[Plumadona]

After much gnashing of teeth and fretting over the high cost, I bit the bullet on Saturday and got the new Oasis as an early Christmas present. After reading about the issues that some folks here have had with theirs, I bypassed Amazon and bought mine at Best Buy; easier return if needed and the chnace to check the box before buying to make sure it’s not someone else’s reject.

I feel really lucky - the lighting looks even and I haven’t seen any other problems thus far (fingers crossed). I spent all yesterday updating the software then downloading my books (1000+) with no problems. I’ve had my books in collections since I migrated to Amazon from epubs so there was no chaos involved.

What I love: I don’t have really serious vision problems, but my eyes are definitely feeling their age, so I really appreciate the larger screem that puts more words on a page when I use a larger font. I am amazed by how lightweight it is after using a Paperwhite with the leather cover, but will have a better sense of the feel when my cover gets here tomorrow (a lightweight Fintie). I love the 32gb storage knowing that even with serious book hoarding there will always be more room.

I don’t see much difference in the lighting, but I don’t keep mine at the brightest level. I would say that my Paperwhite has a cooler light and the Oasis has a warmer light, but it’s a very subtle difference in shading. My Paperwhite has some some slight irrregularities (blotches?) but they were only visible at some settings and not at all noticable to me - I haven’t seen any on the Oasis so far.

What I don’t like: I find the metal edges somewhat unpleasant. They’re not sharp, but they should have been either flush with the top or made smooth. I’m hoping that the cover will make that less noticable when I hold it.

Verdict: Overall, positive, and I will end up keeping it. However, I’m not sure that it’s a good value for the high price. This e-reader would have been the gold standard had Amazon made it with Apple quality standards, not too much to ask in light of the fact that you can buy an iPad Mini for not very much more money. But since I much prefer to do most of my reading on an e-ink screen, it’s the best choice for me. If it lasts as long as my other readers, I’ll be happy.