# Kindle Oasis?



## Ray McCarthy (Apr 12, 2016)

> The Kindle Oasis briefly appeared online before being taken down, but all of the important information had already been screen grabbed and shared everywhere. There's a new design with a larger bezel on one side that's designed to make it much easier to hold one handed. You also get physical buttons for turning pages right on that edge, which means you won't have to adjust your position to progress in your latest book.
> The listing claimed a 300ppi screen, 131g in weight and just 3.4 mm at its thinnest point, and 8.5 at its thickest.


New Kindle Oasis leaks - could have 20 month battery and buttons to turn pages - Independent.ie

But what size screen? I wish they would offer real choice, a 6", 10" and 14" ...
I like they are bring back physical page turning buttons.


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## Wruter (Apr 12, 2016)

Sounds good. Agree about the physical buttons.


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## Wruter (Apr 12, 2016)

Have to say I doubt I'll be able to think 'Oasis' and not have Wonderwall start playing in my head though...


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## Ray McCarthy (Apr 12, 2016)

I need my reading glasses or else the text has a blur 

I don't like either of them.


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## Parson (Apr 13, 2016)

Agree about the physical buttons. I have a white paper, my entry Kindle has a bad spot on the screen, although I like the light for the dark. I am not fond of the heavier weight or the screen swipe.


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## Foxbat (Apr 13, 2016)

I notice the text on the screen appears to be Chinese. Could it be targetted at that market?


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## Bugg (Apr 13, 2016)

If it leaks it must be faulty, surely?


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## Ray McCarthy (Apr 13, 2016)

Foxbat said:


> text on the screen appears to be Chinese.


Newer kindles to manage Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic etc. The older ones didn't. Perhaps it's made in China. The demo model in our local Tesco had been switched to Chinese. Also oddly they were selling 2013 model not the 2015 model.


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## Foxbat (Apr 13, 2016)

Ray McCarthy said:


> Newer kindles to manage Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic etc. The older ones didn't. Perhaps it's made in China. The demo model in our local Tesco had been switched to Chinese. Also oddly they were selling 2013 model not the 2015 model.


Ah! I see. Thanks


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## Ray McCarthy (Apr 13, 2016)

Doh! Typo


Ray McCarthy said:


> Newer kindles to *do* manage Chinese, ... older ones don't


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## Foxbat (Apr 13, 2016)

Found this on the BBC. The price is a bit steep methinks
Amazon Kindle Oasis: Does the world want a £270 e-reader? - BBC News


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## Wruter (Apr 13, 2016)

£270?!? Ahahahahaha


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## Ray McCarthy (Apr 13, 2016)

More than £100 is a problem. Even though I'd rather read a book on a £200 Kobo / kindle than ANY LCD or OMLED tablet. An iPad is far more expensive, but I can't see many people pay £270 for a regular size eReader. The Sony Paper is $800, but is a whopping 13.8" screen. The eInk tech is expensive semi-mechanical, tiny black beads in a milky liquid. It's expensive.

A typical non-Tesco bookshop book is €12 here (VAT). A typical good  eBook is €2.99. The 50,000 book project Gutenberg is free.
Proofing a book costs me about the same as a retail book. (Probably Createspace is cheaper than my own laser printer if I allow 30days delivery). So unbelievably I only need to print / proof about 20 versions for the crazy £270 to break even. 

Still, it doesn't work like that. £270 is madness. I'd rather save up for the 13.8" Sony paper ($800 or about £600?).

I'd like another kindle, a Touch maybe (the PaperWhite is nice but is the extra money worth it? I never use the backlight on my Kobo H2O Aura HD, nor does my wife on her 2015 PaperWhite. I find the screen of my Kindle DXG fine, no light). I'd like a spare to lend to a friend that has no eReader, the logical way to loan an eBook?  People don't understand or appreciate eInk till they tried it compared with reading whole novel on phone or tablet.

I do think though eInk is for serious readers. The kind that read several books a week and would end up with hundreds off gutenberg and re-read them. I've about 800 eBooks now (most are free, but I've bought about 15) and over 3,000 printed books. I read 2 to 10 books a week.

