Replacement Voyage observations

[BobDyl]

I received the Voyage day one in the US, had the dreaded gradient problem, and asked AMZN for a replacement, which they agreed to send. The replacement arrived today, I'm assuming from a new production batch.

Sorry no comparison pics since I already boxed up the original one and returned it. But I did spend a little time comparing them side by side. My (subjective) findings:

- The replacement Voyage has less of a gradient. It's still there but only visible at certain middling light levels. You really have to be looking for it to see it, whereas on my original Voyage it is more obvious.

- The replacement Voyage has a slightly whiter/bluer hue. I never really noticed this until looking at them side by side, but my original Voyage has a pinkish hue, obvious at any light level above 10 or 11.

Anyway, I had pretty much gotten used to the screen on the original Voyage. The replacement is slightly better -- maybe 10% better, but it is not perfect. I do think the Voyage is the best Kindle they've made. I love the thing.

[MickeyMark]

My original Voyage had a better screen than the one I have now, but I can live with the screen I have now. (It just hurts, because the original one was better and I know it.)

I had to return my original one because it kept locking up and had to be rebooted 3, or 4, times/day.

I've been reading on my new Voyage every night... and I'm getting to the point where I've forgotten about the better screen my original had. (It's not supposed to work this way, but what's a person supposed to do? I'm not going to return 6 Voyages to get one that's still not perfect. I just wish Amazon had better quality control on these things... )

[Offie]

Originally Posted by MickeyMark

My original Voyage had a better screen than the one I have now, but I can live with the screen I have now. (It just hurts, because the original one was better and I know it.)

I had to return my original one because it kept locking up and had to be rebooted 3, or 4, times/day.

Exactly the same with me.
But I have to say, none of my Voyages had the light gradient issue.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Offie

But I have to say, none of my Voyages had the light gradient issue.

All Voyages have a light gradient. If you want to see it for yourself, take a photograph of your screen, cut out a portion of the image of the top of the screen, and paste it at the bottom of the screen. You'll see that the image you've cut from the top of the screen is a little darker than the bottom of the screen. This is absolutely normal, because the bottom of the screen is where the lights are, of course.

What varies is how sensitive people are to it. Like you, I don't visually see the gradient, but I can prove to myself that it is there by doing what I describe above.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by HarryT

All Voyages have a light gradient. If you want to see it for yourself, take a photograph of your screen, cut out a portion of the image of the top of the screen, and paste it at the bottom of the screen. You'll see that the image you've cut from the top of the screen is a little darker than the bottom of the screen. This is absolutely normal, because the bottom of the screen is where the lights are, of course.

What varies is how sensitive people are to it. Like you, I don't visually see the gradient, but I can prove to myself that it is there by doing what I describe above.

The people that are bothered the most are complaining about a color gradient, not intensity gradient. The amount of color gradient varies from screen to screen.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

The people that are bothered the most are complaining about a color gradient, not intensity gradient. The amount of color gradient varies from screen to screen.

Yes, exactly. Mine was yellow to blue. Going by pics, others have this issue as well. I also had pink color hues in various places on mine as well.

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

Yes, exactly. Mine was yellow to blue. Going by pics, others have this issue as well. I also had pink color hues in various places on mine as well.

Same here. Ruined the screen and made it difficult to read.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

Yes, exactly. Mine was yellow to blue. Going by pics, others have this issue as well. I also had pink color hues in various places on mine as well.

I've been keeping a close eye on the amazon.co.uk reviews. There are now 96 reviews of the Voyage, 81 of which are 4- and 5-star. Of the ten 1- and 2-star reviews, 4 of them mention this colour issue.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I've been keeping a close eye on the amazon.co.uk reviews. There are now 96 reviews of the Voyage, 81 of which are 4- and 5-star. Of the ten 1- and 2-star reviews, 4 of them mention this colour issue.

A 300% increase in a single day!

Also a change from 1 in sixty-something to 3 in thirty-something.

I believe that people have pointed out that the US and DE sites have much higher color gradient complaint rates than the UK site and that some of the higher rated reviews on the UK site mention the color gradient as well. It is not cricket to cherry pick.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I've been keeping a close eye on the amazon.co.uk reviews. There are now 96 reviews of the Voyage, 81 of which are 4- and 5-star. Of the ten 1- and 2-star reviews, 4 of them mention this colour issue.

I'm a five star and I haven't even left a review

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I'm a five star and I haven't even left a review

Nor me. It's generally the case that reviews over-emphasise problems, because it's just human nature for people to complain if they're unhappy, but remain silent if they're satisfied.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Nor me. It's generally the case that reviews over-emphasise problems, because it's just human nature for people to complain if they're unhappy, but remain silent if they're satisfied.

Well, I think we have already come to the conclusion that not everyone sees this issue, and even if they do, some still choose to keep their device anyway. I assume some suffer from it worse than others. I'd say most people in general don't write reviews for their purchases, negative or positive. What I do know is that early on a kindle rep told me that Amazon is aware of it and I really don't think they would have said that, and been aware of it, had only a few people complained.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

Well, I think we have already come to the conclusion that not everyone sees this issue, and even if they do, some still choose to keep their device anyway. I assume some suffer from it worse than others. I'd say most people in general don't write reviews for their purchases, negative or positive. What I do know is that early on a kindle rep told me that Amazon is aware of it and I really don't think they would have said that, and been aware of it, had only a few people complained.

I completely agree, yes.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

Well, I think we have already come to the conclusion that not everyone sees this issue, and even if they do, some still choose to keep their device anyway. I assume some suffer from it worse than others. I'd say most people in general don't write reviews for their purchases, negative or positive. What I do know is that early on a kindle rep told me that Amazon is aware of it and I really don't think they would have said that, and been aware of it, had only a few people complained.

I agree, I think Amazon know and will rectify it with the next model, I just count myself very very lucky to get a Voyage that is perfect, to me anyway. I'm saying no more as I don't want to jinx myself!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Also a change from 1 in sixty-something to 3 in thirty-something.

How do you get "3 in thirty-something" out of 4 reviews in 96 mentioning colour issues?