Kindle Voyage - First Impressions

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by BeeTee-Ess

Just curious...

As you are aware that the vast majority of Voyage users are not having problems such as yours, and as you seem quite pleased with having "owned every kindle since they started making them," do you intend to order another when things settle down a bit, or was the trauma of your bad Voyage just to much to bear?

I know what I'd do in your situation, but I am interested to hear your likely intention.

Well, I wouldn't say I'm quite pleased to have bought every kindle, (much as I did love the earlier kindles) I only mentioned that to prove a point that I have owned many kindles and never had issues with freezing on any of them.

I will not order another voyage, no. My eyes are obviously sensitive to color issues and I don't feel the voyage can work for me going by the one I had, seeing a friends, and seeing the pics posted on this board. Since Amazon started making lit kindles, I have had an issue with most of the screens.

I instead bought the Kobo H20 and I'm thrilled with it.

[speedlever]

Originally Posted by pghaworth

I have about 1/4" to 1/2" +/- of what I call "shadowing" from the LEDs on my PW2s. At some settings it's better and others it's worse - I use (and this is new over my PW1) a 16 in the living room now, whereas before I always had to use a setting of 19 or 20. Because it's at the bottom and I rarely look there while reading, I don't really notice it until I turn my PW sideways on the stand (to keep it from falling on my dog's head when I knock it with my hand). The screen on both PWs is so nice, very similar to the bottom of the KV I first received, that I hardly even see it. I have never read so comfortably. The screens are amazing and I never feel eye fatigue like I did with my KV.

I don't read with the light off, so cannot comment on that other than to say that it makes sense that with the light off the shadowing would be gone.

Ok, I take it that's normal. So be it. I've seen no evidence the KV shows this, but since I can't capture the effect on camera, that may be a false assumption.

[MandyMill]

I just wanted to add my contribution after spending two evenings reading this whole thread! I've had all kindles since the kindle keyboard, but being in the UK, we get them later. My first Voyage from Amazon had very yellow top half and several pinpricks of bright light, one of which was in the top right on the black menu bar, so it was very annoying. It got sent back for a replacement.

My husband managed to snag one at Argos, and his was a bit better, but more pinky near the top, but again, a few pinpricks, but in better areas.

The replacement arrived form Amazon this morning, and it's the best of the bunch, no pinpricks visible, and just a slight pink hue near the top. I'm keeping this one. It also has better contrast than the others..

I suppose it's what bothers you. Pinpricks bother me more than pinky hue, and yellow hue with pinpricks are the worst for me.

I'm not condoning the lack of QC here. It's not good, but I love everything else about the Voyage, including the Origami cover, but it's subjective. I've now got a Voyage I'm happy with and can get lost in my reading. My PW2 goes to my 13 year old.

Point being, I should not have had to try three Voyages out until I got one that I was happy with. It was time consuming and a worry having to set them all up each time. I agree that the Voyage 2 will be much better, and hopefully cheaper, but I'd already promised my PW2 to my son.

I've really enjoyed reading this thread and shall continue to. Thank you to everyone that has contributed!

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by MandyMill

I've really enjoyed reading this thread and shall continue to. Thank you to everyone that has contributed!

Nice post! Welcome - I'm newish here, too. I've been lurking since 2009, but posting on other threads, and without regularity.

I agree on the points that you made. I tried two different KVs and just couldn't deal with the screen issues combined with the other things that bugged. I'm very happy now and looking forward to KV2.

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by speedlever

Ok, I take it that's normal. So be it. I've seen no evidence the KV shows this, but since I can't capture the effect on camera, that may be a false assumption.

If I am remembering correctly, I believe that I noticed something similar on my KV, but for that area on mine (bottom 2/3 of the screen) the screen was so beautiful, sharp, and contrasty that again the "shadowing" didn't bother me. The top 1/3 drove me nuts, though, since it wasn't clear or sharp. It was like it had an orange/yellowish window tint put on the screen over that area.

[pagepack]

Without wishing to read 80 pages, I would of thought that after the PW1 debacle Amazon would of been all over quality control. I mean why bother releasing a product when a large minority are clearly defective? That is defective in the eye of the user, which is what counts.

Who would accept a TV or tablet with a colour gradient? So why should anyone accept one on an ebook reader? Very disappointing. I was gob smacked at the colour difference when I turned my Voyager on for the first time, refund time. My PW2 looks perfection. That's 169 quid saved.

