Amazon announces Kindle Oasis

[Shane R]

[Image violates Posting Guidelines for size - MODERATOR]

I'd missed that it had landscape situated reading.



edit: image here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=199

[aceflor]

Originally Posted by Shane R

Wow. That's an interesting device.

Lack of ecosystem (per that review) is a huge, huge con though.

you are joking right ? The Kobo Aura H2O has been out a while, and is a great device (with the Kobo ecosystem too).

[gmercator]

It's a throwback to the battery life of the Paperwhite 2:


Taken from the "Technical Details" of the Paperwhite 2:

Battery Life A single charge lasts up to eight weeks, based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off and the light setting at 10. Battery life will vary based on light and wireless usage


Taken from the "Technical Details" of the Oasis:

Battery Life A single charge with cover lasts up to eight weeks, based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off and the light setting at 10. Battery life will vary based on light and wireless usage.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Shane R

Wow. That's an interesting device.

Lack of ecosystem (per that review) is a huge, huge con though.

I have Kobo H20 as well as a Voyage. My only difference with the H20 is I sideload to the device through calibre, where the Kindle I send books from calibre via Send to Kindle. The Kobo infrastructure is good enough, No its not Amazon with unlimited cloud and personal documents, but it's good enough.

[Shane R]

Originally Posted by aceflor

The Kobo Aura H2O has been out a while

I wonder if any updates are soon due.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Calling it a "charging" cover still suggests to me that I would be able to take full advantage of the longer battery life by reading without the cover and storing it in the cover. Thus being able to appreciate the newer ergonomic advantages (for me) of the naked Oasis as well.

However ... the price and the decision to continue using a breakable substrate will probably make me give it a pass for now. Perhaps I'll revisit after the first big discount event (and users have had a chance to chime in with actual usage data).

Nate thinks the screen has a plastic substrate.
Check the comments.

http://the-digital-reader.com/2016/0...will-cost-290/

If it really has a plastic substrate it may be worth the money to enough people to justify it's existence.

Points to consider:

First Kindle sold at $399. Until the 4 hour price war, when B&N moved the walled gardens to near-cost pricing, ereaders sold at solid markups in the 40% range, typical of their limited market size (you really need to be a heavy reader to justify prices north of $200.)

In the past couple of years average selling prices have actually crept up a bit both on Kindle and Kobo. Mostly through "premium" models. Not sure Nook is selling enough to make a dent and the ebook market is well seeded by now so moving away from near-cost pricing makes sense (for different reasons) to all the vendors.

Now, Oasis: I love the ergo design. It is a fitting evolution of the rocketbook and PB360, both of which I have and love. Ergonomics are important and I'm pleased to see its return to the reader design criteria.

I'm not buying it, though, until they unbundle it.
I agree that calling it a charger cover implies that it will recharge the reader even if the cover isn't being charged. With that proviso, the pricing isn't obscene:$200 for a light ergonomic reader, possibly with non-glass substrate and $90 for an oem leather cover ($50-70) + a battery cherger ($20-30) is about right.

Unbundled they could get away with $229 for the reader alone but the bundle gives them a nice magin boost. They can always unbundle once early adopter sales start to dry up.

It's a standard business practice.

I understand what they're doing.
But I'm not biting.

Plenty of people will, though.
Once they're done voting their wallets and the unbundled version goes on sale, I'll pull the trigger. Until then, I'm covered.

[Shane R]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Once they're done voting their wallets and the unbundled version goes on sale, I'll pull the trigger. Until then, I'm covered.

Nice pun.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by Avwriter

I find it interesting that the Voyage appears to be staying in the line up. I had assumed that the Oasis would replace the Voyage, but this does not appear to be the case. Might make it harder to get the Oasis to sell.

It will be interesting to hear more about the quality level of the case. Doubt it will be as good as the limited edition leather case for the Voyage. Also, not having a built in stand detracts from the Oasis. Will be interesting to see if 3rd parties will be able to justify making cases for it.

