Amazon Kindle Users Are Getting the Washington Post for Free – TIME

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Amazon Kindle Voyage review – Wired.co.uk

Amazon

• Wired

  High-resolution screen; automatically adjusts brightness levels according to ambient light; squeeze pads for turning pages

• Tired

  Much more expensive than other Kindle models; no dedicated high-end software features

• Price

Perhaps it will come as no surprise to hear that the newest and most expensive Kindle from Amazon is its best ever. But it really is. The price tag could be sticking point, however. At £170, the top-of-the range Kindle Voyage is the most expensive ebook reader Amazon has developed yet, but with similarly remarkable electronic ink tech available at a remarkably affordable price in the form of the £60 Kindle, has Amazon undercut itself?

Screen

The screen on the Kindle Voyage was made for those mammoth reading sessions in which night or day, no matter how fatigued, you just can’t put a book down. Its 300 pixels per inch display is very high resolution for a device of this type and therefore very kind on your eyes.

To stop you from squinting in the darkness, the Kindle will automatically adjust to new lighting situations so, as time goes by, will get lighter or darker as your eyes start to adjust to the changed visibility conditions. This is almost imperceptible, in the way of discreet five-star hotel service — you feel comfortable and taken care of, and yet there have been no interruptions to your private time.

Squeeze me

As well as the actual device being the thinnest and lightest Kindle ever, the Voyage has some other tricks up its sleeves that we haven’t seen on previous models. Running down each vertical bezel is a line and a dot. Squeeze the line and the page will flick forwards and squeeze the dot and the page flicks back one.

This obviously makes it ideal for lefties and means that most of the time you don’t even need to lift a finger to turn the page (just shift your thumb a bit instead). The Voyage provides noiseless haptic feedback that you can only feel in your thumb. Over time it becomes more sensitive — Voyage newbies tend to squeeze harder out of excitement, which was definitely true of WIRED.co.uk’s reviewer.

It’s a boon and a novelty and perfect for those lazy days on a sun lounger when you’re lying on one side holding the Kindle up to help shield your eyes from the sun as you read (just don’t try and balance it on your face if you decide to have a nap). But it is also to an extent a luxury. Touching the screen to turn the page is not all that more difficult than squeezing the bezel — not £110 more difficult at any rate.

It should be mentioned that there are some great features on-board the Kindle, including expanded X-Ray — which lets you look at the “bare bones” of the book — and a smart lookup tool that integrates X-Ray, dictionary and Wikipedia information about the book in one place. On their way are other features — enhanced search, family libraries and Word Wise to help you understand more complex books. All great, but these features are also all available on the £60 Kindle.

The Voyage’s main competition aside from Amazon’s other products is the Nook Glow — a lovely, light ebook reader with similar light-emitting technology to the Paperwhite and a 6-inch screen that costs only £90. Of course this locks you out of Amazon’s ebook ecosystem, but if you’ve yet to invest in a device, that is not necessarily a problem.

Conclusion

Amazon revolutionised the hardware people used for reading for the mass market in a way the human race hadn’t seen for centuries, but innovating such a low-tech activity comes at a price. As it always has done, the luxury of reading lies in the content itself rather than the more disposable vehicle that delivers it.

The Kindle Voyage is a fabulous device that we wouldn’t hesitate to endorse, but ultimately we couldn’t recommend to someone that they should pay to upgrade from a recent older model. Similarly, if you’re debating between the cheaper and more expensive Kindles, you are probably better off going for the £60 device and spending the change on stocking up your ebook library. The exceptions to this are if you have no choice but to read in the dark, or if your name is Moneybags — in which case, go wild and enjoy.

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Amazon Kindle Voyage vs Fire HD 7 vs Fire HD 6 comparison: Is a tablet or … – PC Advisor

Amazon’s Kindle Voyage is one of the most luxurious and best eReaders money can buy but how does it compare to the new Fire HD 6 and Fire HD 7 tablets? Find out in our Kindle Voyage vs Fire HD 7 vs Fire HD 6 comparison. See also: Best tablets you can buy in 2014. 

