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Review: Kindle Voyage

Remember last November when TechCrunch said that the Kindle "Ice Wine" would feature improved typography and a much better screen? I didn’t believe parts of that report at the time, but there have been moments over the past few days where I think TC may have understated the case.

Amazon’s latest Kindle, the Voyage, arrived at my door on Friday and now that the embargo has been lifted on Monday I can finally tell you what I think. Three days isn’t really enough time to write a review, but I do have a few thoughts. (I got my unit later than some of the other reviewers.)

Wow.

I wouldn’t buy one, and in a couple ways the design falls flat, but wow. If you are one of the lucky few who ordered early enough to get an early ship date, you are in for a treat.

While I would normally balk at writing a review after only 3 days (not enough time, IMO), I have checked and my Kindle Voyage loaner is still running pretty much the same software as what the Paperwhite ran a month ago. Technically the Voyage is running v.5.5, which is a later version than what is running on the Paperwhite, but the Voyage still lacks the new software features which Amazon is promising to add in a firmware update later this year.

Since the software features are largely identical to other Kindles I can skip them and focus on simply the hardware and the reading experience. And that is most of what I have been doing for the past 3 days. (I even put off writing a review I had scheduled so I could instead lay around, reading ebooks, and playing with the Voyage. What a tough life I lead.)

How Does it Feel

In short, very nice. But to be honest, the Paperwhite also feels very nice, and so do a lot of other ereaders.

As the early photos will tell you, the Kindle Voyage is a simple black rectangle which is at first glance is difficult to distinguish from other Kindle models. But then you flip it over and the difference is obvious.

The Kindle Voyage sports a rubberized rear shell which is patterned after the design of Fire tablets, except without the sharp angles. While you can see and feel the suggestion of panels, the angles are so shallow that the Voyage feels more like the curved rear shell of the Paperwhite than it does to the angled rear shell of the Fire tablets.

Moving on to the front, the Voyage has a 6″ screen which is noticeably a couple shades lighter than the screen on my 2013 Paperwhite. The screen on the Voyage is mounted flush with the front of the case, which matters more than you would think. When placed next to the Paperwhite the text seems to float on the Voyage’s screen, and thanks to the 300 dpi resolution it is also considerably sharper with more finely detailed fonts than can be found on previous E-ink screens.

If you’re upgrading, I think you will notice. (I am ambivalent on such details, but even I noticed and marveled.)

The Voyage sports a frontlight which is both much brighter and much whiter than the frontlight on my Paperwhite, which is browner in comparison. The Voyage also has an ambient light sensor which can set the intensity of the frontlight for you, but I can’t comment on it (I always disable such sensors).

I can comment on the fact that the frontlight is never off, not even at the lowest setting. Even in a pitch black room I could see some light on the screen. It wasn’t enough to read, but it was enough to be able to turn the frontlight up. I’d rather be able to turn the frontlight all the way off, but I will admit that that is a nice touch, and one which the Paperwhite doesn’t have.

On either side of the screen you will find a pair of page turn buttons, the one feature which I don’t think worked out well. These non-physical buttons are pressure sensitive, and trying to get them to respond consistently detracted from the reading experience.

What is it Like to Read On

When I posted my review of the new basic Kindle, I lead with the observation that I was having trouble writing the review because the device had got out of my way while I was using it.

I can’t say the same about the Voyage. While it was fun to get one in my hands, some parts of the design kept tripping me up.

The origami cover, for example, folds over the top rather than the side. This detracted from the reading experience, and trying to fold that cover correctly so I could use it as a stand was a hit or miss process.

And then there are the page turn buttons.

While I like that Amazon added them back in after going button-less with the Kindle Touch in 2011, I would prefer actual physical buttons. The pressure sensitive buttons on the Voyage are finicky and don’t work in every situation.

According to Amazon’s promo info, the page turn buttons, or PagePress as they are called are intended to be squeezed, but given how I usually hold my ereaders that doesn’t always work. For example, I found while reading in bed that the buttons didn’t always register my press. What’s more, I regularly had the Voyage decide that I wanted to go back rather than forward.

