Kindle 4 screen is THE SAME as K3.

[ThomasC]

Originally Posted by Serpentine

I noticed that the Sony PRS T1 and Cybook Odyssey list "E-Ink pearl v220". What exactly are these different 'versions', I cant seem to find reference to any other version numbers or datasheets which might refer to other versions.

Just curious

I'm not sure what the differences are but looking at both these units they seem to have a lot whiter background than my K4nt, and better than I've seen on the K-touch website pictures as well. Only based on website pictures so it may not be real.

Cheers,
Tom

[vapouk2]

Got my K4 package yesterday. Actually 3 of them. I was planning to get one for myself and two others as gifts.
The screen is definitelly darker than my year old K3 making the contrast bad and as some of you already said it makes reading quite difficult in worse lighting conditions. This applies to all 3 pieces. Besides that I have probably received devices from the batch which is not in Amazon system yet so I was unable to register it and spent an hour talking to four!!! different CS people. As I am living outside of US you can imagine that the call was quite expensive as well. Just call me unlucky Tomorrow I am going to compare mine with one of my colleague's who bought it several weeks ago and then I will decide what to do with them. Right now I feel like just returning them. What a shame, such a nice looking device.

[Sischa]

First problem is that people comparing their 1+ year old kindle with a new one. I got a K3 replacement in 09/2011 and i have to say i can really not see any difference between the two screen. I am running the new firmware on my K4 and its really the same quality then the K3 screen.

I never spent much time with my K3 in the sun since sept. so that was what i was expecting.

I also never heard about any new development on the e-ink screen market or am i missing something? So its still the same pearl e-ink technology since the K3 came out, isn't it? Sounds more like a mixture of people comparing old eink devices with brand new and people loving their new device

[shinew]

I've just measured my Kindle Touch, the result is identical to 2 other K4 I've tested(~dE0.5 with CIE2000 standard, about 1% difference for both bright/dark states), all 3 are slightly better in the dark state than the K3(slightly darker). So either I just get lucky every time I buy a K4 or most of the reports of the "worse" screen is caused by some other factors.

For those who have not check out my previous mockup images, take a look at my last 2 posts on page 5, and make sure that it's not the bazel that is affecting your judgement on the contrast of the screen. Visual perceptions are very easily fooled!

If you're 100% convinced that it's the screen and not any of the other factors, most likely you won't be getting a better screen by exchanging it, because apparently all the K4s I have test(three of them so far) all have very good unit to unit consistency(1% brightness difference), and I bought them about half a month apart from each other. I would suggest those who have "screen issues" try out one of those dark kindle skins or a dark case that wraps around the kindle to see if that fixes it.

It's also worth pointing out that few who have the instruments to objectively measure their(as far as i know, Blog Kindle & me) K3 & K4 screens share the same conclusion - K4 screens are not inferior to the K3s, they have the same screens. Either that or we're just consistently getting "lucky".

p.s. if the screen bothers you alot and you happen to be in NYC area, I'll be happy to meet up with you at a coffee shop and give you a quick readout from my spectro to get to the bottom of your issue

[seajewel]

Originally Posted by Sischa

First problem is that people comparing their 1+ year old kindle with a new one. I got a K3 replacement in 09/2011 and i have to say i can really not see any difference between the two screen. I am running the new firmware on my K4 and its really the same quality then the K3 screen.

I never spent much time with my K3 in the sun since sept. so that was what i was expecting.

I also never heard about any new development on the e-ink screen market or am i missing something? So its still the same pearl e-ink technology since the K3 came out, isn't it? Sounds more like a mixture of people comparing old eink devices with brand new and people loving their new device

You are missing something- people are saying their new device screens are worse than their old device's.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by vapouk2

Got my K4 package yesterday. Actually 3 of them. I was planning to get one for myself and two others as gifts.
The screen is definitelly darker than my year old K3 making the contrast bad and as some of you already said it makes reading quite difficult in worse lighting conditions. This applies to all 3 pieces. Besides that I have probably received devices from the batch which is not in Amazon system yet so I was unable to register it and spent an hour talking to four!!! different CS people. As I am living outside of US you can imagine that the call was quite expensive as well. Just call me unlucky Tomorrow I am going to compare mine with one of my colleague's who bought it several weeks ago and then I will decide what to do with them. Right now I feel like just returning them. What a shame, such a nice looking device.

I'm sorry. If you not happy with it I would return it. It looks like it's not a bad batch going around but the manufacturer of the screen is different then most of the K3s which have a more creme color background. The K4 & KT have a grey background which make it poor to read in not bright light. It looks fine in sunlight but if you plan to read normal light it just looks dull and not very Pearl.

I have found in my search that some of newer K3 with special offers also suffer with these screen contrast issues. So my theory is a change in manufacturer. They were probably cheaper then first one who made the breathtaking K3s alot of us own.

I have a Black skin on the way but I seriously don't see this fixing it, It may help some I hope.

[Clawdia]

Don't know if anyone will know this, but thought I'd ask. My husband inherited my daughter's K1 when she got her K3 this past summer. I'd like to get him a newer model - but suddenly the $99 K3s don't seem to be available any longer, which would have been my first choice to get for him.

Does anyone have any idea how the K4 screens, on the $79 model, would compare to the old K1 screen? If it would look better in comparison to that, he'd probably be happy with it. If it's worse than the K1, I'm not even going to try it.

