At a Glance
Expert’s Rating
Our Verdict
The Kindle Voyage is without doubt one of the best eReaders money can buy. Is it worth buying though? For most people, no. The extra resolution, sleek design and page-turning buttons are all nice-to-haves but by no means essential. You’ll get a better reading experience on a Voyage compared to the current-generation Paperwhite, but only just, and the difference in price is simply too much to justify it. But if money is no object, then you won’t be disappointed.
A refurbished Voyage sells for £139.99 .
The Voyage is special because it has the highest resolution display of any Kindle eReader. Cramming 1440×1080 pixels into the same-as-ever 6in size means a pixel density of 300ppi. Those, of course, are all just numbers. It’s what they mean in reality that makes the difference.
Text is laser-sharp with none of the jaggedness of the screen you’ll get for £59. It’s noticeably sharper than the Kindle Paperwhite’s 1024×768-pixel display.
And make no mistake: the tablet-like, edge-to-edge glass is a game-changer for eReaders. No longer the thick, raised bezels of previous Kindles. Now, the Voyage feels like you’re holding a supremely lightweight – albeit monochrome – tablet.
The backlight is simply brilliant. It’s even and has enough adjustment so you can get the perfect level whether you’re indoors or outdoors. It even has an ambient light sensor so can set the backlight automatically – a bugbear on the Paperwhite.
There’s another cunning feature, too: Night Light. This slowly reduces brightness when it gets dark, working in tandem with the auto brightness feature. Brightness changes so subtly you don’t notice it and that’s exactly what you want when you’re engrossed in the latest novel.
Another of the Voyage’s unique features is its touch-sensitive buttons either side of the screen. These replace the old page-turn buttons which have been missing from Kindles for a couple of years now.
They make it possible to go to the next (or previous) page when you’re holding the Voyage in one hand. You press the long line to go forwards and the dot to go back. You can set the sensitivity of the buttons as well as the level of haptic feedback, which lets you know you’ve pressed one.
Happily, you can set the feedback to a very small amount so it’s barely felt – yet another way to keep your attention focused on what you’re reading.
The side bezels are quite thin and it’s possible to accidentally press on the screen itself with your thumb and make the page turn. You can turn off PagePress, but not tapping or swiping on the screen to turn pages.
Put side by side with a first-generation Kindle Paperwhite, it’s easy to see that screen quality is a big step up, and not simply in terms of resolution and clarity. The backlight is much whiter and brighter at the same setting.
The processor also makes a big difference with super-fast page turns and almost tablet-like responsiveness when navigating menus and typing search terms (or your Wi-Fi password) on the virtual keyboard.
We tested the Wi-Fi model, but if you fork out £229, you’ll get free-for-life 3G as well, so wherever there’s connectivity you can spend more money in the Kindle bookstore.
Measuring 162x115x7.6mm the Voyage is a touch smaller than other 6in Kindles, and also marginally lighter at 188g. There’s 4GB of memory to store thousands of books. If you’re looking for additional protection for your device, check out our selection of best cases and covers .
Specs
- 6in E-Ink eReader
- 1440×1080 pixel touchscreen, 300ppi
- 4GB RAM
- 802.11n Wi-Fi (optional 3G)
- microUSB for charging
- 162 mm x 115 mm x 7.6 mm
- 188g
Author: Jim Martin, Executive Editor, Tech Advisor
Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.
Recent stories by Jim Martin:
- Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Kids review
- Amazon Kindle Kids Edition review
- Amazon Kindle review 7th generation 2015
