Kindle Voyage - First Impressions

[Zeebra]

Originally Posted by shalym

Was the WiFi left on? What light level were you at?

Shari

WiFi off, light level usually at 15

[Atunah]

I charge my Voyage every 2-4 days. Wifi on all the time, light at 10-11.

Sounds like you getting nice battery. But then I don't really worry anymore about this. I read a lot so of course I would use more. I also charge at about 30-50%, or what I think is that. I just like to have it full more than not. My PW1 wouldn't even go to the 2nd day without running out of battery down to a sliver, so I am happy with finally being able to keep wifi on. I like to use wiki and look up stuff I need wifi for.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Zeebra

WiFi off, light level usually at 15

Isn't 15 too bright?

[Atunah]

Would depend on someones eyes and preference, wouldn't it? And where someone reads and how much natural light there is. We aren't all the same.

Inside I am pretty much on 11, but I am not next to a window. Just depends.

I just plug it in when I feel like it needs it. I am done being a slave to the battery.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Atunah

Would depend on someones eyes and preference, wouldn't it? And where someone reads and how much natural light there is. We aren't all the same.

Inside I am pretty much on 11, but I am not next to a window. Just depends.

I just plug it in when I feel like it needs it. I am done being a slave to the battery.

But you are being a slave to the battery. No juice in the battery, no reading. Leaving the WiFi on all the time is draining the battery faster than it would normally drain.

[Atunah]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But you are being a slave to the battery. No juice in the battery, no reading. Leaving the WiFi on all the time is draining the battery faster than it would normally drain.

No, that's not being a slave to battery, that is just dealing with what is. I used to be a slave, used to worry all the time how long and look at the battery, now with my Voyage, I don't care. I plug it in when I notice it needs it. Otherwise, I just read. I don't care anymore. Its quite liberating. I want and need wifi on and now I can do that. I could not do that with my PW1.

I just care about books now.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Atunah

...I don't care. I plug it in when I notice it needs it. Otherwise, I just read. I don't care anymore. Its quite liberating. I want and need wifi on and now I can do that. I could not do that with my PW1.

I just care about books now.

Normally, I have to connect the reader to the computer to put new books onto it before the battery actually runs out. Most of the time I'll just leave it connected until I'm done with the computer stuff and it picks up enough of a charge to go for quite some time. I think I can count all the warnings of "Your battery is low" on the fingers of one hand since I've got this Kindle.

I do have to say that I mostly don't have more than one or two series on there at any one time, to prevent me from going: "What am I going to read' after one book is done and then postponing the choice, to swap out all of the books for the ones that aren't on there.

[Zeebra]

Originally Posted by Atunah

No, that's not being a slave to battery, that is just dealing with what is. I used to be a slave, used to worry all the time how long and look at the battery, now with my Voyage, I don't care. I plug it in when I notice it needs it. Otherwise, I just read. I don't care anymore. Its quite liberating. I want and need wifi on and now I can do that. I could not do that with my PW1.

I just care about books now.

I guess my battery is "normal". The tech specs say the battery gets "up to 6 weeks*" where * means 30 minutes of reading time a day with brightness level at 10. So that's 21 hours of battery according to Amazon. Since I keep my brightness higher and read more than that per day the figures sort of work out.

To answer JSWolf, yeah 15 is probably too bright, i've been trying to read with it lower recently, don't want my eyes to get too lazy.

[thatworkshop]

Has anyone tried reading on either Paperwhite / Voyage outdoors when it's showering or raining lightly? I'm thinking Voyage would be better, right? Because its screen is flush, rain drops can't get in the inside and LEDs etc.

Also, how do you guys compare durability of the screen on Voyage (micro-etched glass) and previous models (plastic)? Asking as glass seems more fragile... eh?

Originally Posted by Atunah

No, that's not being a slave to battery, that is just dealing with what is. I used to be a slave, used to worry all the time how long and look at the battery, now with my Voyage, I don't care. I plug it in when I notice it needs it. Otherwise, I just read. I don't care anymore. Its quite liberating. I want and need wifi on and now I can do that. I could not do that with my PW1.

Oh, battery on Voyage is 1320 mAh and on PW1-2 is 1470 mAh. I'd like to know why you think it lasts you more on Voyage. ?

[HarryT]

The Voyage is a much tougher device than the PW. Rigid metal case and toughened glass screen, compared with the plastic PW. I have both.

[thatworkshop]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The Voyage is a much tougher device than the PW. Rigid metal case and toughened glass screen, compared with the plastic PW. I have both.

Neato. I haven't seen a Voyage drop test though.

I hope V2 has a more conventional back-plate, more like PWs. To be honest, I can't stand its current backplate and origami blah blah blah!
If Amazon brings back TTS (at least audio jack-in, don't care about speakers), I'm all in to buy one.

Coming from non-touch Kindles, I also would like to be able to disable the touch screen temporarily and I hope Amazon adds such option, so that we don't have to add such functionality by jailbreaking and tweaking.

[Atunah]

Originally Posted by idoit

Oh, battery on Voyage is 1320 mAh and on PW1-2 is 1470 mAh. I'd like to know why you think it lasts you more on Voyage. ?

Better processor? I have no idea. But my PW1 was so laggy and slow and ate battery like crazy. Most of those issues started with that big update when we got those cloud collection thingies. Spring of 2014. It was not pretty. Adding books to my collections would literally take minutes. For each book.

With my Voyage, it takes a few seconds, still not instant, but I do have lots of collections and lots of books in the cloud.

If I left wifi on on my PW1, it could barely get through a day without me getting nervous about the battery. I don't like seeing only a sliver there, makes me itchy.
I gave it to my husband who doesn't use collections and has almost no books on his account. It still uses battery fast, considering he barely touches it. My K3 and basic can sit on the shelf unused for weeks and weeks, K3 especially.

Voyage I can read and read and read and leave wifi on and finally I am free. So it feels like. I'll never get weeks out of an e-reader as I read way more than 30 minutes a day, so getting days is fine for me.

Can't help with reading in the rain though. We can go for months here with no rain and when it does, it comes down in sheets. No way would I sit in that reading. . I have several times though gotten sprinkles of fluids on it. Cat's drinking bowl is on my side table, so there is that. I also managed to spray some water on it, not a full dunk or anything. It just wipes off.

[badgoodDeb]

quote: Voyage I can read and read and read and leave wifi on and finally I am free. So it feels like. I'll never get weeks out of an e-reader as I read way more than 30 minutes a day, so getting days is fine for me. "

Ditto! And when I went on a long vacation, I did turn the wifi off, and got more battery length. But at home, I like to be able to leave wifi on, and STILL not have to worry about the battery for several days. It's great!

[thatworkshop]

Oh tell me about K3. I truly love it. I still think, it's the masterpiece of all Kindles... If it had front-light technology, I'd easily discard PW/Voyage and go back to K3.

[robko]

Originally Posted by idoit

Has anyone tried reading on either Paperwhite / Voyage outdoors when it's showering or raining lightly? I'm thinking Voyage would be better, right? Because its screen is flush, rain drops can't get in the inside and LEDs etc.

You'd be playing with fire to take it out in a light rain I would think. The screen might be flush, but from pictures (I don't have one) it appears that it sits recessed into the frame. The joint between the screen and the frame WILL NOT be waterproof. It might be tight enough to keep water out, but that's taking a big risk to deliberately assume it's going to keep water out.