Kindle Voyage - First Impressions

[jlinear]

Originally Posted by WilliamG

For those wondering the differences between the 3 Kindle Voyage units I have opened (I refuse to open the 4th one...). The one on the right is indeed the coolest color temperature of the three, but all three suffer the same issue in the same places.

Brightness set to 13.

I thought I would post a picture of my Voyage for comparison although I know pictures can be deceiving. I do notice a little yellow discoloration at the top but it is very slight and doesn't bother me much. One of the things I like about the Voyage is that the text is so crisp that there are two font size setting that I like. On my Kindle Keyboard and Kindle Basic there is only one font size on each that I find acceptable to my eyes.

[John C]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Yep, they obviously don't know how to test their darn designs for new Kindles. They either need engineers who are avid eInk reader fans or they need test groups with us to help them get it right. I personally visualize having their engineers hooked up to electrodes and having us on the other side of a one-way mirror where we can zap the buggers every time they leave out or screw up a key feature.

Agree! I returned the PW2 and waited a month to get the latest kindle voyage to have a improved screen. In the meantime the Nexus 7 isn't bad with the black background. Do you read on yours? For more than 2 hours do you think the kindle readers are less eye strain. I saw a PW2 on sale for $100 at a local office supply today.

[Buran]

I like it. Haven't started reading on it yet -- left it plugged in overnight to index while I read on my Paperwhite (early, first-gen). I'll be trying it out later.

Alas, it has the same colour-temperature LEDs that the Paperwhite had; I'd gotten the impression, from some photos, that the newer Paperwhites and the Voyage used warm-white LEDs. But that's honestly not a big deal. I am still getting used to the relocated power button, especially since I'm left-handed, but given a few days I'll be used to it. I did change the page-turn pressure setting to low along with the feedback (found it distracting) and now I'm quite pleased.

Now my hubby can have the Paperwhite so he, too, can read in a dark room.

And an edit now that I've read some of the other posts in this thread: I haven't noticed any shift in colour tone across the screen so far. It is a Wifi+3G without special offers, but I doubt that matters since all the screens should theoretically be the same.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Yep, they obviously don't know how to test their darn designs for new Kindles. They either need engineers who are avid eInk reader fans or they need test groups with us to help them get it right.

They don't need either of the things you suggest, some of the issues like the buttons in landscape indicate that their testplans are either poorly designed or they are not giving their test teams sufficient time to carry them out.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by jlinear

I thought I would post a picture of my Voyage for comparison although I know pictures can be deceiving. I do notice a little yellow discoloration at the top but it is very slight and doesn't bother me much. One of the things I like about the Voyage is that the text is so crisp that there are two font size setting that I like. On my Kindle Keyboard and Kindle Basic there is only one font size on each that I find acceptable to my eyes.

Your one is lovely. I have decided that even if I get a lovely PW2 tomorrow I am keeping my Voyage order as I won't settle until I've seen them both side by side with my own eyes.

I'll keep the one I'm happiest with.

[Avwriter]

I picked up mine at Best Buy this morning. Overall, I feel very positive about it. Also picked up the origami cover. Here are the details that strike me.

1. Boy does it look and feel small compared to my PW1.

2. The screen is very evenly lit. So far, I do not notice any significant difference in color from bottom to top. The bottom appears slightly brighter than the rest of the screen.

3. The shadows along the bottom, are largely gone unless I look very carefully.

4. As noted by others, the LEDs are not clearly visible at the bottom of the screen. However, under specific lighting conditions I can make out what appear to be 6 LEDs across the bottom, as compared to the PW's 4. To see them take the Voyage into a well lit room and turn the brightness up about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up; then look down from the top just as you would to see the LEDs on the PW. Oddly, in a dark room, thee LEDs are no longer visible (at least to me) even at full brightness.

5. The auto brightness works consistently, but unfortunately it consistently makes the screen about 3-4 notches darker that I would like under any lighting condition. Thus, I think I will stick with manually settings for now.

6. Although I dislike the appearance of the Origami cover, I very much like its functionality. It feels nice to hold, the stand works beautifully, the top stays firmly shut when closed, yet the Voyage is easily removed if I wish to do so. It is pleasantly thin (if a bit heavy). On a side note, the case is very heavily magnetic. Consequently, the entire thing, with Voyage inside, will stick nicely to the side of my refrigerator and stay put! I don't know what possessed me to try this. It is not really where I would choose to sore my Voyage when not using it, but it I do find this to be quite funny. My fridge is black, as is the case, so it becomes almost invisible there.

7. One small thing that disappoints me, though does not surprise me, is that they got red of the led that lights up while charging. No big deal, but it would have been nice if they would have kept this. [Edit - this is incorrect; the led is smaller so I did not notice it until I actually plugged it in; thus all is good. Sorry for giving the wrong info.]

8. Although I purchased a Wfi with SO device ($199), so far the not-so-special offers do not seem to be appearing. I would love it if they never do, but I have a feeling that they will show up at some point. After registering the device to my account, I checked and it does say that I am subscribed to SO. Does it normally take them a while to come alive after registering the device? Just curious; I cannot remember this being the case with my PW, but that was two years ago. [Edit - As I expected My Special Offers just kicked in - took about five hours with the Wifi on; wierd. Now I will go and pay to remove them.]

9. Has anyone else noticed that they have added more foreign dictionary options than were available before? Just noticed that there are a bunch of translation dictionaries, which were not there the last time I checked.

[JoHunt]

Originally Posted by jlinear

I thought I would post a picture of my Voyage for comparison although I know pictures can be deceiving. I do notice a little yellow discoloration at the top but it is very slight and doesn't bother me much. One of the things I like about the Voyage is that the text is so crisp that there are two font size setting that I like. On my Kindle Keyboard and Kindle Basic there is only one font size on each that I find acceptable to my eyes.

Beautiful screen. What brightness level does your picture show?

[pghaworth]

It's here! <(..<) ^(. .)^ (>..)>

[slantybard]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I've posted this on other threads but this is my Kobo Aura H20 vs hubby's PW2. The H20 is cream/Ivory and the PW2 is blue white

What I find more interesting is for the same fonts, you get nearly double the words per page on the H2O.

[mr_nihilism]

So the Voyage has 6 LED's? Interesting, as the H2O only has 5 with a larger screen. Are the LED's a different size?

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Your one is lovely. I have decided that even if I get a lovely PW2 tomorrow I am keeping my Voyage order as I won't settle until I've seen them both side by side with my own eyes.



I'll keep the one I'm happiest with.

Trust me, you'll like the Voyage better. Once you see both, you'll notice the difference,

[SCION]

Originally Posted by slantybard

What I find more interesting is for the same fonts, you get nearly double the words per page on the H2O.

Yes, that looks very appealing.

[jlinear]

Originally Posted by joehunt

Beautiful screen. What brightness level does your picture show?

I believe brightness was set at 20. It was shot in natural light and I upped the setting a little higher than I usually use. I don't use the auto-brightness as the setting it usually chooses is too dark for my liking.

[induna]

Originally Posted by jlinear

I believe brightness was set at 20. It was shot in natural light and I upped the setting a little higher than I usually use. I don't use the auto-brightness as the setting it usually chooses is too dark for my liking.

The auto-brightness is supposed to be adaptive. If it is too dim/bright for your preference, you can adjust the light with auto-brightness left on and the Kindle is supposed to remember your preference and automatically adjust the light accordingly in the future. Please give it a try if you want and report back.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by jocampo

Trust me, you'll like the Voyage better. Once you see both, you'll notice the difference,

I'll hold you to that