# Text Quality Problem on Two Kindles



## carrock (May 31, 2011)

Hi,

I changed my Kindle today as it had a problem with the quality of text when going from the Home screen to any page - but the second one is the same. With this problem three lines of text a quarter of the way down the page is lighter and less defined that the rest of the page. If you advance a page and then return, the whole page is ok, it only happens when going from the Home screen.  It occurs on every page of every book, including the User Guide.

My wife's Kindle doesn't behave this way. Has anyone else experienced or heard about this issue?

Edit: I realised that this area of the screen lines up with the top fixing of the (Amazon leather) cover. Could this be the issue..?


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Do you have a K3? If so, the inside of the cover where it comes into contact with the screen is smooth and level. I'm not too sure what you mean by the 'top fixing' for the cover. Do you mean the hinge? I haven't heard of the hinges affecting the screen that way - if it was damaging the screen I would expect you to have the problem all the time and not just when going from the Home Screen. If you speak to CS again though, it might be worth mentioning that you've used the same cover - there were some problems with the original unlighted cover causing freezing and rebooting problems and they may try replacing the cover for you. Can you try it out of the cover, or using your wife's cover, as an experiment?


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## carrock (May 31, 2011)

Thanks for the reply...

Yes I have a K3 and I did mean the top hinge.  I have tried the K3 without the cover and it still shows the problem, which suggests its not the cause. I also updated the software and did a factory reset both to no avail. 

It looks like need to change this second one...


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

Any chance you could take a photograph and post it? 

A picture paints a thousand words...


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Mine does the same thing - I believe it's just a ghosting effect from the section of the screen where you selected the book on the home page list. I assumed all Kindles were the same so I dismissed it and don't even notice it now. I'm not sure it's a fault.


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## carrock (May 31, 2011)

I don't think it's ghosting, I have seen that on both K3s I've had and my wife's. This is the actual definition of the text on two to three lines, I will take a picture and post it but it looks something like this below (imagine the bold text is the normal font):

*Calescere occurrere mei respondeo expendere nec hoc fruebatur detrahere. Spatium invenit ego iii quomodo quaeque nam vix deceret. De ea intelligo supponant du concludam. Hominem cum qui uti hoc incipit creatus. Vi cumque genera si optima. Mea una attingebam* indubitati faciliorem vim. Alligatus spectatum continent id separatum de ii cerebella remotiora. Ibidem varias finiti ii certas factas lumine an ha. Obfirmata referenda dat quibusnam vul vos dum confirmet. Tempus mentem debere lor cum sacras volunt capram. Labefactat to percipitur in ac* realitatem ii. Videantur admittere ibi sum eae cui corporeas. Sim nostris securum qua numerus vestiri corpora revolvo. Momenti equidem nullibi vi ut in veritas ac efficta. Magnis deinde alicui maxima ad si at. Tot sex deo prona pauci favis. Dare to visa erit eo. Ullo ii regi rogo more sive et bono. Sufficiunt cohibendam imo respondeam hos facultatem hic. Enatare ii assequi fingere ad an fecisse ne. Sensisse gi singulas perfecta excitari potuisse ea ad cadavere. Aliisque nul fit existimo sim concipio quadrati.*

Two lines of the text are lighter and less defined that the rest of the whole page. If you advance the page and go back the problem disappears.

I'll get a picture uploaded, hopefully that might help.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Does it happen on any book?


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## carrock (May 31, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Does it happen on any book?


Yes, it happens on all of the books I have downloaded from Amazon and the User Guides that came with the K3.


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## Tinderbox (UK) (Apr 24, 2011)

*When you go from the menu page into a book, does the page go black for a second as it cleans the text for the new text to show correctly*, I just tested my DX and it works fine.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

carrock said:


> I don't think it's ghosting,


It's definitely some kind of ghosting - I just tested it by selecting a book from the very top of the list/screen and then one from the very bottom and each time, the text was lighter in the EXACT same spot from where the book was selected off the home page. I call it ghosting because it's obviously a residual effect from the previous page but I don't know if it would strictly be defined as ghosting.


