Has the quality of Paperwhites improved?

[new]

Originally Posted by Lyn2012

My PW arrived from Amazon a couple of days ago. Here is a photo taken with the PW light on fully, shot in artificial light, first photo with no camera flash and second with flash (taken at an angle to avoid seeing flash reflection on the screen). I don't know if it's a good PW or not, but I'm happy with it as I never use the light above setting 3 in bright light and in dim lighting, I use setting 1 or maybe 2.

What about in a dark room? First I thought that was your last sentence, now I see it is dim lighting. I use 5 in dark.

What about the dark setting for you? I was wondering if the light is different on each unit, because someone said they used 14 or something way up there in the dark.

[jmilica]

Originally Posted by Lyn2012

My PW arrived from Amazon a couple of days ago. Here is a photo taken with the PW light on fully, shot in artificial light, first photo with no camera flash and second with flash (taken at an angle to avoid seeing flash reflection on the screen). I don't know if it's a good PW or not, but I'm happy with it as I never use the light above setting 3 in bright light and in dim lighting, I use setting 1 or maybe 2.

Wow, Lyn, I think your PW looks just great. I really hope mine will look that great too
Mine has arrived on 7 December (earlier than 23 December, which was initial date set by Amazon), and I am waiting now for a friend to bring it over to India (possible only end of January...). I can only hope it will be like yours

[grechzoo]

Originally Posted by xendula

Good thing you like it. I will refrain from telling you what I see on your screen
I apparently have very good color vision.

im not lying when i say, (as i am looking at my device RIGHT NOW with full light on,) that the slight greenish hue in the centre is VERY MUCH accentuated in that photo.

but yeah, i love it. i have not had any trouble whatsoever reading. and my main reason for buying it was because i hated the light accessories with the old kindle. i cannot overestimate just how much it is worth the money to be able to read in ANY light condition.

maybe its not perfect, but i cant imagine getting a significant improvement from anywhere else. comparing mine to Lyns it is very similar, remember photos can never be accurate, the camera looks to bring out colours naturally.

[Lyn2012]

Originally Posted by new

What about in a dark room? First I thought that was your last sentence, now I see it is dim lighting. I use 5 in dark.

What about the dark setting for you? I was wondering if the light is different on each unit, because someone said they used 14 or something way up there in the dark.

When I tried to read in the dark, I found that whatever setting the PW light was on, so low that the background looked grey or high resembling an lcd screen, I still found my eyes aching and gritty after a while. For me, it seems that it is a lit screen with no ambient light that causes the problem, irrespective of whether the screen is front or back lit. I think we are all different and know that other people don't find this a problem at all.

I am happy with the PW as it allows me to read with a fairly low level of ambient lighting which I couldn't do, (without straining my eyes), using either my Kobo Touch or Sony PRS-650. I tried the Kobo Glo but the light couldn't be turned down low enough, (can turn off but not down), but the PW with light on 1 or 2 is perfect.

[new]

Originally Posted by Lyn2012

When I tried to read in the dark, I found that whatever setting the PW light was on, so low that the background looked grey or high resembling an lcd screen, I still found my eyes aching and gritty after a while. For me, it seems that it is a lit screen with no ambient light that causes the problem, irrespective of whether the screen is front or back lit. I think we are all different and know that other people don't find this a problem at all.

I am happy with the PW as it allows me to read with a fairly low level of ambient lighting which I couldn't do, (without straining my eyes), using either my Kobo Touch or Sony PRS-650. I tried the Kobo Glo but the light couldn't be turned down low enough, (can turn off but not down), but the PW with light on 1 or 2 is perfect.

I read this twice, before finishing my coffee, so don't quite understand what you are saying.

So you use the PW only in a lighted room? Sometimes I see grey shadowing if I hold the PW at arms length too. If I move it up closer it is perfect. Unfortunately my eyes are not so good. So I hold it at arms length, therefore I have to use a higher light setting. I read in a dark room. That is why I bought the PW. Reading on LCD screen causes me no problems like the shadowing. So my views are different from yours I guess.

