Slashdot Mirror
Amazon Kindle Oasis With 'Months' of Battery Life, Redesigned Body Launched
Amazon, on Wednesday, announced the Kindle Oasis, the company's latest addition to its ebook reader offering. The Kindle Oasis offers a range of improvements and changes over the Kindle Paperwhite. Mashable's Lance Ulanoff writes, "[The company has] essentially discarded the previous design in favor of a paper-thin display attached to a somewhat thicker side grip." Elaborating: First of all, the 6-inch screen is close to square. Second of all, it no longer sits in the center of the device. And thirdly, the screen is now an insane 3.4-mm thick. Yes, that is as thin as you think it is. Amazon's Oasis e-reader even marks the return of buttons to the design.As for the specifications, the Kindle Oasis sports a 6-inch display of 300ppi screen resolution, and 10 LEDs for "enhanced page consistency." Instead of "weeks"-long battery life, Amazon is promising "months" of usage on a single charge with Oasis thanks to the cover that ships with it and doubles as a rechargeable battery. It starts at $289.99 (Wi-Fi-only edition and with "advertisements that appear when you wake up the reader"), and goes all the way up to $379 (Wi-Fi + 3G, and no ads).
Time to throw my old Paperwhite in the garbage! It is obsolete! I've had it an entire year! And it is only starting at $289 with ADVERTISEMENTS??? What a bargain! Thanks Jeff!
If you don't use it at all, the battery life increases. What takes the most power with e-Ink displays is changing the content. So every page turn takes power. If you don't turn pages, only the natural discharge of the battery cells drains energy.
I won't paythat price until they have a colour e-ink display
No compelling reason to upgrade from my $75 monochrome Kindle that I bought last year. In fact, it might be another three years or so before I consider a replacement. I'm in my fourth year with the iPad 2 and considering an iPad Pro (smaller one) as a replacement. It took eight years to replace a first-gen iPod Touch with a cheaper iPhone.
I would love to be able to read tech papers, manuals, and all kinds of stuff at work on a dedicated e-reader that didn't blind me. This unit looks like pretty much the same specs as the previous one with minor enhancements. From the specs, it is basically the same screen. Bring back the kindle dx size unit and I will pony up the $300+ for it. For this, I will stick with my old kindle that is still just working fine.
I really think they are missing out on a great market of people who want to read things that just do not translate well to that tiny screen. I find that e-ink is awesome for long reading and scanning. I don't really like my tablet screen for that, plus I like to read outside. So come on Amazon, bring back a DX format or larger!
Did you even try to read the article? “A built-in accelerometer flips the screen so you can switch the grip from your right or left hand.”
Michael J.
Root, God, what is difference?
like i'm going to dump my ipads and phones to buy this
Well, if you actually like to read a lot, it might be worth it (to acquire an e-paper reader, not dump your other stuff). The e-paper displays are readable outdoors in full sunlight, unlike LCD displays. I did try my Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 with its AMOLED display outdoors, but had to turn it up to full brightness to even see it, with the resulting loss of run time. I also had to go back indoors first to find the brightness slider. It also suffered from reflected light glare, which my Kindle Voyage does not so much.
"Get special offers Love deals? You'll receive special offers and sponsored lockscreens directly on your Kindle. Offers display on the Kindle lockscreen and on the bottom of the home screen and library while not in use - they don't interrupt reading." Who the hell thinks getting advertisements is something desirable?
4GB again, just like cheap Kindles.
A couple dozen cookbooks or graphics novels, and you are out of space.
It's not waterproof, so why not put in a MicroSD slot?
I never change pages... I just read the same page over and over... I still don't get it.
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?