Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As someone who reads quite often, I really like this new generation of Kindle. The improvements in hardware, software, and most importantly, the readability are an amazing leap forward from what I had been using. I have owned prior generation Kindles (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), and then managed to convince myself that I didn't need a Kindle anymore since I had an iPad that I could read on easily enough. Fast forward a couple of years after (mistakenly) deciding that and I noticed I still found myself going back to the Kindle Keyboard (3rd gen) as my preferred reading device, as it eliminated eye strain entirely. That eventually lead me to start researching what improvements there had been in the e-ink displays and Kindles since my last investment in one, and I was very pleasantly surprised to learn about the Voyage. After hemming and hawing over the decision to invest another $200 into an e-reader (my 1st gen Kindle's screen went kaput, so I was somewhat hesitant to buy another), I eventually took the plunge and I can honestly say I couldn't be happier with the purchase. ##The Hardware -- The Voyage is quite sleek in my opinion. The dimensions of the device are small enough that it can easily be held for long periods with one hand, and small enough to be easily portable (i.e. I can easily slip it into my jacket pocket and be on my way). The metal back feels great in my hands, and I have found that it is comfortable to hold for hours while reading without that sides of the device cutting into the palm of my hand. The flush glass front is a surprisingly non-reflective matte finish that is still readable in bright light or outdoors. The 300 dpi eink display is very pretty, and while I can easily read the text at the smallest setting, I still prefer the 3rd smallest font (it that appears to be around a 12 pt font if I had to guess). Still, while everything is crisp, I wouldn't say that it's a gigantic improvement over the 167 dpi Kindle Keyboard I had been using. The biggest improvement to me is the built-in backlight. Admittedly, I had skipped the Paperwhites, so I can't draw a comparison, but it's insanely nice being able to read in any setting without needing a separate source of light on the screen. I have seen some reviews state that the lighting is uneven on their screens, or that it goes from yellowish to blue, and luckily I didn't receive a unit that suffers from either of those issues. I've found that I keep that light at around Level 8, and the ambient light sensor does it job adjusting accordingly depending on the darkness of the room. As for the WiFi vs 3G models, I have owned both types in the past generations, and I don't really think it's worth it to invest the extra $70 in the 3G model. It's not too hard to find free WiFi these days, I haven't missed the 3G functionality at all. ##The Software -- The current software / firmware that I am reviewing is 5.6.1.0.1. This was my first experience using the touch-based interface for Kindle, and I must say that I like it a lot. There are notably some navigational confusion that I'm sure I'll adjust to, but overall, it is much more convenient using touch to move around that a directional button. The one thing that I've noticed is that I keep trying to use my thumb on the bottom of the Voyage expecting there to be a 'Home' button, which may just be due to my familiarity with iPhones and iPads, and the habit of needing to press the Home button on the Kindle Keyboard. After having this happen several times, I must say that I would really like to see Amazon use the Page Press sensor technology to transform the Kindle text at the bottom of the front bezel into a home button on the next generation Voyage. Also, I really like being able to browse the books on my device by cover. By default it only shows one row, but I turned off the special offers, and opted for it to show two rows of books instead of store recommendations. X-Ray is pretty cool for referencing characters or quickly finding things within the book, and I imagine I'll use it a lot in the future. Word Wise is also freaking invaluable to me. While it sometimes picks out words that are quite obvious in meaning, very often it picks out the words I don't know and quickly allows me to see their meaning without breaking the flow of reading by having to press and hold a word to bring up the dictionary. I also really like the Goodreads integration, as I was using that social network way before Amazon purchased it, and being able to quickly update my reading progress cuts out some of the busy-work of keeping my profile updated on that site. Additionally, I absolutely love the feature that allows you the tap the progress shown in the bottom left corner of the screen and quickly change between percentage complete, time left in the chapter, time left in the book, and the corresponding page from the print version of the book. The time left feature changes dynamically based on your own personal pace, and it's a great motivation tool to keep going if you know how much longer its going to take to finish that chapter without having to skim forward. The font choices are also nice, though even more choices would be appreciated. Of those offered, Palatino is my personal favorite. Overall-- It's quite easy to say this is the best Kindle reading experience I've had, but I don't know whether the Voyage was worth the extra cost compared to the Paperwhite. The flush glass front, page turn buttons, and adaptive light sensor are great, but if you're in a pinch for money, I'm sure it's quite easy to survive without access to those features.