Kindle Voyage vs Fire HD 7 vs Fire HD 6: Price

As usual, price is going to have a big part to place in deciding between products. Usually, an eReader would be cheaper than a tablet but in this case it’s the other way around. The Kindle Voyage is a whopping £169 which is more than £100 more than the cheapest Kindle. See also: Kindle Voyage release date, price and specs

Meanwhile, the Fire HD 6 starts at a very affordable £79 and the Fire HD 7 can be yours for as little as £119. You can add £10 to the Amazon tablets if you want to remove special offers and adverts.

Here’s a full price chart for the different models which may make the decision for you but we’ll explore the hardware, specs and features below. See also: Best budget tablets to buy right now

	Kindle Voyage	Fire HD 6	Fire HD 7
16 GB	-	£79	£119
32 GB	-	£99	£139
Wi-Fi only	£169	-	-
Wi-Fi + free 3G	£229	-	-

Kindle Voyage vs Fire HD 7 vs Fire HD 6: Hardware specs and features

If the price alone hasn’t got you to a final decision then a big question you need to ask yourself is whether you want the device for just reading books or more things.

Although the Kindle Voyage is expensive, it has everything you could want for reading eBooks including a battery life which will last weeks, a high resolution e-ink screen, an adaptive light and the ability to turn pages with pressure sensors meaning you don’t have to lift a finger. It’s also the thinnest Kindle ever at 7.6 mm.

If you want the best possible reading experience then the Kindle Voyage is the best choice here, however, if you’re too bothered about the features of the Voyage then a Fire HD may be a better choice.

As we’ve already shown, the Fire HD tablets are more affordable than the Kindle Voyage and the HD 6 has the same size screen, albeit lower resolution. You can, of course, use either Fire HD tablet to read books via the Kindle app but the reading experience isn't going to be so easy on your eye.

On the plus side, they can do various other tasks which you would expect of a tablet such as browsing the web, playing games, listening to music, watching videos and using other apps. They also have cameras for taking photos and videos.

There’s little difference between the HD 6 and HD 7 beyond screen size and therefore dimensions, too.

Kindle Voyage vs Fire HD 7 vs Fire HD 6: The bottom line

If you’re looking for a device for reading eBooks only then go for the Kindle Voyage (or a cheaper model if it’s too pricey). However, if you like the idea of being able to read books and various other things on a regular display, then pick the Fire HD which suits your budget and/or screen size requirement.

Amazon Kindle e-reader software refresh adds Family Library, Free Time … – GeekWire

Kindle e-reader users have some new software capabilities to play with, thanks to a new update Amazon released today. The update brings a lot of good news for kids and families, with support for several new features that make the Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Voyage more appealing.

First and foremost, families can now access content on Kindle e-readers using Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, starting at $ 2.99 a month per child for Amazon Prime subscribers. That service, first introduced on Kindle Fire tablets, offers unlimited access to a curated library of books for kids of all ages. Parents will be able to give their kids free reign in a selection that includes the Harry Potter series, and "The Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell.

The update also brings support for Family Library, which allows family members to share their books with a partner or spouse and manage the content that's viewed by up to four child accounts. It's a way for people to avoid duplicating purchases, and manage their kids' reading habits.

There's also a new Word Wise feature that automatically provides short definitions of longer words in the space between lines of text. It's designed for English language learners and kids who are expanding their vocabulary, who can get the most out of reading a quick definition so that they can move on.

In addition to those major features, the update includes a handful of others, like one that allows users to update their Goodreads status as they're reading. Amazon has also upgraded the search and X-Ray features on the Kindle to provide more data.

The update will be delivered over the air "in the coming weeks" to the new 7th generation Kindle, 2nd generation Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Voyage. Users interested in downloading and installing it early can do so here.

Amazon Kindle (7th Generation) Review: The Touch Experience – NDTV

Amazon announced the launch of 7th generation Kindle ebook reader in September. The new entry-level Kindle comes with increased internal storage and a touchscreen display, which means the entire Kindle lineup is now touch-only and devoid of the 5-way controller seen in earlier models.

We reviewed the Kindle Paperwhite earlier this year, and with the addition of a touch screen, the all-new Kindle is pretty much identical in terms of how you navigate across the device, and the software features it offers. If you’ve never bought or used a Kindle touchscreen device before, we suggest you read that review before continuing. Go on, we’ll wait as you do that.

