Amazon announces Kindle Oasis

[Shane R]

Originally Posted by shalym

But it won't protect the reader when I put it into my purse...

Shari

That either.

Interesting analogy here:

Amazon has made some interesting design decisions with the Oasis, enough to make it a refreshing cork in a desert of screwcap gadgets.

Winemakers agree at this point that you don’t lose anything tangible by using a screwcap. Unlike corks, screwcaps provide a perfect seal, they’re easy to put back on, and there’s no chance of the wine getting spoiled through cork taint. They’re also a lot cheaper to produce. But there’s something about corks that makes winemakers and drinkers alike want to keep them alive. They’ve been used for hundreds of years, and that little ritual of popping the bottle open still carries a hint of romance. For countless people, twisting a cheap piece of metal off just won’t ever capture that.

And the Kindle Oasis is Amazon’s most cork-like product ever. Not only does it come with one of three leather battery covers that emulate the feeling of a book, the entire product was designed around them. Amazon’s industrial design director Marc Walliser tells The Verge that the company wanted to offer "more of a paper-like instead of tech experience," giving the leather cover "a lot of personality and emotion."

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Yolina

This is MR, we're not your your typical average customers Normally you'd get people jumping on a new toy, and would expect 70% to say they're getting one :rofl.

Not really. Since the move from buttons to touch-screen (after the Kindle Keyboard), there's always been a pretty consistent MR contingent that (during the pre-release/pre-order stage) believes Amazon has "screwed up big time" on their newest endeavors. Then things settle down after customers start getting the devices in their hands. This one will be no different.

"They got rid of the buttons! I'm never going to buy a reader with no buttons! Who wants their screen all smudged up with fingerprints?! Phooey!"

"This Fire thing is a joke! Who's going to buy this crippled Android device when you can buy a real Android tablet for just a little more?"

"Haptic buttons? That's not going to work for me at all!"

"The Voyage is way too expensive. They're never going to get enough people willing to pay that kind of price for an eink reader!"

The numbers (and voices) may be different, but the trend is still the same. Blast the new (while it's being pre-ordered like mad) for the piece of trash it so clearly is. Then it's on to Amazon's next failure.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by shalym

But it won't protect the reader when I put it into my purse...

Shari

This will and it's only $5. It can live in your purse and a second one can live at your house.

[Shane R]

Originally Posted by NickyWithNook

I've been reading this thinking that waterproofing wouldn't be useful for me, but then I remembered the time I dropped an ereader in the snow. Bad move. Or the many times I've wanted to continue reading when it's raining at the bus stop waiting for my kid. I live somewhere with lots of various kinds of precipitation, and waterproofing would have saved me one ereader so far, and would have helped me continue reading a good number of times where I chose to stop to save my device from water.

How waterproofed are paper books?

Humanity has let centuries pass by - centuries of reading at the beach, on boats, in the kitchen and poolside, without waterproofing dead-tree books.

It's OK if the gadgets aren't either for a while longer.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by meeera

I seem to be pretty good at multitasking. I can also tell from the other end of the house, while immersed in reading, that my husband is about to overcook the brownies. The nose does the job.

Our dinner-ready-signal (aka fire alarm) does the job.

[Shane R]

Originally Posted by Yolina

Right so, if I get this right:
The bulge is a plus because it makes it easier to hold but the cover is a plus on top of the plus, because erm, it negates the bulge? And so really it's like having a single device except that you're stuck with the Amazon cover

It really sounds like the device isn't for you.

And that you may think that people buying it are suckers.

[NickyWithNook]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

This will and it's only $5. It can live in your purse and a second one can live at your house.

That's very similar to what I use! Love!

I have moved with the "I want waterproofing" folks. Also, the sleeve for me is in part to protect it when outside around water and snow. A cover that doesn't protect against water and snow on a device that can't handle water and snow is a problem.

I like the asymmetrical aspect as I like to hold my Kindle one handed and that would be less awkward. But I want protection from weather. I think I will upgrade when there is a Kindle that looks like it would be comfortable to hold, but that is waterproof. And I might even spend the $300 to do so because it would be worth it to have a device that won't break when dropped in the snow or a puddle.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Shane R

How waterproofed are paper books?

Humanity has let centuries pass by - centuries of reading at the beach, on boats, in the kitchen and poolside, without waterproofing dead-tree books.

It's OK if the gadgets aren't either for a while longer.

I've killed or maimed a number of treebooks with fluids in my life - surely this is not a rare experience? Of course, when you kill one of those you only kill one. When you kill an ereader, that's all your books gone till you replace the reader, which costs substantially more than a treebook.

[Shane R]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

This will and it's only $5. It can live in your purse and a second one can live at your house.

It's hideously ugly.

[NickyWithNook]

Originally Posted by Shane R

How waterproofed are paper books?

Humanity has let centuries pass by - centuries of reading at the beach, on boats, in the kitchen and poolside, without waterproofing dead-tree books.

It's OK if the gadgets aren't either for a while longer.

In my previous life as a paper book reader, I often dropped books into snow or water and fanned their pages and used a hairdryer even if necessary to dry them. They aren't completely non-functional like an ereader is. Also a paper book doesn't cost that much. You drop one and you can't save it, you're out a few dollars. You drop a $300 ereader in a puddle once, you have no chance of saving it and you're out $300.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Shane R

How waterproofed are paper books?

A $10 paperback is less painful to replace than a $200 ereader

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Shane R

It's hideously ugly.

And won't protect the reader from twisting/bending forces particularly well.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Shane R

How waterproofed are paper books?

Humanity has let centuries pass by - centuries of reading at the beach, on boats, in the kitchen and poolside, without waterproofing dead-tree books.

It's OK if the gadgets aren't either for a while longer.

But the paper book which gets doused is still readable, if not as lovely, and your exposure is limited to the cost of the book itself and not hundreds of dollars. Not a very good analogy, and waterproofing isn't important to me at all (although my main device is waterproofed, I don't hold it against it).

[NickyWithNook]

Originally Posted by Shane R

It's hideously ugly.

You can get sleeves in all sorts of designs. They aren't necessarily $5, but they're not expensive for covers either.

http://www.verabradley.com/product/E...FdgOgQod3GcEyw

[Yolina]

Originally Posted by Shane R

It really sounds like the device isn't for you.

It really isn't

And that you may think that people buying it are suckers.

Nope, I've said it before and I'll say it again other people are free to do as they wish. Why should I care about someone else's buying decision?