A couple of questions before I pull the trigger on the KWP2

[stutzj]

Occasional visitor to Mobileread here. So Amazon is running a deal for the KPW2 for $99 today and I'm really close to upgrading from my K4. However I have just a couple of concerns and I'd love to hear KPW2 users experiences about a few things. I am sure there are threads about these things so feel free to link me to anything you think might be informative.

1. What's the deal with collections? I hear the recent update is causing some issues. I often shut off wifi to save battery and I do like to have collections on my kindle so I'm concerned that this could be a deal breaker. Is it as bad as people say it is?

2. I do sometimes side load books because I strongly believe in DRM free products. Are people still having issues with being unable to delete side loaded books?

3. Is there still green and red colors in the lighting? That caused me to return the KPW1 and stick with the K4.

Also for points 1 & 2 - are there known solutions if both of these issues still exist?

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by stutzj

1. What's the deal with collections? I hear the recent update is causing some issues. I often shut off wifi to save battery and I do like to have collections on my kindle so I'm concerned that this could be a deal breaker. Is it as bad as people say it is?

It was for me, but most people probably think it is a minor annoyance. (I returned mine).

Originally Posted by stutzj

2. I do sometimes side load books because I strongly believe in DRM free products. Are people still having issues with being unable to delete side loaded books?

You've always been able to delete side loaded books. I think you are thinking of the Nook.

Originally Posted by stutzj

3. Is there still green and red colors in the lighting? That caused me to return the KPW1 and stick with the K4.

Lighting is much better than the 1st edition. The screen and light on mine was darn near perfect.

Originally Posted by stutzj

Also for points 1 & 2 - are there known solutions if both of these issues still exist?

If you want to hack and jailbreak, you can put the original version of the software that the KPW2 came with, and then not have to deal with the crappy collection issues. I kind of wish I had done that. But I've pretty much switched to Kobo.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by stutzj

1. What's the deal with collections? I hear the recent update is causing some issues. I often shut off wifi to save battery and I do like to have collections on my kindle so I'm concerned that this could be a deal breaker. Is it as bad as people say it is?

There is no problem actually having collections on your kindle. There are 3 things with collections that the PW2 does that are annoying:

1) If you have something in a collection that is also in your Amazon kindle library but delete it from the device, it still shows up in your collection UI, but grayed out. Since these are grouped at the end, it isn't a big deal for me and allows me to easily re-download them if I want, but it's a little annoying too.

workaround: don't add anything to a collection if you don't want it on the device. Remove it from your collection before you delete it from the device. Or, learn to love the greyed out stuff.

2) If you add something to a collection that is also in your Amazon kindle library but are not hooked up to wifi, it gives you a little warning that you are not connected to wifi and the option to connect or ignore. Again, this is a little annoying but no big deal unless you're working on shelving a lot of books.

workaround: hook up to wifi before you add something to a collection.

3) If you add something to a collection that is not in your Amazon kindle library (i.e. a sideloaded book), it warns you that you're adding something to the collection that won't sync with the cloud and you have to click OK or something to acknowledge it. Again: no big deal but a little bit annoying.

AFAIK there is no workaround to this. It's just stupid.

2. I do sometimes side load books because I strongly believe in DRM free products. Are people still having issues with being unable to delete side loaded books?

I have not had a problem with this.

3. Is there still green and red colors in the lighting? That caused me to return the KPW1 and stick with the K4.

I have not had a problem with this, but there is a dark spot at the bottom. Not enough of an annoyance to me to return the device since I usually read it in light with the PW light on minimum and it doesn't show up then. I notice it when I read it in the dark and the light is on 8.

[stutzj]

Thanks for the helpful responses. Yeah, the collections issues seem to be a bit annoying but I think I can deal with that. I pulled the trigger and look forward to playing around with it when I get it Thursday.

[jbcohen]

My personal opinion follows: So they knocked off $20 big deal, I am not going to pull any trigger for $20. I need more than that to get me to pull the trigger.