Did I say £270 is madness?  If a eBook maniac and reading maniac like me thinks it?


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## WaylanderToo (Apr 13, 2016)

Wruter said:


> £270?!?


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## Wruter (Apr 13, 2016)

Ray McCarthy said:


> More than £100 is a problem. Even though I'd rather read a book on a £200 Kobo / kindle than ANY LCD or OMLED tablet. An iPad is far more expensive, but I can't see many people pay £270 for a regular size eReader. The Sony Paper is $800, but is a whopping 13.8" screen. The eInk tech is expensive semi-mechanical, tiny black beads in a milky liquid. It's expensive.
> 
> A typical non-Tesco bookshop book is €12 here (VAT). A typical good  eBook is €2.99. The 50,000 book project Gutenberg is free.
> Proofing a book costs me about the same as a retail book. (Probably Createspace is cheaper than my own laser printer if I allow 30days delivery). So unbelievably I only need to print / proof about 20 versions for the crazy £270 to break even.
> ...


Agreed. The market for e-ink devices seems to be shrinking into a niche luxury product. But then I suppose serious readers ARE a niche.


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## Ray McCarthy (Apr 13, 2016)

> Amazon announced the Kindle Oasis on April 13, 2016 and it will be released on April 27, 2016 in the US.  It has a* 6-inch, 300 ppi E Ink Carta HD display* with ten LEDs for enhanced page view consistency. Its asymmetrical design features physical page turn buttons on one side and it has an accelerometer so the Oasis can be rotated for one-hand operation with either hand. It has one thicker side that tapers to an edge that is 20% thinner than the Paperwhite. It includes a removable leather battery cover for device protection and increased battery life that comes in either brown, black or red; the cover fits in the tapered edge. Amazon claims the Oasis has 20 months of battery life if used with the battery cover; it uses the cover's battery before using its internal battery. The Kindle Oasis is available in *Wi-Fi ($290 ad-supported, $310 no ads)* and Wi-Fi *+ 3G ($360 ad-supported, $380 no ads)* models





> The Kindle Paperwhite (3rd generation), marketed as the "All-New Kindle Paperwhite" and colloquially referred to as the Paperwhite 3 and Paperwhite 2015, was released on June 30, 2015 in the US. It has a *6-inch, 1440×1080, 300 ppi E Ink Carta HD display*, which is twice the pixels of the original Paperwhite, and has the same touchscreen, four LEDs and size as the previous Paperwhite. This device improved on the display of PDF files, with the possibility to select text and use some functionalities, such as translation on a PDF's text. Amazon claims it has 6 weeks of battery life if used for 30 minutes per day with wireless off and brightness set to 10, which is about 21 hours. It is available in *Wi-Fi ($119 ad supported, $139 no ads)* and Wi-Fi *+ 3G ($189 ad-supported, $209 no ads)* models.



So according to Wikipedia, the screen of the new Oasis is the same as 2015 PaperWhite.
The screen is what matters. ANY eInk reader is 10 to 20 times battery life of a 7" tablet or 4" phone (or larger) with WiFi off. Normally there is zero need for WiFi. If you have a PC or Tablet/Phone that supports USB storage then you don't need a 3G model. I can connect via WiFi or 3G to Amazon and download on my phone telling Amazon it's Transfer by PC. The Kindle appears on it as USB storage. (You need a suitable browser and/or file manager). PC / Mac is easier. So expensive 3G Whispernet models are for itinerant travellers or people with no Internet. 

Note the adverts are really just a static image image in "sleep mode". They are never in the books. 

The Oasis is an eye watering price increase to get less than $1 worth of buttons. The 20 month battery life needs a cover that costs extra. Such a cover is easy to do for any eBook, but there is no market because even the normal battery life is HUGE!


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## Parson (Apr 13, 2016)

So, at roughly $290 for the cheapest version of this Oasis, I think I'll  be waiting until at least the 2nd hand versions are available and likely not then. But I would appreciate the size and buttons.


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## Ray McCarthy (Apr 13, 2016)

Parson said:


> But I would appreciate the size and buttons.


