[kindle_voyage]

I gave up on waiting for my Voyage because it was 40 minutes past the delivery window (admittedly only an "estimate"), and I was running late for class. So I ran upstairs to get my things ready for school, and the UPS guy showed up, so I threw the package in my bag and biked like a fiend across the bridge and up the hill to school.

In class, we were talking about a book that I didn't have access to unless I opened up my package. Of course it would have been irresponsible of me to sit there without the book in front of me, so I quietly opened up the shipping envelope, slid the plastic bag out of the envelope, slid the box out of the bag, tore the seal on the box, and slid the Kindle out of the inner bag. All as stealthily as I could manage in the front row.

The screen is just as gorgeous as I'd hoped. I have very good eyes, and I'm very particular about everything, so the PW2 was always wonderful but frustrating for me. On my Voyage, I'm using the smallest font (which I know is comically small for many people, but it's "just right" for me), and it's perfect. It might as well be a printed book.

The screen is what I bought it for, with my hawk's eyes. I would've paid $400 for a PW3 with a 300 ppi screen and everything else the same. But I lucked out, because it's only $219 (no Special Offers for me) and is much improved in many other ways.

I was very skeptical of the PagePress haptic-feedback buttons. But I love them. I'm leaving the sensitivity and the feedback both on the default setting of medium, and they seem just right. I hold the Voyage easily with just a thumb on the page-turn area (with my four fingers wrapping naturally around the back), and I've yet to have an accidental press. It turns every time I press it; it never turns otherwise. It really is perfectly executed.

I love how thin it is, and the flush screen makes it very elegant. I always thought the recessed screen made my previous Kindles seem cheap and hackish. I can't see the four LEDs when I look down at the bottom like I could with my PW2. The lighting is even more even. In the dark, my PW2 had slight shadows at the bottom. Much improved over the PW1, as I understand it, but it was mildly annoying to a perfectionist like me. If I strain, I can just make out the slightest hint of similar shadowing in a completely dark room on my Voyage -- but if I don't strain, I don't notice it. It's wonderful.

I was also skeptical of the change in placement of the power button -- if it ain't broke, and it's been the same way for generations, why mess with it? Well, it turns out it was broke, and I just didn't know it. It's simply easier to turn on and off. I've already adjusted to the change, and I'm grateful for it.

The main new feature that I simply can't judge yet is the auto brightness. If it doesn't work just right, I'll still have to adjust it myself. If I still have to adjust it, then it doesn't really matter if I only now have to adjust it a little instead of a lot. So far it seems like it might be just right, but I'll have to spend more time with the device, moving between differently lighted environments to know.

I can say that this is the device I've been waiting for since the first Kindle was announced. I know many people already felt that way with previous devices, whether with the first version, one of the Paperwhites, or an intermediary device (or even another manufacturer's device!) But I'm really picky, and for me, the device of my dreams has finally arrived. That's not to say there isn't room for improvement, but there's no longer any hurdle to me simple losing myself in my books, which I simply couldn't do on 212 ppi.

That's all for my first impressions. Now for some dinner, then settling in for some evening reading on my new toy.

Note: After taking the time to write this, I figured I want to share it with more people. I've cross posted this on the Amazon forum as "J. Barber" and plan to leave it as a review once Amazon allows that. I figured I'd edit this to make clear that J. Barber is in fact me, not someone else copying my post.