Amazon announces Kindle Oasis

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Question Mark

Yes, it is now so light that it will just float to the ground should you happen to drop it.

I hadn't thought of that!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Question Mark

Yes, it is now so light that it will just float to the ground should you happen to drop it.

...Amazon should've named it the Kindle Feather

[amjbrown]

So my raised eyebrows over price lasted a long time.

Now sitting on a pre-order of a Merlot AND a Walnut version. Trying to decide and waiting for ship dates.

I blame my virtual friends at MobileRead for getting me overexcited!!

[cromag]

I love the "ergonomic grip." I'm glad to see that Amazon has caught up to the battery bulge on my JetBook Lite.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Barty

I'm mildly bitter, with a dash of pique.


I want to be able to adjust the font weight. They want to keep the UI simple, stupid. I want to side load my own fonts. They don't want the bother and the bugs. And, like the chef that looks at you askance when you ask for table salt, they think nobody should need to mess with their carefully designed fonts, anyway.

I want something a little bigger because I use largish font size and it'd be nice to have more lines on one screen. They're like, MORE? You want MORE?!?!

Just buy something else, right? The problem is the alternatives are not great. Kobo does not have TTS either. Their software seems buggier. They don't sell in any U.S. stores. (But I'm inching closer to buying a kobo.) The android based e-ink readers look pretty kludgy and the displays are not quite as good. Amazon has the best e-ink displays and probably will continue to. They have tremendous advantage in procuring the best e-ink screens and putting them to best use given their market share and R&D war chest. Then, there is liquavista looming on the horizon.

Oh well, I'll just have more money for e-books, I guess.

I don't think you're going to see an e-ink reader which offers TTS. It's not exactly a feature to write home about on the tablets I've seen it on which will be able to do it better.

Every e-reader has some bugs in their software, but at least Kobo doesn't care about people using third party mods. I wouldn't say the openly encourage it, but to the best of my knowledge they have not blocked any mods, and certainly haven't actively prevented people from tweaking their device.

Sideloaded fonts? Done.
Adjust the weight of your font? Done, though fonts you add will require a tweak to allow for this
Larger screen? Done, get the H2O.


Everything has bugs, the benefit of Kobo over Amazon is that Kobo doesn't seem to mind about third party mods.

Yes it's less than 300 DPI but it's a larger screen with similar DPI. Which basically makes it a wash overall.

I'll give you that not having a US store presence is a pain, I like seeing and holding a device before I buy it. But I pulled the trigger on an H2O and I've been really happy with it.

[JoHunt]

Here’s Why Amazon’s New Kindle Oasis Will Be a Dud

This may be heresy to the technology-focused community, but sometimes new is not necessarily better. This seems to be the case with Amazon's new Kindle Oasis eReader.

The Kindle Oasis does improve upon Amazon's Kindle line of eReaders, but will prospective shoppers flock to Amazon's high-end device? Anything is possible, but it's highly likely the new Kindle Oasis will be a dud.

Amazon does lower-end well...

http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...-be-a-dud.aspx

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I went to the site mentioned in that Gizmoto article (http://waterfi.com/waterproof-kindle). They want $240 for a Waterproof Paperwhite with no ads. That means the waterproofing is an additional $100.01 over Amazon's price. Steep, but Gizmoto says they do an amazing job of waterproofing. Well, not in those exact words....

I think it's always more expensive to add things aftermarket than if it had been included during the design process.

[Crhis]

Originally Posted by JoHunt

Here’s Why Amazon’s New Kindle Oasis Will Be a Dud

http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...-be-a-dud.aspx

I think that rather depends on how we're going to define "dud".

From a sales perspective I'm not sure anyone is expecting numbers to be as high as the regular Kindle or the Paperwhite so I'm not sure it can be judged on that scale. From a design perspective it's quite possible that Amazon has created the best ereader ever (note; not "the best value") which is a different conversation.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I think it's always more expensive to add things aftermarket than if it had been included during the design process.

For sure. The Kobo Aura H2O, which sells for $180, is bigger (Carta 6.8"), has waterproofing, and is still lighter than the Oasis by 5 grams.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I read in the bath, every day. I read while sitting on the edge of a pool while my legs are in the water, my H20 is literally hanging out over the water and I don't have to worry about dropping it.

I read while drinking coffee, or wine, or while stirring onions in the frypan. If anything gets on my reader, I just wash it off. Easy.

[June]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

I'm very happy with this one: AmazonBasics Adjustable Tablet Stand. It has two vertical pivot points, so the e-reader/tablet can be viewed at several angles, and base width can be adjusted as well. It's well made.

Thanks for the hint, I just ordered one from the uk site

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by meeera

I read while drinking coffee, or wine, or while stirring onions in the frypan. If anything gets on my reader, I just wash it off. Easy.

And how often do you burn the onions? My wife's mother was renown for having let the dinner catch fire while sitting on a chair in front of the stove while reading. It turns out that it runs in the family.

[Crhis]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

For sure. The Kobo Aura H2O, which sells for $180, is bigger (Carta 6.8"), has waterproofing, and is still lighter than the Oasis by 5 grams.

Am I missing something?

The Kobo Aura H20 specs list it at 233g while the Kindle Oasis specs list the WiFi only version at 131g.

[Yolina]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I'm kind of amazed at the bitterness towards Amazon displayed here .

It's more disappointment than anything else - I've never bought a Voyage because to me it's not quite worth its price tag (£170 in the UK - if it were below £150 I would consider it). Obviously the Oasis is even worse in that respect and I think the battery cover thing is a terrible idea and quite obviously there's the asymmetry

Now, if they'd done say a Voyage 2, replacing the page turn haptic sensors with the buttons from the Oasis, and a few other small incremental changes of that type and kept the price the same as the current Voyage, then I'd probably would have pre-ordered one very quickly after the announcement. And I too would have like water resistance of sorts (I'll manage with the 7g or so extra weight this would add )

Originally Posted by Question Mark

Could be that they intentionally put out a device that they knew would be unpopular to many customers in order to sell more Voyages.

That's something I was wondering about too The Voyage looks like extremely good value in comparison.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Crhis

Am I missing something?

The Kobo Aura H20 specs list it at 233g while the Kindle Oasis specs list the WiFi only version at 131g.

The Kindle Oasis with cover is 238gms