Kindle Voyage - First Impressions

[Tess89]

I also have a screen that has a more yellowish tone towards the top and a whiter tone in the middle and bottom. I can't say its all that noticeable while I'm reading though. I actually have to turn the device upside down to see the extent of the two tones and it's only noticeable in a dimly lit room with the brightness set in the medium range. Doesn't bother me too much but it makes me less certain of whether I should keep it over my PW2. At $199 it ought to be perfect or very close to it.

[BrentB]

I am VERY picky about my eyesight and visual acuity, and my Voyage has none of the symptoms that are described here. Regarding the majority of units having this problem, that is highly doubtful. Of course, those who have the problem will post in this thread and rightly complain, but those who don't will probably never even find this thread, let alone comment. I also had the PW1 and it definitely had the shadowing issue at the bottom (so I sympathize with those having issues), and my PW2 pretty much did away with this. My Voyage screen looks perfect, and the higher resolution is awesome.

[Yolina]

I have to say that what I find really confusing and disappointing is that from PW1 to PW2 they managed to pretty much iron out the screen green/pink blotches and uneven lighting issues but it looks like they got things wrong *again* with the Voyage. It's a premium "luxury" reader FFS, the screen should be perfect on every single unit, not just some of them, given the price tag of the thing.

Good luck to all in the Great Screen Lottery.

[Josieb1]

If I got anything like David58117s I'd be gutted. It's totally unacceptable for the price they are charging for it.

[Drew0020]

I am returning my Voyage because it is unacceptable in a $199 top of the line e-reader. That said, if you never set the brightness above 8 and you use it in bright rooms or outdoors, you will probably not be impacted by the two-toned screen.

Of course Amazon gave me the option of getting a replacement in 5 weeks, but I politely declined. I am really looking forward to my iPad Air 2 tomorrow anyway.

Maybe next year Amazon.

[Haesslich]

Originally Posted by WilliamG

Either way, if you're the person who sent back the Paperwhite for this issue, the Voyage is not really any better. Just... different.

Here's a picture (I posted over on a different site, too). I see pretty much every single color - pink, green, orange... Ugh.

If you're astute, you'll be able to make out the hint of the stage-light shadows at the bottom of the screen. This also varies between the three units I have, but it's visible if you're very, very picky.

Image violates guidelines for size - MODERATOR

I'm also seeing a yellow area in the top third of the screen. Is it just me?

This is starting to remind me of the early PW1 posts. Guess it's time to wait it out.

Also, have you tried holding it in what I call the magazine grip? As in holding the left side near the middle, one handed, and using your thumb to keep it securely pinched in your hand? The reason I ask is I want to know if the page turn buttons have any issues when you do that - if they're hard to use, etc.

Originally Posted by xendula

2) I constantly flip pages when grabbing the device by the bezel. Because there are no physical buttons, this is much harder to avoid than on the K4B for instance, and it drives me NUTS.

No. It only seems to work in books. I tried to use it in the store and on my home screen and in the browser, and nada, not even a haptic feedback.

That's what I was afraid of - I like to read on the bus, and you have to hold it by the bezel if not seated. Between that and the inability to use the page turn buttons to navigate the ToC or other things that also have 'pages', or sounds like I'll be waiting for firmware and hardware revisions - and maybe a price drop - before going Voyage. Especially when my Paperwhite does the same things the Voyage does, minus the 'buttons' and light sensor.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by disconnected

I'll try to take a picture tomorrow but I have to warn you that picture-taking is not one of my strengths.

I'm basically not a visual person and I'd never think of all the fine points of display if I didn't read these threads. I'm trying to compare the two screens now and having a hard time getting equivalent things to look at.

I only use the fonts that come already installed and I'd just picked the same ones for these two as I've been using for the previous models -- Georgia for the H2O and Palatino for the Voyage. The only common font seems to be Caecilia so I switched to that for both and tried to get the font size and lighting to be as close as possible. At least in my current lighting conditions (fairly bright indoor light) this is how it looks to me --

The Voyage definitely looks whiter, tending towards a very, very pale gray.
The H2O is on the creamier side of white, but not so much that I'd call it yellow. The light seems very even on both of them. I don't see any shadows or mysterious colored blobs. To me the H2O is slightly easier on the eyes, but I'm perfectly happy with both of them.

My eyes aren't good enough to see that the sharpness of the letters is better on one or the other. Both are clearly sharper than my six inch Aura, even to my eyes.

The letters on the H2O definitely look blacker to me than those on the Voyage.

If I stare at the screens any longer I'll start to convince myself that everything I've just said is wrong.

I like Kobos partly because I like a lot of the little things -- seeing the cover of my current book on the sleep screen, having plenty of white space on the page (I know most people think this is a waste ), having the book title at the top of the page, and current page number/total pages at the bottom.

If I could really only keep one of my ereaders it would still be the six inch Kobo with its perfect size and "good enough" screen.

Thank you so much! That helps a lot. Especially hearing that you find the font darker on the H20 compared to the voyage. That's something I was wondering. I'd be fine if it was just as dark as the voyage, my main concern was it not be lighter. I'm going to give the Kobo a try. Thanks for your input, I really appreciate your detailed response. Enjoy your readers!

[mewmartigan]

I have the yellowing on top which fades towards the bottom on mine. It is a little distracting..especially when you flip a page because you are going from a nice whitish background to yellowish at the top of the next page. I will wait a few months and then try a replacement still within the year warranty.

