Jonathan Takiff: Kindle 3 kinks found, iPad2 case preview, bad tech mag covers

GIZMO: Case controversies plague the Kindle (with M-Edge to the rescue!) and taunt Apple's iPad 2 "secrecy." Also, a cautionary tale about tech magazine cover headlines.

KINDLE KLUNK-UP: Just a month ago, Amazon.com was bragging about the huge success of its third-generation Kindle, the best-selling item in company history. Now, and only under duress, has the online giant come clean (kinda) about problems with this e-reader when it's installed in a $34.99, made-for-Kindle carrying case.

The screen freezes up. The device reboots without prompting. The battery drains prematurely. And the Kindle 3 sometimes loses track of your place in the book, forgets your folders and resorts your books.

These issues seem to be linked to the securing metal hooks in the cover that fit into side slots on the e-reader. Somehow those metal contact points are shorting out the circuitry. Oddly, they are not a problem with the $59.99 Kindle cover variant that features a built-in reading lamp.

While complaining commenced on Kindle forums well before the holidays, an Amazon.com spokesperson said the "engineering team" is still "looking into this" and denied the problem was universal: "The majority of customers continue to enjoy their Kindle cover."

So less than 49 percent have been affected? Comforting.

For Kindlers experiencing problems, the company is offering to replace the cover for free with a different type or accept it for a full refund, no matter when the cover was purchased. Calls are being taken at 1-877-453-4512 or 1-206-922-0844.

OUR RECOMMENDATION: Take the refund and invest a few bucks more in one of the more fashionable and practical covers for the Kindle 3 (and 2) available from M-Edge (www.medgestore.com).

Their "hardback book" look Cambridge Jackets ($44.99) for Kindle are quite handsome, though a mite weighty and stiff.

Recommended without equivocation are M-Edge's fun and fashionable Kindle jackets featuring popular New Yorker magazine covers. Using a photo sublimation process, the art appears as printed fabric on the ultra-slim, lightweight cover, treated for stain resistance.

Better still, this leather-edged cover folds back easily and tightly, with less resistance than an official Kindle case. The interior is nicely finished in tan microfiber. A four-point mounting system holds the device securely. And there's a side slot for M-Edge's optional e-Luminator2 booklight ($20).

Next month, M-Edge will expand the New Yorker line with versions for iPad and Nook, and introduce custom ("MyEdge") covers imprinted with a photo or design of your choosing, also priced at $40 for Kindles and Nook, $50 for iPads.

Nice.

IPAD 2 - CASE OPENED: Apple is playing its usual mum's-the-word game about the upcoming, second-generation iPad. Yet at least two accessory makers showcasing wares at the recent Consumer Electronics Show inadvertently spilled some of the beans by showcasing prototype iPad 2 covers installed in mockups of the next-gen tablet computer sporting the same sized (9.7-inch) screen but looking slightly thinner at the edges.

The most obvious "news" spotted? Cutouts in the cases for front and rear cameras, sure to work with Apple's FaceTime videoconferencing. And a perforated opening on the back suggested a new, rear-firing speaker (a subwoofer?) to improve iPad's performance as a movie/music/game player.

There's been much rumor mongering that the iPad 2 will also feature a higher-resolution display and slot for an SD memory card, though I didn't spot any clues. Apple likely will spring the "news" next month or in March, then bring the product to stores as early as April, still beating to market most other would-be competitors.

READING BETWEEN THE LINES: Here's a challenge. Which magazine cover headline promises a more positive review: "Eye Popping 3D - Toshiba's 3D LCD Delivers Fine Color and Detail" (from the January issue of Sound & Vision); or "Toshiba's Latest 3D LCD: Ultra Thin Profile, Internet Streaming Apps and More!" (from January's Home Theater cover).

Both seem quite upbeat, right?

In truth, Rob Sabin's S&V review of the Toshiba 55WX800U pretty much boils down to "don't buy this." He discovered, as did I in an extended hands-on with a slightly smaller (46-inch versus 55-inch) but otherwise identical model, that this top-of-the-line telly suffers from more than its share of 3-D image ghosting and uneven illumination from the LED edge-lit technology that allows the TV's profile to be so elegantly thin.

Another sore point - no auto-switching between 2-D and 3-D sources.

Tom Norton, writing in Home Theater, was more positive about the Toshiba as a conventional 2-D TV performer, liked its bounty of extra features and argued the point that every 3D-ready TV suffers from ghosting to a degree with lesser stereoscopic content.

Yeah, but scary bad like this one? Especially from DirecTV's pioneering and slightly out of (HDMI 1.4) spec 3-D channels, which are truly unwatchable on this TV.

Norton told me he didn't test the Toshiba with DirecTV signals. And as my loaner is long gone, I won't be able to see if it performs better once a DirecTV 3-D software update comes along "soon."

But with better-on-all-accounts 3-D-ready sets from Panasonic, Samsung and LG out there, I'm in no hurry to uncrate another sample of this one and try it again.

Send e-mail to takiffj@phillynews.com.