While you could write that off to user error, any design that still has me tripped up after 3 days could well be described as counter-intuitive, and in need of work. Luckily there is an option to disable the page turn buttons (it’s in the settings menu).

Update: Actually, you could also write that off to a user not looking at the settings menus. The buttons can be adjusted to respond to less or increased pressure. This might have helped with my inability to get a consistent response.

Conclusion

Three days is too early to post a real review, but based on what I have seen so far I would say that if you have the money to spend, you’re going to love the Kindle Voyage. But if you don’t have the money, well, there isn’t much you’ll miss aside from the higher resolution screen and the brighter frontlight. (I won’t miss them much.)

The Paperwhite will be getting the same software updates as the Voyage, and it has its own smartcovers. So the question you should really ask is whether the Voyage is worth the extra $80 (or possibly even more, if you are upgrading and selling off your old unit).

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Comments


Anne October 20, 2014 um 4:57 pm

"the text seems to float on the Voyage’s screen"

It floats? Do you have a Kobo Aura to compare it to? Floating is how I would describe the text on the Aura, in some lights. (Which I don’t like).

Nate Hoffelder October 20, 2014 um 5:01 pm

No I do not, sorry.

Pennywise October 21, 2014 um 3:16 pm

Oh yes, it floats. They all float!


Sturmund Drang October 20, 2014 um 6:25 pm

Front light aside, is the paper whiter than the PaperWhite? Is the text blacker? I’m assuming it’s the same, because no reviewer has indicated differently. Thank you

Nate Hoffelder October 20, 2014 um 6:31 pm

The screen on the Paperwhite is ever so slightly more brown than the screen on the Voyage. That tint is probably due to the capacitive touchscreen layer.


George October 20, 2014 um 7:22 pm

Does the Voyage work faster than the Paperwhite because of the extra RAM?

The Paperwhite is nice, but both my wife’s and mine have become super slow.

Nate Hoffelder October 20, 2014 um 7:30 pm

It’s not noticeably faster, no.

Ingo Lembcke October 21, 2014 um 8:11 am

Why should it be faster with extra RAM? In the situation where everything else is the same (and it is not imho, both the processor and the screen are faster), more RAM should not give a direct difference in speed.
That said, my Kindle Paperwhite 1 with 2 GB RAM is behaving erratically when free space drops under a certain value (220 MB I think). It became slow in response, in that regard, more RAM would help (me, until I have filled that).

Nate Hoffelder October 21, 2014 um 8:25 am

The storage is Flash, not RAM.

But yes, I can see that running low on storage can cause erratic behavior.

George October 21, 2014 um 10:40 am

So, hopefully that would mean increased storage on the newer Paperwhites might alleviate that problem. If that would be the case, we’d probably get new Paperwhites instead of the Voyage.

Although I’d hate to let Bezos down by not getting the latest great item. But even us Kindle junkies have to think about the cost of things occasionally.

Will Entrekin October 21, 2014 um 9:42 am

Are they full (memory-wise) or what they call . . . was it "indexing"? I know when you add new books to the device, it searches them because it has that functionality–which can also cause the battery to drain more quickly.

I noticed mine had slowed so I deleted from the device some comics I’d intended to read on my iPad. That seemed to help a bit.


DavidW October 20, 2014 um 8:38 pm

Thanks for the review! I don’t want the origami cover, waiting for good 3rd party alternatives. Looks like the screen really is awesome. That is what I would be buying it for.

Does the light sensor work well?

Haesslich October 20, 2014 um 9:47 pm

He didn’t seem inclined to test it, and I can’t blame him given how poorly they work sometimes.

I’m more concerned about the sensitivity (or lack of) the touch zones in the bezel. Was the issue the way pressure had to be applied, or was it the way the thumb had to move that was the issue? Given that was part of the reason they’re pricing the Voyage so high…

Nate Hoffelder October 20, 2014 um 10:10 pm

I think the issue was that you really do need to pinch the sensor, which means that your two fingers have to be lined up front and back. I don’t hold ereaders that way.

