# New Kindle paperwhite 4 issues?



## gustophersmob (Oct 12, 2011)

Howdy!

I just received a new paperwhite for Christmas and had some questions about others' experience with it. 

By way of background, I've been a kindle owner since the kindle keyboard days, going from the keyboard version to the kindle 4 and then the 2013 paperwhite 2 version which was my latest kindle until the gift. 

Right away, the things I like about the new kindle (these comparisons will all be vs my paperwhite 2) are the smaller size, lighter weight, higher screen resolution, flush bezels, rounded bottom where the power button and micro USB port are, and the water resistance. 

Neutral observations: the screen is WAY more of a fingerprint magnet and the more smooth texture feels more like a tablet or phone than a book. 

Now for the reason for the post. Contrast issues. The one I received as a gift has a very grey background, even for a kindle and the text was a very splotchy grey. Some areas of letters would be dark and others almost the same grey as the background. Now, the paperwhite 2's background certainly isn't white, but it's pretty close to the color or the paper in a normal cheap paperback book. So, given the low contrast and splotchy letters, I asked Amazon for a replacement. 

The replacement had slightly better letter coloring. There was still some splotchy-ness, but much less noticeable. Still, the background was very grey and overall the contrast is very poor. 

I like the device upgrades enough to want it to work, but I'm wondering if this low contrast issue is just the way the newer screens are?  It seems like Amazon is willing to allow me to return the kindle for an account credit, which is nice since it's a gift. 

As it is, the contrast is just unacceptable to me :/


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I've not had that issue. It is definitely the case, though -- at least for me -- that the contrast is better with the light higher. For reference, I did notice that I needed to have the light brighter for the contrast to be about the same as I was used to on my Voyage. So, for example, where Voyage is comfortable at 12, I want the PW4 at 14.

At this point, I switch between them regularly, and haven't noticed any real difference.


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## gustophersmob (Oct 12, 2011)

Interesting, I'll have to play around with that. On my paperwhite 2, I keep the light off in the day and only on around 4 at night. 

I assume you're settings are for daytime? I think that would be way too bright for me at night. 

Though, even if it makes the contrast acceptable, it probably has a noticeable effect on battery life.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

gustophersmob said:


> Interesting, I'll have to play around with that. On my paperwhite 2, I keep the light off in the day and only on around 4 at night.
> 
> I assume you're settings are for daytime? I think that would be way too bright for me at night.
> 
> Though, even if it makes the contrast acceptable, it probably has a noticeable effect on battery life.


I generally read in fairly bright ambient light. If the room is dark, I can turn the light down, but I am rarely trying to read in the dark.  (Only when my husband has done something really crazy and gone to bed before or at the same time as me -- I like to have my half hour reading before sleep and he doesn't like the light on At All if he's in bed.)

I'm sure it does affect battery life, but it's not something I notice. On average I probably recharge a kindle every couple of weeks. I have 3 that I rotate reading on, depending where I am in the house or out and about. To me, it's not a big deal.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

I've found that regardless of light level or font boldness, the text on the PW4 is noticeably less crisp than on the Voyage - certainly on my devices anyhow.

Also, I use an alcohol based wipe, designed for spectacles, every day on my Kindles and tablet and all the others are spotless after I've cleaned them, but on the PW4, all it seems to do is wipe the smears about without actually lifting them from the surface.

It's my belief that whatever the new material is that they've used for the screen, that's what's making the difference in the text, not any of the settings in the firmware - and is also responsible for the equally noticeable difference in how fingerprints are much more difficult to clean off.

It's really my only complaint about the PW4 and I'm not sure why they thought it necessary to change it.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

I have the Paperwhite 1, 3 and 4 and I used to have a Paperwhite 2.  I also have a Voyage.  I find that when I put the Paperwhite 4 next to the older ones or the Voyage I can see a difference.  The older ones look a little better.  The difference isn't obvious but it's definitely there.  When I'm reading they're all just perfect.

By the way I have 2 Paperwhite 4's, one with 4G and one Wifi, bought a couple weeks apart, so I don't think I could have just got 2 good ones, although I guess that's possible.

I've always kept the older ones light at 12.  I almost never change it.  I don't read in the dark but I often read in fairly dim light and I also read on my sunny porch in summer.  None of that makes me want to adjust the light.  On the new Paperwhites I've found that I like 13 better.  I'm not sure if that's a difference in the screen or a difference in the light.

