Amazon’s long-term vision for digital e-readers is paper. Literally, a device That looks, feels and acts like paper, with the exception of it being a screen That can refresh and interact with the reader. Though That dream is years or decades away, the all-new Amazon Kindle Voyage small be the closest thing to it yet.
On Wednesday, the Seattle-based book-selling giant unveiled the ultra-light (6.3 ounces, an ounce lighter than the Kindle Paperwhite), pleasingly thin (7.6 mm) and ultra-bright and sharp Voyage Kindle E Ink-based e-reader, along with a slew of other tablet upgrades and innovation.
With its 300 pixel-per-inch (ppi) resolution, 6-inch, all-glass face and single-mold magnesium body, the $ 199 Kindle Voyage Represents the high end of Amazon’s e-reader experience . The face is all glass with a black border surrounding the monochromatic screen. On either side of the reader face are two thin lines. A gentle press anywhere along lines Those advances and turns back a page. Amazon even built in a very subtle bit of haptic feedback to let you know the thing is working. It was so subtle, though, that I could barely feel it. You can also advance pages via a swipe on the touch screen.
I had a couple of minutes to try the reading experience and did notice that the text was ultra-crisp. Amazon told us they micro-etched the glass screen to cut down on glare. Even during the brief hands-on, I noticed it did not reflect the bright lights they had set up in the photography area. The device also features ambient light sensors so it can auto-adjust the brightness of the over-the-screen lighting (which still emanates from an array of LEDs hidden just beyond the visible screen area.)
Amazon also revealed a low-end model, the $ 79 Kindle, Which looks like the Voyage’s ugly stepbrother. Where the Voyage is all clean lines and svelte profile, the Kindle is boxy and average looking (only 167 ppi). It does offer a touch interface, but it’s powered by infrared sensors around the screen edge instead of using an actual touch panel built into the screen. There’s no built-in reading light.
The more attractive the Kindle Paperwhite remains in the middle at $ 119 It does get a storage upgrade (4G, the same as the Voyage) and some software enhancements coming to all of the Kindle e-reader devices.
Amazon’s $ 79 Kindle (left) and the $ 199, super-slim Kindle Voyage.
Image: Mashable, Lance Ulanoff
X-Ray tells you about the book’s characters and key terms will now include images and notable clips. The last Addition uses content analysis that derive key passages That can help you get up to speed on the book. So, if you put down a tome for a time and want to remind yourself what’s going on, you might zip Through these snippets. It also sounds like a great way for students to avoid actually reading books.
Amazon has also enhanced dictionary features within the readers. A new tool called Word Wise will show definitions over words as you’re reading. While it sounds like this could clutter up the reading experience, Amazon Showed us how you can use a slide that control the number of definitions you see or turn off altogether Word Wise. What we saw looked like very short, tiny, but readable definitions over the words. We’ll reserve judgment on Whether or not this is useful.
Amazon bought Goodreads social reading platform over a year ago and is further integrating the experience into all Kindle reading devices. It’s now easier it add your books to the Goodreads shelf and share your reading habits with friends. Amazon said the social platform now has 30 million members. We’d be curious to know how many of you are using it with any of the Amazon Kindle reading services.
The $ 199, 4G version of the Amazon Kindle Voyage and the new $ 79 Kindle both go on preorder on Wednesday at Amazon.com and ship in October.
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