# Voyage rumours???



## MrKnucklehead (Mar 13, 2013)

any rumours about the next Voyage maybe having  headphone jack for listening  to Audible.com versions of books available on a kindle Unlimited


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## northofdivision (Sep 7, 2010)

Would guess November for the Voyage refresh. If there were any hardware changes, I'd put my money on a little thinner, a better battery life and some lighting fixes. Think the headphone jack is a long forgotten feature now dedicated to the Fire line of Kindles. But I hear you, I'd welcome it. Wouldn't be surprised if they rolled out a new case too.


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## auburn1975 (Sep 4, 2010)

Speaker in the VII ...*YES, YES, YES... please*. I have a FIRE and have bought and sold a few kindles *since Gen 3/Keyboard version*. However, I own many multiples of the Kindle Keyboard just for this feature and use them daily. I would be the first to buy a new Voyage with a speaker. Otherwise, I am still waiting and still wait longer until an ebook only kindle with a speaker/audible version *COMES BACK* into the design features.


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

I doubt it because of the size issues. The Voyage isn't just the highest end Kindle, it's also the smallest.


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## jlee745 (Jul 27, 2010)

I was wondering if anyone had read this and what your thoughts are
http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/amazon-kindle-voyage-2-to-be-released-november-2015


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

First I've seen anything that concrete abut a new Voyage, jlee -- thanks for the link.


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## jlee745 (Jul 27, 2010)

Also found this on another site
Is the rumor true? I can’t say. But I find it very plausible since E Ink development hasn’t been as rapid as many had hoped, and if Amazon lacks other good display alternatives for the Voyage right now, why not focus on chip-related matters? Contacted via e-mail about his source or sources, Good E-Reader Editor in Chief Michael Kozlowski told me: “Can’t divulge my sources, but there are two. Both from the chipset side.”


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

I'd be real surprised and very disappointed if the new Voyage had a speaker.  The whole idea of the Voyage is smaller and lighter.

As for the Goodreader article, I read that when he posted it and it sounds like he has some kind of information so maybe it's valid, but it's well to remember that he's kind of famous for getting things wrong, exaggerating the things he gets right and sometimes making things up.  I read his blog because he does come up with some interesting stuff at times but I read it with a lot of skepticism.

Barry


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Thanks for the link JLee! We shall see if this rumor comes through. Nothing in it that seems unreasonable, though unless there are other improvements that appeal more, I won't be buying one (which is a good thing!).

I am in the camp that prefers smaller and lighter to audio capabilities. Audio is what my smart phone or iPod or (if I'm at home) Alexa is for!


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## northofdivision (Sep 7, 2010)

Thanks for the link, Jlee745. Right in line with the past few years in the midst of Fall as a pinch point for Kindle releases. Voyage2 is definitely on it's way in a few months. I agree with you Barryem, keep the Voyage as an ereader Ferrari and don't try to make it with bells and whistles from tablets. I fear companies not feeling (or possibly knowing) ereader tech alone can sell units, wanting to add tablet features to try to make it more digestible for a wider audience. Amazon fortunately has stayed incredibly true to the ereading experience with their Kindle lines so i'm optimistic that that Voyage additions will be for the serious and avid readers it's intended for. Definitely see the under the hood improvements for speed, lighting improvements, battery life +. Hope it's as good of a jump as the P1 to the P2 was.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

One of the comments at the bottom of the link caught my eye:-



> Page refresh is an incredibly minor problem and is not what is wrong with the Kindle. Paltry typography controls and lack of internal storage are the main advantages of competing e-readers. Ridiculous organization constraints are a problem with *all* proprietary-based e-reader OS's.
> 
> An e-reader ought to be smart enough to give users complete control of margins, fonts, font sizes, justification, paragraph spacing, line spacing and gamma. It ought to be smart enough to give users storage to take their libraries with them. Kindle isn't smart enough to do any of those things. Instead, it gives you the choices and constraints that Aunty Amazon tells you that you should enjoy.
> 
> Fixing problems which don't exist doesn't make up for this. Give me what others give me AND give me what Kobo doesn't: The ability to organize my library by folder.


and also



> Other wants are.........Font options and font control. I like Kobo's ability to control font weight along with greater choice of fonts.


I think they both make valid points - I've always had my Kindles set to refresh every page because I simply don't notice it, so removing an effect I don't notice anyway isn't going to make much difference to me. On the other hand, I would love to be able to control the _weight_ of the fonts because as much as I love the lighting I do think it washes out the crispness of the text when it's on high. I always find myself having to balance how white the background is with how faded it makes the text - with font weight controls I could make the text heavier and still be able to have the light as bright (and therefore the background as white) as I wanted.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

I live in a retirement home and none of the people living here besides me have any tech or computer experience at all.  But a lot of them love to read.  So I've gotten several of them started with Kindles.  The majority are afraid to try them.