Now that you are all caught up, let’s talk about the differences between the Kindle and the Kindle Paperwhite. Kindle ebook readers use an E Ink display that differs from conventional LCD and LED displays you see in the likes of mobiles and tablets. LCD and LED displays emit light, which means you’ll have no problem viewing them in the dark, but electronic paper displays (like E Ink) reflect light, just like conventional paper. Without the need of a backlight, devices with electronic paper displays can have longer battery life – one of the biggest reasons why your ebook reader’s battery life is measured in weeks, while your phone can barely get through a working day.

Electronic paper displays are also easier on the eye, since you don’t have to deal with the constant strain of a backlight. This makes it easier to stare at the screen for longer durations, but without a backlight, it’s impossible to read in a dark room. Kindle Paperwhite ebook readers solved this by including a built-in light, giving you the metaphorical best of both worlds.

The new basic Kindle, just like its predecessor, comes without the built-in light, which means if you like doing a bit of reading before going to sleep, you’ll need to make sure you have a bedside light or any other source of lighting in the room. Alternatively, you could buy a cover with a built-in light, but with the official cover with a light costing around Rs. 3,500 (but not listed on the website as of filing this review), you might as well pony up and buy the Kindle Paperwhite for a little bit more.

The 7th generation Kindle comes with 4GB storage, twice as much as the previous one, which means you can hoard more books. However, it’s slightly heavier and bulkier than its predecessor. While some may miss the physical buttons for navigation and turning pages, we like the ability to just tap on screen and switch pages. Connectivity on the entry-level Kindle is limited to Wi-Fi. Like other members of the Kindle ebook readers family, you get weeks of battery life, so that is never a problem.

In terms of UI and software features, the experience is very similar to the Kindle Paperwhite – you did read the review, right? A forthcoming software update will add a few more features – details can be found on the Amazon website. The Kindle remains the best ebook service in India in our opinion, and we hope the Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscription service is launched in the country soon with a big enough selection.

The all-new Kindle is available from Amazon India at Rs. 5,999 and it’s a great device for anyone looking to dip their toes in the world of ebook readers. The previous generation Kindle is still available at Rs. 1,000 less and may not be a bad pick if you want something that’s lighter and without touch controls. However, the Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Paperwhite 3G remain our favourite ebook readers because they can be used in any lighting conditions.

Kindle Unlimited: Worth $10 a month, but needs more books – Mashable

What’s This?

Image: Amazon

By Brian Heater2014-11-15 05:35:38 UTC

I'm not ashamed to admit just how excited I was when Amazon announced Unlimited this summer. I read a lot. Perhaps an unhealthy amount — at home, on the train, at restaurants and coffee shops and at the gym. I burn through books like the dystopian government in Fahrenheit 451.

Granted, I grimaced at the prospect of paying $ 10 for yet another online subscription, but given the amount of money I pump into Amazon's e-book store on a monthly basis, Unlimited actually sounded like the opportunity to save some money in the long run.

See also: 12 Mysterious Google Maps Sightings

But there's bound to be some caveats — particularly with a new service — and Kindle Unlimited has a few big ones. Actually, the issue is more about what Unlimited doesn't have. It's enough to make even the most voracious reader think twice about subscribing.

Judging a book by its cover

First, I'm not in love with the interface, but I'm also not really surprised. When launching media stores, Amazon's play has long been to simply tweak its existing interface ever so slightly, to fit it into its larger store ecosystem. It did that with Instant Video and Prime Music before it, so it's only natural that the company would also build Kindle Unlimited atop the same template.

In fact, referring to Kindle Unlimited as a service of its own is probably a bit misleading. It's more accurately something of a subset of the larger Kindle Store. At present, the easiest way of accessing Unlimited is through an ad on the Amazon homepage.

Even months after launch, it doesn't have its own spot on the front page drop down, which is perhaps a sign that the company is underplaying Kindle Unlimited in its early stages for reasons we'll get to in the next section.

But Unlimited is one of a number of categories on the Kindle e-reader's store, alongside Monthly Deals and Things to Try. That means that you can view a selection of recommended Unlimited titles. The Unlimited logo will also pop up next to eligible titles when you search on the device, but at present, there's no way of searching just within Unlimited on the reader.

