There are a lot of reports of the Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Colorsoft (which is exactly the same as the Paperwhite but with a color screen) having frontlights with a yellow tinge at the cool end of the frontlight spectrum. And some have a yellowing that is more pronounced at the bottom of the screen.
That was a big issue when the Kindle Colorsoft first launched. Amazon said they fixed it, and maybe they have to some extent, but it’s still an issue on the Kindle Colorsoft and Kindle Paperwhite.
I just bought a new Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition from Amazon during Prime Day, and it has a frontlight with a slightly yellower tone than my other Paperwhite, and there’s a subtle gradient on the bottom third of the screen that’s even yellower.
The frontlight on my standard 12th gen Kindle Paperwhite (pictured left) is perfectly even, with no detectable frontlight gradient at all. But my new Signature Edition has a slightly yellower color tone and a visible gradient. The yellowing is less obvious than the yellow bar was on the Kindle Colorsoft, but it is noticeable when not using the warm light.
I personally don’t mind the yellower tint to the frontlight in general. I find the warmer tone more pleasant than the cold blue or green tones on some frontlights (like the Boox Go 7 BW that I recently reviewed). In fact, I usually add a few extra notches of the warm light when using the frontlight on the Paperwhite to make it even mellower.
To me the frontlight doesn’t even really look yellow on its own until you compare it side-by-side with a different ereader that has a lighter frontlight. But the gradient does have a more obvious yellowing to it.
I’m fine with the frontlight tone on the Paperwhite overall; it’s the frontlight gradient that’s visually annoying. Frontlights have had this issue since the very beginning so it isn’t anything new—all brands have this issue to some extent. But in the past Kindles were the least likely to have frontlight gradients, from my experience. Now it’s a crapshoot whether or not you’ll get a Kindle with an even frontlight.
If Amazon doesn’t want to fix this problem then I think maybe they should consider changing the name of the Kindle Paperwhite to the Kindle Paperyellow. Set some realistic expectations for customers.
Paper yellows with age. Just saying 😉
The new gen definitely varies a lot more across devices. My Paperwhite 11, Oasis and original Scribe all have a kindof mellow light orange hue that I got used to. They’re all the same as each other basically.
My 12th gen I like a lot but I had a replacement device that was super green! I couldn’t stand it.
I just bought a Kindle Kids Paperwhite & I haven’t noticed anything like that. I wasn’t looking for it though & I tend to keep my KIndles that have the frontlight at the very far end of the warmth spectrum.
This is depressing. There isn’t a single manufacturer of eReaders that you can count on to sell you a quality device.