I had a couple of old Kobo Mini's that I tried to give to those people, full of books, so they could try them out.  Those who would look at them had already seen some of the Kindles the others were using the added controls and additional complexity of the Kobo scared them away.  I was finally able to find people to take them but that took some doing.  I was only able to convince them by only showing them how to turn the thing on and off and how to turn pages.  As soon as I tried to show anything past that they got scared and lost interest.

I've also gave away and sold some old Kindles that I no longer use.  Each time I gave a Kindle away a number of people wanted it.

Personally I never used the additional font controls on the Kobo but I realize a lot of people do and they sure never bothered me in any way.

Still, after that I think I can see Amazon's point in giving only the bare minimum controls to Kindle users.  They don't want to scare them away.  This is still very early days for ereaders and a lot of older people, and more than a few younger people, are intimidated by a lot of controls.

I suspect that's part of the reason for the Kindle's success.  They're making them for nervous people, not geeks.  This world has a lot more nervous people than it does geeks.

Barry


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Barry, I think you make a good point - not everyone is comfortable with technology, just as not everyone can afford premium devices.

But that's why there's a range of Kindles, going from the very basic at the bottom of the scale up through the more expensive ones with more functions available.

I still believe that the flagship device - in this case the Voyage - should have all the bells and whistles they can fit on it.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Linjeakel said:


> I still believe that the flagship device - in this case the Voyage - should have all the bells and whistles they can fit on it.


I agree to an extent . . but I don't want them to make it heavier by adding sound or something else *I* don't really want. 

That said . . . software shouldn't weigh much.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

> An e-reader ought to be smart enough to give users complete control of margins, fonts, font sizes, justification, paragraph spacing, line spacing and gamma. It ought to be smart enough to give users storage to take their libraries with them. Kindle isn't smart enough to do any of those things. Instead, it gives you the choices and constraints that Aunty Amazon tells you that you should enjoy.


Exactly what I've been arguing for over the last 3-4 years. Just about any third party ereader app gives you these features (particularly for ePubs). It's very frustrating. 

You don't have to expose this stuff to the casual reader; hide it in a alternate set of menus that can be toggled on and off by the advanced reader people that want it.

Mike


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Even though I listen to audiobooks, I've never listened to them much on my eink Kindles.  Butif they could add the ability to listen to ebooks to the Voyage without adding too much weight, I think it would be a great addition.  Not sure it'll ever happen but I wouldn't mind.

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Even though I listen to audiobooks, I've never listened to them much on my eink Kindles. Butif they could add the ability to listen to ebooks to the Voyage without adding too much weight, I think it would be a great addition. Not sure it'll ever happen but I wouldn't mind.
> 
> Betsy


I wouldn't want to pay extra for such a feature . . . but maybe have models with the option . . . like 3G or not 3G. Or maybe a completely different model. To be really useful it seems like it would have to be something where the audio book would sync with the kindle book while playing . . . together . . . so you can read and listen at the same time. I think Fires do this.

In retrospect they probably should not have had sound on the first kindles . . . . then people wouldn't be missing it so much now. That said, I'm guessing most customers either don't care or would prefer NOT to have it in the interest of saving money, weight, or being able to include a different feature instead. And that's why it's not there any more.

Disclaimer: I don't do audiobooks, though we've occasionally listened to them (kids stories) on long car rides . . . this was YEARS ago -- my 'kid' is now 32. Any device that can plug into the car would work for me. . . . .


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Clearly, there's a difference between adding features which require hardware changes - like adding sound - and features which are merely software related - like more control of fonts etc.

I'm sure if they can have those software features on other devices, like the Kobo, then they could be put on a Voyage too. Surely it's a robust enough device to be able to handle these things without compromising it's performance in any way?

I continue to be astonished that Amazon doesn't make any attempt to match these features - you'd think in such a cut-throat industry they'd be eager to keep on top of any suggestion that other devices were out-performing their own in terms of features offered.


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

I've just received my new PW3, to replace my ageing PW1. I'm afraid I'm not impressed.  

The problem is, because of the higher resolution screen, my preferred text size (3) has gone smaller, so I'm struggling to read it, and the next size up (4) is too big.

So yes, I'd much rather see more range in fonts (size, weight etc) than anything else. Going to give it a few days but the PW3 may be going back.

