Are the Kindle 2's 16 shades of gray a big deal?

That depends. I once posted, in various forums, a page of illustrations that gave the image display capability with 16 shades of gray available to the Kindle 2 vs the 4 gray shades of the Kindle 1 (and the 8 shades of the Sony PRS700) in response to questions about how much difference this might make with e-readers.

The choice of 16 shades of gray (or grey) over 4 shades is an easy one for me, as the difference is large for someone with an avid photography focus and who likes to enjoy images (including maps) in books too).

The illustrations are from the excellent tutorial at the wonder of light
  It includes  (above each photo)  a description of gray shades used for that photo.

A grayscale image is made up of differences between white ('off') and black ('on'), with only black (1-bit, say) or white (0) a night & day thing, with nothing in between.

To add something in between, they can make it "2-bit" and this produces 4 shades of gray.  You'll recognize the image below from what we sometimes encounter with our Kindle Klassics (K1's), unless the publisher dithers* the image.

Kindle Klassic (K1) style (4 shades)
 

* (Some publishers can choose to 'dither' a limited 4-shade image by
    using diffusion to lessen the harsh transition from one shade to another
    to make the image more photo-like.
      However, this usually reduces sharpness and can cause a grainy pattern
    that's visible or, more often, a posterization effect.
      We see nicely-dithered images on the Kindle Klassic by publishers who are
    aware it can be done.)


Sony PRS-700 style (8 shades)
 


Kindle 2 style (16 shades)
 

For me, this is a REALLY desirable change, and it's the one reason I did want the Kindle 2, for books with illustrations).  I already have 2 Photoshop tutorials (in Kindle format) on my Kindle and a couple of travel guides with pictures.

  Here are examples of actual differences between photographic displays of the two Kindles side by side.

  With text, there are downsides as well as upsides, in that various colors used in a book of colored text will be translated into shades of gray, leading to less perceived contrast than if all the text were in complete black.

By the way, that page at the wonder of light is excellent.  As you browse it, remember that each photo is explained by the description ABOVE it.

 - Andrys

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Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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The Supreme Court and the Kindle

I was startled to be reading, on my Kindle last night, a Slate report on the Supreme Court hearing Wednesday morning, on the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, in connection with the non-showing of the 90-minute Hillary: the Movie within 30 to 60 days of voting if financed by corporation treasuries.

Reading along, I suddenly see:

' At this point, a horrified Anthony Kennedy gets even paler than his usual pale self:  "Is it the Kindle where you can read a book?  I take it that's from a satellite.  So the existing statute would probably prohibit that under your view? …

  If this Kindle device where you can read a book which is campaign advocacy, within the 60- to 30-day period, if it comes from a satellite, it can be prohibited under the Constitution and perhaps under this statute?"  Again Stewart clarifies that it wouldn't be banned, but a corporation could be barred from using its general treasury funds to publish such a book and would be required to publish it through a PAC. '

So, it seems the Kindle is already working its way into the national or at least national court's consciousness :-) Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Kindleholics (not quite) Anonymous

The Kindle 2 was barely out when bloggers began speculating about the Kindle 3.  At the left is Crunchgear's mock-up of that, based on actual talk of an imminent 8 x 10 "student" Kindle, although that was the screen-size anticipated and not the frame size.   :-)

But, the news focus on the Kindle these days is fairly intense, and Kindle forums have one common thread -- "Kindle addiction."  One of the best examples is this Amazon forum thread (alternate link) started by the very funny "Lulu" who has obviously read many typical Kindle threads with all their questions and concerns.

A new 'addiction' thread was started inadvertently by an enthusiastic new Kindle owner and I did laugh when reading some of these too, one particularly funny one by Michael A. Steen which sums up a common situation of the new Kindle owner.

Here are some links to the various forums available, where just about any question will be answered by several people.

AMAZON'S OWN FORUMS:
. Kindle-2 Forum (alternate) specifically - for those who have or are thinking of getting the Kindle 2
. Kindle-1 Forum (alternate) - for Kindle 1 owners and those considering buying the older Kindle-1 unit (at Amazon (used) ((alternate), eBay, or Criagslist).  Some prefer the Kindle-1's SD card and user-replaceable battery advantages and its much-discussed perceived darker text, not to mention its lower price in a fast-changing electronic world.
. KindleCommunity (alternate) - their forum for more general Kindle discussions
. A favorite thread of Kindle forum users: "A Million or so Kindle books available now {mostly free}:  where to get them and how"

TIPS ON AMAZON'S FREE BOOKS AREA
Tip 1:  Here are Amazon's own 7,000 books costing $0.00 -- mainly public domain classics.

