Kindle Oasis?

[Ray McCarthy]

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.

 

[Wruter]

Sounds good. Agree about the physical buttons.

 

[Wruter]

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

 

[Ray McCarthy]

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

I don't like either of them.

 

[Parson]

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.

 

[Foxbat]

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

 

[Bugg]

If it leaks it must be faulty, surely?

 

[Ray McCarthy]

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.

 

[Foxbat]

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

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Doh! Typo

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

 

[Foxbat]

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

 

[Wruter]

£270?!? Ahahahahaha

 

[Ray McCarthy]

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?

 

[WaylanderToo]

£270?!?

 

[Wruter]

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?

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.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

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!

 

[Parson]

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.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

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.

 

[pambaddeley]

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).

 

[Ray McCarthy]

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.