Remember all that speculation that Amazon would one day start giving away Kindle e-readers for free? In fact, the company is going in the opposite direction: Amazon introduced on Wednesday a new, high-end e-reader, the Kindle Voyage, that starts at $199 for the version with ads and goes all the way up to $289 for an ad-free, 3G version. Not only is it expensive for an e-reader, it is twice as expensive as the most basic tablet that Amazon also launched Wednesday.
So what will you get for your money? The Kindle Voyage is thinner and lighter than previous devices. It has a totally flat glass screen, without the raised plastic bezel that is present on cheaper models, and the screen is high-resolution, with 300 pixels per inch. Like the Kindle Paperwhite, the Voyage is front-lit, but its light is better — it can go “39 percent brighter” and there is an “adaptive front light” option that adjusts based on the level of light in the surrounding area. If you’re reading in a dark room, the light gradually decreases in brightness as your eyes adjust to the dark.
The Voyage also has a new method of turning pages, which Amazon is calling PagePress. People really like turning virtual pages, apparently, and tapping the screen wasn’t satisfying enough. So the Voyage has added sensors on either side of the screen; you press on them to turn the page, and, if you’ve enabled this option, a haptic actuator vibrates slightly, to confirm the turn.
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