Start
We all know we should be reading more. At
least I do. Until the mid 2000s, I used to
read and enjoy a good number of books. Since
then, the proliferation of smart devices and
video taking over most peoples time, reading
and books have taken a back seat.
My name is Ashish and whilst I still have
the original Kindle from 2011, I was seldom
reading books on it or at-least if starting
them, I wasn’t getting around to finishing
them. I decided that I needed a new device
to read on, one that would make me want to
pick it up instead of the iPhone/Ipad/Macbook
etc.
So in the latest Amazon sale, I picked up
this, the Amazon Kindle Oasis. This is Amazon’s
most expensive eReader and is ludicrously
priced. Really, going by the price alone,
it was hard for me to justify spending the
kind of money being asked for a device that
offered nice-to-have features but ultimately
its lower rung cousins offer the must-have
features like side-lit displays nowadays anyway.
In the box, you get the Kindle itself along
with an antiquated Micro USB cable for charging.
Really it should have been USB type C by now,
but perhaps that’s for another generation
of Kindles. There’s not much else in the
box besides an overview card and a booklet
with regulatory information.
Physical Overview
The Kindle Oasis weighs 194 grams and that
is certainly heavier than the older Kindle
I have which is a comparably svelte 167g.
However, this is still lighter than many large
smartphones so not heavy to hold at all. Also
the weight is concentrated on one side, so
it’s really designed to be held from one
side, the accelerometer inside flips the display
to according whichever hand you’re holding
the device with. Because of its extra width,
this is more of a square shape and probably
will not slip into smaller pockets. The ridge
on the side that doubles as a grip and holds
the battery and internals offers a good hold
on the kindle and makes the rest of it feel
really light. It also houses the power button
on top and the Micro USB charging port on
the bottom.
Oh and its IPX8 rated, so is protected against
immersion in up to two meters of fresh water
for up to 60 minutes. That means it doesn’t
mind the occasional splash of water at the
poolside! A definite plus!
The Display
The Oasis features a larger 7 inch display
than its other counterparts and this immediately
sets it apart. Combined with the 300 ppi resolution,
this is as good as it gets on e-Ink displays.
It also gets an adjustable warm light that
can automatically adjust brightness and temperature
based on the ambient light source and this
really helps reduce blue light at night and
helps to reduce interference with your body’s
circadian cycle. So this Kindle will actually
help you go off to sleep, provided you aren’t
reading something that stimulates your brain!
The Interface
Kindle’s are simple devices meant for just
one objective: reading books. So the interface
is geared towards that. With the Oasis you
do get a few extras such as playback of audiobooks
via Bluetooth speakers and access to the Kindle
store for purchasing ebooks and also a web
browser that has stayed ‘Experimental’
since I got my last Kindle almost a decade
ago! Compare to that Kindle, it’s a lot
better and faster to browser the web, but
really I wouldn’t use it for much more that
maybe browsing Wikipedia or similar text heavy
websites for quickly looking at some information.
On the quick settings menu, you get the option
of turning on Airplane mode, switching to
dark mode, syncing your kindle and entering
the deep settings menu. Also from here you
can adjust the brightness or leave it to the
default auto-brightness setting and also adjust
the warmth of the lighting or set it to a
schedule, such as I have done to enable it
from sunset to sunrise.
Now if we look a bit into the main settings
menu, the device info section under device
options will show you that the free space
you get is under 30GB even when new and I
currently have around 26.98 GB free. And that
is with no audiobooks on this Kindle yet and
just a few books downloaded. So if you were
planning on getting the 8GB version and downloading
a lot of audiobooks, just be aware that you
might get storage space of only around 5GB
or thereabouts. Certainly not an issue with
ebooks but Audiobooks can take up a lot more
space.
