Touch Nook STR: Display Issue - Artifacts from previous pages.

[Bookworm_Girl]

It is interesting that people are now getting their Kobo Touch ereaders and reporting that the new Kobo uses the same refresh approach as the new Nook. People are seeing a similar ghosting effect. Their discussion nearly mirrors this one!

[ucfgrad93]

If true, that really reinforces the fact that it has something to do with only refreshing every 5-6 pages instead of every 1 page like the Kindle.

[SteveDuck]

Here are a few photos to demonstrate the fuzzy text.

Image on right is fuzzy, after numerous page changes. In the photo, the word "up" seems to show the most letter distortion.

The image on the left is a fresh display after a refresh triggered by viewing the "more"window. Notice the word "up" is now crisper.

The photos are poor and the effect is subtle, but noticeable.

So far I cannot replicate the more severe ghosting seen before.


The fuzzy text is still legible, but it is a slight nuisance to have continually variable display quality. Less annoying than the page turn flash I have seen on the original nook..

Thanks for all the feedback.

[varelov]

I took a look at this new Nook today at a local B&N store and the FIRST thing I noticed was the "see through" effect- especially if the previous page had graphics of some kind (like book or magazine cover or the start page of Nook) and then if I go to text-only page- I could still see the previous page in the background. True, it dissapears after few pages, but the effect repeats when looking at some graphics.
Also the flashing when the page is turned- it MAY be that it is faster, but definitely the flash is stronger, in comparison to Nook Classic where the transition is milder.
These two things, combined with the lack of browser, is why I won't be getting this new Nook (despite the initial enthusiasm).

[Zarich]

It has a browser and B&N will likely solve this issue if enough users are unhappy

[cfrock]

Agreed (with the post above).
I can see BN making an option in the next s/w update to add a customizable refresh rate. I'm guessing it would affect battery life to some small extent.

[Doogman]

Hmmm. I've seen worse ghosting on my Sony 350.

I guess the question is if this is worse than the other pearl devices. If you search the other reader-specific topics, you will find threads complaining about ghosting in almost every eink reader.

[ST-One]

Originally Posted by SteveDuck

Here are a few photos to demonstrate the fuzzy text.

Image on right is fuzzy, after numerous page changes. In the photo, the word "up" seems to show the most letter distortion.

The image on the left is a fresh display after a refresh triggered by viewing the "more"window. Notice the word "up" is now crisper.

The photos are poor and the effect is subtle, but noticeable.

So far I cannot replicate the more severe ghosting seen before.


The fuzzy text is still legible, but it is a slight nuisance to have continually variable display quality. Less annoying than the page turn flash I have seen on the original nook..

Thanks for all the feedback.

I can't see any ghosting though.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Doogman

I guess the question is if this is worse than the other pearl devices. If you search the other reader-specific topics, you will find threads complaining about ghosting in almost every eink reader.

Ghosting is inherent in eInk devices, but the issue here is B&N's decision not to do a full screen refresh after every page turn; that will unquestionably lead to an exacerbation of the problem. I have devices which allow you to turn off the screen refresh, and doing so definitely results in a very noticeable build-up of "garbage" on the screen.

I strongly suspect that B&N will make this optional in a future firmware update; that would be best for everyone.

[sourcejedi]

If anyone's curious about all the different issues being mentioned, I can confirm/explain a list of the ones which apply to my pre-Pearl e-ink device w/ the OpenInkpot drivers. [Otherwise you can skip this; I don't have a Nook ].

1) Even with full screen refresh, room temperature, and no direct sunlight, I can always see some "ghosting" of the previous page if I look very closely.

2) If you enable "partial screen refresh", the ghosts "pile up" on each page turn, until the next full screen refresh. Personally I prefer to leave it on full page refresh; as others have mentioned it doesn't seem to slow it down too much.

3) If I let the device get cold e.g. when reading outside, the screen refresh pattern is different. It appears to flash even more - I don't remember the exact pattern. I discovered this is actually controlled by software. If you shell into the device, you can see a temperature sensor. There's a daemon that polls the sensor and switches between a couple of different control patterns. I assume the display elements need a bigger kick when they're cold :-).

4) On my display, direct sunlight can cause the image to actually fade and/or show even more ghosting, over a period of several seconds, to the point of near unreadability. This is the manufacturing defect, which caused Sony and other reputable producers to accept returns. It's said that they basically forgot to turn on the manufacturing stage which added a UV-protective layer. I don't think it's about the display getting too warm, because it fixes itself very quickly if I move into the shade. It's just vulnerable to a certain type of em-radiation. Note that E-Ink adjusted their testing, so in theory more recent batches like the Pearl displays should be free of this specific defect.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sourcejedi

4) On my display, direct sunlight can cause the image to actually fade and/or show even more ghosting, over a period of several seconds, to the point of near unreadability. This is the manufacturing defect, which caused Sony and other reputable producers to accept returns. It's said that they basically forgot to turn on the manufacturing stage which added a UV-protective layer. I don't think it's about the display getting too warm, because it fixes itself very quickly if I move into the shade. It's just vulnerable to a certain type of em-radiation. Note that E-Ink adjusted their testing, so in theory more recent batches like the Pearl displays should be free of this specific defect.

It was a faulty batch of screens manufactured by LG which exhibit this behaviour. They ended up in lots of different brands of reader.

[sonyreaderfan]

I'm wondering, is this something you can get used to, or is it really annoying? FWIW I didn't see any ghosting in the demo unit in a BN store.

[negris123]

Originally Posted by sonyreaderfan

I'm wondering, is this something you can get used to, or is it really annoying? FWIW I didn't see any ghosting in the demo unit in a BN store.

I have had mine for a week and I don't get used to it. I find it annoying. I really hope they will fix it with an update. It is not subtle at all. I had the Nook classic and even though there were instances where there was some ghosting visible, it was very minor and never found it a problem. This is completely different and it really needs to be addressed.

[varelov]

Agree with the post above. Ghosting has never been an issue on my nook classic when I bought it or as a display unit, and honestly, I had no idea what other eReader users were talking about when they mention ghosting. It is annoying. I don't see any reason why should I get used to it. Touch screen navigation is of course superior to nook classic's lcd strip, but other than that, Simple Reader simply dissapoints.
Now, if they turn the browser on and fix the ghosting problem, I'd be writing different lines. Till then...

[RAH]

There are two such different feelings on this topic that I wonder if folks who are seeing a lot of ghosting might have faulty devices. I mean, I do not see any ghosting, which agrees with what several others have said. I just see imperfect text sometimes, as shown in those nice screen shots above. This is exactly what I was also seeing on the store display model. It is subtle and not nearly bad enough to have to get used to it. Anyone seeing bad ghosting probably has a faulty device, IMHO.