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Testing out the Paperwhite

27K views 77 replies 28 participants last post by  Ann in Arlington 
#1 ·
Since I was one of the lucky to get my PW today (and there isn't a thread started), I thought I would give an update about what I'm finding. As others get theirs, please feel free to share your thoughts.

I've been using the Touch for the past year and have really liked it. There were a few annoyances that I wasn't fond of. It seemed to take forever to think, which may be due to the number of books I've got on it. The touch screen also seemed a little sluggish when I'm so used to the iPhone and iPad. I also had trouble with the pages occasionally skipping several ahead. This also might have been a memory issue. Over all the shape was good but it just had a few design flaws.

Now that I've had a little time to play with the PW I can firmly say it's the best I've used so far. Started on a K2, husband has a K3 and I have the touch.

It is so much more responsive to touch. I've not had any issues with it stalling and see they have redone things so that page turning is much easier, it's actually not crazy to hold it with one hand. It's a more fluid piece of equipment now. It starts off with an easy tutorial that tells all the new tools and how to use them. I thought it might be a waste of time but there were actually a few things I didn't know.

I am a little surprised that the white isn't as white as it seemed in the videos I had watched. Don't get me wrong, it's still much whiter than the others but it's just not as bright as I would have thought. Of course, maybe my eyes are a little worse off than I'd suspected. Or the normal lighting isn't doing it justice.

Since I got the wifi w/o 3g w/ ads, there are a few things I'm not used to. For instance, there is a banner of best sellers listed. I don't know if the others had this but it's new to me. So when I scroll through the covers, only about 4 of mine show up at a time. In the end I may pay the difference and just dump the ads. On the plus side, they are giving a $5 mp3 credit.  :)

As for reading, it's a dream. No issues at all. The only irritation I have is pulling books from the cloud (something I loathe) but now that I can see the covers I'm thinking I might just store a few at a time on the actual device. It's really so much easier this way.

Now I'm off to read a little in bed with the lights off. This is the big test for me. Although anything that lets me take off the big stinking light I have is a good thing.  :)

I'd love to hear want others think.
 
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#2 ·
Bethany B. said:
Since I got the wifi w/o 3g w/ ads, there are a few things I'm not used to. For instance, there is a banner of best sellers listed. I don't know if the others had this but it's new to me. So when I scroll through the covers, only about 4 of mine show up at a time. In the end I may pay the difference and just dump the ads.
From the Gadget Box comparison. Article and Video.
"Even when you pay the $20 bounty to opt out of Amazon's "special offers," you still get a stream of recommended titles on your home screen, and those never go away. (Seriously, Amazon, how is that not an ad?)"

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/amazons-kindle-paperwhite-new-king-e-readers-6191170
 
#3 ·
Did you get the Amazon cover also? One thing I'm wondering about - I saw a video where, to turn the kindle on (wake it up), you have to press the power button AND then swipe the screen. Why would they add an extra step? The covers are supposed to wake the kindle up automatically when you open the cover. But maybe they only do the equivalent of pressing the power button and you still have to swipe? If so, it makes the whole "cover automatically wakes your kindle" seem a little bit... dishonest. I guess they want you to see the ad even if you're using the "auto-wake" cover...

Not a biggie, just a little... un-ideal.
 
#6 ·
Can you change from cover view to just text view when looking at your books? I thought I read somewhere there is an option. I think most of the time I am better off with title and author in text, rather than a cover where the title might be really really small.

I am glad you commented on how the light works for you at night reading. Glad you could read for 2 hours and not be bothered by it.
 
#7 ·
Both my PW and cover arrived. And yes, when you open the cover you still have to "Swipe to unlock Kindle".

I also thought it'd be brighter based on the videos. I turned the lights off in my office and I still preferred the high setting for the light. But that is probably me and will vary by location. In bed lower might be better. I'll have to test. :)
 
#8 ·
Galadriel the Paperwaite has arrived and been placed in her royal purple case. She lies next to me, charging.

Just went to MYK on my PC and all the foreign dictionaries are back. I deleted them last night.

Ahhh....clicked on Cloud on the device, and I can enter a page number instead of having to go page by page. Nice!

Waiting for the personal doc I emailed via Calibre to show up. It's in the archive.

If you are in cover view an go to page two, you won't see the Best selling or editor's picks on the bottom row. It will be blank. Until you get more than 6 books on the device.

Made a collection and added 2 books. Couldn't find the collection, not in cover view or list view. Now Collections is grayed out. I have no idea what happened, there.

Anyway I love it, but when I actually get to reading on it, will be the true test.

Ok found the collection. Under My Items, All must be tapped. And personal docs are under Docs. That is great!
 
#10 ·
mistyd107 said:
do you think it would be easy to remove from the cover with one hand?
No probably not. The cover comes with a diagram that show popping out the lower right corner first, then the left corner. The edges of the case are pretty stiff. It's not something I would really want to remove.
 