I also agree with the comment in the article linked to - screen refresh is an inherent part of the way e-ink screens work, you can't get rid of it with a more powerful processor, only with a new screen.


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

> I continue to be astonished that Amazon doesn't make any attempt to match these features


Think about it from Amazon's point of view. They see Kobo add a feature and they see Kobo's market share drop and Amazon's market share grow.


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

Morf said:


> The problem is, because of the higher resolution screen, my preferred text size (3) has gone smaller, so I'm struggling to read it, and the next size up (4) is too big.


Quoting myself here, I've been pointed towards a fix that seems promising - http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=256969



> Create a text file named FONT_RAMP and put in the values of 7.49 8.43 9.37 10.31 11.25 12.19 13.13 14.07 and save the file. Then copy the file into the root of your Kindle drive when it is connected via USB.


I'm going to give this a try when I get a chance. In the meantime, the problem isn't quite as serious as I thought, it only seems to be an issue with certain side-loaded books: proper Amazon books - especially the newly formatted ones - look fine so the PW3's been given a stay of execution!

Morf


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Hmmm. .... that's quite interesting Morf.  Though I wish I had a clue what the numbers mean, exactly . . . . I only went through the first page of the thread you linked to, and they didn't really explain -- lots of assuming one knows what's under discussion.  I assume it's font sizes, somehow, but why THOSE numbers and would others work and how? Perhaps I'll 'play' on my PW2 which is my back up device. . . . 


eta: . . . . read a little further . . . . some discussion seems off topic and way over my head but the important posts are #19, which gives a step-by-step, #22 which gives the default values, #24 which gives a file already properly created so you don't have to do it yourself, and #42 which gives some additional optional values that leave the smaller defaults in place but adjusts the larger sizes.

eta: . . . .  there's a later post -- 'long about page 7 -- that confirms it works with the current OS version and has a file that has some different font sizes, but the same file name.


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## booklover888 (May 20, 2012)

Speaker-To-Animals said:


> Think about it from Amazon's point of view. They see Kobo add a feature and they see Kobo's market share drop and Amazon's market share grow.


Do you have some data to back up your conclusions? I fail to see how Kobo adding a feature would case Kobo's market share to drop and Amazon's to grow.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

booklover888 said:


> Do you have some data to back up your conclusions? I fail to see how Kobo adding a feature would case Kobo's market share to drop and Amazon's to grow.


I don't think there was an implication of cause and effect --- if there was that makes no sense to me! 

But it is the case that, even as many suggest that kindles lack certain desirable features of Kobo, and sometimes Nook, Kindle still has the largest market share in the US . . . . I'm not sure about world figures.

I think they mostly want to keep the price down and are simply focusing on things that more people ask for. There's a fairly vocal minority _here_ who want more/different font size and style choices, but I'm guessing that maybe that's not what they mostly are hearing from customers over all.


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## booklover888 (May 20, 2012)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I don't think there was an implication of cause and effect --- if there was that makes no sense to me!


Probably just me then, too early in the morning!


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

I have a feeling that Amazon keeps the feature set at a minimum so they can keep their support costs down.  Also I suspect most people really don't care.  I read with either font size 2 or 3, usually 3 but now and then 2.  I'd like a size in between them.  I'd probably use it more than either 2 or 3.

Really, though, it's hard to care that much.  Size 2 is a wee small for me but not unusable.  Size 3 is pretty comfy.  A tiny bit large but not enough to matter much.  I'd like to have size 2.5 but not if it means raising the price.

Barry


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Definitely not worth paying more money for me . . . . though it might very well be for some. 

Seems to me -- and I've said this before -- that they'd make money by offering 'special feature' packages for $5 or $10 -- could include alternate font styles or sizes, or alternate sleep pictures for those without special offers. Since there are hacks for some of these things, I know it can be done.   

But, of course, they'd have to pay somebody to develop them and make them install-able pretty much automatically . . . unlike the hacks where you have to copy a file to your device. For the average user, it would need to be something that would download and install on it's own. . . like the software updates.


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Hmmm. .... that's quite interesting Morf.


I got round to having a play with this on both the PW1 and the PW3.

It works, but the range of books on which it works seems very limited. Didn't seem to work on any bought books, or any documents sent using the send to kindle email address, only on sideloaded books and only on some of them.

I did, however, have a closer look at the font differences between the two Kindles and came to the conclusion that the issue is pretty minimal. The font size is still more or less the same, it's just that the line spacing is closer. Wider line spacing on the PW3 just about exactly matches standard line spacing on the PW1. On the basis of this I'm sticking with the PW3, and getting used to Bookerly and the closer line spacing.

