Voyage review on engadget

[Canuck_in_Japan]

Originally Posted by kaufman

Mine looks perfect with no variations to the screen. That seems to be what most people are experiencing.

You obviously haven't visited the impressions thread.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Engadget totally botched the section titled THE COMPETITION as they do not show the H2O next to the Voyage in the photo and they talk about the now no longer made Aura HD instead of the H2O. But then (IMHO), if they had shown the H2O next tot he Voyage, the Voyage would not look better. The H2O would look better.

Besides the water resistance on the new model what else is changed between the two kobo models?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Crowl

Besides the water resistance on the new model what else is changed between the two kobo models?

The new model is using a Carta screen with the same resolution as the Voyage. The front light is also changed. So yes, it's appropriate to compare the H2O to the Voyage and not last years obsolete technology.

The review is spoiled because of this incorrect comparison. It shows that the reviewer doesn't know what he is doing and makes the rest of the review suspect as well. So all-in-all, the review is untrustworthy and that makes it for a review not worth reading.

[Crowl]

No, it does not mean the review is spoiled or untrustworthy, except when you are already predisposed like yourself to dislike any positive comments about a kindle.

Incidentally, it seems like if there is any failing over the two Kobos then it would come down to Kobo themselves for not doing a better job of getting review hardware out to major gadget sites like that one as they are not going to go out and buy extra hw themselves just to ensure the comparison section (only one small part of the entire review) was more up to date.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Crowl

Besides the water resistance on the new model what else is changed between the two kobo models?

They took away 10 rows of pixels and the power button for the light.

[badbob001]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The new model is using a Carta screen with the same resolution as the Voyage. The front light is also changed. So yes, it's appropriate to compare the H2O to the Voyage and not last years obsolete technology.

The review is spoiled because of this incorrect comparison. It shows that the reviewer doesn't know what he is doing and makes the rest of the review suspect as well. So all-in-all, the review is untrustworthy and that makes it for a review not worth reading.

One problem is that engadget didn't do a review of the Aura H2O and Kobo may not have even sent one to them. They did do a review of the aura hd so it makes sense to compare what they have actually used, but I agree that a mention of the new h2o would be needed. I honestly believe the reviewer didn't even know about the recent kobo release. Even in the Wired review, the author didn't know about other waterproof readers until he was notified in the comments. It's likely that the press sees the ereaders ecosystem as mostly kindles + countless non-kindles. Kind of like ipad + countless non-ipads.

You imply that the h2o has a better backlight and screen than the hd, but even Kobo is not marketing those points. But they do highlight the waterproof feature, which in the eyes of the consumer, looks like h2o = hd + waterproof. Similarly, amazon is highlighting the higher dpi of the voyage, but don't say anything about the improved backlight and improved anti-glare etching. I'm guessing with ereaders, kobo and amazon marketing want to keep things non-technical.

All the voyage press reviews are starting to sound pretty much the same and aren't very deep, perhaps because the ereader experience hasn't changed much. I can't wait for some in-depth user reviews, especially with non-standard content such as manga and comics. The one review that stands out to me is the Wired review, but in a bad way. It is way too whimsical, as if the author is trying too hard to spruce up a boring review. He mentions asking a co-worker to flip pages for one-hour, says battery life is virtually unlimited, says he dropped it on his wood floor 100 times, etc. This review is suspect.
http://www.wired.com/2014/10/kindle-voyage-review/

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by kaufman

Mine looks perfect with no variations to the screen. That seems to be what most people are experiencing.

Have you looked over the full range of light brightness levels?

[kaufman]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Have you looked over the full range of light brightness levels?

Well, I didn't take any pictures of it, but I just ran it from most bright to least bright and at no point can I tell any difference between the top and the bottom.