Tip 2:  And these are Amazon's fewer, currently free books that are NOT public-domain classics.

SEARCHING AMAZON FORUMS:
These Amazon forums don't have their own searchable features, but I've long posted a way to do this.  We can google specific sites-only using keywords for those sites, and this is often better, even, than a site's own searches.

    1.  Preface all google searches for Amazon Kindle forum topics with this string:
        site:amazon.com kindle forum

    2.  Then add the key word (or keywords) that you want in the Google results:
        Full Examples:
                A.   site:amazon.com kindle forum battery
                B.   site:amazon.com kindle forum share books

OTHER FORUMS I ENJOY (with fun people and lots of good information):
. Kindleboards - the liveliest Kindle forums
. Kindle Social Network (BookSummit), which allows a quite varied personal profile page

I'll be adding a lot more info as I go, so do monitor the blog and add suggestions for topics of interest to you. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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The Kindle cover and its hinged protection

The Amazon Kindle 2 cover is a lot better than I'd expected after last year's included cover that helped us drop our Kindles though there was no warranty protection for accidents.

The Kindle forums have included questions on how to use the hinged cover without scratching the Kindle. A few have found the hooks unpleasant in concept, but I like their protection, especially after the Kindle 1 cover -- and I've had no problem with scratching of the Kindle. But since others have, I've made a photo guide to using the locking/unlocking mechanism.

UPDATE 8/30/09 - There are a few who have reported problems with the Kindle shell "cracking."  Many of us have had the Kindle 2's for 7 months with no signs of that happening.  A poll at Kindleboards shows 136 of 139 participating members saying they've had no problems while 3 reported they had the cracking problem.
 An obvious way for it to happen is if you open the book from the back.  You'd need to force it quite a bit to do that at all (not realizing why there was resistance) and that would make the hinge hooks act as levers and cause cracking of the Kindle.  I almost did that once, in a dark place but I didn't force it.  The design should have prevented opening it from the back then.  Customer "TAS" at the Amazon forums recommends a way to prevent accidental forced-opening from the back.




The jacket opens like a book.




I fold the front cover back if using it with the Kindle and I sometimes prop it against something when eating, even at cafes.

Notice it has a clean floating look. The cover is thin, light, and flexible, though padded and solid.

This shows the look of an e-Ink page for a periodical, using the new bottom status navigation bar. When reading it, I don't think about the unit unless I want to type a search to remind myself who a named character or participant is.

We are now able to choose the distance between lines (using Shift-Alt-{1-9}.  The default is '3' -- and anything above that will increase the distance between the lines.



USING THE HINGES TO FASTEN/REMOVE the Kindle

The first item is the lower hook. It's curved downward and some have worried that theirs was "bent" or defective -- but it's curved down in order to hold the Kindle more securely.

  The Kindle should be angled to match the direction of the hook or clip, whether you're locking your Kindle in place or removing it.  It's also easier if you have the front cover folded behind the back cover and are matching the connectors that way, since you can then see what you're doing more easily.


The Kindle's angled in and connected and then... the top of the unit is moved to the left toward the hinge, to connect the top.




The top hook will not be aligned with the slot.  That's because in order to hold the Kindle in place, it needs to be higher once connected.

If you just press the Kindle lightly against the hook, it'll slide down and then the Kindle will snap into place and be locked in.



Someone posted that the M-Edge's hinge wasn't as easy to snap in on her model.  In that case, slide the top hook down just a bit so it can be inserted into the
Kindle slot. (Do the same to release the top connector later.)
  And that should do it!



So, since the end result of the activity above should be a focus on reading, I'll end with a shot of the screen only, to give an idea of what the e-Ink technology is like, for those who don't yet have a Kindle or a Sony e-reader.

The cover did have a strong unpleasant odor the first week but it was gone after a week. I spent the first day airing it by a window.

  I particularly like that it's very light, covers the Kindle well and looks like no more than a notebook (good theft avoidance).

