# new $69 kindle has new screen or k5 looks great



## larryb52 (Nov 18, 2009)

you can't find this in any Bbuy but on advise of a friend who had returned the BW & bought this from amazon , he claimed it was a whiter background and darker fonts than the k4...so I bought one & he was right, really nice reader & it is whiter & fonts darker...yes it has buttons but an improvement , nice reader...


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## Me and My Kindle (Oct 20, 2010)

Amazon has some many different versions of the Kindle, it's easy for me to get them confused! But yes, I remember hearing that Amazon was going to make some updates to even their very cheapest "Kindle" devices. (And specifically, greater screen contrast.)

The only bad side to all this is that no matter how many Kindles I buy, Amazon keeps on introducing even newer and better models. It's getting hard to keep _up _with them all!


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## larryb52 (Nov 18, 2009)

I guess because it cheaper & doesn't have a light it gets over looked , my friend and I think the screen is the same as the BW as we both had it & returned it except this kindle does not have the light...

edited meant PW, was tired sorry


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

What is BW?


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I considered getting a new one for the supposed screen improvements, even though I already have a $69 ($79 when I bought it) Kindle.  But I succumbed to the inevitable and ordred a Paperwhite.  Will be weeks before I get it, though.


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## Cyanide5000 (Aug 30, 2010)

Thats pretty cheap, but if your going to be spending any real amount of time looking at it, you will probably want a backlight


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Cyanide5000 said:


> Thats pretty cheap, but if your going to be spending any real amount of time looking at it, you will probably want a backlight




The whole point of the PaperWhite is that it is NOT backlit but FRONTlit and hence likely to cause less eye fatigue during extended use. But it does cost significantly more than that 'entry level' Kindle at $69. And, frankly, if money is an issue, I'd advise to go with the low price one -- realizing that if it's dark you're not going to be able to see the screen. If that's likely to be an issue, save a little longer and get the one that has built in lighting.


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## Casper Parks (May 1, 2011)

The Hooded Claw said:


> I considered getting a new one for the supposed screen improvements, even though I already have a $69 ($79 when I bought it) Kindle. But I succumbed to the inevitable and ordred a Paperwhite. Will be weeks before I get it, though.


You keeping the old one for a back-up?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Cyanide5000 said:


> Thats pretty cheap, but if your going to be spending any real amount of time looking at it, you will probably want a backlight


I think it really depends on how much reading someone expects to do in lowlight conditions. The regular screen is fine in daylight and in normally lit rooms at night. I got the PW because I like to read a lot late at night after hubby has gone to bed, or in the car. The gently frontlit screen on the Paperwhite is perfect for me. I also have a K4 with a lighted cover; this also works well for me in those conditions.

Betsy


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## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I got the PW because I like to read a lot late at night after hubby has gone to bed, or in the car. I also have a K4 with a lighted cover; this also works well for me in those conditions.
> Betsy


Betsy, was wondering, which ended up being less distracting to your hubby? The K4 with lighted cover or the PW?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

The PW, definitely.  Light level more controllable, points down from level of ereader instead of being up above the ereeader shining down.

Betsy


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

The Best Buy nearest to me has the black $69 kindle (for $69.99).  I was in there last night, but it was 5 minutes before the store closed, so I didn't buy it.  Staples has it too ($69).  I don't know why Best Buy charges extra 99 cents.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

mlewis78 said:


> The Best Buy nearest to me has the black $69 kindle (for $69.99). I was in there last night, but it was 5 minutes before the store closed, so I didn't buy it. Staples has it too ($69). I don't know why Best Buy charges extra 99 cents.


Pretty sure they're not supposed to. 

And, seems to me I've been hearing lately that they're going to be adopting a 'price match' policy to try to stop people window shopping in their store and then buying on line.

I say if you want to buy it at the Best Buy, make them sell it to you for $69 and don't let them charge you the extra 99¢. 

It could also be a misprint.


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## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> The PW, definitely. Light level more controllable, points down from level of ereader instead of being up above the ereeader shining down.
> Betsy


Good to note. For now, I use my lighted case upside down so that my light goes upward instead of down. I just change screen orientation accordingly. So far so good... Still haven't jumped on the PW train... maybe this Christmas.


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## GBear (Apr 23, 2009)

Brownskins said:


> Good to note. For now, I use my lighted case upside down so that my light goes upward instead of down. I just change screen orientation accordingly. So far so good... Still haven't jumped on the PW train... maybe this Christmas.


As a reader, I don't have any issues with my (K3) lighted cover with the light pointing diagonally down toward the screen. It does have the potential to annoy my bed partner, so I have to be a little careful there. I don't seem to have any problems using it on airplanes, but for some reasons I was very conscious of it seeming bright and annoying to fellow passengers on a nighttime bus trip.

