Review: Kindle Oasis (9th generation, 2017 release)
The Kindle Oasis is the 9th generation of Kindle (2017 release, not to be confused with the 8th generation released in 2016). I've only owned it for two weeks but already my ebook interaction is way, WAY up.
Some of the major selling points for the Kindle Oasis are:
- The largest, highest resolution display— 7” and 300 ppi, reads like real paper without glare, even in bright sunlight.
- While it's not actually as crisp as text on a "real" page, it's leaps and bounds better than previous iterations of Kindle (or Nook, for that matter). No, it doesn't completely read like real paper, but it does read glare-free in sunlight, and is a lot crisper than most other e-readers I've seen.
- The first waterproof (IPX8) Kindle so you are free to read in even more places.
- This was the major selling point of the new Kindle Oasis for me. Many a paperback has gone to its watery grave in sacrifice to my bathtub reading, and I don't even try to read in the pool anymore! So far I've taken the Kindle Oasis in the bathtub with me, and also into the hot tub. It's the end of November here in Minnesota, so I won't be able to test it out in the pool for several more months, but I'm confident that it will survive a slip into the pool provided it's followed by a quick rescue. It did great in the tub, and passably well in the hot tub (though the screen did steam/fog up some in the hot tub). I'd read reviews that the water droplets cause havoc on the touchscreen display, but I didn't have any problems. It probably helps that I used the page turn buttons, rather than trying to swipe the touchscreen with wet fingers.
- Now with Audible, listen to the world’s largest library of audiobooks. Pair with Bluetooth to take the story with you anytime, anywhere.
- This was another big selling point for me, as I have an Audible membership and find myself switching between listening on my cell phone (which is a Samsung/Andriod) and my iPod (which is old and doesn't hold a charge worth beans) and my iPad. It's great to be able to choose to listen to an audiobook or read an ebook with one device that's not draining my cell phone battery in case I need it (and with my sense of direction, I need all the battery life for GPS on my cell that I can get!!). I have switched listening to an audiobook from my phone to the Kindle Oasis and back and forth and had no issues; it's great about letting me know I'm at point B on the Kindle and have listened further to point C on my other device, and prompting if I want to jump to the most recently heard spot across all devices, which is great. I haven't tried the Whisper Sync technology yet (where you switch between reading an ebook to listening to the audiobook version of the same book) so I can't speak to how well that works. Do be aware that there is no headphone jack, so if you want to listen to audiobooks with Audible you will need to pair Bluetooth headphones to your Kindle. I had no problems pairing my headphones, and the sound quality is good as long as you're not cranking the volume. If you need to listen to your audiobooks at high volume, you may want to test that this will work for you first, as when I cranked the volume past about 75% it got somewhat fuzzy and distorted and lost some sound quality.
- Thin and light ergonomic design with dedicated page turn buttons and adaptive front light so you can read even more comfortably for hours.
- This is a heck of a lot nicer than my previous Kindle, which I think is the Paperwhite with the strip of lighting along the bottom. This is a multi-point lighting system so I can read with the lamp on and no backlighting on the Kindle, or with some backlighting, or full-blast lighting to read in total darkness. One of my issues with my old Kindle was that I couldn't read well or clearly in low-ish light, but that problem is eliminated with this latest version. You can also adjust the lighting to where it's most comfortable for you at that particular moment. I love the page turn buttons, though I did change my setting so the bottom button advances the page and the top button goes back a page. It's nice because if you hold it with the buttons to the right or flip it over so the buttons are on the left, it keeps the button orientation so whichever button is on top still does what you set the top button to do. Page turn buttons make it a lot easier for me to read one handed, as I hate lifting my other arm to swipe (yes, I am just that lazy).
- Keep reading—a single charge lasts weeks, not hours.
- I think the charge lasting "weeks" is based on something like 45 minutes of reading a day, and of course doesn't take into account listening to audiobooks. I haven't had any issues with the battery life thus far, and it charges up really quickly, which is nice.
- Enjoy twice the storage with 8 GB. Or choose 32 GB to hold more magazines, comics, newspapers, and audiobooks.
- I got the smaller 8 GB version and have about 100 ebooks downloaded to it as well as half a dozen audiobook, and still have over 5 GB of space left. I tend to remove audiobooks from my device as I listen to them so I don't have a problem with the storage size. If you're going to put a lot of audiobooks (or magazines and comics) you might want to check out the larger size, but with just ebooks and a handful of audiobooks/magazines/comics you should be just fine with the smaller size.
- Instant access to new releases and bestsellers, or from over a million titles at $2.99 or less. Prime members read free with unlimited access to over a thousand titles.
- Where do I find these "free" titles? I subscribe to Kindle Unlimited and the interface with the Kindle store and Kindle Unlimited library is really smooth and easy to navigate.
I want this so baaaaddddd.
ReplyDeleteI can't justify buying one, but when mine does, I will probably save up for an oasis so I can read in the bath without fear.