Amazon discontinues $200 Kindle Voyage eBook Reader

[AlTech]

Amazon has discontinued their $200 Kindle Voyage.

 

This is likely since they released the Kindle Oasis for only $50 extra a while back. And now it no longer makes sense to buy the $200 Kindle Voyage.

 

That being said, the price gap between the $119 Kindle Paperwhite and the $249 Kindle Oasis is now even larger. I'm expecting either a price cut for the Oasis or a new model to be introduced between them.

 

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At the end of July, Amazon quietly removed its Kindle Voyage from its storefront, and appears to have discontinued the line of eBook readers, according to TheEbookReader and GoodEReader.

Both sites report that Amazon removed the model (refurbished versions are still available), as well as from its comparison table, leaving only the basic Kindle, mid-range Kindle Paperwhite, and premium Kindle Oasis.

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The Kindle Voyage has been unavailable new from Amazon.com since the end of last month, and it’s been gone from some of Amazon’s international websites for a lot longer than that, so it’s fairly safe to assume that it isn’t coming back at this point, especially since they removed it from the Kindle comparison tables and other Kindle product pages.

 

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Considering the Kindle Paperwhite’s design is six years old now, you’d think Amazon would offer more variety than that.

It made a lot more sense with the Kindle Voyage sandwiched in between those two devices and price points.

With such a huge jump in price from one model to the next, something needs to change in the Kindle lineup soon. Hopefully Amazon has some new Kindles in the works for this fall.

 

Honestly, I'm surprised that consumers are still interested in eBook Readers. Then again, I do sometimes read physical books.

 

Sources:

https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2018/08/17/big-gap-in-kindle-lineup-now-that-kindle-voyage-is-gone/

https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/19/17756480/amazon-kindle-voyage-appears-to-be-discontinued

[paddy-stone]

Yes, I have a couple of e-readers that I no longer use, mainly because I have phones/tablets that can do the same thing and I can read them anywhere, so I don't have to remember to take another device with me. Downside is battery capacity of course, but for all the upsides to using a phone/tablet instead it's a no brainer.

I like e-readers, and am forever grateful that they became a thing, as without them we wouldn't have e-books obviously, but they have had their day IMO and things have moved on. I always have dozens of books ready to go on my phone/tablet/dropbox etc for when I get some spare time to read... I donated all my physical books to a charity a year or 2 back, as I got them all on e-books instead anyway.

[Drak3]

12 hours ago, paddy-stone said:

I donated all my physical books to a charity a year or 2 back, as I got them all on e-books instead anyway.

Yeah, but there are some things traditional books are just better at.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like when one needs to smack a bitch.

[MrDynamicMan]

18 hours ago, paddy-stone said:

Yes, I have a couple of e-readers that I no longer use, mainly because I have phones/tablets that can do the same thing and I can read them anywhere, so I don't have to remember to take another device with me. Downside is battery capacity of course, but for all the upsides to using a phone/tablet instead it's a no brainer.

I like e-readers, and am forever grateful that they became a thing, as without them we wouldn't have e-books obviously, but they have had their day IMO and things have moved on. I always have dozens of books ready to go on my phone/tablet/dropbox etc for when I get some spare time to read... I donated all my physical books to a charity a year or 2 back, as I got them all on e-books instead anyway.

I still use my kindle when out and about, but typically only on holidays or at home. I prefer the lack of backlight and the battery is a big draw too.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

3 hours ago, MrDynamicMan said:

I still use my kindle when out and about, but typically only on holidays or at home. I prefer the lack of backlight and the battery is a big draw too.

Before my desktop died, I only used my Kindle when out and about. At home, I used Kindle for PC on my desktop and routed the screen to my TV, then used a wireless mouse as a "remorte". Until I can finsh the new computer I'm building, I stuck with using my current Kindle all the time (my old carcass doesn't apprciate that).

 

It seems to me the newer the Kindle version, the worse it is. My first Kindle had no backlight (the cover I got for it had a swing up light that worked quite well) and had buttons instead of a touch screen (I detest touch screens!). It was easy to use. The buttons were reliable, navigation was easy, and I could easily side load it.

 

When it died, I had to replace it with a Paperwhite becasue my old model had been discontinued. What a piece of garbage! The touch screen is a pain in the neck. Navigation is an even bigger pain in the neck (whoever laid that out was drunk, stoned, or both). The search function is a bad joke! I can't side load it from my computer like I could on my old Kindle; instead, I have to download a special version of the book from Amazon just for side loading. Even that is a royal, time consuming pain in the neck.

 

I shudder to think what even newer versions of the Kindle are like!

[paddy-stone]

11 hours ago, MrDynamicMan said:

I still use my kindle when out and about, but typically only on holidays or at home. I prefer the lack of backlight and the battery is a big draw too.

See, that's where we're different I guess, I prefer the backlight on my phone or whatever as trying to read an e-ink display without backlight is painful for me... it bothered me for quite a while and I had to get a reading lamp to make it better. I admit though about the battery, if only ALL devices had the battery life of a kindle.

 

My love of portable devices coincided with my finding out about my disability, it is actually painful to hold a physical book and turn pages, and my hands cramp all the time... I kid you not!  the weight and act of turning pages is far superior in mobile devices IMO, but my situation might be on the fringes of normal use I guess. I feel like twice my age most of the time, which is very sad

[thexzenon]

1 hour ago, paddy-stone said:

See, that's where we're different I guess, I prefer the backlight on my phone or whatever as trying to read an e-ink display without backlight is painful for me... it bothered me for quite a while and I had to get a reading lamp to make it better. I admit though about the battery, if only ALL devices had the battery life of a kindle.

 

My love of portable devices coincided with my finding out about my disability, it is actually painful to hold a physical book and turn pages, and my hands cramp all the time... I kid you not!  the weight and act of turning pages is far superior in mobile devices IMO, but my situation might be on the fringes of normal use I guess. I feel like twice my age most of the time, which is very sad

Both the Paperwhite and Oasis have lit displays. It's not backlight, but it still lights up the display pretty uniformly. Also, e-ink displays look better imo, at least for reading.

[jagdtigger]

On 8/20/2018 at 5:23 PM, paddy-stone said:

but they have had their day IMO and things have moved on

Nope, its still too much strain on the eye to view LCD screens all day. E-book readers do not strain the eye since their e-ink display is static(no refresh until you instruct it to do something)...

[Guest]

I just use a normal book, otherwise I just stay up due to the blue light. 

[paddy-stone]

15 hours ago, thexzenon said:

Both the Paperwhite and Oasis have lit displays. It's not backlight, but it still lights up the display pretty uniformly. Also, e-ink displays look better imo, at least for reading.

Yes I know, but I am talking about when the first kindle was around... nowadays yes it would be better to have the paperwhite, but as I already have/had a kindle I wouldn't have purchased a paperwhite just to have backlighting.

 

7 hours ago, jagdtigger said:

Nope, its still too much strain on the eye to view LCD screens all day. E-book readers do not strain the eye since their e-ink display is static(no refresh until you instruct it to do something)...

We'll have to agree to disagree, I find it more of an eyestrain for e-ink displays personally, but haven't tried all of them, just the kindle (3rd gen IIRC).

[jagdtigger]

10 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

We'll have to agree to disagree, I find it more of an eyestrain for e-ink displays personally, but haven't tried all of them, just the kindle (3rd gen IIRC).

Maybe the text was too small, try to adjust it next time (on my kindle it is possible)...

[paddy-stone]

Just now, jagdtigger said:

Maybe the text was too small, try to adjust it next time (on my kindle it is possible)...

No, I know the difference between eyestrain and text being too small