Isn't it funny how we used to quite happily switch between DTBs with different fonts, sizes, spacings, layout and everything else without even thinking about it!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Morf said:


> I got round to having a play with this on both the PW1 and the PW3.
> 
> It works, but the range of books on which it works seems very limited. Didn't seem to work on any bought books, or any documents sent using the send to kindle email address, only on sideloaded books and only on some of them.
> 
> ...


Thanks, Morf. I'd not had a chance yet to play with any of the files. It's most definitely a "first world problem!"


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## jlee745 (Jul 27, 2010)

Ok they just announced new kindle fires. Does that mean no new voyage this year?


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

It's too soon to know whether there'll be a new Voyage.  My guess is there will be but that's only based on the rumors.

Barry


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## northofdivision (Sep 7, 2010)

Every year for the past few years there's been a refresh on the Kindle E-ink line without fail. No reason to think there won't be a Voyage update/refresh. Would be very very surprised if there wasn't. Looking forward to it. With that 50 dollar 7" Kindle Fire coming out, reminds me how Amazon always has something up their sleeve. This board will light up in another month or two like it always does each year, followed by many saying they don't need the updated Kindle or have use for it followed by most of us buying the latest Kindle and rationalizing what to do with the previous version. It's like clockwork on this board and it's beautiful/funny. #guiltyliketherest #middleclassproblems No worries, Barryem, it's coming!!!


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## fancynancy (Aug 9, 2009)

JLee, you made my day.   Thanks so much for sharing the link. 
NorthofD, I so resemble that remark!  Too funny. 

I'm in the camp that doesn't want audio.  In fact, the only reason I've held out for this 2d generation is the pinholes. I think I've mentioned before that I regularly visit the Voyage floor model at my local Best Buy and the screen is full of pinholes.  I'm hoping against hope that Amazon has worked on that problem.


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## northofdivision (Sep 7, 2010)

Good stuff. Right on time and right on with their discounts of the current Voyage...Thoughts on the "Solar panel" everyone? 
Bring it on!!!

"Amazon confirms Kindle Voyage 2 will be released in November
November 1, 2015 By Michael Kozlowski 

Hundreds of Amazon customer service representatives, all over the world, have been confirming the existence of the Kindle Voyage 2 and that it will be released this November. This adheres to the release schedule that we were provided by an Amazon engineer back in July.

The Kindle Voyage 2 will retail at the same price point as the first generation model. It will have a Special Offers variant and a model with 3G, you could  buy books outside of a wireless hotspot. November is the exact same time the new Freescale I.MX 7 1 GHZ dual core processor will be available. It is very likely that Amazon waited so long to announce this new e-reader because they had to wait for the new  processors to be completed.

There is a rumor coming out of China that the Voyage 2 will have a small solar panel built into the front of the unit. This will allow you to charge the e-reader via ambient light. This might be useful because all other digital readers on the market need to be charged via USB. There are also murmurings that Amazon will augment their Page Press technology. This is due to the fact that the Seattle company were unable to secure patents in key markets. This prevented Amazon from selling the device in Canada because there were existing patents for Haptic Feedback. The lack of wide spread availability likely contributed to the the first generation Voyage's lackluster sales.

November is also the month that Amazon is  expected to announce a new basic Kindle, that will include a higher resolution screen and will be billed as "the lightest Kindle ever." The company will also release a 5th generation Kindle Paperwhite with 8 GB of memory."


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

I don't know much about solar panels but I'm not sure how they can put enough solar panels on the Voyage to be useful and still keep it small and sleek.

In goodereader's original Voyage rumor article he said the thing would have a box-like slide cover and maybe that would have enough room for a solar panel.

I'm always skeptical about goodereader's predictions anyway and this thing about the solar panel makes me even more skeptical.  I'll be a bit surprised if it has one but I've been wrong before.

If they do anything that increases the size or weight, which a solar panel might, I'll lose interest.  I'm planning to get a new Voyage if there is one.  I have a Voyage and I'd like a backup.  But if the new one isn't as small and light as the old one I'll probably pass.

Barry


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## northofdivision (Sep 7, 2010)

barryem said:


> I don't know much about solar panels but I'm not sure how they can put enough solar panels on the Voyage to be useful and still keep it small and sleek.
> 
> In goodereader's original Voyage rumor article he said the thing would have a box-like slide cover and maybe that would have enough room for a solar panel.
> 
> ...


Agreed, think solar panel or box slide element are both a stretch but i'm still pretty confident a new model will come out this month.


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