PW: Another Perspective

induna · 11-01-2012, 11:07 PM

My reasons for buying and using the PW have nothing at all to do with the light. I very rarely have a need to read in the dark, and prefer to use a reasonable amount of ambient light whenever possible. The built-in light does help when the ambient light is less than ideal since it brightens up the shadows and makes the darker parts of the screen easier to read, but it isn't really necessary. So, this is a brief review of the PW that pretty much ignores the light. I imagine that there are others like me who have PWs but for whom the light itself is not critical.

I have been using Sony readers exclusively since before there was a Kindle (since the PRS-500 was released), and have owned and used regularly a sample of every generation of Sony Reader since. I now read exclusively on an e-reader and do so daily.

I had never before been interested in Amazon's products. The Sonys were always pushing the technology more aggressively and have a more open format -- epub. However, my needs changed. I am now seriously working to achieve a high functional level in Spanish, and find translating dictionaries to be more distracting than beneficial. The Sony products only have translating dictionaries for languages other than English, and third-party dictionaries cannot be added. Once I discovered that the PW comes with a truly excellent Spanish dictionary (the two-volume, second edition of the Real Academia Diccionario de la Lengua Española), it became a no-brainer for me. The Kobos also come with a Spanish dictionary, but it is of lower quality. And, since Amazon has by far the best selection of Spanish language ebooks anyway, the PW really was the ideal choice for me.

In daily use I find the PW to be superior to the T1. Without the light, the PW screen has contrast at least equal to the T1, and the font rendering is superior. The capacitive touch screen is a decided improvement over the IR technology. It is more responsive, has fewer failed page turns, is faster, and has higher resolution (I find it much easier to accurately select a word with the PW than with the T1 when using small fonts.) The PW's UI is fine. I wish it were easier to turn the wireless on and off, but that's not a big deal. Since I don't carry lots of books on my reader (why would I need to?), collection management also isn't an issue. The Amazon case works really well. It looks like I will easily get two weeks out of a charge.

So, all-in-all, I'm quite happy with the PW. It does everything I need it to do efficiently and well. The light does help when reading in less than ideal conditions, and I can easily use it in the dark if I have to.

I would be interested to hear the opinions of others who use the PW and for whom the light is not centrally important.

Julius Caesar · 11-02-2012, 02:41 AM

I also love the PW dictionary. Must faster than Kindle non touch since you can just tap the word and you would get the definition instantaneously.

aceflor · 11-02-2012, 02:48 AM

I cannot agree more to your post.

By the way, if you are willing to Jailbreak your Kindle PW, the Collections Manager hack by ixtab works like a charm with Calibre's plugin by NiLuJe, and makes the whole collection option on the kindle super user friendly.

I use my PW by night too, and I have not had problems with the screen either, but that is me and what my eye takes in I guess. For 129 €, the PW is an excellent value.

Julius Caesar · 11-02-2012, 02:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aceflor

if you are willing to Jailbreak your Kindle PW, the Collections Manager hack by ixtab works like a charm with Calibre's plugin by NiLuJe, and makes the whole collection option on the kindle super user friendly.

If you jailbreak a Kindle, can you still install the official software update from Amazon?

aceflor · 11-02-2012, 02:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Julius Caesar

If you jailbreak a Kindle, can you still install the official software update from Amazon?

you can, but it often takes the JB away and "the dudes"

have to work on a new JB, but sometimes it stays jailbroken just fine.

If you want to try the Collections Manager it is the only way...

Julius Caesar · 11-02-2012, 03:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aceflor

if you are willing to Jailbreak your Kindle PW, the Collections Manager hack by ixtab works like a charm with Calibre's plugin by NiLuJe, and makes the whole collection option on the kindle super user friendly.

With the JB, can you have a collection within a collection, similar to a directory tree hierarchy with a PC?

aceflor · 11-02-2012, 03:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Julius Caesar

With the JB, can you have a collection within a collection, similar to a directory tree hierarchy with a PC?

The JB is just the hack to "open" your Kindle. After that, you have to install the "collections manager" hack. And then yes, collections in collections work.

Here the link to the thread :
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=186305
(sorry, right now the "insert link" button is not working for me), and have a look at the last posts they are talking exactly about sub-collections into collections.

veezh · 11-02-2012, 05:22 AM

@induna: Like Aceflor, I completely agree. After reading about all the problems other users were having with their PWs, I thought I'd made a mistake pre-ordering one.

I must have got lucky, since the screen looks great (despite very minor shadowing caused by the light just beneath the text in certain lighting conditions, but in most cases, there's no unevenness -- let alone coloured blotches or specks of light, as others have reported seeing). And the fonts are very crisp and dark (much more so than on my Touch, which looks washed out in comparison).

I agree that if you read in more than one language, the Kindle is by far the best option out there for dictionary support. Plus the look-up feature on the PW is even faster, I find, than it was on the Touch.

soulfuldog · 11-02-2012, 07:03 AM

Thanks for that review induna, it's nice to get a different perspective.

