Voyage to Paperwhite

My first experience with the Amazon Kindle was, I think, three years ago when my wife, brother and I all clubbed together and bought the children a Kindle Fire each for Christmas. It's difficult to think of another give that would have evoked universal joy in children ranging in age from seven to twenty-one.

Despite this, I've been resolutely anti-Kindle: I like a book in my hand because as well as enjoying reading, I want the tactile pleasure and even the smell of a book. 

Earlier this year, the Minx acquired a Kindle, too, and when we went away to Wales recently, I began to see some of the advantages, to such an extent that the next time I travelled, I downloaded Iain M Banks' 'Inversions', which was was re-reading, onto the Kindle app on my iPad rather than try and fit what is fairly hefty hardback into my satchel. 

Hm, I thought, maybe a Kindle would be a good thing to have, if only because it will fit into my jacket pocket, unlike the iPad, and be handy for work trips to London. I thought it through to the point where I decided that where possible, when I downloaded a book, I'd also by a second hand copy, too, for reading at home.

Thus, eventually, I went on to Amazon and weighed up the options. The top of the range was the Kindle Voyage and I decided to buy that. When it arrived I enjoyed the modern phenomenon that is the 'unboxing'. I must say I was a little dismayed as the device booted up, since the screen kept flickering between black and white (in a 'reverse video' effect) but I soldiered on and downloaded a copy of 'Excession' (the next Iain M Banks book that I'd moved on to).  My disappointment was compounded when the page transitions - so smooth on the iPad and Kindle tablet devices - turned out to be a bit crappy, too: the characters on the current page would distort before the next one appeared.

In the end, I rang Kindle support, who seemed a bit bemused and perplexed by what I tried to explain, and in the end they said they'd send a replacement, which arrived the next day. And was exactly the same. I rang Kindle support again. The woman I spoke to this time was very helpful and explained that no, I hadn't got one from a duff batch, that was how they worked. "To be honest," she said, "You'd be better of buying a Kindle Paperwhite." So I did...

... and it arrived today. And it's exactly the same, although significantly cheaper. So, having thought about it, I'm going to keep it and give it a try. With its case on, it fits perfectly in my suit pocket, which is good. And hopefully the page transitions will stop bugging me after a while!