The idea with the Paperwhite, and the reason for it's name, isn't that the background is supposed to be whiter than other readers, from everything I've read.  It's because with the light it's very white.  And it is.  I think all of them are a far better reading surface than paper.

By the way, I also have a Nook Glowlight 3, the new model, that has the same screen technology as the Kindles but it uses infrared for it's touch screen, which means it doesn't have the touch-sensitive coating on the screen.  It's contrast is noticeably greater than the Kindles because of that, again, with the light on.  It doesn't have nearly as good a feature set as the Kindle but it gives me something to compare with.

As for battery life I've never used any of these devices with the light off so I have no way to compare that, however they all get such excellent battery life I don't really care.  I wouldn't read in the dark to save electricity either. 

Barry


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## ElaineOK (Jun 5, 2009)

I have a different issue with my new Paperwhite.  

BTW, for the OP's issue I definitely suggest cranking the light up a bit.  I generally run mine indoors during the day at about an 8.  I can't imagine the difference between a 4 and an 8 will have that much impact on battery life, but it will make a huge improvement in your contrast. 

Now, for my issue.  First, my bona fides.  I started with a K2, then a Touch, then a 2nd gen. Paperwhite (wifi only) and a 3rd gen with 3g.  Got the latest Paperwhite (wifi only) for Christmas.  This March I will have been reading on Kindles essentially every day for ten years.  

Here is my issue.  Frequently, like once or twice an hour, when I tap to page forward, the new Paperwhite skips forward more than just one page.  The most it has skipped forward was 4 pages, but one extra page is the most common.  Is this Paperwhite that much more sensitive?  Is anyone else having this problem?  I didn't notice it until I had gotten it all set up just the way I like it, so I am not crazy about the idea of returning it.  Thoughts?

Elaine


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Elaine, I've not noticed that. In fact I occasionally find it _less_ responsive to a touch -- but my assumption is that's a by product of it being much dryer out and my fingers being less conductive.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

No, me either. 

On my PW4 there doesn't seem to be any difference in the sensitivity, in either direction - certainly not enough that I've noticed it ayway.


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## ShinyTop (Apr 25, 2016)

This was a problem a while ago.  It was diagnosed as a page turn being initiated at the same time the time display at the top of the page was changing.  The fix was to disable the time display.  Then Kindle came out with an update and we could all turn our time display back on.  I have noticed this happening again in the last month or two.  Wondering if the fix got taken out of recent updates.  Note that this problem was occurring on more than just PW's.  I had it on my Oasis 1 and 2.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

This is an old topic with touch screen ereaders that I haven't seen discussed since their early days but it used to be an almost religious argument, with tappers wanting to burn swipers at the stake and swipers wanting to bury tappers alive.  Then things calmed down for some reason and there hasn't been much talk of this for a few years.

My personal belief (I'm a swiper) is that there's something in each of us that makes us either a tapper or a swiper.  I can only make wild guesses at what that might be.  Perhaps it's static electricity.  Or maybe it's the amount of force we use.  Or maybe it depends on whether we have a swipe devil or a tap devil in our Kindle.

In any case, when this was a more common topic someone new to the touch screen reader would post that either swiping or tapping would cause the device to skip pages and one of us would suggest they try the opposite method.  It was often followed by another post saying that made the difference.  So if you're skipping pages try the opposite method.

(The preceding religious message was brought to you by the committee to promote swiping.)

Barry


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## lindnet (Jan 25, 2009)

ShinyTop said:


> This was a problem a while ago. It was diagnosed as a page turn being initiated at the same time the time display at the top of the page was changing. The fix was to disable the time display. Then Kindle came out with an update and we could all turn our time display back on. I have noticed this happening again in the last month or two. Wondering if the fix got taken out of recent updates. Note that this problem was occurring on more than just PW's. I had it on my Oasis 1 and 2.


I had the issue when the clocks first came out. Tried it again after the update that was supposed to fix it came out. Mine still had the issue, so I just turned off the clock.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

I keep the clock on but I don't have a page skipping problem.

Barry


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## patrickt (Aug 28, 2010)

barryem said:


> This is an old topic with touch screen ereaders that I haven't seen discussed since their early days but it used to be an almost religious argument, with tappers wanting to burn swipers at the stake and swipers wanting to bury tappers alive. Then things calmed down for some reason and there hasn't been much talk of this for a few years.
> 
> My personal belief (I'm a swiper) is that there's something in each of us that makes us either a tapper or a swiper. I can only make wild guesses at what that might be. Perhaps it's static electricity. Or maybe it's the amount of force we use. Or maybe it depends on whether we have a swipe devil or a tap devil in our Kindle.
> 
> ...