I'm especially interested in what you've said about the capacitive touch screen being a lot better than the IR touch. I've been wondering if it might be that which is causing the QC issues with the screen (compared to the Kobo which is still using IR touch and isn't having the same kind of issues), but the plus side is that it's better tech. You are the first person I've seen who has been so specific about this actually being the case.

aceflor · 11-02-2012, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by l_macd

Thanks for that review induna, it's nice to get a different perspective.

I'm especially interested in what you've said about the capacitive touch screen being a lot better than the IR touch. I've been wondering if it might be that which is causing the QC issues with the screen (compared to the Kobo which is still using IR touch and isn't having the same kind of issues), but the plus side is that it's better tech. You are the first person I've seen who has been so specific about this actually being the case.

I have been wondering about this the whole time too. It is very responsive, usable in a ziploc (a great plus for us, we spend a lot of our free time at the beach, even in winter), and the top layer does not influence the contrast at all. But maybe it is this capacitive layer that does not work well with the leds.. ?

SquiddOhio · 11-02-2012, 10:22 AM

Let me add my reaction, since there have been many posts containing negative comments about the PW, especially the lighting. I have had a Kindle keyboard, then a Touch, and now a PW. I find the PW superior in every way and think it is the best Kindle ever by far. The touch screen is far more sensitive than on the Touch, the bezel is not raised so far above the screen, the menus reacts faster and the lighting is a spectacular advance.
Highly recommended.

NiLuJe · 11-02-2012, 11:02 AM

(Just wanted to point out that meme is actually the author of the Calibre plugin, I just tweaked it a wee bit to make it play nice with ixtab's Kindlet

).

induna · 11-03-2012, 12:01 AM

I'm happy that this thread has struck a chord with other people.

I was out tonight at the local bar (it's Friday after all) and the PW worked really well under the less-than-ideal lighting conditions. Yes, I do see some chromatic aberrations when reading in the dark, but with even minimal ambient lighting the PW is a great reader.

sirmaru · 11-03-2012, 09:15 AM

One feature I like about the PW is that it can handle TWO dictionaries. Mine now uses The New Oxford American Dictionary as the primary definition tool and the Bible Encyclopedia as the secondary definition tool if the word is not found in the first.

Thus, when I read a Bible and come accross a word special to that genre, I can get a full definition from the Bible Encyclopedia.
To do that just select the Bible Encyclopedia as THE dictionary and the TWO dictionaries will be used.

You could do that by selecting a Spanish Dictionary as THE dictionary as well.

No other eReader can do that so far as I know.

xendula · 11-14-2012, 05:23 PM

Induna, what do you mean, the PW comes with the RAE dictionaries? I only see the Oxford on mine. Am I doing something wrong, or do they need to be purchased separately?

11-01-2012, 11:07 PM	#1
induna Addict Posts: 230 Karma: 1500000 Join Date: May 2007 Location: San Vito de Coto Brus, Costa Rica Device: Sony PRS-500, 505, 600, 350, T1 Amazon Kindle PW1, PW2, Voyage	PW: Another Perspective My reasons for buying and using the PW have nothing at all to do with the light. I very rarely have a need to read in the dark, and prefer to use a reasonable amount of ambient light whenever possible. The built-in light does help when the ambient light is less than ideal since it brightens up the shadows and makes the darker parts of the screen easier to read, but it isn't really necessary. So, this is a brief review of the PW that pretty much ignores the light. I imagine that there are others like me who have PWs but for whom the light itself is not critical. I have been using Sony readers exclusively since before there was a Kindle (since the PRS-500 was released), and have owned and used regularly a sample of every generation of Sony Reader since. I now read exclusively on an e-reader and do so daily. I had never before been interested in Amazon's products. The Sonys were always pushing the technology more aggressively and have a more open format -- epub. However, my needs changed. I am now seriously working to achieve a high functional level in Spanish, and find translating dictionaries to be more distracting than beneficial. The Sony products only have translating dictionaries for languages other than English, and third-party dictionaries cannot be added. Once I discovered that the PW comes with a truly excellent Spanish dictionary (the two-volume, second edition of the Real Academia Diccionario de la Lengua Española), it became a no-brainer for me. The Kobos also come with a Spanish dictionary, but it is of lower quality. And, since Amazon has by far the best selection of Spanish language ebooks anyway, the PW really was the ideal choice for me. In daily use I find the PW to be superior to the T1. Without the light, the PW screen has contrast at least equal to the T1, and the font rendering is superior. The capacitive touch screen is a decided improvement over the IR technology. It is more responsive, has fewer failed page turns, is faster, and has higher resolution (I find it much easier to accurately select a word with the PW than with the T1 when using small fonts.) The PW's UI is fine. I wish it were easier to turn the wireless on and off, but that's not a big deal. Since I don't carry lots of books on my reader (why would I need to?), collection management also isn't an issue. The Amazon case works really well. It looks like I will easily get two weeks out of a charge. So, all-in-all, I'm quite happy with the PW. It does everything I need it to do efficiently and well. The light does help when reading in less than ideal conditions, and I can easily use it in the dark if I have to. I would be interested to hear the opinions of others who use the PW and for whom the light is not centrally important.