Same screen EXACTLY as 2015 PaperWhite, which never needs the LED light unless you have only a candle. The PaperWhite hardly large. Even my larger 6.8" Kobo fits my coat pocket. (But they are big pockets I suppose). The height and width is the limiting factor, not thickness. S0 $290 vs $119 to have page turn buttons that would add less than $1 to cost of a redesigned PaperWhite. Probably the Oasis needs a bigger pocket.

I'd not buy a second-hand kindle, kobo, phone, tablet, netbook or laptop except in person and testing it fully. Unless it was cheap for parts obviously intact ($15 for a laptop once to strip plastic case for my own woring one).
The commonest problems are #1 damaged screen. #2 battery worn out. It's tricky to replace the battery.


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## pambaddeley (Apr 13, 2016)

These are 'real' buttons are they, not the type on the Voyage.  I did look at that, but it's too dear at £169.99.  I knew Oasis would be dear but not how much more expensive than that.

Will stick to my second hand Kindle Keyboard (which does have real buttons).


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## Ray McCarthy (Apr 14, 2016)

According to this it's the most advanced ever:
Amazon's new Kindle Oasis is the most advanced e-reader yet
But actually they include the battery cover because it has SHORTER battery life without it. The display is the same.

*I can't see anything more advanced.* An eReader is all about the display. It's the same display panel.  The style change to make it thinner (only on part of body) means it has a smaller battery.


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## Brian G Turner (Apr 14, 2016)

I personally don't get it. Then again, I thought the Paperwhite was too expensive at just over £100! 

I do have the original Kindle, but I much prefer the versatility of the Kindle Fire - the HD version at a special offer price can make it much more appealing than a general Android tablet.


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## ratsy (Apr 14, 2016)

I would never spend that kind of cash on one of those. That is crazy. I have the paperwhite and love it (it was an xmas gift) I don't need buttons on the side, and the battery lasts a really long time as it is.


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## Ray McCarthy (Apr 14, 2016)

Brian Turner said:


> but I much prefer the versatility of the Kindle Fire - the HD version at a special offer price can make it much more appealing than a general Android tablet.


The Fire isn't an eReader at all, its an LCD tablet with a Kindle Reader app. Fine if that's what you want.
An Android Tablet starts at £45 with a Keyboard cover (though you have to spend closer to £300 for a really high resolution screen)
*No matter what kind of tablet I have, I'd want eInk for books.* I read a lot. I don't flit between reading and other things. A separate tablet, netbook, laptop, smart phone, smart watch (£12!) is fine. I don't need versatility. I like that it's pretty useless for anything other than reading and annotation.

I'd not spend that money for something the essentially same as a paperWhite. I'd MIGHT spend it for an A4 sized eInk. I like the physical page buttons on the Kindle DXG and miss them on the Touch, paperwhite and my own Kobo H2O Aura HD. Stupid decision more about following Apple's Jony Ives than sense. It's not about cost. Actually would add about 15p per button cost now that I checked.


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## Foxbat (Apr 15, 2016)

Brian Turner said:


> I personally don't get it. Then again, I thought the Paperwhite was too expensive at just over £100!
> 
> I do have the original Kindle, but I much prefer the versatility of the Kindle Fire - the HD version at a special offer price can make it much more appealing than a general Android tablet.


Me too. What I love about the Fire HD is 
a) it's brilliant for reference books (history or whatever) with loads of colour plates, photographs etc.
and b) said books are much cheaper than buying in paper (often under £10 on kindle if you keep an eye on the offers against around about £30 or more for a good print copy)  I buy all my Osprey books on kindle now and have saved a fair bit because of it.


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## Parson (Apr 15, 2016)

Sigh! It's not the size of the screen that intrigues me, it's the size of the machine. My second Kindle (He's embarrassed to admit he has 3 Kindles, plus a phone app and 3 computer apps) was a fourth generation Kindle. It was small, fit nicely in my front jeans pocket and had the buttons on the side.  I felt it was nearly perfect. --- But I was slightly aggravated at not being able to read it in a dark room as I sometimes want to. --- So when the screen developed a fault I bought a white paper. But the machine and cover are quite a bit heavier and it is not as easy to hold for hours on end, and the touch screen often makes me scream when I want to brush something off it, and the page changes; or I want to go to adjust something, and the screen changes. ---- Grrr! I want those physical buttons on a lighter white paper.