If your fingers aren’t lined up you have to hit the sensors with enough oomph that the impact registers – more pressure than I am used to applying to physical buttons.

Haesslich October 20, 2014 um 10:14 pm

I’m sitting this generation out, in that case. I’ll take 265ppi on a screen that’s about an inch larger. And has SD card support for my PDF and graphic novels.

DavidW October 21, 2014 um 8:34 am

That is poorly designed. I don’t know anyone that would hold an ereader, tablet or a book that way. What were they thinking!?

Nate Hoffelder October 21, 2014 um 8:45 am

This is also why on screen keyboards never completely replaced physical keyboards. Even for the iPad, a BT KB case is still a hot accessory.

Nate Hoffelder October 20, 2014 um 10:11 pm

I’ve never liked them on tablets; they don’t set the light at a level which I would choose.

And on the Voyage it doesn’t seem to work very well. It can respond to increases in lighting by turning up the frontlight but it doesn’t turn it down in dim lighting or darkness.

And now it’s not responding at all (???).

Leonid October 21, 2014 um 2:38 am

Totally off-topic, but there are several apps that let you tweak the auto-brightness algorithm on Android tablets/phones to fit it to your specific needs. For example, (not free) and (free) .


Lila Phillips October 20, 2014 um 11:33 pm

How about the experimental web browser? I was told it’s faster & better. I’m odd, as that is what I would like to use it for. (Computer vision problems.) Have a Paperwhite, which is not good at this, of course. Thanks!

Nate Hoffelder October 20, 2014 um 11:54 pm

They look the same and I can’t say that it’s necessarily faster, but I did notice after playing with it for about 15 minutes that the browser on my KPW crashed several times while the one on the Voyage did not.

I think it’s safe to say that the one is better. I’ll test it some more tomorrow.

I wouldn’t buy the Voyage for the web browser; the KPW should be getting it in an update.

TheGreatFilter October 21, 2014 um 8:53 am

If you want an e-reader for browsing, there are better options than a Kindle. Consider the Onyx, for example (though I understand the light is not the best). But at least you can install different browsers. And if you visit mobileread, be sure to use the mobile version.

Lila Phillips October 21, 2014 um 12:57 pm

Thank you! Is there a particular model to recommend? Would it be the best option at present for e-reader & e-ink web browsing? Thanks!


Name Required October 21, 2014 um 6:20 am

If the firmware is very similar to KPW2, I guess we do not have:
user installable fonts, hyphenations, more font sizes, justification settings, margins, more line spacing options ….
Just making sure.

Nate Hoffelder October 21, 2014 um 7:00 am

I just double checked and the font menu is the same, so iy probably is the same.


TheGreatFilter October 21, 2014 um 8:58 am

The big shocker is the buttons. As I understand it from your review, they take more pressure than normal physical buttons and work inconsistently. Ouchers.


MrMLK October 22, 2014 um 10:39 am

> What’s more, I regularly had the Voyage decide that I wanted to go back rather than forward.

Perhaps you have a defective model. Unless you like to hold your ereader with your hands most of the way up the side, there is no way you could be hitting the back dot when you meant to hit the forward line. I have normal sized hands, and I can barely reach the button stretching my thumbs to the limit.


Lila Phillips October 22, 2014 um 11:07 am

Looking forward to your test of the web browser, for speed, reliability, etc.

Also, how might it be for black-and-white comics?

I always enjoy your reviews. Thanks!

Nate Hoffelder October 22, 2014 um 12:44 pm

Whoops, I forgot to get back to this. Thanks for reminding me.


Voyage vs Paperwhite Comparison Review: the Web Browser – The Digital Reader October 22, 2014 um 1:41 pm

[…] At the request of a reader, I spent some time yesterday playing with both Kindles, testing the web browsers, and I can report that the Voyage has the much better web browser. It’s enough better that I sincerely hope that the Paperwhite gets it in an update otherwise this could be a strong selling point for the Voyage. […]


Kindle Voyage | Leituras Digitais October 30, 2014 um 6:45 am

[…] The Digital Reader […]


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