Kindle Voyage or Paperwhite 3: Which was better and why?

[Dr. Drib]

Obviously, everyone above is wrong - except me.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Obviously, everyone above is wrong - except me.

Isn't that always the case?
(By me, I mean ME, of course, not you.)

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Waylander

So, looking back, which was better: the Voyage or the PW3?

The Voyage. I owned both (gave the PW3 away a couple years ago to my son in law). The contrast and clarity was definitely better on the Voyage. As far as I know, that etched glass was unique, no other eReader used it before or since. I think the Voyage also had more LEDs than the PW3. And I liked the page turn (haptic) buttons.

Would I have paid the difference for the Voyage (new) over the PW3? No. But I bought my Voyage used for a reasonable price and it's still a very nice reader.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Hyperbole. The PW4 isn't as good as PW3 & PW5 on side-by-side comparison, but on its own it is fine. There are rubbish ereaders. "Not the best" doesn't mean rubbish.

When I first saw a PW4, I could easily tell the screen was not good. So really, it's rubbish as it can be seen that it's poor without the need for a comparison.

[cellaris]

In my particular case, the Voyage was a disappointment due to the enormous brightness gradient on my device. It was impossible to read with the light on. I used the Paperwhite 3 quite a bit, but I hardly remember it. At that time, I was more interested in Kobo and was starting to dabble with PocketBook. Thanks to the Paperwhite 5, I returned to Kindle.

[Ebookus]

What is the “enormous brightness gradient”? My Voyage looks evenly lit.

I never thought i’d ever say this but i have to agree with the pug, you don’t need to compare it side by side (a PW4) to notice how inferior it is.

[cellaris]

[QUOTE=Ebookus;4546164]What is the “enormous brightness gradient”? My Voyage looks evenly lit.
/QUOTE]

As one user who had a Kindle Voyage just like mine humorously said: half the screen (the top half) looked like it had been fried by the sun. I could give you dozens of comments like that from various forums. It was probably part of a defective batch.

But I'm glad you have one with flawless lighting. If that had been the case for me, I would have kept it.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Hyperbole. The PW4 isn't as good as PW3 & PW5 on side-by-side comparison, but on its own it is fine. There are rubbish ereaders. "Not the best" doesn't mean rubbish.

Mine was rubbish, and not just when having it side by side. I had the Paperwhite 3 and was excited on the 4, but the clarity of my screen was soft, it was buggy, very slow, and I finally gave it away. I still kept my Paperwhite 3 as it's my version of the basic when I want to read outside at times with recessed screen, was faster than the 4 despite being years earlier release. I also have a love the Paperwhite 5. Out of the line, PW 4 was the least impressive to me for pretty much every reason.

I think some people got less glitchy ones than I did perhaps, but my screen was especially too foggy/soft

[Quoth]

More proof that unlike any other display tech, any particular combination of light pipe and eink panel is very variable in quality both of the lighting and the underling eink panel. Seems crazy bad quality control on the most expensive display technology.

It's not just Amazon. You see variation for a particular model from all brands.

I've compared PW3, PW4, Libra and original H2O side by side on my own desk and table, without front light. Yes, the PW4 had the poorest contrast and not as sharp as Libra & PW3, but standalone it was fine. My son has the PW4.

Some people may have poor versions of the PW4, and it's not as good as PW3, but it's not inherently rubbish. Why didn't people return bad ones if they were rubbish?

[Ebookus]

If you have never used e-ink before, PW4 will surely look fine. But if you have any prior experience it is obvious that the quality of the screen had to suffer greatly for some silly waterproofing, which doesn't really make the device waterproof but I digress. For me personally, as I said PW4 is the worst kindle ever made, even if my comment seems a little facetious, the decisions made that lead to such horrendous device should never have been made. For me going for example from PW3 to PW4 feels like going from 1080p to 480p

[Quoth]

The DX is worst Kindle ever made and the DXG next worst.

[Ebookus]

and yet, I would choose a DX any day over a PW4. That is how much I despise it.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Ebookus

and yet, I would choose a DX any day over a PW4. That is how much I despise it.

really?
No Wifi
Only viziplex screen
Only 150 dpi
Old Mobi, Topaz and abysmal PDF support.
no azw3
no touch
no light
terrible keyboard.
Approx 500 MHz CPU
128 M RAM
Maybe 3.5 G free Flash?

The PW4
WiFi
Carta
300 dpi
All Amazon formats.
Touch
Light
no Keyboard
1 GHz CPU
512 M RAM
6 or 30 G Flash free.

I've got the DXG which has the Pearl screen. It's garbage compared to PW4.

I agree the PW3 is better. I passed on a PW1. Limited Flash maybe 1.5G free and only 212 DPI. But otherwise far better than DXG. It's not as good as the PW4, but OK.

EDIT:
I read reviews, so got a spare PW3 instead of a PW4 just before discontinued, but my son upgraded from a K3 (far better than a DXG) to PW4 when it cam e out and still uses it.

[Ebookus]

Specs alone maketh not a great device, it's been proven time and time again, Nintendo 3ds (inferior hardware) vastly outsold the much more powerful PS vita. is not about specs alone, the PW4 has a terrible looking screen, end of story. I (personally) can't look past that. I have never owned a DX but a k3 or k4 even at lower res 167ppi have better contrast than the PW4. I would choose either over a pw4.

if you wanted to make your son's reading experience a tad better, why not replace that PW4 with either a new Basic or a PW6... I am sure he will appreciate it very much.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Ebookus

What is the “enormous brightness gradient”? My Voyage looks evenly lit.

Mine also.