I’d have to overcome too much inertia to switch at this point, and I’m not even sure what I’d gain? My reading experience is fine on Kindle. I don’t take notes. I just read.
Also, I’ve already sunk money into Kindles. I don’t want to sink money into a new e-reader.
I’d really need to see some compelling feature that Kindles don’t have to even consider switching.
That’s a shame about the Oasis. Hopefully Amazon is working on a Paperwhite with page-turn buttons (Paperwhite Signature Pro!) or maybe a smaller Scribe.
I agree with others that switching to another brand sounds like too much effort for little gain.
All I can say is that my Libra has been a much more pleasant and generally functional reading experience and has had much fewer technical problems while also having things people were asking for on the Oasis like USB-C. I suppose it’s probably not really worth dropping a couple hundred bucks if you weren’t already going to buy an e-reader (well, for most people. I think it’s panned out for me.) but if you were looking for an updated Kindle, I would at least consider alternatives. Especially with the Oasis form factor dead.
Yeah, if I hadn’t bought a Scribe last year I might have looked at other platforms. And I got the Scribe through my professional development budget, not my personal budget.
I own the Kobo Libra 2 and it is amazing how much clearer the text appears as opposed to a Kindle. I own both brands and use my Kobo for library books and anything I purchase as epubs (Hello Humble Book Bundles). The Libra 2 is what I like to read on at night since its dark mode is so much easier to see especially as my eyes age.
One thing I really like about Amazon’s setup is Kindle Unlimited. I get a lot of books that way, so it’s well worth the subscription. Not sure how to get some of those books any where else, without paying more.
A lot of the self-pub type stuff on there is legitimately Amazon only, this is true.
I don’t find KU (or the Kobo equivalent) good value for my purposes between the selection not including much I’m familiar with and my generally only getting through 8-10 books a month (yes this would still make them cheaper than buying the books if they had everything I wanted and libraries didn’t exist, but they don’t and they do, respectively). But I do occasionally try to find something indie I wanted to read and find it’s only out on Kindle. …so I buy on Kindle and strip the DRM and sideload. but, y’know. Friction.
I am going to have to look up some comparisons then. I bought the newer kindle and found it almost blurry compared to my old Voyage. Returned it after a week and just kept on using my Voyage. Now that’s broke and I was going to buy the new oasis when it was released but apparently that ship sailed.
The Kindle uses a filter that makes the screen flush with the body and it is the reason that the text is not as clear as it could be. The Libra 2 has no filter (the screen is not flush so indented a bit). This is the main reason the Kobo has such clear text (and as I stated above it is extremely noticeable in dark mode).
Yeah, my daughter has a Libra 2. It’s a noticeable improvement over my Oasis, and I would totally get that if I were buying now or if mine ever breaks, but I can’t justify retiring mine while it’s still working.
Interesting. I prefer flush of course but not if it screws with the clarity. Apparently you can’t see it in stores anywhere, which is bummer but on the other hand? I see you can run your software and even ssh into them if you want.
That puts them way up on the list for me, since right now I have to hook up the Kindle to my PC to pull the Clipping file off it and integrate it into org-roam. That’s all automated but still, looks like I can do that all wireless with the Kobo. Even has hooks you can program in by clicking on ‘books’ that will get auto executed. Cool.
Don’t think I like the square ratio though, and the larger next step up model looks to have crap battery life?
Feels like an Android e-ink reader would be the best of all worlds. You could run the Kindle app on it to read your existing Kindle library without any conversion or DRM removal, but you’d also have the option of other stores as well.
Really happy with my Kindle Scribe for now, but when the day comes to replace it, I’ll definitely see what’s going on in that market.
I guess the Oasis was the Amiga of e-ink readers. Great hardware and wonderful experience, but didn’t sell enough to justify its continued existence.
It was priced at the high end and really only had the advantage of buttons, being waterproof, and easier to hold in one hand.
I don’t think any of those features are going to drive big sales. They seem to appeal to the avid reader who uses the Kindle daily for an hour or two, so more of a niche. I thought at the time it was the best Kindle available, but I can see how the lower-priced Paperwhite sold better.
If they would just make physical page turn buttons standard again I wouldn’t care about the rest of the Oasis features. But they’re mandatory for me.
I’m very happy with the Paperwhite. But miss the next page button of my Voyage. Just not enough to upgrade.
They just needed to make the Oasis more affordable. Or migrate the Paperwhite to that form factor. That seemed like the ideal form factor.
You’d think that. I’d add the caveat that it should be a relatively normal android distro. Upthread there was some discussion about the Onyx BOOX reader/tablet things. I’ve been using Android devices (phones, tablets) since pretty much the beginning- I kind of despise Apple’s way of doing things. The BOOX tablet I have (7" Nova Air 2? I think) runs Android- 11 or 12, I think. But it’s bizarre- certainly the weirdest version of Android I’ve ever seen. I’ve gotten used to it, leaned it’s ins-and-outs, but it’s really wacky. And yeah, a nice thing is that I can install the Kindle app on it and just use that for my old library. And Android Acrobat, etc., though the onyx e-reader software is pretty powerful.
I agree. It’s the best form factor I’ve used for that size. It’s very easy to hold in one hand and use that same hand for the page turn buttons. It’s really nice.
I use a Scribe now because I prefer the larger size, but I use my Oasis as my travel Kindle. I may rethink that if it’s true I won’t be able to replace it.
Oh wow so the Oasis is gone. It’s strange because every Kindle I’ve had has had buttons, but I guess now only the largest one has them still?
For those of you who do Kindle Unlimited? What metric makes it worth it for you? Most KU books sell for $3-4 anyway, so I’d need to read around 3 KU books a month to start to make it worthwhile.