I am primarily a tapper but, of course, I have to swipe to move between pages of books listed on the home page. I also tend to tap to move forward and swipe to move back because I can move backward or forward with equal ease on the right side of the screen. I tend to read one handed, something I never managed to do with paper books. I should mention that I am left-handed and am forced by society to be ambidextrous so perhaps I'm more digital flexible than right-handed folks.


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## patrickt (Aug 28, 2010)

Barryem--partial quote: "I have the Paperwhite 1, 3 and 4 and I used to have a Paperwhite 2.  I also have a Voyage.  I find that when I put the Paperwhite 4 next to the older ones or the Voyage I can see a difference.  The older ones look a little better.  The difference isn't obvious but it's definitely there.  When I'm reading they're all just perfect."

Bingo. On the money. Hit the nail on the head. 

Years ago a professional photographers visited me and made some positive comments on my photos on the wall. Then he sniffed and said, "Of course, I can tell the difference between prints from a digital camera and prints from a film camera."

"Amazing. I have some of each on my walls. Tell me which is which."
"I didn't bring my 10x loupe."
"If it takes a 10x loupe to see the difference then as a practical matter there is no difference."

In photo circles we have "pixel peepers". Apparently, we have them in ereader world, too. As a practical matter, I have been delighted reading on all of my Kindles from my first unlighted DX and keyboard through Oasis 2. I don't like the Oasis 2 or the Voyage but it's not because of the screen.

I enjoy reading on an ereader. Thanks to Kindle for making my Paperwhite and thanks to Amazon for carry an amazing assortment of books.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

Years ago I rented a room and my landlord was a professional photographer.  Printers in those days were dot matrix and had no color but I somehow managed to get a digitized version of one of his pictures into my computer, I have no memory of how I did that or even if it was me who did it, and print it out on my printer.  Obviously it was extremely grainy and I did it more to see what it looked like than for any practical reason.

Anyway he and some of his photographer friends got into a discussion about the future of photography as a result of that picture and they all agreed that there was no possible way digital photography could ever be useful.  This was before the term "digital photography" existed.  I called it that just now but no-one used that term.  We were talking about that picture I printed out.

I explained that it might someday be possible to have smaller pixels but they insisted that as long as there were pixels they'd always be obvious.  So either they were wrong or this thing we call digital photography, the thing that put Kodak out of business, is just a myth and doesn't really exist.  I'll let you decide which is true. 

Ereaders are pretty hard to generalize about.  I currently have 2 Paperwhite 3's and i've bought 3 or 4 others for various of my neighbors and set them up for them and compared their screens to mine.  I also have a Voyage and a 1st generation Paperwhite and 2 4th generation Paperwhites and I used to have a 2nd generation Paperwhite.  There's as much difference in screens from unit to unit of the same model as there is between models.  Anything you or I say about our Paperwhite screen is only about our Paperwhite screen.  The next guy's might be very different.

That's always been true of e-ink screens and I think it's more true of lighted e-ink screens.  The lights are either different from unit to unit themselves or they enhance the differences that are already there.  I'm not sure which.

None of this matters when you're reading.  It's only a thing when you compare.

Barry


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## MagicalWingLT (May 12, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I've not had that issue. It is definitely the case, though -- at least for me -- that the contrast is better with the light higher. For reference, I did notice that I needed to have the light brighter for the contrast to be about the same as I was used to on my Voyage. So, for example, where Voyage is comfortable at 12, I want the PW4 at 14.
> 
> At this point, I switch between them regularly, and haven't noticed any real difference.


Yes I have the same thing on my Paperwhite 4 compared to my Voyage. Out of all of the Kindles the Voyage has the best screen so far.
The only issue I have with the Paperwhite 4 is that when I go to turn a page it doesn't happen and sometimes it takes 3 taps to go forward. Doesn't happen all the time only once in a while.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

MagicalWingLT said:


> The only issue I have with the Paperwhite 4 is that when I go to turn a page it doesn't happen and sometimes it takes 3 taps to go forward. Doesn't happen all the time only once in a while.


