Quote:
Originally Posted by clarknova
I don't think this is correct. At least it wasn't for 2.0.1, it could be different for 2.0.3, but ted-san said earlier that it wasn't. Anyway, if you take a screenshot of a page of text and then look at it in a picture editor, you can see that both the K1 and K2 render all fonts in 2-bit greyscale. That's black, white, and two shades of grey (#555 & #AAA) for the anti-aliasing.
It is possible that because of the K2's increased palette that those two shades of grey render darker/lighter than on the K1 and this is what some people are perceiving as low contrast. I personally could never see a difference.
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There are multiple issues at play.
First, as you note, the K2 and K1 use the same fonts and same gray levels *under the hood*. This last part is important. Both are rendering a four gray level font. But, from closeups of both the K1 and K2, it appears that the K2 is rendering the darkest gray levels both at, or near black. The K2 renders the second gray level as a moderate gray. The K2 is actually a more "accurate" display but it results in lower contrast characters.
Second, there's a variation in the screens among K2's. Some have a hard time getting the black pigment to the surface, others are excellent. I have two K2's - one's pretty good, one is near perfect. I believe that this is due to a difference in calibration of the electrostatic charge that moves the E-Ink particles around. Weaker charge means the force on the E-Ink is less. If you have ghosting when you see the white background of a screensaver, this is indicative of a "weak" screen.
The combination of 1 and 2, in some circumstances, leads to lower contrast characters. With excellent screens, it does in fact make the characters look finer/sharper. With others, the characters start fading into the white background.
There's a third, very important factor - eyesight. The demographics of Kindle users shows an aging population. I'm 45 and generally have good eyesight, but even with my 20:20 vision, as I tire, my vision get blurrier. This has the effect of further reducing the contrast of the characters, making it harder to read, especially in lower light situations (i.e. a typical living room in the evening).