As for the desktop version, the main Unlimited page looks pretty much exactly like any other page in the Kindle store. The top couple of rows are devoted to popular titles — or titles that Amazon deemed popular, since they seem to have been determined prior to the service's launch. The list includes mostly contemporary favorites like Life of Pi and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

There's also a row of recommended books, which seems to be largely based on other books you've looked at on the site, rather than your reading history — or, better yet, your GoodReads activity. For a site so driven by recommendations, one would expect Amazon to invest a bit more heavily in a stronger algorithm.

Other categories abound on the front page, including Editors' Picks, Short Reads and an Author Spotlight — Philip K. Dick, in my case. Fair enough, Amazon, fair enough. There's also a module for Books With Narration — the audiobook element that the company was referring to in its launch material. If the book you pick has narration, you can listen though the company's myriad apps or through Audible's offerings.

Click on a book you like and you'll get the standard Amazon book page, along with an added "Read for Free" button, just above the option for actually buying the book (you can still do that too, naturally). Once purchased, the book will make the standard trip to your Amazon cloud for downloading across devices.

A minor nit, perhaps, but one of the issues with not having a walled off Unlimited store is that when you're navigating around, Amazon regularly bumps the search to the standard Kindle search, so you'll mostly be looking at paid titles.

You can access the list of the books you're reading through the existing Manage Your Content and Devices page — not exactly the most elegant solution. Books that were downloaded from Unlimited will be identified as such. Strangely, from here you can "return" the book, though as Amazon notes in the fine print, the books don't actually have a due date.

The limits of Unlimited

On the surface, giving users access to 600,000 titles is a lot, no question. That's like libraries and libraries of glorious electronic textual vessels to new windows of imagination. The great Library of Alexandria had around 500,000 scrolls and people are still making a big deal about it to this day. Not surprisingly, however, the 600,000 launch titles contained herein are hardly the sum of human knowledge.

The service certainly has its share of compelling window displays, with blockbuster titles like the Hunger Games and Harry Potter cunningly assembled out front to draw you in. And hey, if haven't read any Michael Lewis yet, his back catalog is worth a couple months' subscription alone. Seriously, people, have you even read Moneyball? It's wonderful.

Go a bit deeper, however, and things get a bit spottier. A quick breakdown of results from a selection of my favorite authors chosen somewhat at random:

Philip Roth: A few foreign language books with no immediate discernible connection to the Goodbye Columbus author.

Joan Didion: Apparently there's a reference to her in some collection of quotations from screenwriters.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Tricky Amazon brings up David Copperfield, The Picture of Dorian Gray and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man to cover up its complete lack of selections by the Colombian godfather of magical realism.

And, well, you get the picture. Oh, and speaking of all of the aforementioned literary classics that popped up in the Marquez search, they're all also free to Kindle users without an Unlimited subscription, so don't let your inability to spend another $ 10 a month inhibit your Dickensian literary aspirations.

Rather than just shooting in the dark, I decided to try again — this time letting Amazon guide my hand a bit. Wonder Boys is on the front page, and I quite like Michael Chabon's work, so let's see where that takes us. Four titles in all — not bad, but hardly a cross-section of Chabon's best works. A Chabon bookshelf without a copy of Kavalier and Clay is like a day without sunshine.

Image: Mashable, Christina Ascani

Where Amazon is lacking free options, it happily recommends additional books you can purchase. This is Amazon we're talking about here. The company has managed to get me to buy iPhone cases while shopping for pet food. If that's not the dream of American capitalism in full bloom, I don't know what is.

OK, so what about non-fiction? I'm glad you asked. I've been reading a lot of it lately. Indulge, for a moment, my recent World War II kick by searching for Winston Churchill. Pages and pages of stuff there. Unfortunately, however, we're not talking about those award-winning biographies like The Last Lion, instead, you get a lot of titles like Winston Churchill: Quotes & Facts — books that would have otherwise cost you under $ 3.

It's a bit frustrating sometimes. Remember when Netflix first launched its streaming service back when people couldn’t bare getting rid of their DVDs yet? It's a lot like that. Some marquee titles aside, once you really start scratching the surface, you often come up with scraps.

But in much the same way that spending $ 9 a month for a Netflix streaming account has directly impacted many of our personal viewing habits (and rarely, let's be honest, for the better), there's a pretty good chance the $ 10 Amazon is asking will also have a measurable influence on what you read.