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## carrock (May 31, 2011)

Thanks history_lover, what you have described is exactly the problem. After replying to your post I realised that I'd misinterpreted it .  I have checked my K3 and get the same results as you. As my books are in Collections, I only currently have a short list in each hence why this effect appeared towards the top of my screen. But today I removed everything from Collections and managed to replicate the situation in your latest post - the "ghosting" (or whatever it's best called) appears in the same position as the book was selected from on the Home page.

Ok, this raises the question, is it a fault with the K3?  The effect isn't as pronounced compared to the first K3 I had, on that one it really stood out which I why I exchanged it.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

I just assumed it happened on all Kindles as just a part of the eInk technology. I've noticed it also happens when I have a book open and I press the Menu button - when I close the Menu, the text that hadn't been covered by the Menu box goes lighter (or maybe the other way around, I can't remember). I've just gotten used to it and hardly notice it now.


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## carrock (May 31, 2011)

history_lover said:


> the text that hadn't been covered by the Menu box goes lighter (or maybe the other way around, I can't remember).


 I haven't noticed this, but I have found that whilst this happens as you describe when going from the Home page, on my K3 it is definitely more pronounced in the top third of the screen that the rest.

I'm in two minds now... Is this how the K3 works or is it a problem? As my wife's K3 doesn't do this, maybe it's variable or a problem? Perhaps I should see what Amazon have to say on this?


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

Well blow me down, I was just about to post that I thought this was a fault when I took a closer look at my Kindle 3 and found it does it as well! 

Where I see it most is when going from the book list, and picking a book that is part way down the page. If the book has a nearly blank title page (as a lot do), there is a noticeable grey shadow across the screen where the black highlight was.

I do see the effect on text as well, but it is not very noticeable to me, I'd have to look hard to say that there's a difference.

If you press Alt-G (which does a screen refresh) it goes away.

This is indeed just a characteristic of the e-Ink screen. Because of the way it works (techie explanation below) a solid area of black can cause this "ghosting" effect on the next screen. Amazon have put a lot of thought into the way they drive the display to minimise this effect - for instance, some people report it on their own screensavers if the image has solid blocks of colour, the dead authors are designed in such a way that there are no solid blocks only shades of grey. So I'm rather surprised they put this strange black selection area in the menu, especially since it does little except appear for a fraction of a second to tell you the book is loading.

In fact, I think that the way the black bar appears only momentarily is adding to the problem - see below.



carrock said:


> I'm in two minds now... Is this how the K3 works or is it a problem? As my wife's K3 doesn't do this, maybe it's variable or a problem? Perhaps I should see what Amazon have to say on this?


My advice would be to ignore it, rather like the flashes of the screen changes you'll soon find you don't notice it. The discrepancy between your and your wife's Kindles may be a slight variable in build, or may be due to different books (if the book takes longer to load it may give the screen time to refresh) or it may be related to temperature if they're kept in different places - the Kindle slows down significantly when it's cold.

(Techie bit...)

The e-ink screen is made up of an array (600 x 800) of tiny clear dots each of which contains black and white ink particles, and it moves these to the top and bottom by means of an electric charge:









If the screen is just switched (as, for example, when you go up and down the menu), not all of the particles move so you get grey left behind (hence the ghosting).

When the Kindle does a page change, it actually does 2 or three changes and displays a negative image for a moment - this is why you see a white/black/white flash. The negative image is there to push the pigment around so that more of it moves than would do with a normal screen change. Effectively it bounces all the ink particles bottom to top to bottom and then puts them where it wants them.

Clearly here with the black bar it's not working quite perfectly, possibly because the line is still being displayed as the book opens ie it goes from the underline of the title, then you click to select, it puts up the black bar and loads the book, so there are a lot of screen changes going on very quickly.

Makes you feel sorry for the ink particles!


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