Paperwhite Second Gen: First Impressions

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Contrast, as quoted by eInk is not a subjective measure, dependent upon choice of fonts, etc, but a purely objective quantity measured by an instrument called a photometer, which measures the whiteness of the whites, and the blackness of the blacks.

Of course. Therefore, you can have a better contrast, while still have grayer text.

If the Kindle 4 has whites of value 140, and blacks of value 10, it's contrast ratio is 14:1. If the Kindle paperwhite has whites of value 225 and blacks of value 15, it has a contrast ratio of 15:1.

Its white is blindingly white, it's contrast is a tad better, but its text is still grayer.

I could see people preferring the Kindle 4 because of the blacker text, and maybe even because it's not so extremely white.

[dordale]

Originally Posted by xendula

@Jack, because of the cover, it is so worth it getting rid of SO: you open the cover and the last page you read is right there, with the light at the last brightness level you used. It sounds so stupid that something so small can be so darn awesome, but it is it's like a real book in a way.

Definitely a true statement. I originally ordered the KPW2 with SO--and it took me all of having the PW in hand about 5 minutes to cough up the $20.00 to get rid of them. I also received the official Kindle cover with my KPW2--and could tell that having to swipe the add screen every time I opened it would be very irritating. It's great to open the cover and immediately begin reading!

[Barty]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

What is wrong with yours, Barty?

text is too grey. screen too yellow, dark blob in center of screen. Biggest thing for me is text is too grey. I can read it anywhere thanks to the light, but otherwise it's a worse reading experience than my k3.

[Barty]

btw, this sounds wacky, but is anyone else's pw2 lopsided? bevel on right side is higher than on left. either that or the screen is crooked.

also, the battery is draining fast. I was plugging it a lot to play with embedded font thereby charging it. But now that I've settled on one font and been reading straight, I notice the battery has gone from ~80% to ~20% in one day. no wifi, light on 12, no book indexing (I only have 9 books loaded anyway).

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Barty

text is too grey. screen too yellow, dark blob in center of screen. Biggest thing for me is text is too grey. I can read it anywhere thanks to the light, but otherwise it's a worse reading experience than my k3.

I had that problem too. Even if my screens would have been perfect, I had a much harder time reading on the PW2 than the PW1 due to this. Good luck with the replacement.

Also, I never noticed lopsided bezels on the ones I had.

[slantybard]

After almost 1200 replies, I thought, hey, why not chip in some thoughts...

I have an original batch PW1. As someone said earlier, "blotchula!". No pinholes though with it. I was OK with using it and enjoyed reading despite the colour rainbow. I then picked up an Aura about 3 weeks ago and found the customization of fonts and even lighting was great. Unfortunately, the contrast was lower due to the decreased whiteness of the background on the Aura which when looked at closely, resembled small grey tiled diamonds (a search in the Kobo thread will show a close up of this pattern that someone took a picture of).

Traveling to the US brought me in contact with a BestBuy which led me down the temptation path......and I bought not one, but TWO of the PW2's since I spent so much time trawling this thread and hearing about wide variations in screens. My premise was to keep the best PW2 and return the other unless they both were bad.

On opening and evaluating the units, I have compared them to my PW1 and Aura. Both units are in pretty good shape.

No pinholes (my Aura has 3 so I know how to find them).

Lighting is much more even than the PW1 but just a shade poorer than the Aura (the Aura has a beautiful even lighting system).

Some "dust" appears embedded in the layers of both units. Only visible when unit light is on max and unit turned so that you are looking at a sharp angle to the screen from top down. No different compared to the PW1's I have seen. When reading normally, the dust is not seen even at max light.

There are very subtle shades of discolouration but compared to the PW1, these can not be considered "blotchula" and I even find myself questioning whether I am seeing discolourations or just tricking my mind.

Contrast is great - slightly better than my PW1 and way, way better than the Aura.

Embedded fonts work well at improving readability since the stock fonts imo are not very good.

There is a variation of white balance between the 2 PW2's. One is slightly warmer yellow that I assume is due to variation in the LEDs. Both are warmer than the PW1, but not as warm as the Aura.

