Amazon’s new Kindle Oasis is its most design-centric e-reader to date
Amazon has unveiled the Kindle Oasis, its new flagship Kindle that comes with a smaller, sleeker design and a six-inch screen that promises more even and consistent illumination.
The Kindle Oasis features thinner top and bottom bezels than the Voyage, which makes it a little more compact. (Image Source: Amazon)
There’s officially a new Kindle in town. The Kindle Oasis, first teased last week by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, is the company’s top-of-the-line Kindle and its most design-focused e-reader yet. The Oasis isn’t even intended to replace the previous flagship, the Kindle Voyage, and instead slots in at an even higher position right at the top of Amazon’s Kindle line-up.
It also isn’t cheap, with a fairly stiff – especially for an e-reader – US$290 price tag, for the version with Special Offers (Amazon’s euphemism for ads). The ad-free model will cost you US$310, and the highest-end version with support for both 3G and Wi-Fi will set you back by US$360.
All Kindles in recent memory have looked relatively similar, with the same blocky, rectangular design and symmetrical bezels. But Amazon has decided to switch things up with the Oasis, which features a stark asymmetrical design that can be simply flipped over if you want to change the hand you’re holding it in.
It is also Amazon’s sleekest Kindle to date, measuring a mere 3.4mm at its thinnest (the Voyage is 7.6mm thick). However, it has a tapered profile of sorts, with a bump at the back that is intended to evoke the spine of an actual book. At its thickest, the Oasis comes in at 8.5mm thick.
The bump at the back makes for an easier one-handed reading experience. (Image Source: Amazon)
The slim design means that battery life has taken a hit, and the Oasis is rated for about two weeks on a single charge, as opposed to a month for other Kindles. Fortunately, Amazon has attempted to rectify this somewhat with an included charging cover that adds an additional six weeks of battery life for a total of two months.
The cover is even available in three different finishes – black, merlot, and walnut – and doubles as a protective covering for the display.
The battery cover is available in three different colors. (Image Source: Amazon)
The other major change is the return of physical page-turn buttons on the bezel. The Voyage featured pressure-sensitive buttons that provided customizable, tactile feedback, but nothing beats the actual click of a real button.
Some of you may be disappointed to learn that the Oasis uses the same six-inch 1,448 x 1,072-pixel (300ppi) E Ink Carta display as the Voyage, but Amazon has added more LEDs for more even frontlighting. The Oasis is equipped with 10 LEDs, compared to six in the Voyage and four in the Paperwhite.
The price aside, the Oasis is probably Amazon’s best Kindle yet. There’s just one minor issue – it still isn’t waterproof. This is one Oasis you don’t want water in.
Source: Amazon
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