I agree with Ray about reading on a computer or tablet. I've done them both, computer fairly often, and would sure rather have a dedicated e reader with its eink display. ---- Sigh! I forgot I also have an old Kindle Fire which I also find too heavy to read effortlessly. (I keep getting my daughters rejects, hence the fire and my dxg Kindle.)


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## Ray McCarthy (Apr 15, 2016)

Parson said:


> it's the size of the machine.


The Oasis is only partially skinnier (excluding a bulge for electronics and battery on right) and lighter, but I think a little wider. It seems to have a half or third of battery life without the cover, which is included and makes it larger & heavier than the PaperWhite, I think. The cover makes the back as fat as the bulge and has a lot of battery.

I guess for the left handed you use it the other way up. Then the cover opens Hebrew style. (You can do that with the DX and DXG). Perhaps there is something I've misunderstood, but really compared to making a PaperWhite with two buttons added, this seems a poor design and too expensive.


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## pambaddeley (Apr 15, 2016)

Yes, thought the Voyage was expensive enough.  This is a bit of a joke, don't see who is going to want to buy it at that price, and of course the almost straight conversion from dollars to pounds makes it ridiculously dear in the UK. ($289.99 as opposed to £269.99) for the 'cheaper' wifi only model.


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## steelyglint (Apr 16, 2016)

All models of Kindle, indeed all electronic book readers, are the leading cause of genital dwarfism, a near-certain trigger for profuse hair-growth to the palms and tongue, and the sole vector for the rare Galloping Knobrot virus.

These are facts well known to all purveyors of *real* books.



.


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## Foxbat (Apr 16, 2016)

I was sceptical when I bought my first kindle and did it primarily as an experiment. But I quickly learned that the arguments (for example) about vinyl versus digital in the music industry can't be applied here. Using a printed version against a digital version doesn't change the quality of information inside it (unlike the audio example). A word is a word is a word.

Of course, a person could argue that they personally prefer the look and handling of print rather than digital - or even the smell of the paper - and that's a fair and valid argument. 

Would I prefer some badly written novel just because it is printed on paper or a fine work in digital? I think the answer is quite obvious (but, of course, the converse of my point is also true). 

A book should ultimately be judged on the quality of its content, not the medium in which it appears.


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## steelyglint (Apr 16, 2016)

If it appears on a Kindle it isn't a book - it is software.

That's why it is taxable. Real books are zero-rated, tax-free. 

.


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## Ray McCarthy (Apr 16, 2016)

steelyglint said:


> If it appears on a Kindle it isn't a book - it is software.


A document on a computing device ABSOLUTELY isn't software. It's a book represented by a pattern of 1s and 0s in a file instead of visible marks on pages.

You might as well claim a cinema production or TV program or music on a DVD, CD, Tablet, MP3 file is software. It's not.



steelyglint said:


> Real books are zero-rated, tax-free.


Not in Ireland. There is 23% VAT on books, comics, magazines etc. (mutters bitterly into cup of tea as tax is too high on anything alcoholic).

Is the UK tax definition actually "Book" or a species of printed material?


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## Ray McCarthy (Apr 16, 2016)

Foxbat said:


> I was sceptical when I bought my first kindle


I remember in 2007 showing the Sony PRC to my wife. The Kindle hadn't arrived yet. It was very dull and grey compared to the later "pearl" and current "carta" (carta isn't hardly brighter but about 50% higher resolution) eInk. Yet if we could have afforded it, we would have bought one, ideally one each. It was, I think, 2011 when two of my sons got kindles (early pre-touch models, one with keyboard). Since then there has been loads more Kindles and a Kobo (I'm greedy, I gave wife my Touch, bought a DXG for technical stuff, then she bought a 2013 PaperWhite for another son, then a touch in Dec 2014 for daughter*, new 2015 paperwhite for herself and the eldest grandson got her Touch (which had been mine), then I got a Kobo H2O Aura HD so I'd have something lighter and could test ePub creation. I think I can test mobi files on 7 different Kindles and a Kobo now.