[JoHunt]

Originally Posted by grechzoo

but yeah, i love it.

This is the only thing that counts and it doesn't matter in the least what others may think. Enjoy your new PW

[Penforhire]

Anecdotal -- I just got a PW from my local BestBuy today and it seems fine.

They had a stack of maybe 20 that just came in (piled on Computer section help desk, not shelved yet). I don't see any color splotches. I can certainly see the light-and-dark bands at the bottom but as a long-time user of a book light-on-a-stalk (Sony's cover-lights) this rocks compared to the glare and uneven coverage of that.

[DuckieTigger]

Just got my two Paperwhites today. Made a picture of them both in dark room with light at 24 each. There is a little difference in the blackness of the text - the one on the left looks a bit darker. Unless you see them side by side it is hardly noticeable. After taking the picture I noticed 2 cat hair on the left, and the right one is at an angle. That is why I think the text goes a bit faded to the bottom right corner. Happy with the even lighting on both I will not take my chances to exchange the one that is a bit more grey and possibly get one with color hues. Maybe I got lucky with them, but here they are (Warning: 460k file size):

[sparklemotion]

Congrats, I'm glad you're happy with them, Duckie. The font always seems to look slightly darker with the Helvetica font compared to the Palatino. That could be the difference in your case?

[fauxpas]

They do look pretty good, especially considering that the light is at 24 in a dark room!

The difference really might be due to the font choice. For an actual comparison you should probably use the same page of one book with the exact same settings.

I though it could be interesting to take a picture of a Paperwhite, then remove all saturation and loop it in a gif, so that's what I did:
http://makeagif.com/i/jlpACa

The quality does suffer a bit due to resizing and the compression, but I think it's still an interesting comparison.

Also, regarding the original topic here, I should receive my replacement PW tomorrow or the day after that and I'll keep you updated. I've heard reports of other German customers actually getting older models than the ones they purchased (in terms of serial numbers and firm ware), so that probably wouldn't help much in establishing whether they've gotten better But there seem to be pretty considerable differences in the color temperatures of different units.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by fauxpas

But there seem to be pretty considerable differences in the color temperatures of different units.

There definitely is. I noticed it on all the ones I have had. Same goes for the brightness of the light too. They always varied.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by fauxpas

They do look pretty good, especially considering that the light is at 24 in a dark room!

The difference really might be due to the font choice. For an actual comparison you should probably use the same page of one book with the exact same settings.

Thank you. And no it is not the font. Even when they are using same font and size, one is darker text than the other. But that is, imho, just difference from one eink to next. And really you can't tell unless they are side by side.

[new]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Thank you. And no it is not the font. Even when they are using same font and size, one is darker text than the other. But that is, imho, just difference from one eink to next. And really you can't tell unless they are side by side.

So did you read with it yet? I hope you love yours too. I really do love the ease of reading in a dark room.

[mngharry]

Just received my 4th replacement. It's not really better than the best of the three I've had before. The screen has a pinkish hue, and the text less sharp than some screens I have seen.

The one I got as a new order last week (as a gift to someone else, sadly for me), however, has a simply amazing screen. I was hoping Amazon had improved the quality on the later Kindles and that a replacement would have improved too.

I'm considering returning my original Kindle for good and then try ordering a brand new one, instead of getting replacements, in case they are recycling old returned Kindles for returns.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Thank you. And no it is not the font. Even when they are using same font and size, one is darker text than the other. But that is, imho, just difference from one eink to next. And really you can't tell unless they are side by side.

The light levels are not consistent from one device to the next. A better comparison might be to turn them all the way down and compare them with some external lighting to see if one is 'darker'.

What I find is that at a certain point, turning the light up makes text lighter rather than increasing contrast (for example on home screen compare the black bar at the top with the black bezel as you turn the light up), so if one has slightly brighter light at '24' that could account for some difference.

I typically never turn it up more than about half way.