PRS-600 Screen Washed Out

[gpstrucker]

I haven't seen this issue on either my 300 or 600. I wonder if it may not be due to the sunlight heating the screen?

[Bailey]

Originally Posted by lachbus

Nothing to worry about? Maybe not 'worried' exactly, but not being able to use the Reader in intense sunlight would be a big disappointment. I mean, the use in natural light is one of their main claimed benefits!
To clarify - the letters are not fading with time, they are looking like this right after the page turn.
Someone explained that the effect is supposedly happening at the time of the page turn, not during the static display, and suggested keeping the reader shaded during the page turn. If that was true it's still disappointing, because I don't really want to have to move the Reader into the shade each time I flip the page!
I hope that mine is just one of the 'bad apples' and it can either be adjusted, or exchanged for a better specimen.

I live in Florida. My husband bought me the PRS600 for Christmas and he had my name ingraved on it. I sent my reader back to Sony for repair after text fading problems, they could not repair it. But didn't let me know. After 3 weeks I called and they sent me a new one, which could not be ingraved. And the text problem is just as bad on this one, and yes it is a problem, most of l the text is unreadable. I don't agree with the sun theary I read sometimes in my car at lunch time. No sun at all In there but the text still fades out.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Levelpart

The text fading effect under intense sunlight is due to the nature of e-ink so there's nothing you have to worry about.

I wouldn't say that. There have been reports of some that fade and others that do not. Mine does not, that implies there is a possible problem with those that do.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by lachbus

Sure, I understand. I found it somewhat annoying that the Sony Support person claimed that this is news, but that's the fault of whoever doesn't enter this into their database of known issues.

No, this is the typical reaction of a huge corporation covering it's butt!

Just do a google on eInk fading and see what you find.

[Mike_73]

My 505 didn't have that problem either. I used it last summer down at the river. For my 600 I cannot say that yet. We haven't had a warm day for about 4 months now, but I'm eager to find out if my unit has problems, too, as soon as the weather gets better.

[ziegl027]

Originally Posted by gpstrucker

I haven't seen this issue on either my 300 or 600. I wonder if it may not be due to the sunlight heating the screen?

Nope, I had this problem on a recent trip to Phoenix. It was quite cool (low 60's), but bright. If I flipped the reader so that the screen was not in direct light or covered it momentarily with the slipcase as the screen refreshed, the text was perfect. Definitely a phenomenon of the light, not temperature.

[emonti8384]

I went walking today and had my reader with me, it was about 4pm and the screen was fine in the sunlight. The times where it as faded it was mid-day, prob between 10am and 1pm. In the summer I like to go fishing a lot and I always bring my reader with me. I hope this isn't a huge problem!

[Xochipilli2012]

Hey Gang,

I'm actually a little relieved that others are having this "problem" and that it might be a limitation in terms of how E-Ink is implemented on some or many Sony Readers.

For those of you having this problem--please clarify whether it's text that is rendered, or simply viewed in bright sunlight, because so far no one seems to have made this distinction (although I scanned through the previous posts rather quickly and may have missed something).

I'm not suggesting there isn't a "problem" here, but I think it would be helpful to those of us experiencing it to be clear about what it is we are describing.

I find that PRS-600 text rendered in direct, bright sunlight does indeed get "washed out." It looks horrible, frankly. Unacceptable, even.

However, if the same page is re-rendered in shade and then displayed in the same bright sunshine, it looks great. The best it ever looks on the device, in fact.

So, I've gotten into the habit of either tilting the screen away from the sun while turning pages, or flipping the cover (standard Sony version) so that no direct sunlight hits the screen while rendering. While somewhat inconvenient, especially if you like to hold the reader and turn pages in one hand, it doesn't add any time to the process of reading (for me at least). (You can illustrate the effect of this by turning a page in bright sunlight with part of the screen covered. There will be a dramatic difference between the lit and shaded parts of the page once it is rendered.)

If it turns out that this is not a wide-spread problem, I might consider replacing my reader. But so far it sounds like it's not a "known problem" at Sony, and that one would risk having the same issue occur with a replacement.

In the meantime, I will use my "work-around" and follow this and related threads for more details.

Thanks to everyone for their reports! I really appreciate the great info I get on this forum.

Namaste.

[emonti8384]

It is when I turn the page (when it's really bright out) that the next screen looks bad. I've done it where only the top half was in direct sunlight and when I turn the page the bottom looks fine but the top is washed out! I do the same thing, I turn my reader into the shade when I turn the pages. Does anyone know the cause of this? Is it a faulty reader or is this the norm? Is there anything we can do to keep it from happening?

[ziegl027]

Originally Posted by Xochipilli2012

For those of you having this problem--please clarify whether it's text that is rendered, or simply viewed in bright sunlight, because so far no one seems to have made this distinction (although I scanned through the previous posts rather quickly and may have missed something).

.

For me, it is text that is rendered while the screen is in direct sunlight. If I cover half the screen with something (like the slipcase) and turn the page, the covered half is gorgeous. The uncovered half looks like it was printed by something low on toner.

[Xochipilli2012]

I took the attached photo today after turning a page in direct sunlight while my thumb and part of my hand were covering the upper left corner of the screen. It gives you a pretty good idea of what the "washed out" text looks like when compared to normally rendered text.

It appears this effect is more noticeable on the PRS-600. I'd love to hear if any "Daily Edition" owners are experiencing the same issue with faded text when rendered in direct sunlight. Maybe it's a touch-screen thing?

[Mike_73]

Wow, that's really bad!
I haven't encountered that on my reader yet.

[emonti8384]

Yeah I don't think it's been that bad for me! It's still pretty bad though. I wonder what causes it, so far it seems there aren't any definite answers, only speculation

[jessie102]

very cool effect! though I imagine it's more an annoyance in practical usage.

Look like the suns photon discharge is electrically exciting the small "ink" pellets, effectively reversing the electric charge such that the affected pellets that are supposed to be floating up(thus appear black to you) now submerge (thus invisible to you) and vis-versa

neat!

[Xochipilli2012]

Just for kicks I thought I would try reporting the problem to Sony through their email submission system. I was very explicit that the problem occurs with rendering (page turns) performed with direct, bright sunlight hitting the screen. Text rendered in shade remains clear and easy to read when viewed in bright sunlight, and casting a shadow on the screen during rendering demonstrates the difference between normal text and washed-out/faint text.

Almost predictably, this was the response I got:

Thank you for contacting Sony Support.

I'm sorry that the Reader screen is not viewable in direct sunlight. In order to resolve the issue, I suggest that you perform the soft reset on the Reader. On that back or bottom of the reader (depending your on model), using the tip of the stylus or similar object, press the RESET button.

If the issue still persists, please perform the hard reset on the Reader. I have provided a link with the information to perform the hard reset on the Reader:

http://www.kb.sony.com/selfservice/d...nalId=C1006375

NOTE: A hard reset will erase all transferred content on the Reader.

If this information does not resolve your issue, please contact us at (866) 962-7669.

Thank you for being a valued Sony Customer.

The Sony Email Response Team
C1E8
Noah

Now, I am pretty sure doing a soft or hard reset will have Zero effect on this problem, so I'm reluctant to mess with it. (Plus, the sun is not shining here today, so there's no way to test afterwards--I've tried the brightest artificial lights I have and none are bright enough to replicate the effect.)

Any thoughts on whether this is worth a try? Perhaps someone who only has a few titles they would need to reload, and who is also experiencing this problem, might give it (hard reset) a try and let us know if it made any difference.

It feels more like the typical Tech Support answer based on key words with no one actually taking the time to read the message.

Thanks!