I'd believe that the cheapest Touch and PaperWhite are below cost (adverts on sleep screen) and the cheapest non-advert with no 3G are at about cost. The battery and electronics and case is about same complexity / cost as a cheap Android tablet. The eInk screens are single source and very expensive compared to an HD LCD. The Kobo runs a flavour of Linux/GNU and the Kindle eInk is Android (which is bits on top of Linux) with normal Android GUI replaced by code probably based on mobi reader and a basic manager. Amazon bought Mobi. (Just as Apple bought Fingerworks to have iPhone GUI on top of a cut down OSX to create iOS)

[*Mysteriously a 300dpi Touch using same screen as 2015 PaperWhite without LED lightss, most Touch are 212 dpi]


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## Wruter (Apr 16, 2016)

I've been reading ebooks since 2005, starting with a Palm PDA before e-ink arrived and solved the problems of battery life and eyestrain. Returning to LCD devices as seems to be the trend just feels like going backward to me, let alone dead tree books.


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## Parson (Apr 16, 2016)

steelyglint said:


> If it appears on a Kindle it isn't a book - it is software.
> 
> That's why it is taxable. Real books are zero-rated, tax-free.



I buy my e-books here in the States without tax. But to be fair if I buy my "regular" books from Amazon there is no tax on those either. --- At least so far, this is a major fight. The brick and mortar stores complain loudly about the unfair competition from someone like Amazon which doesn't have to charge tax and can deliver anything "free" (Amazon Prime) in two days. Small town stores find it very difficult to compete. They can't keep the inventory to compete. Their prices are somewhat to considerably higher. And if they order they can't get it faster and it necessitates another trip to the store or an even longer wait for re-shipment.


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## Ray McCarthy (Apr 16, 2016)

Wruter said:


> Returning to LCD devices as seems to be the trend


I don't think it's a trend, those are more extra adopters of ebooks that want flexibility, hence people that read on a phone. in odd moments. Actual eInk is only going to appeal to people spending 1 to 5 hours at a stretch, possibly daily, with no interruptions from email social media or web browsing.


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## steelyglint (Apr 16, 2016)

Ray McCarthy said:


> A document on a computing device ABSOLUTELY isn't software. It's a book represented by a pattern of 1s and 0s in a file instead of visible marks on pages.
> 
> You might as well claim a cinema production or TV program or music on a DVD, CD, Tablet, MP3 file is software. It's not.



Ebooks are actually not books—schools among first to realizing this fact | Digital Book World

If you could reach into that file and pull out something physical I might agree. Those patterns of 1s and 0s, aren't such patterns the basic programming that tells a processor which pixels to light on a screen to form words? Like the 1s and 0s that tell processors to form characters and weapons on a screen to make digital games? Isn't anything that runs on a computer, even one solely dedicated to 'ebooks', software?

TV, movies and music are still encoded onto DVDs and such, just as are computer games, so yes, they're software, too. But a movie shown at a cinema isn't - that's usually on reels of film. Though if they've gone digital that's software, too.

.


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## Wruter (Apr 16, 2016)

Ray McCarthy said:


> I don't think it's a trend, those are more extra adopters of ebooks that want flexibility, hence people that read on a phone. in odd moments. Actual eInk is only going to appeal to people spending 1 to 5 hours at a stretch, possibly daily, with no interruptions from email social media or web browsing.


Have you read Rainbows End by Vernor Vince? It's a wonderful rigorous near-future sf novel and it describes everyday computers as being floppy e-paper mats that you can fold up and put in your pocket. The technology for color, flexible e-ink screens already exists today in prototype and this seems the logical direction we're headed in after LCD tablets. You're right but my hope is for e-ink/paper to ultimately become mainstream rather than niche and if the technology is given the chance to develop maybe it will.


