Every time I think of upgrading, I realize my existing Paperwhite works just fine, and is built like a tank as well as being small.
I should really know better than to publicly claim Iām not going to early adopt in my most-used areas of technology. (See: iPhone X topic.)
I sold my original Oasis and my Voyage at work, and that covered the cost of a 2017 Oasis. I really liked the ambient light sensor on the Voyage and its omission on the original Oasis was my only gripe about that otherwise wonderful device. Add the bigger screen and essentially no money investment thanks to having the Voyage gathering dust, and Iām looking forward to upgrading three out of four of my most-used devices in the next week. (Kindle Oasis, iPhone X, Xbox One X.)
Apparently if you hope to read underwater you will be disappointed:
Water, it turns out, triggers the Oasis touchscreen. One small splash can turn the page, change the font size, exit the book or do anything else a rogue hand might. In my tests, it didnāt take more than one fat droplet to activate the 7-inch touchscreen.
The Oasis can be submerged in two meters of fresh water for up to an hour and not break, according to specifications. But if you had dreams of reading underwater, cancel them. When I dunk the Oasis the screen gets hopelessly confused, the font goes up and down, and I lose my place.
It doesnāt bother me because all I want with the water-proofing is protection for the device. My bathtub isnāt large enough for me to be comfortable bathing and I donāt have scuba gear that will let me submerge to read underwater.
So, have a towel nearby to dry out your hands before turning pages. Itās what I do now.
I guess itās less likely to break.
Iāll probably get the waterproof one after I break my current kindle (which I probably would have broken because of moisture from the bath).
Does any capacitive screen work underwater?
Today my order went from āGuaranteedā arrival today to shipping on Nov 1 and arriving on the 6thā¦ and now the 8th (it keeps changing). The case/stand arrived yesterday though (um, yay?). The case (wine colored leather one) looks great, fwiw.
Soā¦ yeah. I wonāt have it on my upcoming travel as planned. Iām pretty annoyed. Amazon screwed this up.
Well that is a bummer. Mine is arriving tomorrow.
Mine arrived today with one of the Oasis covers. I like it. The old version felt too small when I used it. The new version, even though it is only slightly bigger, feels more book-like. I like the aluminum feel and I can fold the cover behind the Kindle. I made the purchase primarily because of the increased storage size, slight size increase, and water-proofing. If you already own the old version, not sure it is worth automatically upgrading. Iām a button user so your mileage may vary.
Will take it on the road tomorrow.
Well that seals that, I will stick with my voyager and a ziploc for now. That was my one hope for a waterproof kindle, that a single drop wouldnāt send it in a tizzy.
What kind of jerkbag a-hole dings the new Oasis for not supporting āimmersive readingā, which is apparently the bizarre process of listening to the audiobook WHILE READING THE FUCKING BOOK.
This jerkbag a-hole, apparently.
Iām sure the 15 people in the world who cared about that are suitably mortified. God the Verge is terrible.
Okay, itās totally niche, but phones and Kindle Fires do it, so you would think an Audible-supporting Kindle would do it.
I think the more appropriate ding is only supporting Bluetooth headphones. Easier to just leave my headphones paired to my phone and use Audible on that.
I got the 32GB version, which I think was silly now that I see that the Audible book I downloaded on the thing is only 144MB. I canāt see ever having more than a couple of audiobooks at a time on this thing; 8GB would have been way more than enough. Oh well, it was only $30.
Thanks for that. I didnāt realize they were that small. I donāt see myself having more than a few audible titles on the device at one time either.
So how would you fill up 32GB? Just tons of audible titles and tons of ebooks?
I like this feature. One, you can listen to a book and then swap to reading exactly where you left off which is super useful. two, it lets you skim back and forth to check things, footnotes, etc, very easily while actually listening. Not needed for simple narratives but very useful in complicated books.
If youāre listening to a book primarily because it has a really good performance, you sometimes need to be able to examine to text to follow the more difficult language and prose.
I got mine and first impressions are good:
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no more terribad hinky docking battery case bullshit
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size is substantially larger than the original oasis and feels more ābook-yā in hand
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the metal-ish case outside also feels more premium
I need to remove it from the case for a bit to see if itās as lopsided as the original in terms of weight but the case sliding into that convenient little divot in the back makes me wonder if I ever will. Overall this is definitely what the Oasis v1 should have been.
Used mine quite a bit on flights today. My only complaint is that there was page turn lag when I hit the buttons. It did not happen all of the time, but was noticeable when it did. That did not happen with the old version. Otherwise, no other complaints.
Graphic novels take up a ton of space.
Youād be hard pressed to make dent with e-books. 95% of the ebooks in my backup range from 500K (kilobytes!) to a massive 2MB. Out of a couple of hundred books, four are higher than 2.5MB in size, and only two higher than tMB. (Torpedo Squadron Four is a massive 11MB!)
Graphic novels still look like crap on e-ink Kindles, unless, I guess, you like the b&w anime stuff.
As a happy owner of a 3.3-year-old Paperwhite thatās still chugging, I think Iāll pass after all. I mean, a little rain condensation and drizzle under my porch umbrella during the wet seasons here really hasnāt been a huge problem, outside of occasional touchscreen control confusion from drops when I donāt manage rain cover well, which I doubt the Oasis has solved. It is a little fussy about cables, but Iāve got that figured out for the most part. Donāt see a reason to upgrade at this point, so long as it keeps powering on. Damn, I just jinxed it, didnāt I.
You need an iPad Pro, the big one, to really do comics right. It is superb.
Yep. Nerdily, the main reason I own one. :)