Searching for titles through the service involves a lot of mumbling softly to yourself, "close enough, I guess." And for really passionate readers, it will also mean that, in the same way that we still supplement our Netflix accounts with the occasional iTunes/Google Play movie rental, you're still going to have to buy the books you really want to read, much to Amazon's delight, no doubt.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos prepares to unveil the Fire phone at an event in Seattle on June 18, 2014.

Image: Mashable, Christina Ascani

The source of Kindle Unlimited's lack of depth is an unsurprising one. It's the same issue that has plagued music and movie streaming service since the dawn of such things: An inability to attract content partners. As has been noted, the "big five" publishers — Penguin Random House, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster — aren't present here. That's a bit like launching a music service without Universal, Sony and Warner on board.

And let's be honest, even with the big publishers on board, don't expect to ever get free access to the latest best sellers. For much of the same reason that movies don’t go straight from the theater to Netflix, publishers are likely going to want a reasonably-sized window in which to sell their wares at retail before offering them up for free.

Wrap up

A simple search confirms that Unlimited isn't quite the no-brainer it seemed at first. As is often the case with nascent media stores, the service's appeal is severely hampered by selection. Unlimited could also benefit a good deal from spinning off a bit more from the larger Kindle Store — though, granted, that might make it a bit harder for the big Amazon upsell.

So, where do we stand on that $ 10 a month? Honestly, it's still a good deal for the right person — the voracious reader who can make due with a selection that isn't necessarily the cream of the crop.

The good news is that Amazon is offering a free 30-day trial, which should provide ample time to figure out if it's worth scheduling yet another reoccurring $ 10 monthly payment on the old Visa. Be forewarned, though, it's on you to cancel, as Amazon will automatically renew at the end of the trial period.

Kindle Unlimited

The Good

Unlimited reading for $ 10 a month • Cross-platform use • Marquee titles like Harry Potter and The Hunger Games

The Bad

Limited selection • No standalone Unlimited store

The Bottom Line

Kindle Unlimited is a promising offering that has the potential to further upend book publishing — if only if could get some more books.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Topics: amazon, Apps and Software, kindle, Kindle Unlimited, Mobile, Tech

Amazon’s New Kindle Fire HDX Tablet Is Light And Gorgeous — But It Has … – Business Insider

Lisa Eadicicco

Amazon has expanded its line of Kindle tablets yet again with this year's version of the $ 379 Fire HDX 8.9. The device, which is the same size as Google's recent Nexus 9 and a bit smaller than the iPad Air, is one of the slimmest tablets you can buy.

As is the case with its previous HDX tablets, the online retail giant is pushing its new addition as an entertainment-focused device.  And with it's gorgeous high-res display, it certainly has the hardware to pull it off.

After spending a week using Amazon's new tablet, here’s what I came away with.

The Basics

The 2014 edition of Amazon's new tablet comes with a 2560×1600 resolution display just like its predecessor and the Nexus 9.  There's an 8-megapixel camera on the back and 2GB of RAM, which the company claims will ensure graphics run smoothly.

In all honesty, there isn't too much that's different from last year's model. The new tablet comes with Amazon's new Firefly feature and runs on a new processor, but those are the only key differences.

How It Looks And Feels

Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX is undoubtedly one of the lightest tablets you can buy. In fact, it might be the lightest tablet at just 375 grams. By comparison, the Nexus 9 weighs 425 grams, the iPad Air 2 weighs 469 grams, and Sony's Xperia Z2 tablet weighs 439 grams. Granted, both Apple and Sony's tablets come with a larger screen than Amazon's Fire HDX, but it's still impressively slim. This makes it incredibly easy to use with one hand.

Lisa EadiciccoThe back of the Kindle Fire HDX

The back of Amazon's new tablet is made of a soft, slick material that's resistant to fingerprints, which is a plus. Both Google and Sony's tablet were quick to pick up smudges, so the tablets would look a little dirty after just a few minutes of use.

There's one design quirk that has always confused me when picking up an Amazon tablet. Both the power and volume buttons are located on the back, rather than along the side. I understand it probably wouldn't be possible to make the tablet super slim and light otherwise, but it always throws me off.

