Wow.
You know in the last week, I had a significant system "burp" while I was using it.
Sometime after having had Whispernet on.
No new version number change.
But the background became lighter - better contrast.
Now using the Alt-G thing. Nice.
Just sayin.......
Geoff,
I reported about a week ago that I decided to turn off my Kindle instead of just putting it to sleep when not using it, and what I saw. When I turned it back on, to my shock, my Home listing of books was far more bolded than it had been before - I had always wondered why they'd chosen to make it so thin and wispy so I very much noticed this.
To me, it was a sign they're working on it. This week, my downloads were done. But then my unit had that little circle going round and round and round, and I decided not to use it while it was doing that. It lasted far longer than any re-indexing would for a mere 3 periodicals and I don't think I ever see the circle doing that for those.
I wondered if it was running some kind of software downloaded (as opposed to firmware). For me, my font darkness has been more consistently darker. My screen looks nothing like the low-contrast examples that have been put out late but I think I had been lucky to get a good unit when it was sent out on the 24th, anyway. That doesn't mean that I don't want the basic font darker, only that the differences with mine are small enough not to be noticeable 95% of the time and that I think the grayness of my screen may be lighter than it is on some units others have received. It's similar to my K1.
I just posted this on the Wired article on Kindle screen fonts, in the comments area, hoping to propose something that might work for those not wanting to risk voiding warranties by changing their fonts, while waiting for Amazon to work on this while not admitting they are :-) And I might post it on the Amazon forum too, where people are so frustrated about this.
=== My comment at Wired ===
What's been unsaid but discussed much on the forums is that a main problem may have quite a bit to do with the quality control at Masschusetts' E Ink's partner company in Shanghai, which manufactures and assembles the screens.
I don't know how far they go in that or where the Kindle itself might be put together and tested (and how much) or who then boxes these things and where.
There have lately been a number of units that faded in the sunlight, most noticeably upon a page turn.
So, that has become a test of whether or not you have a defective unit.
Amazon quickly does 1-day replacements on those, and lately they have been telling people whose Kindle 2s (within 30-day purchase period) are perceived to have darker screens (than wanted or than their K-1s have) and fonts too light to read comfortably, that they will keep sending replacements until the customer is happy. Of course the customer can just return the Kindle also, for a refund within that 30-day period, for any reason. But the customer doesn't return a unit before getting a replacement unit.
My guess is that Amazon cannot open new Kindle boxes to test the units first but, per forum messages, they have been more than good about replacements.
One of my questions would be what happens to the returned-items.
Until Amazon deigns to officially change anything in this area (but I do believe they're working on it), I recommend that those affected badly but wanting to keep their Kindle-2s,
change their font size to '4' option and then use the feature for DECREASING (we can increase too) the amount of space between lines in order to fit more on the page -- the font will be seen as quite dark and then a shorter distance between lines can be useful if the only problem was darkness of font.
To do this,
press the two lower-left keyboard buttons for Shift and Alt together (use your thumb horizontally) and hold them down while, with your right hand, pressing numbers between 1-9 to either decrease the distance between lines (to see more lines on a page ) or increase the distance between lines.
Amazon's default font size is option 3 on your Aa (font)-key, and its default line-spacing is option 3.
I tend to like my font size at default 3 and line-spacing at option 4 (one higher than default).
But I tried font=4 and found that might work well for others with line-spacing='3' or '2' ('1' does not give less line-spacing with font size 4).
While noticing a slightly lighter font relative to my K1, the differences with mine are really minor and are noticeable only in some light. It does really well under direct sunline.
At
http://tinyurl.com/kindle-screen-comparisons I have photos of my K2 and K1 side by side. In my case there's not enough difference to be caught by my camera setup and I'd have to use a tripod and macro setting and do them one at a time because of the field of focus with two on the same shot as I've done.
I'm quite happy with mine although I could be even happier with a somewhat darker basic font and I've been concerned about others' problems though they'd had none with their K1s.
In dimmer light, I use a flexible Mighty Bright Ultraflex 2 clip-on-light using AAA batteries and that can make a very good screen display.
===
Most of that people here know, but I was writing to the comments area of Wired.
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