The new Kindle Oasis was just launched, and it looks amazing. It has the same super-slim form as the current Oasis, along with the asymmetric shape and hardware page-change buttons, only now it also has a bigger 7-inch screen, better battery life, and it is waterproof. It’s even cheaper than the current model.
Luckily, this new Oasis doesn’t go on sale until the end of October, so you still have a few weeks to buy the old one while you still can.
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Photo: Amazon
Amazon’s current Oasis is probably its best Kindle ever. It is impossibly light, at 4.6 oz (131 g), slim, and thanks to the asymmetric design, which puts a big, grabbable bezel on one side only, it’s easy to hold. Partly this is down to the included leather cover, which also has a battery, and which charges the Kindle while connected.
The new Kindle Oasis is 50% heavier
The new Oasis keeps the asymmetric design, but ditches the charging cover (and a cover no longer comes supplied). Even so, it manages to up the claimed battery life from two weeks to six (based on a half-hour of use per day). For references, the original Oasis can go for a whopping eight weeks when used with the cover.
The new Kindle is also waterproof, and has a bigger screen — seven inches vs. six inches. So why would you want to grab the old version?
Weight. The downside of the coverless Oasis is that it has to carry all its battery power internally. Between that and the bigger screen, the new Oasis is around 50 percent heavier than the current model:
- New Oasis: Wi-Fi 6.8 oz (194g)
- Old Oasis: Wi-Fi: 4.6 oz (131 g)
- Old Oasis cover: 3.8 oz (107 g)
You might argue that, with the cover, the old Oasis still weighs more. I’d counter that you will almost certainly be using the new Oasis with a cover anyway. Also, you can remove the cover on the old one, whereas you can’t make the new Oasis any lighter. And when one of a device’s biggest features is its light weight, adding 50% is a big deal.
The new Oasis is still pretty amazing
That said, the Kindle looks great. The bigger screen is nice (although sacrifices the pocketability of the current model), and uses there same 300 ppi e-ink Carta tech as the current model. It also has Bluetooth, and will be able to play back Audible books after after a software update. Curiously, Amazon’s press release also says that the current Oasis will also get this feature with an update, which must mean that there is an as-yet-unused Bluetooth radio inside — neither Oasis has a headphone jack. And waterproofing is another great addition. You might not read in the bath, but you can read by the pool or on the beach without worrying about splashes, dust, or sand.
The new Kindle Oasis, then, looks like a winner, but unless you want waterproofing, or care about a marginal increase in screen size, you might want to snap up the old version while you still can.
Price: From $249.99 with ads
Buy from: Amazon
