Kindle Voyage - First Impressions

[Waitingforatrain]

Originally Posted by Drew0020

I mean does Amazon have anyone look at these Kindles? Mine was so obviously two colors. I figure when they make the decision to finally ship the final design they must show that it is ready for consumers? I just don't get how this debacle happens?

Poor QC at their overseas factories.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Drew0020

I mean does Amazon have anyone look at these Kindles? Mine was so obviously two colors. I figure when they make the decision to finally ship the final design they must show that it is ready for consumers? I just don't get how this debacle happens?

I always think the same. It's baffling to me.

Originally Posted by xendula

I called for a replacement, which should get here on Tuesday. Narry a mention of having to wait until November, but he did want to make me wait until Wed, and I managed to make him reconsider, since I have Prime. I hear others are getting their replacements overnighted, is this correct?



Thanks! I need the luck!!! The luck to not get an imprefect screen on a $200 device - kind of crazy, huh.



Do you mean that it looks like there are differently shaded clouds over and around certain paragraphs? As if someone smudged over a freshly printed piece of paper? If that's what you mean, I've had that on my PW1s, PW2s and now on the Vs, and I hate it. I believe that's all because of the uneven screen, though, so i never meantioned it as a separate issue. Mybe it is....hmmm.

I requested the replacement Saturday (yesterday) and it will be here Monday (tomorrow). I originally paid for 1-day shipping when I ordered the V, so maybe that made a difference. I'm not sure you can call request replacement on Saturday and get it Monday 1-day or not, as Sunday is between the two, but we do have Sunday delivery here in my city. So maybe it is two-day delivery. Not sure how to classify it.

I don't know if the smudge effect is a separate issue or just part of a compound issue. I suspect the latter. But the smudge effect does seem worse in the yellowed areas on mine. In a dimly lit room I can make most of the tinting disappear, but the smudge effect never goes away.

Originally Posted by Drew0020

I mean does Amazon have anyone look at these Kindles? Mine was so obviously two colors. I figure when they make the decision to finally ship the final design they must show that it is ready for consumers? I just don't get how this debacle happens?

My guess is that at the most each Kindle gets powered ON to make sure it works, but I doubt they would examine each unit's screen. Perhaps they test one out of every so many, say 1 per 1000, but I doubt it. That would take too long, cost too much, and be subjective anyway. Amazon probably finds it less expensive to gamble on quality and replace the units people complain about. I'm pretty sure most of the returned ones will wind up being sold as refurbs even though I doubt they do anything to them other than make sue it powers up and then repackage it.

[Drew0020]

Originally Posted by jswinden

My guess is that at the most each Kindle gets powered ON to make sure it works, but I doubt they would examine each unit's screen. Perhaps they test one out of every so many, say 1 per 1000, but I doubt it. That would take too long, cost too much, and be subjective anyway. Amazon probably finds it less expensive to gamble on quality and replace the units people complain about. I'm pretty sure most of the returned ones will wind up being sold as refurbs even though I doubt they do anything to them other than make sue it powers up and then repackage it.

I understand but when the final design is signed off on I'm guessing Jeff Bezos sees a Kindle that is almost 90% white? I just don't get it. I mean $200 isn't a lot of money but for an e-ink screen it's a hell of a lot of money. I'd gladly pay whatever the cost for a Voyage with a 90-95% white screen. It's just unbelievable to me.

I'd never let my company ship such a shoddy product even though the vast majority of consumers might not notice the shitty quality. Just baffles my mind...

[Drew0020]

Originally Posted by jswinden

My guess is that at the most each Kindle gets powered ON to make sure it works, but I doubt they would examine each unit's screen. Perhaps they test one out of every so many, say 1 per 1000, but I doubt it. That would take too long, cost too much, and be subjective anyway. Amazon probably finds it less expensive to gamble on quality and replace the units people complain about. I'm pretty sure most of the returned ones will wind up being sold as refurbs even though I doubt they do anything to them other than make sue it powers up and then repackage it.

And do you honestly think they sold a 1,000 of these to date? I feel like it's a very niche product. I am loving my 128GB iPad air 2 with LTE though. Reading on that for the time being.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Drew0020

And do you honestly think they sold a 1,000 of these to date? I feel like it's a very niche product.

It may be a niche product, but it has been sold out long before its release. There is no way they would have only made 1,000 for the first run. I doubt they could get 6 to every Best Buy store with that few and they probably sell way more direct than through Best Buy. Who knows how many are eagerly waiting outside the US.

[Drew0020]

I'm honestly not sure. If you factor in all the returns when people see how bad the quality is I think it's close to that. The Best Buys in my area (Charlotte, NC) got 2 per store. Not a major launch by any means for a big city.

[xendula]

I would think they sold much more than that. There are now 145 reviews on amazon.com, which represents a part of those who bought one through amazon. Those who bought one through BB would probably not even write reviews. But who knows!

[pghaworth]

Here's a new one

PW1 side by side with KV#1 - same book, same page, PW1 has many more books and less available space, combined with being 20% slower than the KV, supposedly.

1. Page turns are slower on the KV
2. Turns have more ghosting on the KV

This is supposed to be a faster device - per Amazon - with almost twice as much available space per specs, but the page turns are slower, show black when turning, and have more ghosting. Someone please explain that to me. I have very few books on my KV, nothing is indexing, and nothing is downloading.

[sparklemotion]

I noticed that as well on both counts. Page turns are slower on my voyage compared to my PW2. It's not by much on mine, but I did notice it.

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by pghaworth

Here's a new one

PW1 side by side with KV#1 - same book, same page, PW1 has many more books and less available space, combined with being 20% slower than the KV, supposedly.

1. Page turns are slower on the KV
2. Turns have more ghosting on the KV

This is supposed to be a faster device - per Amazon - with almost twice as much available space per specs, but the page turns are slower, show black when turning, and have more ghosting. Someone please explain that to me. I have very few books on my KV, nothing is indexing, and nothing is downloading.

Here's the topper. The KV only has 9 books on it. My PW1 has 167 books and a ton of active content along with a couple of documents.

[judith009]

Maybe it needs more processing power to refresh all those extra pixels on the newer device? It reminds me of how iOS became tons bigger and needed more processing power after they made devices with Retina displays.

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

I noticed that as well on both counts. Page turns are slower on my voyage compared to my PW2. It's not by much on mine, but I did notice it.

I'm a detail person, so I notice things. That's part of my job, I analyze things for a living to find the errors, differences, etc. These are not good things to be finding on a newer gen, more costly device!

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by judith009

Maybe it needs more processing power to refresh all those extra pixels on the newer device? It reminds me of how iOS became tons bigger and needed more processing power after they made devices with Retina displays.

I thought the processor was supposed to be 20% faster, per Amazon????

ETA - I'm a speed freak, and I know I read it before the Voyage started shipping. It was one of the things I was jazzed about. Can't find it now! It's gone from the product page.

Found this on a search from Google... "The all-new Kindle includes a 20% faster processor," from the Amazon.co.uk search results.

https://www.google.com/search?q=kind...x-a&channel=sb

http://www.amazon.co.uk/forum/kindle...x3Q0VBG1BU77QU