New Kindle Voyage

[Shane R]

Originally Posted by dickloraine

hey seem to just expand in the luxury category.

I think that that's a misuse of the word luxury.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I have a kindle keyboard and everytime I pick the thing up it changes pages. What was supposed to have been done with it to fix that?

With the caveat that I have almost no hands on experience with the K1 and K3:

Many people complained that it was difficult to handle the K1 without unintentionally changing pages. Amazon probably wanted to allow the buttons to be easy to reach from many different holding positions and easy to press.

The K2 has shorter buttons that have to be depressed screen side instead of edge side and have to be pressed with more force than those on the K1. They also made louder clicks than those on the K1. Page turning on the K2 was an improvement for some and a step backward for others.

I had always assumed Amazon had finally got the page turn buttons right with the K3, but never got one because I was spoiled by the pocketability and and better ergonomics of the Pocketbook 360. The K3 has a prev page button on both sides while the K2 on only one side. I had thought it removed some of the awkwardness and noise that the K2 had. I would think that since the buttons are shorter than on the K1, and presumably less hair trigger, that it would be easy to pick up, handle, and put down without accidentally turning a page. I am sorry you have that trouble with it.

I bought a K4NT when I could no longer endure the frequent freezes, SD card corruption, and lack of sleep mode in the PB 360. At first, I was unable to turn pages on the K4NT while holding it in one hand. When I finally broke down and bought the exorbitantly priced Amazon cover for it, I found pages extremely easy to turn while holding it one handed. I've never really understood why the cover makes it so much easier. Even with the cover, I can barely get the K4NT into a pants pocket, so I have been making do with it. As a side note, during the touch vs button flame wars, the touch proponents touted not needing room for buttons, yet the K4NT is both shorter and narrower than the K4T.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

I wonder if Kindle Voyage readers will have to suffer through the same tiny maps and pictures that we have to on the Aura HD now that they have a super high resolution display? Unfortunately the e-books just aren't keeping pace to the readers. Start putting high(er) resolution photos in your e-books, publishers!

It's hard to say. Sometimes Kindles will expand small images, and maybe shrink large mages. AFAIK, stock Aura HD will not automatically expand images and does not support user initiated zoom, but Kindles always have.

Many e-books have tiny images, but I think the popularity of tablets is changing that. When I read "Wicked Bugs" and "Wicked Plants" by Amy Stewart on a 6" e-ink screen several years ago, I checked out paper versions from the library to refer to the illustrations. I recently looked at the illustrations in these on my Nook HD+ in the Kindle app, and they looked amazing. It turns out that the subtle shading on these doesn't come out well on e-ink, but at least it shows that at least some e-books have higher resolutions images. I hope that reviews start covering this aspect.

Some e-readers clip large images, so it is not just a matter of pressuring publishers to use larger images. The reading software needs to handle them, and the HTML/CSS needs to be done correctly.

I hope the awareness of this issue increases. It is really sad how needlessly bad most e-book images are.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Shane R

I think that that's a misuse of the word luxury.

[Chi Cygni]

I suffer from extreme gadgetitis but strangely enough Kindle Voyage doesn't make me drool. I find it weird. I am more tempted by Kobo H2O but my PW1 is still working - for the moment - as last night it had a major stroke/heart attack (second already). It took quite a while to press and hold restart and had to restart twice. Doesn't help that for the past 3 weeks I've been waking up ON it, screen unprotected because I happened to doze off while reading. And if it dies on me of course it is 1 month past warranty. Never had a Kobo so perhaps will try next time.

[Shane R]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The device is simply expensive (perhaps justifiably so), as opposed to being affordable.

Not everything that's expensive is a luxury item.

[evanft]

I'm actually kinda interested in this, despite already having an Aura HD. Here's why:

1. Page turn buttons

2. Smaller than the Aura HD, but still has a high-res screen.

3. Screen is flush with the top bezel instead of being sunk-in.

4. Much better overall design quality

What worries me is that I won't like the way pages are rendered and won't be able to turn the light off (it hurts my eyes). I currently use CoolReader for my Kobo, and I do very much enjoy the tweaks I've been able to make to take full advantage of the screen real estate and resolution. (I just wish it's interface was as nice as Kobo's).

I won't pick one up immediately, but if development support looks good I'll buy one locally. I'll at least be able to return it quickly if it isn't exactly what I want.