[Anthem]

Originally Posted by stutzj

1. What's the deal with collections? I hear the recent update is causing some issues. I often shut off wifi to save battery and I do like to have collections on my kindle so I'm concerned that this could be a deal breaker. Is it as bad as people say it is?

I haven't had any trouble with collections. Although, trying to modify them offline doesn't really do anything until you sync back up, and I have had the modifications not propogate, which is strange. Hasn't happened much though. Have not had any collections issues on the Android Kindle application whatsoever.

2. I do sometimes side load books because I strongly believe in DRM free products. Are people still having issues with being unable to delete side loaded books?

I have not had any trouble removing my sideloaded Smashwords books or sideloaded books from Calibre.

3. Is there still green and red colors in the lighting? That caused me to return the KPW1 and stick with the K4.

There are no green or red flecks of light in my Paperwhite. This is the second one that I purchased. The first one had a "hole" in a portion of the screen where the light simply shined right through it like a small ice fire crystal of death. The second unit does not have this problem. Now, maybe the green and red flecks is something idiosyncratic and I wouldn't know about it.

Also, congrats on the new Paperwhite. I like mine fairly well, hopefully you get good mileage out of it.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by stutzj

Thanks for the helpful responses. Yeah, the collections issues seem to be a bit annoying but I think I can deal with that. I pulled the trigger and look forward to playing around with it when I get it Thursday.

You may want to try a PW 2012 if its cheaper than the PW 2013. With the latest upgrade to the PW 2012 it is now EXACTLY the same as the PW 2013.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

You may want to try a PW 2012 if its cheaper than the PW 2013. With the latest upgrade to the PW 2012 it is now EXACTLY the same as the PW 2013.

Agreed, I have already updated my husbands PW1. I'll do mine at the weekend.

[stutzj]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

You may want to try a PW 2012 if its cheaper than the PW 2013. With the latest upgrade to the PW 2012 it is now EXACTLY the same as the PW 2013.

Got the 2013 model for $99 - the same price of the refurbished 2012 version. It arrived last night and I am very pleased with it. I had preordered the original 2012 version but ultimately was unsatisfied with the lighting and slow responsiveness to the touch input. The 2013 versions is so much better both those departments. Really liking it so far.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

You may want to try a PW 2012 if its cheaper than the PW 2013. With the latest upgrade to the PW 2012 it is now EXACTLY the same as the PW 2013.

Please don't make misleading statements. It's not exactly the same. Improvements in the PW2 include:

- A screen with a 50% higher contrast ratio.
- A better lighting system with more even illumination.
- A 25% faster CPU.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Please don't make misleading statements. It's not exactly the same. Improvements in the PW2 include:

- A screen with a 50% higher contrast ratio.
- A better lighting system with more even illumination.
- A 25% faster CPU.

I find the PW 2012 has better contrast than the PW 2013 in MY OPINION. Speed differences are also not noticeable by me since I rarely index large books and just turning pages is not affected. Of course we all have different perceptions and eyes. Prior to the upgrade I PERCEIVED the PW 2013 had much better contrast. Now it appears to ME that the PW 2012 has better contrast.

I own both units so I can fairly judge. Prior to the PW 2012 update I'd totally agree with you. However, now they appear to be TWINS to me. The bookmark feature was the main improvement I noticed in the PW 2013 but now the PW 2012 has EXACTLY THE SAME bookmark features.

Collections feature now works EXACTLY the same. Goodreads is on both. Main menu looks EXACTLY THE SAME to me.

Do you own both units so as to do a fair comparison? My wife uses the PW 2012 and I use the PW 2013.

I notice that Josieb1 in a post above concurred with me. I'd be interested to see opinions of those owning both units as to which unit is better and why.

For a new buyer I'd use only price as my deciding factor now. It appears the OP got a better price for the PW 2013 so he made the correct decision.