The Voyage and Oasis seem to veer in different directions, not be a progression from one to another like the Kindle line-up usually offers. So perhaps they're keeping the Voyage for those who want to veer in that direction, and maybe as risk management in case the Oasis is a flop.

The Oasis case looks to be the same quality as the premium leather case for the Voyage, except without the origami design that lets it stand in different positions. I love the leather case on my Voyage, so I do like that this seems to be similar in material to the one that comes with the Oasis.

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I must admit to a lot of disappointment. The battery life is 8 weeks with cover on. No mention of what the battery life is without the cover.

It is lighter than a voyage with cover, and with more battery life. But that and the extra LEDs seems to be almost all it has going for it.

No adaptive lighting. £100 more than the Voyage, or £60 more if you buy the official Amazon Voyage cover.

Not for me.

Those improvements are not much in themselves, but I think Amazon here are making a play mostly for ergonomics and seeing if people go for it. This seems to be like their trial ergonomic device - very plain, almost ugly, not much improvement anywhere else over their other readers. So this will really tell how many are willing to pay premium price solely for one totally designed for superior in-hand comfort.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Shane R

Is that Amazon's responsibility...to reinvigorate the entire market...or is their responsibility limited to their subset of customers within it?

"Responsibility?" Not really the issue. They (essentially) created the market, and have been a leader in it, so I'm looking to them to advance it. It would be nice.
It's not like a healthy, enthusiastic and growing Kindle device market would HURT their subset, unless they really are losing a lot of money on each device, in which case this new development makes a lot of sense.

[Yolina]

That great, big, Amazon logo on the cover is enough to not want it anyway I do have a problem with obvious branding on items, drives me nuts and I've always put skins on my Kindles to hide the irritating in-your-face logos. The only redeeming feature of the Oasis is that the device itself doesn't have a logo at the front

[zerospinboson]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I need the protein.

No, you don't. Protein deficiency doesn't exist except in people who are consuming calorie deficient diets (i.e., malnourished). Whereas protein excess contributes to pretty much all of the standard western diseases. (Even a diet consisting wholly of bananas would contain sufficient essential amino acids -- the building blocks of 'protein' -- for you to function.)

Anyway, I don't see this product gaining much traction. Price is too high for a generic product, and it's too indistinct to be marketed towards the rich.
And then there is the fact that they're selling it with a cover/battery holder made out of another animal's skin. No thank you.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I can't see how a prohibitively expensive device invigorates anything, or are you saying enthusiasts need to shell out the cash for these new devices.

No, I'm saying I agree, this will not serve to invigorate the market.
If this device was compelling (and it may be. Lack of waterproofing and no bigger screen may not be a big deal with the broader market) and if it came out at a lower price, with a corresponding REDUCTION in prices of the "lesser" devices, then it COULD have served to invigorate the market.

[Jason90]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Nate thinks the screen has a plastic substrate.
Check the comments.

http://the-digital-reader.com/2016/0...will-cost-290/

If it really has a plastic substrate it may be worth the money to enough people to justify it's existence.

From the oasis page "Kindle Oasis combines our strongest cover glass and a featherweight frame infused with metal using structural electroplating"

So still glass and the reduced weight is soley the result of them stripping out the battery.

Btw i heard kobo might have a new device coming out soon,might be time to try someone else me thinks.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by ApK

No, I'm saying I agree, this will not serve to invigorate the market.
If this device was compelling (and it may be. Lack of waterproofing and bigger screen may no be a big deal with the broader market) and if it came out at a lower price, with a corresponding REDUCTION in prices of the "lesser" devices, then it COULD have served to invigorate the market.

That makes more sense, sorry.

[Pjama]

I don't understand their 'strategy' of having three ereaders with pretty much identically specced 300 dpi frontlit screens - and all 6". If this Oasis thingy had been just one inch bigger, I would have bought it without a second thought.

I am also interested to see what Kobo come out with...