The New Kindle Oasis - The waterproof kindle is finally real

I do, and own a pair (from a brand I trust and regularly buy), and they stopped working quite quickly.

I have been reading a lot more lately and I found a backlog of books I want to keep reading after I wrap up the third book in the First Law series (so good) and as such I bit the bullet and bought a Kindle Oasis 2 this morning. I didn’t opt to get a case, I have never had to nor felt the urge to case a Kindle, so I’ll use it for a bit and decide later. I did opt (for the first time) to drop ads. Normally I don’t mind them, but A) a premium device shouldn’t have them and B) I read that without them waking the Oasis up it goes directly into your book, no swipe or anything needed. That’s appealing, if true.

I’m excited for the more responsive e-ink page turns, the brighter brights and darker darks of the light (and I may get into auto-light), a return to physical buttons (my first Kindle had them and I miss them), and the larger size as I tend to have it resting on gym equipment while I cardio and read from a bit of a distance. My daughter was excited when she over heard me talking about buying it because she is interested in my paperwhite (2015 model) and I’m glad to give it to her, seeing her so jazzed to have it.

I’m a little leery about the shape - like I said I like to rest it flat on an elliptical or bike or treadmill or whatever and read while I exercise, and I hope this won’t tilt too far one direction. Do they make a back-case that doesn’t wrap over to protect the screen that makes it lay flat, maybe? Is it even noticeable? Will it rock a bit when I press the page turn button while it’s laying flat?

Oh, that would be an important difference for sure…not entirely sure if I want that or not though. One of my constant annoyances with the Paperwhite was it accidentally getting turned on and then touchscreen activated in ways that would, e.g., turn several pages or fuck with my font size, and having to swipe to actually get in may be what’s saving me from that on the Oasis.

Not really, to the first. Yes probably to the second.

It’s a bit heavier on the button side so it could rock, but I can’t imagine it’s a big deal. You can also skip the button and use the touch to turn the page. That might eliminate the rocking.

Sadly I haven’t exercised with the Oasis but otherwise It’s the best e-reader I’ve owned.

I can see your argument against, I’ll let you know how it “feels” when I get to try it out.

The first is the biggest deal, so I’m glad it’s minimal. The deciding factor was someone laid them (a Paperwhite and an Oasis 2) flat side by side in a video and I noticed they still nearly lined up, so that extra depth on the one side must not be very thick.

As for slightly rocking, we’ll have to see. I did some tests with my Kindle Paperwhite elevated slightly on one side by a thin iPad and it didn’t rock so unless I pressed on the extreme edge, which of course wasn’t quite touching the iPad. I think it will not rock. But even so…

When I’m at the gym, this might actually be the best solution, I wasn’t aware you could still touch, but it makes sense in hindsight given there is an option to disable the touch interface! I think if I can stay away from the left (or right) edge of the device there is 0% chance it could rock around on me.

On a slightly less related note, I didn’t know the new Kindle devices could invert color (night mode) - has anyone tried this? Anyone prefer it? I spend almost as much reading at night as I do at the gym, I’d be curious for impressions.

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I’ve used it. The option is buried annoyingly deep in the menu system, but otherwise it’s fine.

Wait what?

Huh. So there is. Looks like it’s only while actually in a book, though. Which makes sense, because the entire interface is designed around touch and there’s no cursor button like there was on the pre-touch Kindles.

I love it for reading at night – it’s much less disruptive to others sleeping nearby, and long overdue (it’s been standard on other readers for years).

Also: nice book! I love that series.

Yes, it’s very nice for that. I also think it’s a bit easier on my eyes. I use it during the day too. Great feature.

The bad news is, this does rock upward pretty severely when the button is pressed while it lays flat, but the good news is the touch works perfect. Other good news, it looks perfect even tipping at a slight angle when resting flat, and actually the slightly larger screen made it so much more comfortable to read while on the equipment at the gym I found it comfortable to read the entire workout.

No issues seeing it from a slight angle, which makes sense I suppose in hind sight.

I am very pleased with this purchase, and the more I hold it while reading in bed the easier that gets, so the net benefits are all positive overall.

Not the Oasis, but the latest Paperwhite is on sale on Amazon right now for $30 off. They also have a trade in deal for existing owners that gets you 25% off on a new Kindle. I was able to order the 32GB model for $65 after the discount and $25 trade-in credit for my 5th gen Paperwhite. Both were applied basically instantly on my account and the new model should arrive wednesday. I’ll pop the old one in the same box and ship it back with the free label.

Thanks for posting on this. Hmm looks interesting.

The screen LOOKS wider, does it feel like that? I do think the Kindle is a bit small screenwise.

It’s wider and it’s also taller, as well. It’s definitely not something I considered too much when deciding to buy it, but it’s probably my favorite feature given how I hold it when I read and how I use it by resting it on various cardio equipment while i work out. The distance vs. screen size means I can have the text font size a little smaller than I used to and still have a more comfortable read at said distance, while also having to turn the page less frequently.

I put it side by side (and top to top) against my Paperwhite and drew some lines to help show the size difference.

Ok I am buying one :) Thank you! Any special model you got?

Just this one?

Yeah, I don’t really do the audio book thing (and if I did it would be on my phone anyway, most like) so 8GB is plenty (it’s actually 4 more than my Paperwhite had!) and as such the Graphite model is our only option. Which is great, as it’s gorgeous. I did opt for the $20 extra to remove ads, because at that price I figured why not. I kind of like it - when I wake it up it goes directly into my book, no “swipe to unlock”, and I got a case for it that arrived today, and I’m pleased to note I simply close the case or open it to put it to sleep or wake it up. It’s really a nice case - the front cover folds back very easily and lies flush against the back so it’s easy to hold one handed while still letting me rest it on a treadmill.

Here is the one I ordered:

$17, figured it was probably a sound investment.

So is this a case that makes it easy to remove the Oasis? I had a nice Paperwhite case but it was hard to get the Kindle out of it.

It pops in and out, it’s a hard case and easy to work with. I took it out just a bit ago because my daughter wanted to hold it without the case, actually, and I didn’t really give it any thought, just popped it out and then clicked it back into place. Though I have to ask - once you put it in a case, why are you taking it out again?

I probably wouldn’t most of the time, but I can imagine lying in bed and reading and wanting it to be as light as possible.

I’ve been using my Oasis for about a year now without a case. It seems to hold up well.

Appreciate the head’s up on the Paperwhite trade-in deal, I went for it as well.

I nearly didn’t order a case, what sold me was I thought while laying down and reading before bed the case might be a bit grippier and easier to hold. That did prove to be the case, but by the time the case arrived I’d gotten fairly used to it without the case. Still, I like the extra lay of protection, it doesn’t seem to add much weight to the device, and since I take it to the gym a lot I will appreciate not worrying about it so much (I never worried about my Paperwhite, but I also figured if something happened to it I could just get another one pretty easy, which isn’t really the case with the Oasis).