Using It

Lisa EadiciccoThe Kindle Fire HDX has a great screen.

Like Amazon's other devices, the new Fire HDX runs on its Fire OS — a modified version of Android. Although it's technically based on Android, it doesn't look very much like the software you'd see on a Google or Samsung tablet.

The home screen consists of a carousel of app icons with a menu that sits across the top of the screen. The menu lets you browse different categories such as games, apps stored on your device, photos stored on the tablet, and more. Below the main carousel are a few icons for other options in the OS, such as Amazon's Silk Browser, the stock email app, the tablet's camera, calendar, and a few other choices.

The carousel layout is a refreshing — it’s not the tired app grid layout you'll find on most other mobile devices.

The Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 is a gorgeous, lightweight tablet, but it has its limitations. Although its an Android tablet, don't plan on using Gmail, Google Maps, or any other Google-made application on it. There's no access to the Google Play Store, which means if the app you're looking for isn't in Amazon's AppStore, you won't be able to use it. So, that means no YouTube, no Google Drive, and no Google Maps.

Remember, the Fire HDX 8.9 is built for entertainment. So if you frequently use Amazon Prime and love downloading movies, you'll probably enjoy Fire OS.

Lisa EadiciccoThe new Kindle Fire HDX is super thin.

Like its predecessor, the new tablet comes with Amazon's Mayday feature, which is a service that connects you to a member of Amazon's support team.

Firefly is a newer Amazon feature that debuted on the Fire Phone last spring. Firefly allows you to use the device's camera to scan barcodes on objects, business cards, and email addresses. Once the tablet recognizes the object, it'll either provide a link to save that person's contact information or show a listing for that item in Amazon's online store.

Firefly works quickly and it's incredibly accurate. Within seconds of holding a business card in front of the tablet's camera, it pulled up that person's phone number. The software reacted equally as fast when I held up the box for an iPhone case in front of the Fire HDX's camera.

Still, Firefly seems better-suited for a phone than a tablet. Whipping out a large handheld to scan a business card feels awkward.

The new Fire HDX's screen is gorgeous, too. Whether you're doing some reading or watching Netflix, images and text really pop off the screen. It also seemed to be a bit brighter than the screen on the Nexus 9.

The Kindle Fire HDX’s battery lasts quite long on a single charge. I was able to get two full days of usage out of the tablet before its battery completely drained. This included streaming a lot of Netflix, playing games like “Dead Trigger” often, and browsing the web.

Should You Buy It?

Lisa EadiciccoThe Kindle Fire HDX

Amazon's recently released Kindle Fire HDX is an excellent tablet for reading and entertainment, especially if you use Amazon Prime a lot. It's super light — in fact it's one of the lightest tablets you can buy — and the screen is gorgeous too.

But, you'll have to be okay with giving up access to Google's gigantic app store. Amazon has it's own app store with more than 240,000 apps, although that's a relative small number compared to both Apple and Google's stores which offer about one million apps.

And, if you're used to using an Android tablet or an iPad, the software will seem a bit different on Amazon's Fire HDX.

If you don't really care about apps and just want a tablet for streaming Netflix, reading, checking email, and browsing the web, you'll be perfectly satisfied with the Fire HDX. Amazon has it's own app store with more than 240,000 apps, although that's a relative small number compared to both Apple and Google's stores which offer about one million apps.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

SEE ALSO:  15 Apps That Will Make Your Android Phone A Whole Lot Better

Amazon Finally Added a Long-Needed Feature to the Kindle – TIME

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Kindle Voyage Is the Best eBook Reader Ever. But It’s Ridiculously Expensive. – Yahoo Tech

Either Amazon knows exactly what it's doing, or it's completely out of its mind.

What was once an online bookstore is now blanketing the earth with hardware products. Amazon is currently selling a smartphone (the Fire phone), a TV box (Fire TV), five different-color tablets (Fire HD and HDX), and three ebook readers (Kindle). It's also testing a weird Siri-in-a-box speaker system (the Echo), and a grocery-ordering microphone thing (the Dash).

Some products are experiments. Some, like the phone, are flops. But one is the shining star of the holiday season.

It's the Kindle Voyage, the latest Amazon e-reader. The price: $ 200.

