| The humble e-reader is the evolutionary equivalent of a duck-billed platypus: at some point, it fell off the family tree. It’s been plotting its own course ever since, totally comfortable in its weirdness, utterly oblivious to the changes happening everywhere around it. That weirdness the e-reader’s singular, purpose-suited design has enabled it to survive the coming of the smartphone. It survived the tablet. If I had to guess, it’ll survive whatever comes next. |
| So, how do you build a better duck-billed platypus? | | That’s the question that Amazon has to answer with the Kindle Voyage, the new flagship of the retail giant’s range of E Ink devices. The challenge is as unique as the product itself. Generally speaking, it’s pretty obvious how to make a phone or a tablet better you always want it faster, thinner, prettier, and longer-lasting. But the Kindle Paperwhite, the new midrange (and outgoing king) of Amazon’s e-reader line, already lasts a month on a charge and is a mere fraction of the thickness of a single book that it replaces. The frontlit display is extraordinarily easy on the eyes for extended periods of time; apart from the display, an e-reader doesn’t really need to look good, it just needs to get out of the way. (Odds are you’ve got it in a case, anyway.) | | At a glance, the Paperwhite seems like it’s at an evolutionary end. But life, as they say, finds a way. |
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