So if the PW that I will eventually have allows me to feel that I'm being more considerate of those around me, it will be one of its major benefits.

Veering back toward the thread topic, I would no longer buy any Kindle without a light built into the screen or the cover. Once you factor in the price of the respective covers, then, it reduce the price difference between the K5 and PW from $50 to $30.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Brownskins said:


> Good to note. For now, I use my lighted case upside down so that my light goes upward instead of down. I just change screen orientation accordingly. So far so good... Still haven't jumped on the PW train... maybe this Christmas.


Well, unless I'm visualizing something wrong, the light is still above the surface of the ereader shining down, with a gap of a couple inches between the light and the surface.  I guess it would make it a bit easier to hide the light from the side.

Betsy


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## northofdivision (Sep 7, 2010)

Brownskins said:


> Good to note. For now, I use my lighted case upside down so that my light goes upward instead of down. I just change screen orientation accordingly. So far so good... Still haven't jumped on the PW train... maybe this Christmas.


That's genius. Haha. I like a light coming up not down oddly. Great tip. Thanks. Just picked up a lighted case for my k4 . gonna see if this is a better night solution for reading than my new paperwhite which i like much better in the light than in the dark.


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## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

Betsy, this is how my K4 looks like upside down... he he he










The light is less distracting to my spouse who sleeps on my left. See normal orientation below. I know... it's just temporary, until I can buy a PW.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

I bought the new $69 (black) kindle tonight at Best Buy. They still had the $69.99 price on it, so I asked them to sell it to me for $69, which is the Amazon price (and Staples on their website). They did it (had to run it past the sales person on the floor AND the cashier (the floor person explained to him how he could do this). I know it's standard sales procedure, but what a PIA that the sales person tried to sell me a warranty ("but what if you drop it!"), cover, and wall plug. She said "why don't you want a case?" I have three and I bought the wall plug with my KFHD.

*Wow! The text is much blacker than it is on my K4(NT-Silver). The background is lighter, although when I hold the two kindles side by side the difference in the background looks slight.*

I went to Staples yesterday. Their website has it "in stock" at my nearest location, which is a Staples copy express store. They only had the silver K4 for $79 on display and there was no one available to help me. All the workers were helping people at the check-out and copy area.

There were two reasons why I decided to buy it in a store. One is that the ATM gave me $300  instead of $40 on Saturday and I didn't want to mess around with depositing cash back into the machine. Can't order from Amazon with cash. Also, since my temp work is almost always last-minute call-up, I never know for sure if I will be home for delivery from UPS.


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## Tabatha (Oct 4, 2009)

Received today, and it definitly has a whiter background and sharper fonts, and has nothing to do with the black bezel as I have put a skin on mine to cover the black. Will do a trade in for my silver one.


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## FearIndex (Oct 10, 2012)

larryb52 said:


> I guess because it cheaper & doesn't have a light it gets over looked , my friend and I think the screen is the same as the BW as we both had it & returned it except this kindle does not have the light...
> 
> edited meant PW, was tired sorry


It is not the same screen. I have both. PW screen has more resolution but has much worse contrast. First impressions are I much prefer the $69 Kindle 5 screen.

Paperwhite (left) contrast difference compared to the new Kindle (right) here, I took this picture today and that's how it looks like in real life too (frontlight to minimum in this):










(My comments here: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,129956.msg1921055.html#msg1921055)


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## Broadus (Nov 29, 2010)

FearIndex said:


> It is not the same screen. I have both. PW screen has more resolution but has much worse contrast. First impressions are I much prefer the $69 Kindle 5 screen.
> 
> Paperwhite (left) contrast difference compared to the new Kindle (right) here, I took this picture today and that's how it looks like in real life too (frontlight to minimum in this):
> 
> ...


Contrast trumps additional pixels. Thanks for the excellent photo, FearIndex. The contrast is one of the reasons I returned my Kindle. I may order the $69 one. That's a great deal.


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## FearIndex (Oct 10, 2012)

Thanks, Broadus. Glad to hear it helped.

I was doing some more screen comparisons with my old Kindles and frankly I was appalled to notice that Kindle 3 actually trumps the Kindle PW in terms of blackness of the text... Sad. (More on that here: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,129956.msg1921549.html#msg1921549)

So yes, if anyone wants the best blackness of text in an e-ink Kindle, the $69 Kindle 5 is the way to go. Assuming, of course, rest of the feature set there suffices for your use.