In conclusion, both units are pretty good imo. So good that I am not bothering to return either one as my wife quickly grabbed the one I "thought" I was going to return and claimed it as her new toy! Now she expects me to find her a nice case since I simply reused my PW1 cover....

[fearindex]

Originally Posted by Barty

btw, this sounds wacky, but is anyone else's pw2 lopsided? bevel on right side is higher than on left. either that or the screen is crooked.

also, the battery is draining fast. I was plugging it a lot to play with embedded font thereby charging it. But now that I've settled on one font and been reading straight, I notice the battery has gone from ~80% to ~20% in one day. no wifi, light on 12, no book indexing (I only have 9 books loaded anyway).

Unfortunately, nothing new there. People reported many crooked screens with PW1 and I have seen such reports with PW2 too. (My PW1 has a slightly lopsided screen.) Also, some reports of battery draining fast. There is a thread for battery measurements.

I have never seen lopsided screens in regular e-ink Kindles, none of my several Kindles have that, only the PW1.

It seems all those layers and manufacturing the frontlit touchscreen assembly has left such problems in the process.

[Barty]

When you exchange, do you get another 30 days to evaluate or do they count from the original receive date?

I'm thinking I should wait couple more weeks so they can work out whatever production issues that can be worked out.

Originally Posted by Barty

When you exchange, do you get another 30 days to evaluate or do they count from the original receive date?

I'm thinking I should wait couple more weeks so they can work out whatever production issues that can be worked out.

If memory serves me correctly, they restart the 30 day evaluation clock. I doubt they will work out anything in just a few weeks.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by slantybard

On opening and evaluating the units, I have compared them to my PW1 and Aura.

Any chance of photos of the Aura and PW2 next to each other? I've yet to see a comparison.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by fearindex

Unfortunately, nothing new there. People reported many crooked screens with PW1 and I have seen such reports with PW2 too. (My PW1 has a slightly lopsided screen.) Also, some reports of battery draining fast. There is a thread for battery measurements.
I have never seen lopsided screens in regular e-ink Kindles, none of my several Kindles have that, only the PW1.

It seems all those layers and manufacturing the frontlit touchscreen assembly has left such problems in the process.

My first PW2 that I exchanged had a slightly lopsided screen and so does one of my Sony's. Just something that happens sometimes. I decided to live with it on my Sony, and I forgot about it after awhile as I was reading. But if it bothers you, then exchange it.

[7hir7een]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Any chance of photos of the Aura and PW2 next to each other? I've yet to see a comparison.

Haven't seen any photos, but here are a couple videos (one in bright light, one in a dark room): http://goodereader.com/blog/electron...e-paperwhite-2

Something of note that you might want to know is the diamond pattern on the Aura screen as shown in the closeups here: http://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/201...-than-aura-hd/

[duydangle]

My paperwhite 2 has just arrived and it's amazing. It doesn't have uneven lighting or any pinholes. Books indexing is very fast. I hope I will not find anything wrong .

[xendula]

Originally Posted by Barty

btw, this sounds wacky, but is anyone else's pw2 lopsided? bevel on right side is higher than on left. either that or the screen is crooked.

Not the bevel, but the screen of the first PW2 they sent me was misaligned. I could see a line going across the bottom, which on the second PW2 was 1-2 mm lower, and it looked as if the screen was crooked by maybe 1 degree when compared to the bezel.

[David58117]

Originally Posted by 7hir7een

Haven't seen any photos, but here are a couple videos (one in bright light, one in a dark room): http://goodereader.com/blog/electron...e-paperwhite-2

Something of note that you might want to know is the diamond pattern on the Aura screen as shown in the closeups here: http://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/201...-than-aura-hd/

The Aura looks great, but it sounds like it has the issues my Kobo Glo has.

1. The contrast was not as sharp as on my Kindles (PW1, PW2). The text seemed ever so slightly "dull."
2. The diamond pattern. My Glo had it, and it's super annoying. It's only visible in lit rooms, but once it shows, it's completely distracting.
3. Brightness. If you're the type who reads before bed in a dark room - the Glo (and it appears aura as well) is way too bright. My glo would scorch my eyes even on it's lowest setting.

I'm with Amazon until those get fixed, and maybe the light changes from a blue to something more neutral..