Paperwhite 4 Screen Cleaning Issue

[killdeather]

Last month I bought a new KPW4 and as soon as I received it, I made sure that there was no oleophobic coating on the screen glass by doing some water-dripping tests onto it. After that, whenever I felt the glass became too fingerprint-smudged, I cleaned it with 75% alcoholic cotton slices. Up till now, the total times that I used these cotton slices have added up to 4~5 times or about.

So my point is, considering KPW4's screen is a panel of glass with no oleophobic coating, does alcohol really hurt it? Many people have said it does in some older posts, but I was wondering if that was still the case with KPW4. In my opinion, naked glasses can't be hurt by alcohol, at any rate.

[NiLuJe]

I've (sparingly, mainly because I'm careful to begin with) used rubbing alcohol (well, lab-grade isopropyl alcohol, actually ;p) on eReaders over the years, to no ill effect so far.

(As usual, alcohol on cotton/microfiber cloth, not the screen directly, and gentle wiping motions. The purer the solution, the better. Which means asking your pharmacist nicely over here, because reasons).

[Barbara1955]

How are you 100% Sure its Glass?

IF it is glass then alcohol wont hurt it. Been using 90% alcohol on my Fire 3rd gen & Samsung phone... No problems

[HarryT]

I’d just use a microfibre cleaning cloth. Works very well to remove fingerprints and absolutely won’t damage the screen. Liquid cleaning agents aren’t necessary.

[killdeather]

Originally Posted by Barbara1955

How are you 100% Sure its Glass?

IF it is glass then alcohol wont hurt it. Been using 90% alcohol on my Fire 3rd gen & Samsung phone... No problems

I just did some research and got really confused. Some websites said KPW4's screen was made of glass while some others explicitly made the point that it was made of plastic, not glass.

Then I asked Amazon Customer Service and got the response that KPW4's screen was made of glass without any coating on it, and they also suggested me not to use alcohol (what the heck? Do you imply that alcohol is capable of harming glasses???) but only use dry cloth to clean it.

I don't know which side to believe. But now it seems safer not to use alcohol any more. Guess I'd better get some microfiber cloth.

[stumped]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I’d just use a microfibre cleaning cloth. Works very well to remove fingerprints and absolutely won’t damage the screen. Liquid cleaning agents aren’t necessary.

agree. also the only liquid cleaner I use on anything is apple iKlear ( no idea what is in it but it is the only thing that does not leave streaks on PC monitors, TVs... yet shifts any baby fingerprints

for tablets, e-readers, a quick buff with a microfibre cloth is all it takes

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by killdeather

I just did some research and got really confused. Some websites said KPW4's screen was made of glass while some others explicitly made the point that it's made of plastic, not glass.

There may perhaps be confusion about what the word "screen" refers to.

The screen substrate of the PW4 is glass. The outer screen, however, unlike that of the Voyage or Oasis, is plastic, like the earlier PW models.

[killdeather]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There may perhaps be confusion about what the word "screen" refers to.

The screen substrate of the PW4 is glass. The outer screen, however, unlike that of the Voyage or Oasis, is plastic, like the earlier PW models.

Thanks for clarification. One more thing I'm curious about is, where did you get this info? I looked everywhere but found no answer with such details.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by killdeather

Thanks for clarification. One more thing I'm curious about is, where did you get this info? I looked everywhere but found no answer with such details.

I base it on the facts that:

1. Every Kindle other than the Oasis and Voyage has a polycarbonate outer screen.
2. In the case of those models that do have a glass screen, Amazon explicitly say so in the description and use it as an advertising feature.
3. There's no mention of the screen being glass in the description of the PW4.

I therefore conclude that it is highly probable that the outer screen of the PW4 is polycarbonate.

[NiLuJe]

And the rumors about the PW4 using a Mobius (i.e., plastic) substrate were just that, rumors (probably based on the concurrent release of the Kobo Forma, which does feature a Mobius backplane).

As Harry said, if it were using anything more interesting than usual, you'd have heard about it from Amazon's marketing team .

Case in point: the flush screen. Everyone agrees on that one. Strange, that, eh? .

[HarryT]

Indeed. When someone asks "Does the Kindle have a glass screen?", 99 times out of a hundred it's the screen substrate they're talking about, because they want to know if it's likely to break if they drop their Kindle. That would be probably be what the websites and the customer service agent were referring to.

[BookCat]

I've always cleaned ereader screens with the same disposable wipes sold for cleaning laptop screens.

[killdeather]

Thanks for everyone's reply. Now my problem has been solved and I really appreciate all your generous help.

[Barbara1955]

Harry is Correct.... this IS Plastic. The feel is the same as my Kobo Aura 6" & Clare HD. Does Not feel like my Fire 7 HD 2nd/3rd with the Glass front.

[Josieb1]

I always use a glass cleaning cloth and spray or wipes to clean e-readers