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## sparklemotion (Jan 13, 2011)

Thanks for the comparison pic, fearindex. The basic kindle clearly has superior contrast. Another disappointment about the PW.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Just to interject a contrary view here--

I just ordered the $69 Kindle and it arrived this morning. The screen is great with nice clear contrast but side-by-side with my PW I really don't see any difference. With the light down low (around 4) they look almost identical and the background screen is the same sort of grayish color. When I turn the light way up (21) the screen on the PW looks much whiter and brighter. I've been reading with the screen set at 13 and looking at the two side-by-side--well, like I said, I don't see lots of difference.

That said, they both look great and I'd be happy reading on either one.

My 2 cents.

L


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## FearIndex (Oct 10, 2012)

Leslie said:


> I just ordered the $69 Kindle and it arrived this morning. The screen is great with nice clear contrast but side-by-side with my PW I really don't see any difference. With the light down low (around 4) they look almost identical and the background screen is the same sort of grayish color. When I turn the light way up (21) the screen on the PW looks much whiter and brighter. I've been reading with the screen set at 13 and looking at the two side-by-side--well, like I said, I don't see lots of difference.


While obviously I disagree about contrast/text blackness, I agree that the non/minimally lighted background is very similar in both devices: classic e-ink grey. (It is just that Kindle 5 has much blacker text in my opinion.)

On the upside the Kindle PW can be made to have a whiter background with the help of the frontlight. If one likes the frontlight, that is. It won't make the text on the PW any blacker, but increasing the whiteness of the background does help with contrast a little.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

FearIndex said:


> On the upside the Kindle PW can be made to have a whiter background with the help of the frontlight. If one likes the frontlight, that is. It won't make the text on the PW any blacker, but increasing the whiteness of the background does help with contrast a little.


The $69 kindle background is made very light with the use of my clip-on light (MB XtraFlex 2). (I say this while realizing that most here don't want to use an external light.) Same with the 2011 K4 - with the light, the background is lighter, but not as light as the 2012 K4.


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## FearIndex (Oct 10, 2012)

mlewis78 said:


> The $69 kindle background is made very light with the use of my clip-on light (MB XtraFlex 2). (I say this while realizing that most here don't want to use an external light.) Same with the 2011 K4 - with the light, the background is lighter, but not as light as the 2012 K4.


Yes, the background becomes lighter Kindle 5 when using an external light. I have tried so far only with the official Amazon Kindle 4/5 lighted leather case, I have anothed lighted case inbound next week to check out.

For those who missed it, we have been discussing this and other Kindle 5 comparisons in this thread: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,129956.25.html - Here is one picture I took, from that thread:










You can see what that frontlight does to the contrast on the PW, however Kindle 5 has very dark text even when lighted from the top. So the nearness of the lightguide on PW certainly can hurt the blackness of the text (although it also makes the background white, but glowing), while the top-shining external light on Kindle 5 actually seems to increase the blackness of the text (and lightness of the background) somehow. I much prefer the $69 Kindle 5 screen at this point.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

FWIW, my PW lettering looks much darker than what you have depicted there. But even given what you are depicting, I feel like my reading experience would be much better on the PW than the K5 as you have it configured. I _have_ a K4 and that case with a light. . .and I think it's great. . . . . .vast improvement over the lighting system for the K3K. But the PW is tons better for me.


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## Kathy (Nov 5, 2008)

FearIndex said:


> You can see what that frontlight does to the contrast on the PW, however Kindle 5 has very dark text even when lighted from the top. So the nearness of the lightguide on PW certainly can hurt the blackness of the text (although it also makes the background white, but glowing), while the top-shining external light on Kindle 5 actually seems to increase the blackness of the text (and lightness of the background) somehow. I much prefer the $69 Kindle 5 screen at this point.


What font are you using? I'm using the Helvetica font and mine is super crisp and dark. When I have it on Baskerville it looks like your picture but all of the other fonts are much darker. Also, the lighting looks pretty even on your PowerWhite.


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## FearIndex (Oct 10, 2012)

Kathy said:


> What font are you using? I'm using the Helvetica font and mine is super crisp and dark. When I have it on Baskerville it looks like your picture but all of the other fonts are much darker. Also, the lighting looks pretty even on your PowerWhite.


On the PW Caecilia, the default, which I feel is the darkest of the serif fonts. Can't really enjoy sans serif.

Font details for the comparison pics here: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,129956.msg1921108.html#msg1921108


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Kathy said:


> What font are you using? I'm using the Helvetica font and mine is super crisp and dark. When I have it on Baskerville it looks like your picture but all of the other fonts are much darker. Also, the lighting looks pretty even on your PowerWhite.


I like Caecilia (I like serif fonts for reading) and it's nice and dark, too.

L


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