Amazon announces new 7" waterproof Oasis with 32GB storage option

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

A microUSB can run at USB 3 speeds if it's chipset is USB 3. so that means there's no actual need for USB-C. Just make the microUSB run USB 3.

No it can’t. Micro-USB 3.0 is a different larger connector. It looks like Micro-USB with a little sidecar addition. If you have a USB 3.0 HDD you might have seen one. They are much bigger and you can’t simply use the standard Micro-USB 2.0 port. USB C however woorks with 2.0,3.0 and 3.1 speeds with the same connector.

[joblack]

Any news if the user is able to disable the front light completely?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I have numerous devices that use both mini- and micro-USB. I have nothing that uses a USB-C connector.

I have 3 different types of cables. Micro & mini USB as well as lightning.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I don't get the attraction of reading a book while someone reads it out loud. Personally, I read at probably 4x the speed that I could read a book aloud, so I'd constantly be getting ahead of the narration. What's the appeal of it? If I have the book in front of me, I could just read it aloud myself! It seems to negate the real benefit of audiobooks, which is that you can listen to them while doing something else, like driving.

Some audiobooks have a full-cast. That's something you cannot get from just reading.

[Strether]

Originally Posted by joblack

Any news if the user is able to disable the front light completely?

Or turn off the adaptable feature, like you were able to in the Voyage?

Jim

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I have 3 different types of cables. Micro & mini USB as well as lightning.

I have USB-C for my cell phone and Chromebook. Those are the two "newer" devices. I have USB-micro for my Kindles. That's all. Just my Kindles. Including the yet to be delivered "newer" Kindle Oasis. And, USB-mini for my Bluetooth earphones. They're old and I'll get new ones this year that you can rest assured will use USB-C. I will give my current Bluetooth earphones and the USB-mini cable to some poor kid.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Some audiobooks have a full-cast. That's something you cannot get from just reading.

Why not? I enjoy listening to radio drama but I don't want someone reading a book to me. When I'm reading, I sometimes imagine the characters who were in the movie. I can't read The Treasure of the Sierra Madre without seeing and hearing Humphrey Bogart, although the book and the movie are quite different. I sometimes imagine actors and actresses or even other people in public life as various characters.

I'll sometimes read a sentence or a paragraph over once or twice because it's so well written. Can't really do that with audible books. I often highlight a phrase or sentence or paragraph. Can't do that, either. And, with my Kindle I'm quick to look up words when I want to see how the author is using the word. Some authors should have the thesaurus license revoked. I can remember back when writers doing radio drama would use new words and my mother would drop her knitting and run over to the dictionary to look up a word.

I used to enjoy being read to but that was before I learned to read. I was the only kid I knew whose father would scream, "Put that friggin' book down and go outside and play." One day after I'd been driven outside he came out and found me sitting behind a tree reading my book. His face got so red I thought he would have a medical crisis.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by patrickt

I have USB-C for my cell phone and Chromebook. Those are the two "newer" devices. I have USB-micro for my Kindles. That's all. Just my Kindles. Including the yet to be delivered "newer" Kindle Oasis. And, USB-mini for my Bluetooth earphones. They're old and I'll get new ones this year that you can rest assured will use USB-C. I will give my current Bluetooth earphones and the USB-mini cable to some poor kid.

Good luck finding Bluetooth headphones with USB C. I don’t think they exist yet, at least from any of the big brands. I bought Bluetooth headphones recently, a pair released this year, still micro-USB. All the other ones I looked at were micro USB except for some of the Beats series which use Lightning. But besides phones and laptops USB C doesn’t seem to be spreading too fast.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Some audiobooks have a full-cast. That's something you cannot get from just reading.

I didn't say that I don't enjoy audiobooks - I enjoy them very much. I said that I don't see the attraction of listening to an audiobook while simultaneously reading the same book. Listening to an audiobook would enormously slow down my reading, and reading would distract me from the audiobook.

[giorgio130]

Hi all, this new Oasis did the trick and I'm coming back to the kindle after having had kobos for the past few years. a quick question that I've not seen posted before, do we know already if the screen has a plastic or glass substrate? Given the reduced thickness in the screen part, a plastic substrate would be a very welcomed thing...