I wish I'd gone ahead and got him the K3 last week. Dumb me. Day late - if not a dollar short - most of the time. The $139 models are still available, but really hadn't planned on spending that much - and the selfish part of me says if I had planned on buying a model with 3G, I'd have bought it for myself.

Now, I'm not sure what to do - I just figure I can't plan on that old K1 lasting forever, and he thinks it's heavy, too.

[shinew]

Clawdia, K3/K4 screen are much better than the K1 & K2

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Clawdia

Don't know if anyone will know this, but thought I'd ask. My husband inherited my daughter's K1 when she got her K3 this past summer. I'd like to get him a newer model - but suddenly the $99 K3s don't seem to be available any longer, which would have been my first choice to get for him.

Does anyone have any idea how the K4 screens, on the $79 model, would compare to the old K1 screen? If it would look better in comparison to that, he'd probably be happy with it. If it's worse than the K1, I'm not even going to try it.

I wish I'd gone ahead and got him the K3 last week. Dumb me. Day late - if not a dollar short - most of the time. The $139 models are still available, but really hadn't planned on spending that much - and the selfish part of me says if I had planned on buying a model with 3G, I'd have bought it for myself.

Now, I'm not sure what to do - I just figure I can't plan on that old K1 lasting forever, and he thinks it's heavy, too.

Best Buy is going to have K3+3G I think for $90 starting the 20th.

[shinew]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I'm sorry. If you not happy with it I would return it. It looks like it's not a bad batch going around but the manufacturer of the screen is different then most of the K3s which have a more creme color background. The K4 & KT have a gray background which make it poor to read in not bright light. It looks fine in sunlight but if you plan to read normal light it just looks dull and not very Pearl...

You really cannot get any more "pearl" or "creme" than neutral gray in terms of color balance, since there is no such color as "pearl color". I assume you just meant whiter background, which indicates significant brighter background to be noticeable. Again, highly unlikely and there is no reliable evidence for that besides people doing subjective eyeballing in different color context as proof. I for instance do not find either K3 or K4 hard to read under normal reading light at night, and I never read outside.

Both the K3 & K4 white are equality close to the neutral axis), and they're very close. I can't see how they're going to be absolutely neutral. Below is the 3D view of entire visible spectrum presented in Lab color space. The dots are the gray of K4/K3's white/black, the closer to the middle, the more neutral the color is. Both K3 & K4 have a slightly blueish & greenish tint.


Below is the Black/White of K3, K4 & K4 touch compared:


One thing I agree though is that if you're not happy with the K4 screen, don't expect it to "improve" by exchange it, IMO that's just a waste of time(and customer service). Just return it if it's not up to your standard or be happy with it

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by shinew

You really cannot get any more "pearl" or "creme" than neutral gray in terms of color balance, since there is no such color as "pearl color". I assume you just meant whiter background, which indicates significant brighter background to be noticeable. Again, highly unlikely and there is no reliable evidence for that besides people doing subjective eyeballing in different color context as proof. I for instance do not find either K3 or K4 hard to read under normal reading light at night, and I never read outside.

My K3 has a creme tint it. Let's call it light beige or very light tan. It looks like vanilla Ice cream the ole fashion kind not the white soft serve, Okay?

The K4 is light gray. It always looks gray unless you are in Strong lighting or sunlight. When it's cold it looks greenish. I do not have these issues with my K3 at all.

They have different screens. I know they used the same Pearl but it's different. Could be the finish, could be a different brand of something in the screen they are using I don't know but I do know they do not look the same under any lighting condition.

[madmaxmedia]

Given that she's looking at the 2 units side by side (and not from previous memory), I would tend to believe her account. That doesn't mean they're all like that or whatever, but she took a bunch of different photos in attempt to show a photo that best represented what she is seeing in person.

[ThomasC]

Originally Posted by Blossom

My K3 has a creme tint it. Let's call it light beige or very light tan. It looks like vanilla Ice cream the ole fashion kind not the white soft serve, Okay?

The K4 is light gray. It always looks gray unless you are in Strong lighting or sunlight. When it's cold it looks greenish. I do not have these issues with my K3 at all.

They have different screens. I know they used the same Pearl but it's different. Could be the finish, could be a different brand of something in the screen they are using I don't know but I do know they do not look the same under any lighting condition.

I 100% agree with Blossom. My ~14 month old K3 wifi/3g and DXG both have much lighter (creme tint), background screens, and better contrast than my new K4nt.

I'll be getting my second replacement K4nt in a week or so. It does not sound like it's going to be any better. Probably just a waste of time but I'm not sure how else to get the message across to Amazon that their new K4nt screens (and maybe all of them now) suck bigtime imho.

Cheers,
Tom

[thebestjeter]

Originally Posted by Blossom

The K4 is light gray. It always looks gray unless you are in Strong lighting or sunlight. When it's cold it looks greenish. I do not have these issues with my K3 at all.

Have you tried every page refresh using the 4.1 firmware? I'm told it improves the contrast.

[ThomasC]

Originally Posted by thebestjeter

Have you tried every page refresh using the 4.1 firmware? I'm told it improves the contrast.

Yes, I use this and it does help a little, but not much.

Cheers,
Tom