The new Kindle Voyage e-reader is shockingly good

Along with the higher resolution, the screen is also higher contrast. It doesn’t quite reach the black-on-white distinction you can get with paper or with an LCD, but it’s a subtle improvement over the Paperwhite — enough that you’ll appreciate it after your fifth straight hour reading Game of Thrones. It’s front-lit, like the previous Kindle Paperwhite, but Amazon has made improvements there too: there’s an ambient light sensor which allows the Voyage to dynamically adjust the brightness depending on your settings.

The ambient setting is actually smarter than you’d expect. If it detects you’re reading in the dark — say, in bed — it will slowly lower the brightness. The idea is that your eyes naturally adjust to darkness over time, so what seems bright enough at first will be too bright once your pupils dilate. It’s a thoughtful, clever feature, and Amazon also says that you can fine tune the behavior if you don’t like the default.

The screen also finally sits flush with the front of the Voyage, making a single flat pane of glass. Yes, it’s glass instead of plastic, but Amazon has “micro-etched” a matted texture to it so that it’s non-reflective in sunlight. Kindle VP Dave Limp says that Amazon also “tried to mimic the texture of paper” on the screen. After using it for a few minutes, I wouldn’t quite give it that description, but it certainly feels more natural than a glossy pane.