I'm ready to buy a Kindle - but I have two questions before I decide which model.

[beautifulsoup]

I've played with demo models. And I like both the Touch and the Kindle 4. I'm leaning more towards the Touch - but here are my two questions.

Question about Touch: The demo model I tried is the 3G SO version. (I'd go for WiFi, m'self). But on the demo, there was ghosting on every single page I read (and I read a lot of pages) at the bottom; a white bar; ghosting from the SO bar on the home page. Unless that's a screen "burnout" issue because of the demo being turned on and operating pretty much on the home screen all hours of the day? Opinions? Does anyone else have this issue?

Question about the K4: These devices are tethered within an inch of their lives at the stores where I've tried them out. What I'm trying to get is a "feel" for holding the device in only one hand and doing page turns with that same hand. With the big bulky plastic security things they've affixed to the backs of the Kindles in the stores, it's hard to tell if I'd be able to do that. I have small-ish hands (not tiny)....

Sorry if these are dumb questions; thanks for your help.

[shinew]

for the Touch, yes the ghosting is noticeably worse than the K4, but it'll probably get fixed as the new firmware comes out.

for the K4, it shouldn't be an issue. It is the lightest of all the kindle models and the page turning button had the right tactile response for me. I had no problem turning pages with one hand.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by shinew

for the Touch, yes the ghosting is noticeably worse than the K4, but it'll probably get fixed as the new firmware comes out.

Yep. And if not fixed by firmware, it will be fixed in hardware before the Christmas buying season next year.

Some of the reason for it is a tradeoff between page turn speeds and taking the time to flash to black every time. On the Kindle Keyboard (KK), which flashes to black every page turn, the page turns are still far faster than you could do in a physical book. I like that setup.

Even with a full flash to black page turn, it still is possible for there to be a slight ghost. My eyesight isn't good enough to spot it. On the KK, if it does become noticeable, owners can press Alt-G for a stronger refresh. Does the touch have that feature?

As might be suspected, I like the KK! Some stores have it on clearance.

[VictoriaP]

Not everyone experiences significant ghosting on the Touch though. Mine was pretty minor even before I set it to refresh each page--and I did that more because I found the periodic black flash to be more distracting than having it happen every time. Still, it is a problem for some, and as shinew said, there should be a firmware update to correct it sooner rather than later.

I have small hands (have to buy small gloves or they slide off too easily) and can use the Touch single handed. I'd bet you can do the same with the smaller K4.

[ThomasC]

Just my opinion but I think that the K4 is the nicest little e-reader out there right now, esp. if you are just after a basic e-book reader. One-handed page turns are not a problem with this little guy.

The screen is quite readable but it the screen background is a bit on the grey-side compared to the older K3 and DXG readers imho. Using the latest firmware that allows you to turn the page refresh rate on (= refresh after each page turn) helps a bit.

I have found that manually refreshing the homepage ~10-12 times (by pressing the keyboard+back left-front buttons) helps quite a bit and results in a lighter coloured background until I turn the unit off.

I've also found that if I do some wifi internet browsing first, the background colour is a lot lighter when I then go to read a book.

Both these things seem to indicate to me that some kind of firmware update may eventually solve this minor problem.

Cheers,
Tom

[Blossom]

I love My K4 it is perfect for small hands! I read on it for hours without any issues. No Ghosting issues on mine. The K4 is also compatible with Kindle collections plugin in Calibre. You can use it to add your own font, change margins and manage collections.

If you just want a eReader with no Frills it's the way to go.

[beautifulsoup]

Thanks to all for your helpful replies.

[tomsem]

It is impossible to conclude anything about ghosting, contrast etc., from a single demo unit, or to compare with K4. At one point I had two Kindle Touches and they were significantly different (I returned the one that was 'worse'). It does seem like something they can tweak with a firmware update.

To me audio capability, greater storage, battery storage, and more efficient keyboard entry all make Touch well worth the additional $20. The only time I miss page turn buttons is when operating the web browser (where buttons are mapped to page up/down).

[beautifulsoup]

Originally Posted by tomsem

It is impossible to conclude anything about ghosting, contrast etc., from a single demo unit, or to compare with K4. At one point I had two Kindle Touches and they were significantly different (I returned the one that was 'worse'). It does seem like something they can tweak with a firmware update.

To me audio capability, greater storage, battery storage, and more efficient keyboard entry all make Touch well worth the additional $20. The only time I miss page turn buttons is when operating the web browser (where buttons are mapped to page up/down).

I've tried demos of both in three separate locations...

The ghosting I'm referring to is that bottom SO bar that seems to stay "ghosted" - even through page refreshes.

Actually, I don't use audio, nor will I be using WiFi or 3G, so maybe I'll go with the K4. (I am spoiled by touch screens due to my Kobo Touch, though )