Now, until you actually try reading a book on this thing, your first reaction might be a snarky chuckle. Two hundred dollars? For a 6-ounce slab with a black-and-white screen?

Is Amazon not aware of the Law of Diminishing Gadget Prices? Is it not aware of its own pricing history? The first Kindle in 2007 cost $ 400; today, the basic Kindle goes for 80 bucks.

And now Amazon's resetting the price graph up to $ 200. You think, "What are they smoking?"

And then you try it.

E Ink, Inc.
The black-and-white Kindles use a screen technology called E Ink. E Ink can't display color (only shades of gray), and the screen is slow to redraw itself, so video is out of the question.

On the other hand, E Ink is ideal for displaying words. It looks exactly like black ink on light-gray paper. There's zero glare, no reflection. You can read this kind of screen in direct bright sunlight — in fact, it loves direct sunlight. Here's what the Voyage screen looks like next to the iPad Air 2 (the iPad's brightness is at maximum):

E Ink consumes power only when you actually "turn the page." At that moment, a quick electronic charge attracts particles into the pattern of characters that you'll read. Once they're in formation, they'll stay that way forever without using any more power. If you could take the battery out of a Kindle, the screen wouldn't change (nor would it update, obviously).

In other words, you never have to turn off a black-and-white Kindle. Just put it down on the end table and wander away. That's why Amazon can correctly peg this thing's battery life at "weeks." (Specifically, six weeks, with 30 minutes of reading a day.)

The special offers
You should note, however, that after a moment on that end table, a Kindle replaces the page you were viewing with a full-screen advertisement. (The Kindle's rival, the Kobo reader, displays the book cover as the screensaver, which makes a lot more sense.)

It's amazing that there hasn't been more public outcry about these ads over the years. Can you imagine the rioting in the streets if full-screen ads popped up on your phone? Or your laptop or car dashboard?

But Amazon was clever. It also offers each Kindle model without those ads for $ 20 more. So if you opt to save the money, it's your fault that the ads are there. You chose them.

And, again, they appear only on the screensaver — when you're not reading.

Paperlike
Anyway, E Ink has quietly gotten better each year. The gray background has been creeping closer and closer to paper white. The ink has been getting darker and crisper.

And in the Voyage, E Ink has reached its pinnacle. In my video above, there's a shot I love: closeups of the same page from The Book Thief — the Kindle on one side, the printed book on the other. You simply cannot tell which one is which.

On the Voyage, E Ink's resolution has reached 300 dots per inch, the same as most printed books. That doesn't sound like it's much higher than the 212 dpi of the previous model, the Paperwhite. But it makes the difference between being able to see hints of pixel edges on your "printed" words — and not.

Meanwhile, the Voyage screen and Voyage experience are substantially better than anything that's come before, for the following reasons:

• The back is black rubberized magnesium instead of plastic.

• The screen is glass instead of plastic, and the glass goes edge to edge, like a tablet's.
• The glass has microscopic texturing to give it a tiny amount of grip — much finer than on the Paperwhite.
• The body is a tiny bit thinner (0.30 inches instead of 0.36) and lighter (6.3 ounces instead of 7.3) than the Paperwhite. That makes the Voyage the thinnest Kindle ever, but — and I realize this will sound a little Grinchy — it still seems chunkier than necessary. I mean, it's much thicker than, say, an iPad or an Android tablet, and it does so much less.
• The processor is faster. Pages turn instantly. Popping back to the Library screen is instantaneous. Well, almost: Like all E Ink screens, this one takes a moment to register your finger touch. It's about half a second — nothing like tapping the screen of, say, a phone or a tablet.
• Like the Paperwhite, the Voyage is self-illuminated. The entire page glows, evenly and satisfyingly. But the Voyage's backlight goes 36 percent brighter. And, at your option, it can self-adjust to the lighting of the room. In fact, when you walk from a bright place into a dark one, the illumination dims gradually — it's supposed to match the timing of your eyes adapting to the dark.

Page turns
There's a new way to turn pages, too.

You can still tap or swipe the screen (right side of the page for the next page, left side for the previous page). But on the Voyage, you can also squeeze the margin of the device. It's almost like a mental impulse, especially because, in Settings, you can adjust how much pressure is required to trigger a page-turn.