Under Reading Options, you can change the
page up down buttons assignment. By default
the upper button is for the next page and
the lower is to go back a page. This is in
contrast to my older Kindle and seemed counterintuitive
to me initially. But when you start reading
on the device you see that if you let the
bottom of the Kindle rest on your palm, then
the top button falls more naturally under
your thumb. So that means I left it to the
default assignment of the buttons, but its
good to be able to change it, if you so desire.
Besides this you get accessibility settings
to enable voice view screen reader options
when connected to a bluetooth speaker and
parental controls to lock access to cloud
and online features. You also get help and
user guides to help you get started with the
Kindle.
The one good feature here shared with other
Kindles since a while now is the Goodreads
integration. Here you can not only see recommendations
but keep a history of what you have read,
wanting to read and given a rating to. This
was missing from my older Kindle and I found
this especially useful and motivational.
The Store offers just what you would expect
but at times I find it a bit limited and cumbersome,
especially if you want books from another
country or region. In those cases, I’ve
found that buying books on a web browser on
a computer and sending them to this Kindle
is much easier.
A note on the 4G enabled Kindle, I see no
need for this unless you travel a lot and
don’t necessarily have access to a cell
phone hotspot of wifi. Both scenarios are
increasingly unlikely and I would say its
best to save some cash here and get the wifi
version. Also if you’re not planning on
keeping audiobooks on this Kindle or storing
a lot of books, the 8GB version will also
be more that enough. I got the 32 GB since
it was a good deal in the sale and future
proofs this device for a long long time.
Reading on this device is a joy. The text
is crisp and legible in all kinds of lighting
and you have the option of turning the pages
by touch or by using the buttons. It seamlessly
rotates the display when you switch hands
and tapping on a word allows you to bring
up its meaning, highlight a sentence, make
a note or share it via email or Goodreads.
Tapping on the upper right hand of the page
allows you to add a bookmark and on the centre
or left brings up the quick menu that let’s
you navigate the book or go home or toggle
quick settings and access the store and your
Goodreads account.
Really this is as good as it gets for E-Readers
and its large screen and the increased number
of LED lights mean that your eyes don’t
get fatigued whilst reading. Reading PDFs
is still cumbersome though and for that and
for magazines and colourful guidebooks I would
stick to a tablet or phone.
Battery Life
Coming from an old Kindle without a backlit
display, this is one area that I saw much
less endurance than I was used to. Although
advertised as lasting for weeks on a single
charge, that is assuming you only do about
half an hour of reading everyday. I could
only achieve about 10-12 days before it needed
a recharge. The hours I read was much longer,
perhaps 3 hours a day on average. But the
older Kindle I have literally lasts more than
a month on this kind of usage. So this is
something to be aware of. If you’re going
on an extended trip, make sure you pack a
good Micro USB cable with you, incase you
need to charge this up. Bear in mind that
these results were with the Wifi on, so if
you toggle on Airplane mode it should give
a lot better battery life.
Conclusion
Ultimately this device has achieved for me
what I set out to do with it when I bought
it. It’s brought me back to the habit and
joys of reading, I have already finished two
books this month and am halfway through my
third. It’s genuinely an object of desire
that makes me want to pick it up for reading
everyday. And that was the goal. The hardest
part nowadays is to detach yourself from all
the distractions, take a break from video
fatigue and learn from curated sources. I
find that in a world where everyone is regurgitating
stuff seen and read on social media, reading
good books really gives you that edge in whatever
you do and forces you to focus on a subject,
rather than hop from one thing to another
every few seconds or minutes.
For those reasons, I can wholeheartedly recommend
this Kindle Oasis, especially if you can get
it in a sale. These are not devices that you
change frequently and if I’m to keep it
for the next decade, that little premium I’ve
paid over the Paperwhite will go a long way
to keep me interested in it and hence keep
me reading. If you value things like physical
page turn buttons, a bigger display and the
warm lighting to reduce blue light, go right
ahead and get the Oasis. It’s something
you will appreciate in the longer run.
Thanks for watching and do watch the related
upcoming video where I give an overview of
the official leather cover for the Kindle
Oasis.