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## Ray McCarthy (Apr 16, 2016)

steelyglint said:


> Ebooks are actually not books—schools among first to realizing this fact | Digital Book World


Inept inaccurate article. *eBooks are not printed books*, but they are not at all software. I've been writing software for over 30 years and producing digitally encoded content for over 20.



steelyglint said:


> TV, movies and music are still encoded onto DVDs and such, just as are computer games, so yes, they're software, too. But a movie shown at a cinema isn't - that's usually on reels of film. Though if they've gone digital that's software, too.


Sorry, but a computer game is a *mix of* software, video, animation, text etc.

*Digital doesn't mean Software.* I can store images, video, or sound in Analogue format *or* in Digital format on  discs, plastic film (film) or magnetic tape. Even photographic film can actually store analogue frames or digitally encoded data.

Laser discs are Analogue.
8mm magnetic tape cartridges (interchangeable) can be analogue video or digital video.
Barcodes are printed on paper. It's simply machine readable text. Rarely ever actual software, though it's possible


Software is NEVER EVER merely content. Software is a stored program for a digital computer.

I've rarely heard or read such un-informed rubbish. DVDs and CDs, cassette tapes can have software stored on them (machine code and data intended to be loaded as programs). Nothing is "software" purely because it's digital. That's nonsense.


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## Ray McCarthy (Apr 16, 2016)

Wruter said:


> for color, flexible e-ink screens already exists today in prototype


Inherently limited to about 1/3 brightness by basic physics. In practice much worse, at best about 1/6th brightness.
Mirasol works on principle of a butterfly's wing colour and is feasible. The eInk tech used in Kobo  & Kindle is inherently useless for colour.


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## Wruter (Apr 16, 2016)

Ray McCarthy said:


> Inherently limited to about 1/3 brightness by basic physics. In practice much worse, at best about 1/6th brightness.
> Mirasol works on principle of a butterfly's wing colour and is feasible. The eInk tech used in Kobo  & Kindle is inherently useless for colour.


I know, should have specified, 'eInk' is basically an individual brand and, as you rightly say, inherently limited.


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## Wruter (Apr 16, 2016)

steelyglint said:


> Ebooks are actually not books—schools among first to realizing this fact | Digital Book World
> 
> If you could reach into that file and pull out something physical I might agree. Those patterns of 1s and 0s, aren't such patterns the basic programming that tells a processor which pixels to light on a screen to form words? Like the 1s and 0s that tell processors to form characters and weapons on a screen to make digital games? Isn't anything that runs on a computer, even one solely dedicated to 'ebooks', software?
> 
> ...


This article seems very specious to me too.


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## steelyglint (Apr 16, 2016)

Ray McCarthy said:


> Inept inaccurate article. *eBooks are not printed books*, but they are not at all software. I've been writing software for over 30 years and producing digitally encoded content for over 20.
> 
> 
> Sorry, but a computer game is a *mix of* software, video, animation, text etc.
> ...




Can you take that 'content' from the DVD, CD or cassette and hold it in your hand?

The DVD, CD, flash drive or whatever is not the software. What's on it is. The physical machinery is the hardware, the information manipulated using it is the software. One you can physically touch, the other you can't. The 'books' in Kindles and such, the music and movies on CD and DVD are all data, designed to be manipulated by machinery. Software written to run on hardware.

Some more un-informed rubbish...

software - definition of software in English from the Oxford dictionary

.


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## Wruter (Apr 16, 2016)

*runs screaming*


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## Foxbat (Apr 17, 2016)

steelyglint said:


> Can you take that 'content' from the DVD, CD or cassette and hold it in your hand?
> 
> The DVD, CD, flash drive or whatever is not the software. What's on it is. The physical machinery is the hardware, the information manipulated using it is the software. One you can physically touch, the other you can't. The 'books' in Kindles and such, the music and movies on CD and DVD are all data, designed to be manipulated by machinery. Software written to run on hardware.
> 
> ...