[badgoodDeb]

Do remember that the satisfied Voyage owners don't bother finding MobileRead and so don't cast a vote here. (Well, okay -- I'm on MR and I'm a satisfied owner, colorwise. Buttons are more tetchy than the old physical buttons, but I'm still keeping mine.) So we can't really tell the ratio of satisfied owners to unsatisfied owners.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by pghaworth

#3 I don't stick my electronics in my freezer, as a rule, on the request of web posters (no offense intended, just a personal stance).

I didn't say freezer. I said fridge. That wouldn't hurt it. Anyway, apparently temperature doesn't affect it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Do remember that the satisfied Voyage owners don't bother finding MobileRead and so don't cast a vote here. (Well, okay -- I'm on MR and I'm a satisfied owner, colorwise. Buttons are more tetchy than the old physical buttons, but I'm still keeping mine.) So we can't really tell the ratio of satisfied owners to unsatisfied owners.

We can get a pretty reasonable idea from the reviews. 67 reviews of the Voyage currently at amazon.co.uk, 62 of which are positive. Of the 5 negative ones, only 1 is negative due to a poor screen (the others are things like a broken power button). So, with 1 of of 67 people reporting a bad screen, and the overwhelming of the reviews praising the screen, we can reasonably conclude that this is not a widely perceived issue.

[sian]

From an disability piont of view im not sure

athritus means putting thmb and index finger is sometimes too painful

but also swiping a page is also not always poss as fingers seem to not have enough presure to do it

pressing a button i can/ cant do either. £169 for a voyage ( no audio) seems a lot
whe fire hd can audio and back lit for £79

still not sure one friend say voyager and one says fire hd hd 6
this driving me nuts

Can some one tell me how easy the power button is to press as this my help solve my problem to decide covers

[pagepack]

Originally Posted by HarryT

We can get a pretty reasonable idea from the reviews. 67 reviews of the Voyage currently at amazon.co.uk, 62 of which are positive. Of the 5 negative ones, only 1 is negative due to a poor screen (the others are things like a broken power button). So, with 1 of of 67 people reporting a bad screen, and the overwhelming of the reviews praising the screen, we can reasonably conclude that this is not a widely perceived issue.

That's exactly why I bought one from Argos, Amazon UK full of praise. I though maybe Amazon give the Yanks all the duff ones nope.

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by Rizla

I didn't say freezer. I said fridge. That wouldn't hurt it. Anyway, apparently temperature doesn't affect it.

Potato/PotAto, freezer/fridge - still wouldn't do it.

[DaRon]

Originally Posted by HarryT

We can get a pretty reasonable idea from the reviews. 67 reviews of the Voyage currently at amazon.co.uk, 62 of which are positive. Of the 5 negative ones, only 1 is negative due to a poor screen (the others are things like a broken power button). So, with 1 of of 67 people reporting a bad screen, and the overwhelming of the reviews praising the screen, we can reasonably conclude that this is not a widely perceived issue.

On the other side it seems to be different here at Amazon.de.
112 reviews in total and 29! out of it with 1 or 2star rating complaining about screen issues. Even some of the 20 3star ratings are complaining. So let's make roughly 40 complaints about the screen out of 112 reviews in total which is ~30%. And I am pretty sure that some people didn't rate yet ( waiting for replacement - like me).
I don't know your definition of 'widely' but 30% should be definitely be a reason for amazon to investigate in this issue.

[tono1020]

Originally Posted by DaRon

On the other side it seems to be different here at Amazon.de.
112 reviews in total and 29! out of it with 1 or 2star rating complaining about screen issues. Even some of the 20 3star ratings are complaining. So let's make roughly 40 complaints about the screen out of 112 reviews in total which is ~30%. And I am pretty sure that some people didn't rate yet ( waiting for replacement - like me).
I don't know your definition of 'widely' but 30% should be definitely be a reason for amazon to investigate in this issue.

I also noticed that! Is it possible that Amazon sells from different batch in England? Otherwise, the only explanation for that is that people from Germany is way more sensitive to color problems than those in England; which is highly unlikely.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by HarryT

We can get a pretty reasonable idea from the reviews. 67 reviews of the Voyage currently at amazon.co.uk, 62 of which are positive. Of the 5 negative ones, only 1 is negative due to a poor screen (the others are things like a broken power button). So, with 1 of of 67 people reporting a bad screen, and the overwhelming of the reviews praising the screen, we can reasonably conclude that this is not a widely perceived issue.

I think fewer than 67 from the UK have posted at mobileread as having bought a Voyage, but at least 3 from the UK have complained here about the screen lighting gradient.