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11-02-2012, 02:41 AM	#2
Julius Caesar Addict Posts: 341 Karma: 1244808 Join Date: Oct 2012 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	I also love the PW dictionary. Must faster than Kindle non touch since you can just tap the word and you would get the definition instantaneously.

11-02-2012, 02:48 AM	#3
aceflor Wizard Posts: 3,470 Karma: 48036360 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: where the sun lives, or so they say Device: Pocketbook Era, Pocketbook Inkpad 4, Kobo Libra 2, Kindle Scribe	I cannot agree more to your post. By the way, if you are willing to Jailbreak your Kindle PW, the Collections Manager hack by ixtab works like a charm with Calibre's plugin by NiLuJe, and makes the whole collection option on the kindle super user friendly. I use my PW by night too, and I have not had problems with the screen either, but that is me and what my eye takes in I guess. For 129 €, the PW is an excellent value.

11-02-2012, 05:22 AM	#8
veezh plus ça change Posts: 101 Karma: 32134 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: France Device: Kindle PW2, Voyage	@induna: Like Aceflor, I completely agree. After reading about all the problems other users were having with their PWs, I thought I'd made a mistake pre-ordering one. I must have got lucky, since the screen looks great (despite very minor shadowing caused by the light just beneath the text in certain lighting conditions, but in most cases, there's no unevenness -- let alone coloured blotches or specks of light, as others have reported seeing). And the fonts are very crisp and dark (much more so than on my Touch, which looks washed out in comparison). I agree that if you read in more than one language, the Kindle is by far the best option out there for dictionary support. Plus the look-up feature on the PW is even faster, I find, than it was on the Touch.

11-02-2012, 07:03 AM	#9
soulfuldog I ♥ Calibre Posts: 2,073 Karma: 5678911 Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis, Voyage, Sony PRS-350, Hudl2	Thanks for that review induna, it's nice to get a different perspective. I'm especially interested in what you've said about the capacitive touch screen being a lot better than the IR touch. I've been wondering if it might be that which is causing the QC issues with the screen (compared to the Kobo which is still using IR touch and isn't having the same kind of issues), but the plus side is that it's better tech. You are the first person I've seen who has been so specific about this actually being the case.

11-02-2012, 10:22 AM	#11
SquiddOhio Connoisseur Posts: 61 Karma: 151030 Join Date: May 2012 Device: Kindle Touch	Let me add my reaction, since there have been many posts containing negative comments about the PW, especially the lighting. I have had a Kindle keyboard, then a Touch, and now a PW. I find the PW superior in every way and think it is the best Kindle ever by far. The touch screen is far more sensitive than on the Touch, the bezel is not raised so far above the screen, the menus reacts faster and the lighting is a spectacular advance. Highly recommended.

11-02-2012, 11:02 AM	#12
NiLuJe BLAM! Posts: 13,478 Karma: 26012494 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Paris, France Device: Kindle 2i, 3g, 4, 5w, PW, PW2, PW5; Kobo H2O, Forma, Elipsa, Sage, C2E	(Just wanted to point out that meme is actually the author of the Calibre plugin, I just tweaked it a wee bit to make it play nice with ixtab's Kindlet ).

11-03-2012, 12:01 AM	#13
induna Addict Posts: 230 Karma: 1500000 Join Date: May 2007 Location: San Vito de Coto Brus, Costa Rica Device: Sony PRS-500, 505, 600, 350, T1 Amazon Kindle PW1, PW2, Voyage	I'm happy that this thread has struck a chord with other people. I was out tonight at the local bar (it's Friday after all) and the PW worked really well under the less-than-ideal lighting conditions. Yes, I do see some chromatic aberrations when reading in the dark, but with even minimal ambient lighting the PW is a great reader.

11-03-2012, 09:15 AM	#14
sirmaru Wizard Posts: 2,426 Karma: 6561538 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: Kindle PW 2013, HDX 2013, Galaxy S5 2014	One feature I like about the PW is that it can handle TWO dictionaries. Mine now uses The New Oxford American Dictionary as the primary definition tool and the Bible Encyclopedia as the secondary definition tool if the word is not found in the first. Thus, when I read a Bible and come accross a word special to that genre, I can get a full definition from the Bible Encyclopedia. To do that just select the Bible Encyclopedia as THE dictionary and the TWO dictionaries will be used. You could do that by selecting a Spanish Dictionary as THE dictionary as well. No other eReader can do that so far as I know.

11-14-2012, 05:23 PM	#15
xendula eBookworm Posts: 2,300 Karma: 4525746 Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: East Coast brrrrr Device: Kindle 4B/K ~ Nexus 7 ~ Kindle Paperwhite 1&2 ~ iPad Air	Induna, what do you mean, the PW comes with the RAE dictionaries? I only see the Oxford on mine. Am I doing something wrong, or do they need to be purchased separately?

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