Kindle Voyage - First Impressions

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by GordonGekko

I think the basic idea is people want the quality that the company advertises it produces and thus eliminate the hassle of returning a device with lighting or other low quality issues.

I do think though that many people will heed your advice and buy a different ereader or perhaps a tablet and not go through this nonsense.

I don't think anyone here is under the delusion that we are forced to buy products in a capitalistic society. Thank you.

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I want the quality of a company advertises without all the hassle of recalls that auto makers seem to issue.

Precisely.

[krazy4katz]

OK, my Kindle Voyage arrived yesterday afternoon, so I have been with it approximately 24 hours. I have read using it for about 1-2 hours. Keep in mind that I am upgrading from a kindle keyboard, so this is a big step.

Bottom line: I love the screen. It seems pretty evenly lit to me. I took some photos with my phone but they look much worse that the actual screen so I won't post them. The text is very sharp so I was able to go down one font size, fit more lines on the screen and still read comfortably. The light seems to be working pretty well. At first I had to adjust it for comfort but since then it seems to set itself properly and I barely notice I have a light. Readability is much improved. I am having some adjustment issues with the page turn buttons, which I think are less sensitive than the touch screen itself but I think I will overcome this in time. I just have to figure out which settings are good for me. I like not having to press the screen, although there basically is no border between the screen and the bezel.

The KV is thin! I like having some soft bulk in my hands to keep from squeezing the device so I will get a case — just deciding which one. The Amazon case doesn't appeal to me, as it seems too flat and unyielding from people's descriptions. I may try the Incipio or the OMOTON, which have both been mentioned on MobileRead.

The software: this is so different from the KK that it is a big adjustment. My collections were downloaded and I also downloaded 3 or 4 books for starters. I noticed that the options work a bit differently than on my KK. In "collections" view, I also used to be able to see all my books that were not in any collection. It was handy to keep the book I was reading out of a collection. This automatically made it the first book on p. 2 of my KK. On the KV, choosing collections means I don't see any books. This change in software probably occurred on the Paperwhites. I guess I might have to have a "currently reading collection" to solve this problem. I also preferred the old "underlining" rather than "highlighting". It seemed less disruptive. Also the touch screen for looking at footnotes and my own notes is less accurate than the old keyboard, but, as they say, there is no turning back progress!

Conclusion: I like it and I am happy! I just need to get used to it.

[pghaworth]

Congrats and enjoy!!! You'll adjust in no time.

ETA - You have to download your books first. I can't remember exactly, but the same collections from the KK should be under "Cloud" next to On Device, open the collection you want and start downloading the titles, by tapping/clicking lightly at the bottom. You'll see it say pending and downloading. Once finished it will show on your device. To see your collections you have to select collections from the far right list, and you can choose which items to see in the second to last drop-down list, i.e. "all items, books, periodicals, docs, collections, active content".

For instance if on the far right you select "most recent" and the next to the last you choose "all items" you will get just that. I keep mine configured to All Items, Collections. With that configuration you get your collections and uncollected items behind. You have to choose to show your Cloud Collections in all views to see them in all views, otherwise they're only in certain places.

[xendula]

Originally Posted by Yolina

OT: what's the book? I read the page displayed and I quite like it

Ha! I was going to ask the same question

Thank you for the pic Aceflor. The font crispness is the same that I noticed on all 5 (five!) of the ones I received, as compared to the PW.

Sadly, the multicolored hues are ruining the reading experience for me, and I have a daily inner struggle between giving up on the KV or keeping the least bad one. I did that with the PW1 and the PW2, but at over $200, it's a lot harder to settle for the least bad.

I have one replacement come in, and for me that will be the last. If I can't get a decent screen after 6 attempts, I won't keep on trying.

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I want the quality of a company advertises without all the hassle of recalls that auto makers seem to issue.

Ditto. I spent another 50 mins between 2 CS reps today, and received two more short call backs. Not only is it infuriating to me when I get passed on from one person to another, who then seriously expects me to start over and repeat the last 20 min conversation, but this is surely a huge cost for Amazon as well.

Sadly, the kindle lead guy I talked to actually commented to me that the lighting is not supposed to be even in all situations. (Say what?) I asked him if expecting an evenly lit, evenly colored screen was not reasonable, in which case I would just stop trying to replace one bad KV with another, but he still said something about helping me find a good device. Not sure what to think any more.

[JoHunt]

I've spent several days with my Voyage and I'm in awe at what a good ereader it is

The font display couldn't be better making the Voyage a true pleasure to read on. I normally read in a dark room so I didn't think I would use the page turn controls, but have found them very easy to "find" and a super way to page forward (I have yet to try page back in the dark - a simple tap on the left side of the screen seems easier than aiming for a small dot).

My screen is evenly lit from top to bottom. I use setting 14 and have looked very hard to find some sort of discoloration but thankfully there is none.

