[Barty]

I think the moral here is to avoid the first iteration of a new model. I appreciate that many waited several generations to upgrade, so that does not help, while others are happy with theirs, so feel free to ignore this.

The reason I consider this a new model is the change to a flush screen. When I saw the announcement I thought the flush design would only worsen image quality and I think I've been proven correct. The lights have to be on top of the e-ink, so moving the top layer up to be flushed with the bezel can only increase the gap between the e-ink and the top gorilla glass / touch layer.

With LCD tablets, in order to improve image quality, they are trying to eliminate the gap between the touch layer and the screen. I heard with the new iPad they fused the touch layer with the screen. With e-ink we started out with the perfect screen with no additional layer on top, then added a touch layer and a light layer, then added gorilla glass and moved the top layer up to be flushed with the bezel. Oy!

(Wonder why they are using 6 instead of 4 LEDs even though it's the same screen size? It's not for giggles, as it increases complexity and cost. They had to do that to compensate for something. The pw2 got the improved light assembly, but they took a step back with a new design.)

Maybe they'll work out the kinks with later batches. Maybe the voyage 2 will perfect the design. Or maybe they'll forget it and go back to the pw2 design.

PS: any lighted (as opposed to emissive) display will have these issues. LCD phones and tablets look good because of their relatively small sizes and the decades of R&D behind them. With TVs, the problems are more obvious. Most people don't care but videophiles are well aware of therm.