[Avwriter]

Has there been any mention of whether the processor speed is higher than the PW2? As I recall, the PW2 is faster than the PW1.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by samosa

What do these plugins actually do? I have done some searches but can't find anything - but this could be becoz I'm right now behind the Great Fire Wall.

These plugins "convert" a standard epub to a kepub which has the effect of changing the reading engine from one based on Adobe's RMSDK to one based on Netfront's ACCESS engine.

Technically I think the main change is wrapping sentences in <span>'s and adding unique IDs to them to allow bookmarks to work.

The two engines have some different features, which I am not fully sure I can describe.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

I suffer from extreme gadgetitis but strangely enough Kindle Voyage doesn't make me drool. I find it weird. I am more tempted by Kobo H2O but my PW1 is still working - for the moment - as last night it had a major stroke/heart attack (second already). It took quite a while to press and hold restart and had to restart twice. Doesn't help that for the past 3 weeks I've been waking up ON it, screen unprotected because I happened to doze off while reading. And if it dies on me of course it is 1 month past warranty. Never had a Kobo so perhaps will try next time.

Chi! How are you? Your user title made me laugh. I've been in 99% lurker mode too. I only seem to come out from under my little rock when a new kindle comes out.

I considered the Kobo H20 too. I think it looks really nice. What draws me to the Voyage is the page buttons and the higher ppi should be nice too. I hope so at least. And hopefully no color blobs. haha.

I'll be curious what you think of the H20 should you decide to get it. If something happens to your PW, that is. Or should you get a bad flare up of your gadgetitis. Whichever comes first.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

It's hard to say. Sometimes Kindles will expand small images, and maybe shrink large mages. AFAIK, stock Aura HD will not automatically expand images and does not support user initiated zoom, but Kindles always have.

Using Kobo's .kepub.epub formatted books, you can tap on an image to zoom it. Pretty useless in most cases since most of the images are low resolution -- one ebook I was recently reading had maps that were 120x144 pixels so zooming gave you a closeup view of fuzz.

If you use the correct css, an image can be set to use as much of the page as possible without needing any user intervention. Sadly too many publishers of epub format ebooks seem unable to pay any attention to how their ebooks look on a screen with more than 600x800 resolution.

[yarnmama]

Originally Posted by xendula

Just wondering: did any of you also receive an Amazon survey asking about what features would make you buy your next ereader? I received it a few weeks ago and now wish I had taken screenshots, but I distinctly recall the following features they asked about: water resistance, social media, page-turn buttons, more storage, lit screen, price.

So, I really thought the next Kindle would be waterproof and have page turn buttons. I wonder why they sent out the survey just weeks before announcing the KV.

I got that too a few weeks ago. The email stated I received it because I had recently visited the Kindle pages which I had. I was checking to see if there were new models yet.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by kaufman

You get a number that doesn't mean anything, because there are a large number of differences between the two devices. And that's not even considering the intangible value of buying from a larger company with a larger and most stable ecosystem.

And even if you could do that, your numbers make no sense. The H20 is $180+$17 tax. The Voyage is $200 with no tax. The S) discount is $20.

To me, that looks like a $23 difference, not a $50 one. Still a silly comparison, but at least its based on actual numbers, and not just made up out of whole cloth.



Harumph!

Sorry, but incorrect. The H2O is not $17 in tax. I'm not sure if Kobo would be charging tax. I'll find out tomorrow when I place my order.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Jguogen seems to have discontinued his Calibre plugins for the Kobo readers. They would be essential to make use of the reader like I want. The reason for quitting seems to be general dissatisfaction with Kobo and their (seemingly) non-existent customer service. I guess the H2O is out as well. Seeing that I'll probably skip the Voyage as well, it could be that I'll be using my KPW for yet another year.

The plugin isn't going away. And if anyone finds a problem with it, it will get fixed. There hasn't been that much work on it recently as Kobo doesn't seem to be in any hurry to change anything it relies on.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

That's only around 10% VAT. In the Netherlands, it's now 21% (being raised from 15 to 16 to 19 to 21% over the years). In Norway and Denmark, VAT is 25%, Hungary 27%, even.

It's approximately 8.75 percent tax in Texas, one of the mid-range state sales tax rates in the nation. We don't have to pay that tax on non-prepared food items either (grocery. We pay it on restaurant bills.) But yes, if you buy a kindle, there will be that tax.