The words contained within a book is simply a communication mechanism with which a writer can convey his/her thoughts to the reader. It is simply data. Tax is irrelevant, medium is irrelevant. Your eyes brain and mind are your own forms of hardware (wetware) and software. We manipulate and interpret the information for ourselves. Can you take each actual word from a page and hold it in your hand? No, because the words are intrinsically linked to their medium - just like an electronic document.


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## Ray McCarthy (Apr 17, 2016)

It's true that the digitally encoded and stored books need a separate book reader and benefit from a different distribution model. They generally (but not always) should be cheaper. A printed book has the analogue encoding and storage combined with the text.



			
				Oxford Dictionary said:
			
		

> The *programs* and other *operating information* used by a computer


A book text is NOT a "program" or "operating information" used by a computer. It's data used by the reader software running on the hardware. The Kindle App, or the firmware in a reader is the software:
Amazon.com Help: Fire & Kindle Software Updates
Firmware is software stored in a non-volatile memory chip (Flash usually today, but used to be EPROM or ROM) to operate a computer. A PC BIOS is firmware. Older devices, before flash was developed, had to have the chips (ICs) physically swapped to change the software (upgrade the firmware).

The software + hardware is equivalent to ink, paper and card before the book is assembled.
The eBook file is equivalent to the layout of the ink to make human readable characters.

The software in an eReader "renders" the eBook file (data not a program) as text for your eyes.

*eBooks are NOT  printed books. They are quite different*. They represent the information encoded by the printing in a book. They are not software either.  One of about two correct comments in the article quoted earlier and listed below:

The management of ebooks is quite different to printed book management. There are a number of stupid comments  here (Ebooks are actually not books—schools among first to realizing this fact | Digital Book World  )


> an ebook differs from a book in that it is content only, not content-plus-object, as in the case of a paper book.


No, that's not quite correct as an eBook needs a eReader (Software + Hardware) or an eReader App (software for general use phone, tablet, TV, PC etc)

The next bit is totally deluded and isn't even correct about software! It's got an evil suggestion, in bold about selling. The Cloud idea is bonkers.


> *Ebooks should be sold the way software is sold*
> It’s the conundrum that schools are facing today. Ebooks are not books at all—they are software and they should be sold the way software is sold.
> Why do some publishers and distributors require schools to pay for a separate version of every ebook they want every child to see? Why can’t the ebooks be distributed in bundles, with user agreements and tiered pricing levels that change based on the number of “seats” served?
> Why aren’t more ebooks being served up in cloud-based computers, with password-protected access based on subscription payment models? Why are ebooks still being sold individually, as if their “thingness” was their primary attribute, when they are not, in fact “things” at all?


1) There is no one model as to how software is distributed and sold. Many models are exploitive and unfair, especially per seat licences.
2) Often there is an educational discount on software, but the price can often be per machine or seat or if the student can have a copy on their own laptop it's a discounted per persopn price. The author is ignorant of how software is sold.
3) Cloud isn't a real thing, it's marketing hype for rented services at the end of an internet connection. No Internet, no book. If the server fails, no book. If the publisher fails, no book. It's worse than the mediaeval practice of chaining up books in a library.* It's an evil idea for selling ebooks*, you never have a copy. ("Pirates" will though!)
4) eBooks ARE a thing, just not the same kind of thing as physical books.
5) It makes NO difference to industrial piracy. A machine can cut the binding off and an industrial scanner can copy all the pages. The "pirate" can cheaply make as many copies as they like. Cloud eBooks or DRM doesn't stop a text being electronically copied.
6) Absolutely each child should own a copy of each eBook. There should be a big discount.
7) No matter HOW eBooks are sold and distributed, really at present only novels are suitable as eBooks in schools. Here's why:

None of the eReaders (Hardware and Software or Apps on phone/tablet/PC) are much good at organising books or flipping between parts. The bookmarks and annotations are clunky.
The page size / screen size is too small for many reference works
Having more than one book open needs multiple eReaders
Colour isn't going to happen any time soon
The trial of the Kindle DX by Amazon in selected Universities was a failure because while eReaders are great to linearly read a novel, they are poor to useless for text books, newspapers, magazines, reference works. This is a combination of poor software* (The User Interface and text management), too low resolution and small screens, slow page flipping /search performance and lack of colour.
eReaders are great for people reading eBooks of novels. They are poor for research and learning. They can certainly *complement* printed books in schools, but till there are 11" folding ones in colour with much better UX (software) they are unsuitable for most educational uses.

eBooks certainly are not printed books. They present new opportunities and challenges. Let's not cripple use by pretending they are software. The way much software is sold is evil. The Cloud is only suitable for temporary collaboration. It's a truly stupid idea for core business functions or exclusive access to information.