You also get a little cellphone-like vibration when you turn the page. It's a gimmicky and pointless form of feedback, since you can see that you've turned the page. At least you can turn off the buzz.

Each border of the Kindle offers both next-page and previous-page squeeze zones. So it doesn't matter which hand you're holding the Kindle with; it's easier than ever to keep reading one-handed, even if you have small hands that hold the device by one edge.

Incidentally: Each time you turn a page, a few granules of the black stuff remain stuck to an E Ink screen. After a bunch of page turns, they start to accumulate in the form of ghost images. That's why, every 12 pages or so, a black-and-white Kindle page-turn blinks all black, then white again. That flicker flushes away those stray images to start fresh.

It's quick, and it happens a lot less often than it did on previous Kindles. So it's not an infuriation along the lines of, say, dropping your phone in the toilet. But it's still a little weird.

Reading featurettes
All the usual Kindle features are here. You can tap a word to see its dictionary definition, or drag across a passage to highlight it or type in a note. (Typing on the onscreen keyboard is a classic moment where E Ink's sluggishness gets to you.)

You can quickly and easily make the type size larger when you turn 40 (it could happen, you know). Or choose a different font, or adjust the margins, or adjust the line spacing.

You still can't change the right margin to "ragged right," though — all columns are fully justified, which sometimes produces weird word spacing.

Kindle books still transmit their "last page read" location to anywhere else that you can read Kindle books: your phone, tablet, Mac or PC, or the Web.

There's still the feature Amazon calls X-Ray, which produces a list of all passages in your book that mention a certain character, place, or subject.

Only one new feature appears on the Voyage, called Page Flip, and it's terrific. It's meant to address one of the last limitations of ebook readers: You can't flip ahead to a different page without losing your place.

You still can't wedge your pinky into the pages of a Kindle book while you flip back. But you can pop up a smaller page image within your main one, which you can use to view any other page in the book. It works great.

Amazon says a whole bunch of other new features are in the works. The most interesting by far is Family Library. It lets you and other family members access one another's Kindle books, even if they have their own Amazon accounts. It's about time.

The point about price
You can hop onto a Wi-Fi network when you want to buy and download a new book from Amazon's online bookstore; the download usually takes about 30 seconds.

There's also a cellular model that lets you download books when you're not in a Wi-Fi hotspot. As always, there's no charge for the cellular service itself, which is a refreshing shock. (There's even a crude Web browser built in.) But you pay lavishly for the cellular circuitry — it jacks the Voyage's price up to $ 270 with ads, or $ 290 without ads.

I mean, yikes. You're talking about $ 300 for a black-and-white ebook reader. For that, you could buy 1.6 of Amazon's Kindle Fire tablets, which have color screens and stereo speakers and run apps. You've got to be a pretty hard-core e-bibliophile for this.

Amazon cheerfully points out, however, that the 2-year-old Kindle Paperwhite is still available. It, too, offers lovely backlighting and a touchscreen, and it's only $ 120 with ads.

The plain old Kindle Kindle is still available, too — no backlighting, but it does gain a touchscreen in the 2014 edition — for only $ 80 with ads.

And, hey — you don't actually need to buy an ebook reader at all to read Kindle books. You can read them on your phone, tablet, computer, or the Web.

Barnes & Noble has pretty much bowed out of the e-reader market, crushed by Amazon's superior marketing strength. But rivals are still out there. Kobo's Aura H2O, for example, costs less ($ 180), has a memory-card slot, has the same E Ink screen as the Voyage — and it's waterproof. But its book catalog isn't as good, it lacks many of the Kindle's featurettes, and it doesn't offer things like the Kindle Owner's Lending Library (which, if you're a member of Amazon's $ 100-a-year Prime club, lets you "borrow" a free book a month from a 600,000-book catalog).

Still, the Voyage is a highly refined, super-dedicated device, and it makes reading joyous. It's a premium e-reader for a premium price for hard-core readers, those people who always seem to carry a book around.

If we're talking about holiday gifts, well, the $ 80 Kindle would be a hit with a teenager. But for the book-loving parent or spouse to whom you owe your life or your happiness, here's a way to show your affection in a way that won't end up forgotten in the back of the gadget drawer.

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