Comments on: Kindle screen woes: Anyone else? [updated w/ pic]

By: j

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:43:02 +0000

hi, so my kindle is broken.
I wasnt too sure about Amazons return policy but basically I told them the case, they were great, and apparently they sent me a new one in the mail (I am not home but I was told it was a new one). I still have the old Kindle. If I dont send back the old one, will I be charged for the new one as well?

By: kathryn schultz

kathryn schultz — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:58:14 +0000

I have the exact same problem. My screen looks like your photo, after minimal use - and no abuse. I hope Amazon will address this, as I have purchased five books not yet read. KS

By: james

james — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:29:32 +0000

My Kindle started to black out while I was reading. I put it on charge but after it was fully charged- a darkened screen with a very faint image . Appears to be a serious problem.

By: lorenzo

lorenzo — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 04:38:25 +0000

I went through three kindles and finally just decided to wait until version 2.0. The first one would not hold a charge. The second one would not connect to amazon and the third one had a screen that would only show every other line! And this happened right out of the box! Great customer service in replacing the units but enough is enough. It has great promise once all these issues are ironed out.

By: Gregg in portland

Gregg in portland — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:45:48 +0000

I bought a Kindle when it came out and received it a month later in January. It worked perfectly for over 4 months until the screen stopped working. It looked like it was 5% of the black. I called Amazon, and was told they would send me a new Kindle. I received it 10 days later and it has worked well since. Even with this issue, it is well worth it for me. Like all technology it has it problems, the only thing that can make it up is customer service. Amazon has handled themselves very well indeed.

By: weffiewonj

weffiewonj — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:22:19 +0000

I received my first Kindle in early April, and on Friday, Amazon will be delivering Kindle #4. Three Kindle screens have gone bad, and only in one instance was the defect a result of a serious drop. I either have a magic touch, or there is a signficant issue with the Kindle. Great customer service, though, and, unfortunately, I talk from experience.

By: kindlehater

kindlehater — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:00:29 +0000

Waited 6 weeks to get it…screen did EXACTLY as the picture in 3 weeks…i see a major recall coming …what kind of product breaks in 3 weeks of LIMITED use….. charged 400 and cost 2 bucks to make.

By: Charles Wilkes

Charles Wilkes — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:43:38 +0000

I have seen my screen look like that but very rarely. All I had to do is to do a reset with an opened paper clip on the back side under the back cover, into the tiny unlabeled hole you will see there. Fixed it perfectly. I don’t mind something which can be fixed as simple as that.

What I do suggest is that you do not put a lot of pressure on the front of the screen. The case has a padded area to help prevent that if you always keep it in the case like I do, but the e-ink screen can be damaged (as probably everything can be) if you push on it very hard. Someone above said the same thing can happen to the Sony, except they make it worse by having a snap which you have to press on right at a wrong place.

Charles Wilkes, San Jose, Calif.

By: Charles Wilkes

Charles Wilkes — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:36:08 +0000

But Kindle has great PDF suppor. A few days ago I sent a very large PDF document to it, it showed up on my Kindle lookng absolutely great. Kindle has never said they did not support PDF, but initially they did have some problems with word wrapping the fixed iine lngth of a PDF. But they must have fixed that, since mine was word wrapped perfectly, and I even increased the font size and it still word wrapped perfectly with the new font size.

By: Jacquelyn Savani

Jacquelyn Savani — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:21:26 +0000

The defect pictured with respect to the Kindle display is exactly the same defect I have experienced with my 3.5-month-old iLiad. There are several posts on the web about such defects with respect to iRex iLiad display technology, and now here is the same pictured defect with Kindle. My guess is that this defect is an inherent problem of similar technical approaches to e-ink. Kindle is new, so we will see if there is a raft of similar display complaints being floated in the next half-year. I have yet to see a similar complaint with SONY.

By: Darryl

Darryl — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 07:08:41 +0000

This looks like what happened to my Sony Reader…. a cracked screen, if it is I hope that Amazon has better customer support than Sony does.. they wanted 250,00 to fix it, even though it was brand new and broke because of poor design ( the case that comes with it has a snap button that you have to push into the back of the reader.

By: Gregr209

Gregr209 — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 04:53:26 +0000

I just noticed one single white line going down the entire length of a page. It doesn’t effect reading but every time the unit flashes black to turn the page you can see the single line running down the length of the screen. You can also see it on several of the screen savers. I guess I better get a call into Amazon and get this one in the queue to get replaced! YiKES! I can’t imagine not being without this thing after having it now for a month. I have already read 4 books on it! Plus read my morning paper on it.

By: dude

dude — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 19:50:26 +0000

The picture shows row and column line outs. This problem is from Prime View International (is a the TFT issue) not E Ink.

By: John Biggs

John Biggs — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 20:56:25 +0000

I’m not sure. I was able to drag it over manually with no trouble. Not sure why the network wasn’t connecting.

My BIGGEST beef? NO DAMN PDF SUPPORT. This only became a problem today when I was trying to move some ebooks over. HAG!G!GDGD!

By: Alex

Alex — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 20:41:55 +0000

Nuts! I was hoping to order one by the end of January to receive as a birthday gift. I may wait until hey get the kinks out and come out with a second generation Kindle. I’ll keep watching this space to see if anyone else has problems. John, why can’t you get fresh content?

By: Charles Wilkes

Charles Wilkes — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 18:13:21 +0000

The same thing happened to me. The screen went black row by row until it was totally black. I called for help, and they were wonderful, and got me a new Kindle about 8 days later. When UPS arrived I was home, and just replaced the old reader for the new one in the box, taped it up, attached the return label they had emailed me, and the driver took the return box for shipping back to Amazon. I don’t blame them somehow — they try so hard that I just can’t. I hope this doesn’t happen too much though, or Kindle will get a bad name. But I think e-ink is the culprit — and everyone even Sony uses it. I don’t know what causes it, but I suspect that the screen really can’t take any pressure even though I always have mine in the book cover. But the book cover is rather soft, and I think a metal reinforcement would be better in keeping pressure off the screen.
Don’t trust the scheduled date — it will come the soonest they can, and beat the scheduled date by a mile.

By: Cali Lewis

Cali Lewis — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 16:44:46 +0000

My Kindle hasn’t had any issues. It’s interesting because I tend to want to read it while walking on a treadmill. I also go back and forth between fiction and non-fiction more than I ever have with dead-tree books.

By: anony mouse

anony mouse — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 16:20:22 +0000

“Nothing beats the feel of textured paper”…

I still kinda think that the feel of a nice breast is way better than the feel of textured paper. But maybe that’s just me.

By: Patricio Albasete

Patricio Albasete — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 14:44:36 +0000

I am not convinces either… http://www.spymac.com/details/?2321924

By: John Biggs

John Biggs — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 14:16:08 +0000

I hear you but I’ve been enjoying the Kindle. I know nothing beats paper, but having four books on the plane at once - I’m one of those guys who worries he’ll run out of reading material - is great. The Kindle comes in second to real books but then MP3s come in second to records and that hasn’t stopped the iPod.