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by vrf

I personally don't have any interest in this function... I either read or listen, never both at the same time, and I'd rather have sideloadable audiobooks than immersion. But I can see the value, and it does seem like immersion could likely be made available through a future firmware update. Adding audible back to the Kindle line seems to have been a slow process, takes time, but I don't see why they would exclude the immersion option from the e-ink devices once they have the time to write the code.

For me, Kindle will never be my ‘preferred’ audiobook player. That device is my smartphone.

With immersion reading on iOS and Android (but not for some reason on Fire) everything is handled by the Kindle app, which has audiobook player built into it. You download the book, and have option to download ‘companion’ audiobook at any time. You can switch modes easily and there is no need to ‘sync’ reading position unless you mix in another device. Then when you delete the book, the audiobook gets deleted automatically. Even if all you ever do is listen to the audiobook, you also have access to the text for highlighting, XRay etc and more flexible navigation (via text search, TOC etc). It enhances the value of both formats. Fire’s implementation should be no worse than this, but it is: sometimes it starts TTS instead of playing the audiobook, when switching from immersion mode to the audiobook player while listening, one gets nagged with a needless ‘reading position’ dialog, and you have to remove the book and audiobook as separate operations.

If you listen to audiobook on one device and read on another, then sync has to be successful, and you do not have the same synergy between formats.

At least it appears you’ll be able to switch seamlessly between reading modes on Kindle, which was not the case before (if I remember you actually had to connect wirelessly to sync position with the previous Kindles).

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

This is quite a nice article on how English spalling came to be so inconsistent.

I never knew that we could blame the h in ghost on Flemish typesetters, or the b in debt on 16th century latin-obsesssed spelling reformers.

Not only is it inconsistent but even the same words can be spelled differently depending on the country. Here we color with two other people and go to the theater too. You colour and go to the theatre.

[johnnyb]

Originally Posted by MWMouse3

My main concern is if you can upload preowned audiobooks through the audible app. I already have around 100 GB of books on a terrabyte drive, so the new Oasis wouldn't be worth it to me otherwise. Does anyone have any info on this?

I ordered the 8GB version for the reason that i first want to see if the new Oasis accepts sideloaded mp3 and m4a so I can use it to play my ripped audiobooks. I have no need for more storage if it’s only for Amazon bought content...
USB C would have provided Amazon with the opportunity to support cheap wired headphones alongside bluetooth (which you sometimes cannot use on flights).
Let's just hope that the lighting is even across screens and devices...

[selianth]

Originally Posted by selianth

As much as I think I would LOVE the new Oasis, I'm waiting until they're actually released. I preordered both the Voyage and last year's Oasis for launch day, so usually I'm one of those impatient types, but this time I'm just concerned enough about the size increase to wait. More screen space sounds great, but I'm worried about it fitting into certain bags/pouches that I rely on when I travel. I plan to head to a Best Buy store (pretty sure they usually have demo models there) to check them out in November.

But it certainly checks all the other boxes.. waterproof.. battery fully in the Kindle instead of the case.. stand-up cover (I never realized how much I would miss that origami cover from the Voyage...). And I'll be happy getting the cheapest version. Must.. not.. click.. yet...

Yeah, I'm not sure who I thought I was kidding. I totally ordered it over the weekend. I don't need tons of storage, so I went for the 8gb, wi-fi only - ordered from Best Buy, which will deliver on launch day, as opposed to Amazon where the estimated delivery date was November 21. But the indigo cloth case will be delivered by Amazon at launch.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I have numerous devices that use both mini- and micro-USB. I have nothing that uses a USB-C connector.

The last 2 years, I've replaced most of the things that require micro-USB: one phone and 2 tablets. The only things now that require micro-USB are things I only rarely have to charge: my bluetooth headphone and ereader.

I recently bought a tablet and a phone for my mother, both have a USB-C connector.

I now even have a USB-C connector in our car charger

I still think it's a shame that Amazon didn't go for the USB-C connector.