The only sensible comment in the article


> they shouldn’t have paper books’ pricing and distribution models, either.



Make backup copies of all your eBooks.  Install Calibre to manage them.

[* The software in eReader hardware or Apps (Kindle, Kobo) is very very poor. We had better document management systems in 1980s. Only one level of hierarchy (collections or shelves). No library or publisher categories, no sensible level of extracts and management of them and annotations. No use of eBook tags and other meta data. Do they really think that something that can store 2,000 books (or 20,000 on an SD card) can be "managed" like this? Do they only test with 20 to 100 books?  Poor search. Kobo only searches titles or inside current books. The actual reader app when you are reading a text isn't bad, but "random access" to flip to middle or 1/4 or leaf through is far worse than needed.]


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## Ray McCarthy (Apr 18, 2016)

The Oasis is on the Amazon store, release on 27th April.

It's actually slightly shorter (0.75" / 20mm) but with the included cover, needed to make it flat and have decent battery life, it's thicker, wider and heavier!

Figures compared here, taken from Amazon's pages:
Kindle Oasis | TechTir

Introducing Kindle Oasis - Amazon Official Site - E-reader

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OQVZDJM/?tag=brite-21

So $170 extra to have a cover and two buttons (20c each), that were on models before the Touch and should never have been removed. It adds about $10 to make a cover with a built in battery. An official Kobo H2O Aura HD "sleep cover" is about $15.  So the Oasis *with cover included* is overpriced by over $120, probably $140 overpriced.


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## anivid (Apr 18, 2016)

My Kindle 4 weighs 191 gram, without cover that is.
I think that's far too heavy for transporting on a little afternoon café outing.
The Oasis is noted for 131 gram without cover - that might be an amelioration, but not much
- with it's congenital cover it weighs 238 gram according to this table.
My (app. 4 year old) Kindle 4 has physical buttons for next page too.
I think I better hold on to my antiquity


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## pambaddeley (Apr 18, 2016)

Ray McCarthy said:


> The Oasis is on the Amazon store, release on 27th April.
> 
> It's actually slightly shorter (0.75" / 20mm) but with the included cover, needed to make it flat and have decent battery life, it's thicker, wider and heavier!
> 
> ...



This is why I said I can't imagine who is going to buy one - in the UK the 'cheaper' wi-fi model is £269.99.  And I'm not sure about the chunky right side idea either.


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## pambaddeley (Apr 18, 2016)

anivid said:


> My Kindle 4 weighs 191 gram, without cover that is.
> I think that's far too heavy for transporting on a little afternoon café outing.
> The Oasis is noted for 131 gram without cover - that might be an amelioration, but not much
> - with it's congenital cover it weighs 238 gram according to this table.
> ...



I'm happily sticking to my 2nd hand Keyboard for this reason


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## anivid (Apr 18, 2016)

pambaddeley said:


> I'm happily sticking to my 2nd hand Keyboard for this reason


Hope it's a little more modern than your avatar


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## pambaddeley (Apr 18, 2016)

anivid said:


> Hope it's a little more modern than your avatar



Just a tad!  The KK has nice physical buttons on either side for forward and back so although it's heavier than the Paperwhite and other recent Kindles, I'm happy with it.


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## anivid (Apr 18, 2016)

pambaddeley said:


> Just a tad! The KK has nice physical buttons on either side for forward and back so although it's heavier than the Paperwhite and other recent Kindles, I'm happy with it.


Ha - same model as mine, if it has to be Kindle I think it to be the best model - besides it has delicious parchment coloured background for the text


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