#13 ·
I got mine!

When I open the cover, the Kindle turns on. When I close it, it turns off. I don't get any "swipe to turn on" screen.

As far as collections disappearing - are you sorting by collections (use the drop-down on the home screen).

I turned off cover view for now. I don't like the relatively low-res B&W covers. It's different on the Kindle app on my 10" tablet. They look better there. I prefer the simple list for now.
 
#14 ·
Atunah said:
Does the light distribute nice and evenly across the screen?

I am so exited to get mine today. It will be quite an adjustment going from my Keyboard to a touch surface.
Yes and no. There are definitely a few shadows along the bottom, but I think it'll be a huge improvement over my K2 with lighted cover.
I agree about it being an adjustment. I keep changing the page without meaning to!
 
#15 ·
Atunah said:
Does the light distribute nice and evenly across the screen?
I just got my PW, haven't tried reading on it yet. But the first thing I noticed is that the light isn't as even as I had thought it would be. I can definitely see bright spots from the LED's and then darker spots between them, especially along the bottom.
 
#16 ·
jehma said:
I got mine!

When I open the cover, the Kindle turns on. When I close it, it turns off. I don't get any "swipe to turn on" screen.

As far as collections disappearing - are you sorting by collections (use the drop-down on the home screen).

I turned off cover view for now. I don't like the relatively low-res B&W covers. It's different on the Kindle app on my 10" tablet. They look better there. I prefer the simple list for now.
Does your PW have SO or not?
 
#18 ·
lindnet said:
I just got my PW, haven't tried reading on it yet. But the first thing I noticed is that the light isn't as even as I had thought it would be. I can definitely see bright spots from the LED's and then darker spots between them, especially along the bottom.
I noticed on some of the videos some darker areas on the bottom where the lights come out.
On Mobile reads some say there is some blotching on the top right. I don't think I'll mind a little darker on the bottom as long as the rest of the screen is reasonably even.
I think they did the best they could to distribute the light as even as possible.
 
#19 ·
jehma said:
No special offers.
Well, that might influence whether I opt out of the special offers - having an extra step of swiping whenever I want to turn it on. I'd rather it was the way the touch is - just press the button. Although I am pleasantly surprised that I don't notice fingerprints on the KT as much as I feared, excess swiping is not a good thing in my opinion (makes more fingerprints than a simple tap). Does a tap suffice, when it says "swipe to open", or do you have to swipe?
 
#20 ·
Bethany B. said:
It does seem a lot more noticeable during the day. Try it in a dark room or tonight. I was really surprised by how the dark spots went almost away.
I just got mine about an hour ago. The box was damaged so I was concerned about whether the shadows were a result of the rough delivery treatment. ??? Glad to see that they are not but I wasn't expecting them.
 
#21 ·
Bethany B. said:
Okay, so I was feeling a little bummed yesterday when the PW came and I saw the shadows. I'm tell you, go right now and sit in your closet. Turn it on and then be amazed. After last night I'm in love. Before, well I was wondering if I shouldn't have just bought a Fire.
Maybe it just me (or my Kindle) but leaving it on the default setting of 22, the shadows disappear in a brightly sunlit room. They are more apparent in a normal setting. I just went into a dark closet with it and the shadows are worse, even when I adjust the power way down.
 
#24 ·
I'm the one with the issues between the two Kindle's but I have to defend the design for a second... the bottom 1/8th IS GOING TO HAVE AREAS of shadow and light because of the design. There are 4 lights evenly spaced across the screen on the bottom and they shine upward creating 4 areas of extra bright and 4 areas of extra shadow across that whole bottom area. So 8 splotches if you will but these areas only extend up about 1/8th of the screen, into the "time remaining and page number / location" area but NOT the actual text of a book. On the main menu this area is the zone where the AD sits so again is not a critical area. Above this area the lighting should be even and IS on one of my Paperwhite's but on the other is much dimmer overall and skews to a pink tint instead of the much nicer white/blue I have on my good Paperwhite.

The nature of the design will create the bottom spot lighting. On the Nook Glowlight it is even more pronounced and at the top vs. bottom since they located the lights on top. It will be another generation or more until it gets better but for now putting the "spotty" area in the very bottom and out of the way of text makes it pretty reasonable. You don't notice it in a super bright room or in sunlight because of course the sunlight or room lighting brightens the whole screen including the shadow zones.
 
#25 ·
Bethany B. said:
There was another review posted. You all should check it out. Seems they got 2 PW's and one wasn't working right. Maybe that is the issue. I'm just not having the shadow issues some are. I'll see if I can get a pic up later.
I did find that review, thanks. It seems that they are having the same light/shadows at the bottom of both screens. It sounds like they expected it to be that way and aren't bothered by it. I guess I was expecting the even lighting that they announced it would have.

I do like the touch screen better than the last Touch, though.
 
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