come loose and were rattling around inside), but she wants to keep my old one instead since the screen looks nicer.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I just noticed this fading issue in person.

What's the big fuss, anyway?

CRT monitors faded. Always did. In the graphics industry, a CRT monitor was ditched after 5 years because it lost so much brightness that it became impossible to attain (and sustain) the 100 cd/m² brightness required.

LCD monitors fade too, allthough it is less of a problem. A normal LCD display can easily attain at least 250, and often up to 400 cd/m² of brightness, so it can lose a huge amount of brightness before becoming useless. (The normal working brightness for graphics stuff is around 120 cd/m² when using LCD's.)

The colors don't fade all at the same speed. I don't know which of the RGB colors normally fades fastest, but in my 6 years old EIZO S1931, it seems to be blue. The settings at this point in time are:

R: 83 %
G: 86 %
B: 100 %

Brightness is at 61% percent. When I got this monitor, the settings were more like somewhere in the 90's for R and G, and overall brightness set to around 57%.

Of course, as the blue subpixels fade faster than the others, the red and green subpixels must be set at a lower and lower setting to provide similar brightness to blue, and then the entire screen will be darker. To compensate, general brightness needs to be raised. If The monitor is still fine for amateur graphics use, but if I had been a professional graphics artist, this monitor would have become useless about 3 years ago already, because Red and Green are too far apart from Blue.

(Which reminds me: at some point, I must buy another 19 inch monitor as a reserve, when this computer gets replaced and becomes a PC for legacy games; although I expect all of my games to still run on Windows 8.)

To be honest, I don't expect anything else from an e-ink screen; becoming faded or "tired" in some way after years of heavy use. With regard to money, most people won't have a problem replacing such a device very 5-6 years, and they get cheaper every year. Yeah, I know, it would be best if the device held out of 25 years, but if that could be done, it would probably be prohibitively expensive to produce and support. It's not a car...

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

What's the big fuss, anyway?

I don't know, is there a big fuss? I just said I'd noticed it in person for the first time.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I don't know, is there a big fuss? I just said I'd noticed it in person for the first time.

Not with you, but with a thread being kicked that's about three years old, with regard to a problem that seems to be limited to a certain batch of screens.

[pidgeon92]

My K2 and original Kindle Keyboard both seem to look as good as they did when I got them years ago. I've been remarkably lucky with all of my eink screens.

[amgoforth]

My Kindle DX screed faded out so much that I can no longer use it, Sony PR500, and PR700, Iliad DR, original Iliad, all others too faded out and ruined here in the Philippines. I guess they are all first generation bought before 2009 when I left the USA. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER ONE UNLESS I AM CONFIDENT THE PROBLEM IS FIXED.
I STILL USE THE ORIGINAL JETBOOK, and older readers. Now I use Android phone and Tablets.

[HarryT]

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Thanks.