I've had my top-of-the-line Amazon e-reader for around a year and a half. I love it, and am not sure how I'd get by without my Kindle Voyage.
Back in November 2014, I wrote about the evolutionary changes from Kindle's Original to Amazon's latest and greatest Kindle, the Voyage. Since then Amazon has upgraded their bestselling Paperwhite, but has left the Voyage alone. I'm betting that is because they don't have to improve it.
Nothing on the device has worn out. It looks like it just came out of the box. With 18 months of active use, the battery is as excellent today as it was on day one. I get 3 weeks between charges, if I am lazy. The haptic buzzer system, so criticized at launch, is now habitual and natural. There are a few scratches on the back, from getting sand in the Amazon OE "Origami" case, which I did not like.
The cheap $13 case I bought for it feels great in my hand, but is the only thing wearing out. I'm kind of looking forward to replacing the case, as it strikes me like a new pair of shoes, or tires for the car.
Amazon has been updating the software. A few months back, I reported some difficulty getting the Bookerly upgrade. I love the new font, and the latest UI upgrade came in flawlessly. One afternoon I charged the Kindle, went to wake it up and the UI had changed. It is a change to your home screen navigation only, and some of the icons and nav up top are a bit cleaner.
I have read conjecture that Amazon may never upgrade the 300 pixel-per-inch screen, because it is enough to convince the human eye it is reading solid, ink on paper words, rather than assembled dots. For casual reading this screen resolution, and dimensions, are perfect for me. I do not want a larger screen for education work, recipes or engineering manuals. Others may, and those applications may require higher resolution screen. For the personal, e-reader, it looks great and fits in a pocket.
Overall, I like how the Kindle Voyage fits into my life. I'm a single guy. I live, by choice, in a remote-ish place. I like my solitude. When I go out to eat, its often me and my Kindle. A good friend and I joke about how we are in relationships with our e-readers. She has figured out that a sugar packet, on its side acts as perfect stand for her Voyage. I shit you not, we literally sat at the bar at the Magic Castle, on New Year's Eve, and compared our reading lists.
Amazon hasn't upgraded this, because they don't have to. They have however discounted it $50 for prime members, however. If you are looking to purchase one, I recommend paying a bit extra and turning off the ads. I also buy the wifi only model, as I don't need the cellular connectivity.
**Publisher's Note: Looks like Amazon decided to release a new one!? Explains the discount.
Amazon's Kindle Voyage [amazon.com]