The auto-brightness needs a software udpate. It worked a bit for me last night....then it stopped working entirely....then today I was reading (while waiting for a car inspection) in a room where the lighting conditions did not change. Over the course of 5 minutes my screen went from 17, down to 6, back up to 13. It was distracting and I have auto-brightness turned off now until they tell me its been improved with a software update. On a sidenote, I didn't have the "slowly adjust over time" feature turned on.


Overall I am actually a bit disappointed even though I will keep it. To have an uneven screen after charging me a premium price is annoying. I would honestly be less annoyed if it were the same $120 price point. Hopefully when I request a replacement in a few months time, things have improved.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

I was sorry to hear of your disappointment. Especially that we wait so eagerly, excited and then it is impossible to enjoy, pricey toy at that. I will never order Voyage as it leaves me quite cold. I find the layout boring by now, it looks exactly the same, with the same fonts. I'd have felt I have the same old ereader. Yes I know screen is better (or is it) I still keep Charis SIL on my PW1 and I refuse to read anything Caecilia. I finally want book cover as screen saver. No personal tag on my covers either. So, H2O is the way for me.

Thanks hon. It's unreal, honestly. I'm starting to think everyone who works on these kindles is half blind. The screen on my PW2 is actually better. Much more even, as in half of the screen isn't yellow and the other half blueish white. I also see pink on mine as well. Zzzzz.

The only improvement as far as I'm concerned is the sharpness of the font, which is definitely sharper. They managed that one. Other than that, it's outrageous the price they are charging for these things. I'm not impressed with the page turn buttons either. I'm very disgusted with Amazon at this point. I'm jumping on the Kobo train. Going to try out an H20. Hopefully we'll both love them.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

Thanks hon. It's unreal, honestly. I'm starting to think everyone who works on these kindles is half blind. The screen on my PW2 is actually better. Much more even, as in half of the screen isn't yellow and the other half blueish white. I also see pink on mine as well. Zzzzz.

The only improvement as far as I'm concerned is the sharpness of the font, which is definitely sharper. They managed that one. Other than that, it's outrageous the price they are charging for these things. I'm not impressed with the page turn buttons either. I'm very disgusted with Amazon at this point. I'm jumping on the Kobo train. Going to try out an H20. Hopefully we'll both love them.

You will love the kobo I'm sure of it, just persevere and get a good one. Plenty of help on the Kobo forum if you have questions.

Originally Posted by tomsem

Folks, I want to hear more about the page turn buttons. Do they totally eliminate the need to swipe to page through Kindle Store listings, scroll a wikipedia article in the browser, scroll and page through TOC/XRay/search results/notes lists? Just as you could on Kindle Keyboard etc?

Hoping they have not failed to wire them up everywhere they'd be useful, and not just for 'turning pages'.

I noticed that the page turn buttons don't page forward when you search for a word in your book, a title or author in your library, or in the store, and you're presented with several pages of results - you have to swipe. I'll send an email to kindle feedback, suggesting they update the software, but will probably wait a few days (they're probably overwhelmed at the moment).

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

You will love the kobo I'm sure of it, just persevere and get a good one. Plenty of help on the Kobo forum if you have questions.

Thanks Josie! I'm really looking forward to trying one. What's nice is I heard they have demo units set up at Best Buy in Canada. It will be nice to see it before actually purchasing it.

[John C]

I got a Voyage from Best Buy last night and also very disappointed with the uneven and discolored lighting. The bottom third of scene is about twice as bright as top third which makes the top appear yellow under most indoor lighting. It landscape view its even worse. This was going to be my first ereader but will hold out with Nexus 7 for a while. Waited a month for Voyage and its going back ASAP. I'm not picky either. I could care less about the page turn buttons, as the screen touch is very functional. I think Kindle is just targeting a high end market with the 300 dpi screen. If they get the lighting sorted out I'll consider another one. I think the navigation options could also be improved. Something like an option for a pop up window for a book cover and navigation that you could open independently. Not a deal breaker. Just pointing out it's just a PW2 with a sharper screen and very uneven and discolored lighting. For now I'll just use my Nexus 7 for mobile reading.

[mr_nihilism]

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

Hard to believe that so many people are having so many problems with their new Voyages. It makes the H20s release look flawless. I wonder if Amazon picks out specific Voyages to send to the reviewers and that's why no one mentioned it. Or maybe the reviewers just don't notice those kinds of things.

There's plenty of mention of there being a yellowish light on the H2O but my screen is very white. It really should have been called Aura Paperwhite instead. So there is a good degree of difference, and a gamble what a person is going to get.

There is a pic that I posted for reference on one of the H2O threads.

[Drew0020]

Originally Posted by John C

I got a Voyage from Best Buy last night and also very disappointed with the uneven and discolored lighting. The bottom third of scene is about twice as bright as top third which makes the top appear yellow under most indoor lighting. It landscape view its even worse. This was going to be my first ereader but will hold out with Nexus 7 for a while. Waited a month for Voyage and its going back ASAP. I'm not picky either. I could care less about the page turn buttons, as the screen touch is very functional. I think Kindle is just targeting a high end market with the 300 dpi screen. If they get the lighting sorted out I'll consider another one. I think the navigation options could also be improved. Something like an option for a pop up window for a book cover and navigation that you could open independently. Not a deal breaker. Just pointing out it's just a PW2 with a sharper screen and very uneven and discolored lighting. For now I'll just use my Nexus 7 for mobile reading.

I wonder if its possible to fix the lighting hues in a firmware update? It almost looks like 2 different color lights on my Voyage.