Paperwhite Second Gen: First Impressions

[mirbg]

Guys, between those two panels, which one you find it better?

[David58117]

Originally Posted by mirbg

Guys, between those two panels, which one you find it better?

Attachment 122759

One on right.

[mirbg]

Why do you think so? The one on left has perfectly uniform backlighting and not so many black pins "like dust" under the screen. The only difference is that the left one has more creamy tint.

[mystika1]

Just a crazy thought...Check your firmware. There is a new firmware that has been released and someone mentioned that they find the screen to be whiter with the new firmware.

Just Saying... :-)

[mirbg]

already checked...not true.

Screen tint is hardware , not software related.
Actually I do realize that there is much less eye strain while using the creamy tinted screen, especially during night reading.

Here are both devices are set at brightness value of "8":

[Image exceeds guidelines for size - MODERATOR]

[Gazella]

In this photo, it seems both units have dust-like black specks. They're very noticeable. I don't know if this is normal.

[Skittels]

Looking at these you wonder if a tinted foil screen protector would be smart. Not blue unfortunately this will make you more awake what you probably do not want. Lol maybe suggestion for next iteration of the kindle multi color LEDs

[mirbg]

Originally Posted by Gazella

In this photo, it seems both units have dust-like black specks. They're very noticeable. I don't know if this is normal.

They don't have anything. This is my camera doing this.

[LucyOne]

I got my Kindle PW2 four days ago and I wanted to add my two cents:

So far, I've been reading on a Pocketbook Touch Lux. Compared to the Kindle it looks quite slow and grey. I can't believe how bright the Kindle is! I put the two screens next to each other with full lights on and they were worlds apart.

However, my PB has an even distribution of light whereas my Kindle has a shadow on the bottom left and a very bright spot on the bottom right. Reading during the day, it doesn't annoy me as much as I first thought it would. That's why I'm keeping it, escpecially after reading comments about dust under the screens or tilted screens. Luckily, I don't have these problems.

I also love the responsiveness of the Kindle, being able to flip through pages with a preview and the footnotes pop-ups.

Still, I'm taking my Pocketbook to bed with me. Simple reason: It shows the time in the status bar. Plus, it shows much more text on a single page, not having such wide margins as the Kindle. That's much more convenient for me when reading in bed.

Another thing which could be better about the Kindle is the font size. The few serif fonts I like are either shown as a bit too small or a bit too big. And what about crashing on PDF files? That's really disappointing for such a high-end device.

But on the whole it's really beautiful and I already love it.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by LucyOne

I got my Kindle PW2 four days ago and I wanted to add my two cents:



So far, I've been reading on a Pocketbook Touch Lux. Compared to the Kindle it looks quite slow and grey. I can't believe how bright the Kindle is! I put the two screens next to each other with full lights on and they were worlds apart.



However, my PB has an even distribution of light whereas my Kindle has a shadow on the bottom left and a very bright spot on the bottom right. Reading during the day, it doesn't annoy me as much as I first thought it would. That's why I'm keeping it, escpecially after reading comments about dust under the screens or tilted screens. Luckily, I don't have these problems.



I also love the responsiveness of the Kindle, being able to flip through pages with a preview and the footnotes pop-ups.



Still, I'm taking my Pocketbook to bed with me. Simple reason: It shows the time in the status bar. Plus, it shows much more text on a single page, not having such wide margins as the Kindle. That's much more convenient for me when reading in bed.



Another thing which could be better about the Kindle is the font size. The few serif fonts I like are either shown as a bit too small or a bit too big. And what about crashing on PDF files? That's really disappointing for such a high-end device.



But on the whole it's really beautiful and I already love it.

To be fair, PDFs should be read on a tablet, not eink device. I haven't seen the 1st eink device that can handle PDFs quick and reliable. Rendering a PDF requires more hardware, something that a simple tablet usually does have.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by jocampo

To be fair, PDFs should be read on a tablet, not eink device. I haven't seen the 1st eink device that can handle PDFs quick and reliable. Rendering a PDF requires more hardware, something that a simple tablet usually does have.

Specifically, complex PDFs can require more RAM than a typical eInk device has. As you rightly say, tablets (which generally have a lot more RAM) do the job a lot better.

[LucyOne]

I can read PDFs on my Pocketbook, it even has reflow and handles big files which make the Kindle crash. If a device offers the function to read a specific format, it shouldn't be as unreliable.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by LucyOne

I can read PDFs on my Pocketbook, it even has reflow and handles big files which make the Kindle crash. If a device offers the function to read a specific format, it shouldn't be as unreliable.

It's not the SIZE of a PDF which is the problem, but the COMPLEXITY of it - the amount of RAM needed to process the instructions necessary to render it. unfortunately, there's no easy way to tell prior to the rendering process how much memory will be required for the task. Low-RAM devices are far from ideal for PDF.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by LucyOne

I can read PDFs on my Pocketbook, it even has reflow and handles big files which make the Kindle crash. If a device offers the function to read a specific format, it shouldn't be as unreliable.

Like Harry said, it's the complexity. And let me expand a bit, as I usually read PDFs.

I mainly read computer or SQL books. Those have tons of graphics. I tried to use the Kindle DX and most recent Kindle generations for that, and it's too slow or crashes on me. On the other hand, my iPad works beautifully. I can move back and forth and see next page without "excruciating pain" of several seconds waiting for a rendering of the next page. And let's not forget the size of most eink devices, which on most cases, it's too small for PDFs.

It's doable, of course, but it will depend of the PDF and eink software , and with so many tablets out there, I don't see the reason to use eink. Unless it's for outdoor usage or to read sequential and pure fonts , not graphic books like novels.

For years, I waited for the successor of the Kindle DXG, but I think that Amazon realized that tablets will probably domain the 10 inches market , so they pretty much abandoned any eink innovation on that area.

[mirbg]

I think I finally found a keeper. The third unit I took is perfectly backlighted, uniform, no more slanted screen and brighter and whiter (no more of this yellowish-green tint) than my previous one

New one on right:





Not really a big difference, but the tint of the new one is definitely crispier.