Verge Report - Amazon Rep comment on Colorsoft Issue

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hollow Man

Jon is going to continue to push the colors on the Kobo but trust me, the Colorsoft is very nice there.

As far as ship dates, don't trust any of them. They keep getting pushed back.

I'm going to say what I've seen from YT reviews and photos.

I've seen some images in color with text used as a comparison to the Kindle and Kobo and the text was unreadable on the Kindle but perfectly readable on the Kobo. Also, I've seen comparison images where there is noticeable loss of detail and the image looked muddy on the Kindle and the detail was clearly visible on the Kindle.

So while you say you like the colors, do you like muddy images with a lack of detail in some cases?

[Hollow Man]

And I've seen images that look worse on the Kobo. So we're at an impasse.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hollow Man

And I've seen images that look worse on the Kobo. So we're at an impasse.

And I've seen a darker screen when displaying black text when I would on a BW screen on both. Neither are good enough (IMHO) for reading novels.

[Hollow Man]

Here's a shot of text from mine. The text is absurdly dark. Great contrast. And one can turn the brightness up even more!

In real life the background is even slightly whiter than this (photo apps do funky things)

You can also see the screen door texture at full resolution.

With the light off the background definitely isn't as light as a B&W reader by a large margin. So if one is reading outside exclusively, I'd say buy something else. Otherwise? No problem at all. I've read quite a few novels already on it.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Hollow Man

Here's a shot of text from mine. The text is absurdly dark. Great contrast. And one can turn the brightness up even more!

In real life the background is even slightly whiter than this (photo apps do funky things)

You can also see the screen door texture at full resolution.

With the light off the background definitely isn't as light as a B&W reader by a large margin. So if one is reading outside exclusively, I'd say buy something else. Otherwise? No problem at all. I've read quite a few novels already on it.

That photo looks better then some eink readers I've had. Looks good enough for reading novels (IMO).

[Hollow Man]

Photo apps do funky things, so that's why the corners are blurry. But I just wanted to quickly take a snapshot to dispel any thoughts that it isn't good enough to read a book on.

And here is a full reader shot, which also shows how easy it is to see the text. The photo app overexposed it a bit (I suspect it decided to make the reader itself more prominent), which blows out the black of the text to some degree. But as you can see from the previous photo, it's in fact not grey at all.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Hollow Man

Photo apps do funky things, so that's why the corners are blurry. But I just wanted to quickly take a snapshot to dispel any thoughts that it isn't good enough to read a book on.

And here is a full reader shot, which also shows how easy it is to see the text. The photo app overexposed it a bit (I suspect it decided to make the reader itself more prominent), which blows out the black of the text to some degree. But as you can see from the previous photo, it's in fact not grey at all.

I'm curious, how high was your frontlight when you took that photo? I'm assuming it was on.

[Hollow Man]

It's at 20. It's very bright in my office, so I have to crank up the light to counteract the harsh overhead florescent lights. At home I keep it around 16 or 17, and below 10 (as low as 5 or so) if I'm reading in bed at night in the dark (so as not to bug my wife, who made me the sleeve in the above photo).

For the record, once you get to 14 and below, it's very hard to notice the amber gradient at the bottom.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Hollow Man

It's at 20. It's very bright in my office, so I have to crank up the light to counteract the harsh overhead florescent lights. At home I keep it around 16 or 17, and below 10 (as low as 5 or so) if I'm reading in bed at night in the dark (so as not to bug my wife, who made me the sleeve in the above photo).

For the record, once you get to 14 and below, it's very hard to notice the amber gradient at the bottom.

Thanks.

[Hollow Man]

And further crazy proof that you can't trust photos? Here's it at brightness 14 and more warmth. It looks almost the same as the above photo!

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Hollow Man

And further crazy proof that you can't trust photos? Here's it at brightness 14 and more warmth. It looks almost the same as the above photo!

Given the camera hardware and software are going to try their best to compensate for any changes in lighting, colour balance, etc., it's not that surprising that the images tend to look similar.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Hollow Man

And further crazy proof that you can't trust photos? Here's it at brightness 14 and more warmth. It looks almost the same as the above photo!

Yeah, photos can be tricky, and are often pretty different from what you see with your naked eye. Especially photos taken with a phone, as phone cameras tend to make all kinds of auto-corrections.

I recall when I once wanted to show my sister that my indoor plant looked somewhat sickly and took a photo with my phone. On the photo, the plant looked almost unnaturally green, oversaturated - no sickliness whatsoever. My sister didn't understand what I was talking about.

[Hollow Man]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Given the camera hardware and software are going to try their best to compensate for any changes in lighting, colour balance, etc., it's not that surprising that the images tend to look similar.

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yeah, photos can be tricky, and are often pretty different than what you see with your naked eye. Especially photos taken with a phone, as phone cameras tend to make all kinds of auto-corrections.

I recall when I once wanted to show my sister that my indoor plant looked somewhat sickly and took a photo with my phone. On the photo, the plant looked almost unnaturally green, oversaturated - no sickliness whatsoever. My sister didn't understand what I was talking about.

Exactly. Which is why I keep trying to tell certain people that you can't trust photos and videos showing these devices off. Cameras are going to do all kinds of things to get the shot it thinks you want vs trying to 100% accurately capture what is going on in person.

So instead trust what I say: the Colorsoft is more than perfectly fine for reading books.

[JoeC]

Agreed!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hollow Man

Here's a shot of text from mine. The text is absurdly dark. Great contrast. And one can turn the brightness up even more!

In real life the background is even slightly whiter than this (photo apps do funky things)

You can also see the screen door texture at full resolution.

With the light off the background definitely isn't as light as a B&W reader by a large margin. So if one is reading outside exclusively, I'd say buy something else. Otherwise? No problem at all. I've read quite a few novels already on it.

How does it look in good light with no front light on? Thanks.