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US: Kindle Fire  7" tablet - $199 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $79/$109 Kindle Touch, WiFi - $99/$139 Kindle Touch, 3G/WiFi - $149/$189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189, Free, slow web Kindle DX - $379, Free, slow 3G web

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £89 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £109 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi, UK - £169 Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $109 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi - $189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
  Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

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(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
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A Photo Comparison of Kindle Klassic and Kindle 2

I'll just start this off with a photo comparison I did quickly when receiving my Kindle 2 after having enjoyed the Kindle 1 (dubbed 'Klassic' or 'KK' or 'K1' by enthusiasts) for about half a year. Many wanted to know what the visual differences were and there had been some discussion (which continues) of not only the more photo-like grayscale capabilities but also the relative degree of grayness of screen backgrounds and the basic font's black density. The Kindle 2 has a somewhat thinner font that some perceive as 'crisper' or 'sharper' while others see it as 'lighter' and providing less contrast. It can be like comparing a fine-point pen to a medium one (as seen with the home page listings, which I have not photographed yet).

The K2's directness of access to the dictionary and to links without added pop-up boxes is a real plus.   I wish, though, that the 5-way were not anchored by the dictionary lookup for each word hovered over while passing through.  But web browsing is much faster.

TEXT and book preview images.  I used the same Amazon store page used by PC World in its recent K1 and K2 comparison.

    *CLICK* on images that don't quite fit on this page to see full original images.




===============================================

Here's a shot of both units displaying a page with very basic fonts for periodicals sent to the Kindle via plain-text RSS feed once a day from Kindlefeeder.




===============================================
OUR PERSONAL PICTURES UNDER 'PICTURES' FOLDER




===============================================

I chose text LINE spacing that was modified using the key-combo Shift-Alt-5 to match more closely K1's spacing between lines. (We can choose from Shift-Alt-[1-9], with '3' the somewhat cramped default.
Sample:    Leslie's The Amazon Kindle FAQ



 
    I used this sample to confirm that the fonts can be just as dark if they are specified as black somewhere in Amazon's coding.


===============================================
PLAIN TEXT FROM A BOOK ("The Spell of Egypt") - CLOSER UP
Again, modified the default Font '3' by pressing Shift-Alt-5 to expand line distance more similar to K1's line spacing

The Kindle Klassic first, followed by the Kindle 2.  This close-up pair had to be taken separately, to get that close, and my shadow looms over them.


 


    Most of the rest below were taken by lamp light, with the lamp at the left, closer to the K1, but aimed across the K2.  No scientific review here!

===============================================
WEB PAGE interpretation by K1 and K2
+ ESPN as example



The rows of links are quite sqeezed together by K2 browser.
They underline each link and highlight certain links.

  Someone or something does a terrific job dithering the 4-shades for the header image.

Here's a zoomed-in area to show what the text looks like if we're reading the page.


And here's a separate shot I took closer up of the K2 screen.  I used only the top part of the shot.



===============================================
WEB PAGE interpretation of
PEOPLE MAGAZINE -   



  Text with images are shown quite differently on these two.

K1's 4 SHADES and K2's 16 SHADES - using this People magazine page




  This was not a bad job of dithering for 4-shades (using diffusion to blend the dots). 


===============================================
MORE on K1s 4-shades vs the K2's 16 shades
using People Magazine still.  This one was for a big fan of Hugh Jackman   :-)



 


===============================================
JUST AN EXCUSE to put "Slumdog Millionaire" folks in this thread.



One last comparison -the K1 image is pretty nicely dithered:
 

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MY KINDLE 2,  AT REST ON THE LOUNGER



I hope this helps with the conflicting reports about less clarity vs the K1 while others say the screen is crisper and sharper.

  The 16 shades capability of the K2 will cause it to interpret colors as different shades of gray.

  You know how they say, "Just give me the basics - no grays"?

    The large differences from using only Black and White plus 2 other shades made up between them (for the K1) leads to inherently good contrast for the eyes at a loss of shading.  The 11 additional shades of gray (for the K2) means that some text will be in a lighter shade, depending on what the publisher or formatter decides to use for the font.

Nevertheless, a few Kindle 2's  (as with the Kindle 1's)  have seemed to have unreadable fonts in sunlight (which shouldn't be), so, for display anomalies do check with Amazon customer reps at 866-321-8851.

---

Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!