1. Similar…
In design terms, the new Kindle Oasis follows the same slightly square-ish design path that its predecessor took – instead of uniform bezels on all four sides, there are relatively slim bezels on three sides and one extremely wide and thick side, with two buttons on it for turning pages – by default the key above moves the book a page ahead and the one below takes you to the previous page, but these can be reversed. This wide side or ‘spine’ is basically meant for holding the Kindle one-handed – it is the thickest part of the Oasis at 8.3 mm, while the rest tapers off to an astonishing 3.4 mm. The display has an accelerometer, so the Kindle will reorient itself depending on which hand you hold it with. There is a micro USB port below this “spine”, and a power/display button above it (when you hold it right handed) – a change from the original Oasis, which had them next to each other.
2. …but bigger (kinda less handy, though)
3. Faster…and with more storage
4. Brighter…and adaptively so too (psst…it can do black!)
One of the standard upgrades to Kindles over the years has been an improved display. And the 7.0-inch display on the new Oasis is no exception. The display seems brighter and at 300 ppi still has a high pixel density in spite of the increased display size. Of course, the Kindles are never backlit, so the strain on eyes is lesser. And as far as the display is concerned, the new Oasis seems to have taken a few pages out of the book of the Kindle Voyage. Like that Kindle, the new Oasis, like its predecessor too has a display that is flush with the bezels (and not recessed) and more importantly, there is now adaptive lighting, which means the brightness will adjust itself to the lighting conditions in which you are reading. And you can even swap backgrounds from white to black if you are reading in the dark and do not want to disturb others.
5. Stronger (and waterproof)
We said that the new Kindle Oasis felt good and one of the reasons for this is the fact that it is actually the first Kindle in a while to have gone all metal. The back is anodized aluminum and makes the new Oasis feel solid without adding too much to its actual weight – at 194 grams, it is lighter than the Paperwhite, which was 217 grams. And for those who like to read in the water (why! But that is another story), there is good news – the new Kindle Oasis is also the first Kindle to be waterproof. An IPX8 rating means it can survive a dunking in up to two meters of fresh water for about an hour. We have never seen anyone reading in the rain or a swimming pool, but if you want to start, this is the device to do it on!
6. No battery case
7. And a lower price too
The original Oasis had ruffled some feathers with its price tag that started at Rs 23,999. The new one comes at a surprisingly lower price, starting at Rs 21,999 for the Wi-Fi edition (the Wi-Fi and 3G edition costs Rs 27,999). It is still well above the Voyage which stands at Rs 14,999 and the Paperwhite (Rs 10,999), but when you consider that it comes with a larger display and double the storage of its predecessor, that price tag is a very pleasant surprise. Yes, there is no bundled battery case this time (as there was with the original Oasis) but the spec and design improvements are significant. How well does all this add up in terms of real-world usage and performance? Stay tuned for our detailed review.