I've noticed something similar on my Paperwhite 4. It doesn't always register screen touches. I often have to do it twice. Not so much with page turns, probably because I swipe to turn pages, but with pretty much everything else.

Barry


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## patrickt (Aug 28, 2010)

I pre-ordered my Paperwhite 4 but had to wait for my sister to bring it to me in Mexico. She arrived Sunday. So, I've had the PW4 for 3.5 days. For me, the screen is the same as my PW3s except it is a little brighter with the lights at maximum. Five versus four LEDs would account for that. Some describe it as worse contrast or "splotchy" and I guess I got a good one. I see none of that.

One difference, with my two current PW3s, if I tip the PW3 up I can clearly see the LEDs at the bottom of the screen. With the PW4, if I tip it up I see the cones, five of them, from the lights but I cannot see the individual bulbs at all.

I ask my sister and brother-in-law to check the screen for fingerprints. In 3.5 days of use, zero fingerprints. Amazing since some call it a fingerprint magnet.

No difference in the touch screen among my Kindle Paperwhites.

It slides into my  pants pocket or a lower pocket on my Guayabera shirt even easier than my PW3. I have it in a Kindle cloth case and I like it a lot. It will take time, years, I hope, to evaluate its durability.

I won't be testing it's waterproofing but I'll accept Kindle's word for it. I also haven't tested the Bluetooth connection and probably won't since I read rather than listen.

So, if anyone has been put off by the negative comments, I experienced none of them. I like the PW4, think it's worth the money, and wish Amazon was selling them in Mexico.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

I'm trying to pick out my next book to read and I'm rotating through my many Kindles to see what I have downloaded to them.  These are a Paperwhite 1, 2 Paperwhite 3's, 2 Paperwhite 4's and a Voyage.  And I've noticed something.  All of them except the Paperwhite 1 are less sensitive to the touch now than they were.

I just last week installed the latest update on my Paperwhite 3's.  Until I did their touch screens were like they always were.  Now they're like the Paperwhite 4's.  The Voyage has had this latest update for a couple of weeks and it's been finicky as well.

My Paperwhite 1 is as sensitive as ever but there is no latest update for it.  The rest all have 5.10.2 and I think that's the problem.  At least I hope it is because if they've screwed up a firmware update then it'll get fixed.

I did try turning off the clock as someone suggested above.  That might have made a small difference.  I'm not sure.  I'll have to play with it some more.

One other thing I've noticed is that after the update all my Kindles are a lot slower.  Nothing that matters while reading but earlier I had downloaded a few books to consider.  A little while ago I picked the one I think I want to read and I put the rest into a collection.  That's usually a simple process, or it has been in the past.  Now it's slow and painful.

Most of this was done on my Voyage because that's the one I checked out last.  The Voyage is probably the Kindle I've used most in recent years so it's the one I'm most used to.  It never used to be slow.  And it's not because it's older.  The Paperwhite 4 is also slow, although maybe not quite as slow.  My Paperwhite 1 is graceful as a gazelle by comparison.

Barry


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## HLS (Feb 23, 2018)

Mine  seems to have the same issue if I have large downloads  as in resetting the device and re-downloading it all  then the contrast springs back to normal


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## LDB (Oct 28, 2008)

I just got the PW4 on the $89.99 day. I have an Oasis but don't like the square shape. It doesn't fit in my pockets well. Anyway, on both devices I keep the light at 17. It drains a little bit faster but it looks so good I don't care.

My complaint is I can't find how to put the clock at the top of the screen on the PW4 like it is on the Oasis.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

LDB said:


> My complaint is I can't find how to put the clock at the top of the screen on the PW4 like it is on the Oasis.


It's in a weird place:

While in a book, go to the font and page settings. Under "reading" you can toggle to show the clock while reading.

Note that it may not ALWAYS be available. For example, when I'm reading the newspaper, there is no 'reading' menu so the clock doesn't show there. It does for all amazon 'books' and also seems to work with many that are converted Mobi from other sources.


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## LDB (Oct 28, 2008)

Cool. Thank you! I kept looking everywhere in settings and never thought to check there. Where's Gibbs when you need him.


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## HLS (Feb 23, 2018)

My contrast will go down, more grayed out,  when doing a lot of downloads then will go back to normal. if your downloading all your books this may be why. When i got mine and tried to download all of my books this happened.


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## HLS (Feb 23, 2018)

Funny how the same threads and same people posting are the same on mobilereads.


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