In my opinion, the Voyage is well worth the asking price

[jbcohen]

Originally Posted by joehunt

I've spent several days with my Voyage and I'm in awe at what a good ereader it is

The font display couldn't be better making the Voyage a true pleasure to read on. I normally read in a dark room so I didn't think I would use the page turn controls, but have found them very easy to "find" and a super way to page forward (I have yet to try page back in the dark - a simple tap on the left side of the screen seems easier than aiming for a small dot).

My screen is evenly lit from top to bottom. I use setting 14 and have looked very hard to find some sort of discoloration but thankfully there is none.

In my opinion, the Voyage is well worth the asking price

Now amazon has a big problem sitting in front of them, how to out do themselves in the 2015 Voyage.

[MickeyMark]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

My question is this, does the voyage add $70 worth of value? That's a question each of us needs to answer ourselves and will most likely differ based on who you talk to. I don't the increased resolution since this is text, if this was a graphic book then I could see the emphasis on the resolution, how much resolution do you need to display text? Thus it comes down to the decrease in the size of the reader and the sensor. My question is this - do the new voyage owners like the sensor and decrease of the size enough to make it worth your extra dollars?

There are some advantages that I can see for the sensor, frequently I get out to the bus stop in the morning, and its too early for the sun to be up yet, and I turn on the paper white's book light and I frequently need to adjust the light a few times to get it right. The light sensor would eliminate that adjustments, since the reader is doing it I would imagine that the sensor would get it right the first time, unlike me.

I've been using both the Nightlight and the Light Sensor... and the higher resolution, on the Voyage, is very nice. I love this new reader, except for one thing... Application Errors!

Last night I couldn't even get my Voyage to turn on. I had to do a 20 second reboot, right from the start.

Often, I'll touch the touch screen and nothing will happen. (Once I'm in a book, things seem to get better... it's the On Device/Cloud, My Items, and Recent pull-down menus that're causing me all the problems. Oh, and the little 1/5 thing at the bottom of the page... that rarely works!

Matter of fact, it's doing it right now. I just turned my Voyage off and then back on with a short press, and now I can't get the top menu with the picture icons across the top of the page! My Kindle is completely locked up right now! FRUSTRATING! (I'm going to call Customer Service, because this is getting too frustrating to bear.)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by MickeyMark

I've been using both the Nightlight and the Light Sensor... and the higher resolution, on the Voyage, is very nice. I love this new reader, except for one thing... Application Errors!

Last night I couldn't even get my Voyage to turn on. I had to do a 20 second reboot, right from the start.

Often, I'll touch the touch screen and nothing will happen. (Once I'm in a book, things seem to get better... it's the On Device/Cloud, My Items, and Recent pull-down menus that're causing me all the problems. Oh, and the little 1/5 thing at the bottom of the page... that rarely works!

Matter of fact, it's doing it right now. I just turned my Voyage off and then back on with a short press, and now I can't get the top menu with the picture icons across the top of the page! My Kindle is completely locked up right now! FRUSTRATING! (I'm going to call Customer Service, because this is getting too frustrating to bear.)

By far the most likely explanation for this is that you have a corrupt book on the device. Delete the content that you added when the problem started occurring, and see if that fixes it.

[MickeyMark]

Thank you Harry,

I just got off the phone with Amazon CS, they want to replace this Kindle. (I think it's a firmware issue... they think it's a problem with this specific Voyage.)

While I was on the phone with them, they had me do a Factory Reset (all my content was erased), which didn't help...

With luck, I'll get another Kindle without screen issues because I'm quite happy with this Kindle's screen... ::crosses fingers::

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by MickeyMark

Thank you Harry,

I just got off the phone with Amazon CS, they want to replace this Kindle. (I think it's a firmware issue... they think it's a problem with this specific Voyage.)

While I was on the phone with them, they had me do a Factory Reset (all my content was erased), which didn't help...

With luck, I'll get another Kindle without screen issues because I'm quite happy with this Kindle's screen... ::crosses fingers::

I wanted to tell you it needed to go back. Glad it's going to happen. My fingers will be crossed for you.

[HarryT]

If you've done a factory reset and that didn't help, then it does sound like a problem specific to your Kindle, I agree.

[maxkhoon]

Well suppose one cant justify if the purchase worth the price, think of it as a research fee for future eink development,we will need it.

Now chop chop go dig in your books =)
After all people will keep on buying like apple products.
Kindle line is the 'Apple' in eink world.

[cct1]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Now amazon has a big problem sitting in front of them, how to out do themselves in the 2015 Voyage.

Easy. Voyages with consistently good front lighting, as it seems some are fine, and some, like mine are horrible. I got the same line as was noted previously from CS, that the screen is not supposed to be even in all lighting situations. That's a deal breaker for me, mine's going back, I'll try anH20.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Now amazon has a big problem sitting in front of them, how to out do themselves in the 2015 Voyage.

Waterproofing next year, the year after a shatterproof screen, next a stylus for taking notes and write in book, next full color liquavista. Why do you think there is nothing to outdo this Kindle?

[meerkat]

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