Kindle Oasis: A Review

The Pros:

• Warm Light!
• 7-inch screen
• Page Turn Buttons!
• Snappier Page Turns
• Premium, sleek and aluminium body

The Cons:

• Its battery is not as long-lasting as the other Kindles
• It’s still uses micro-usb
• It’s quite expensive

My Experience

I myself got the Kindle Oasis for myself a few weeks back. To provide some context, I had been using the 4th Generation Kindle Paperwhite for more than a year before that. I decided that I wanted an upgrade as I found that reading for long periods on the Kindle Paperwhite could give me eye strain and potentially headaches. Sure enough, the warm light on the Kindle Oasis was enough to entice me to buy it. Its warm front light is easier on the eyes and makes reading in the dark easier. You can adjust it manually or schedule it to change according to your timezone. The Kindle Oasis comes in 8GB or 32GB models and you have the option to choose between the Graphite or Champagne-Gold model.

The first thing that I noticed was that the lighting across the screen was more balanced and well-lit. This is mostly due to higher number of LEDs (25 LEDs) in the Kindle Oasis 3 compared to the current 4th Generation Kindle Paperwhite (5 LEDs). It was a joy to look at. Resolution-wise, both e-readers have the same resolution of 300ppi. It’s the highest resolution of E-ink on the market. Furthermore, the Kindle Oasis has a wider 7-inch display compared to the Kindle Paperwhite’s 6-inch display.

As a result, the Kindle Oasis is a great choice for reading comics. This is made more enjoyable by the fact that the Kindle Oasis has a pair of satisfying page-turn buttons. On that note, the page-turn buttons was such a great convenience to use. I never had to touch the screen to turn the page and I could read an entire book one-handed. That also means that I would never have annoying smudges on my screen, that is unless I need the services of the dictionary. By default, the top button, when pressed, flips your book to the next page while the bottom button turns it to the previous page. You can change this in the settings menu. Lastly, both the Paperwhite 4 and Kindle Oasis 3 are considered waterproof as they are IPX8 rated and can withstand immersion in water for up to 60 minutes.

The Catch: Battery Life

Since I am a voracious reader, I would say that the battery life of both E-readers are decent. However, as I pointed out earlier above, the Kindle Oasis’ battery life is not as good compared to the other Kindles. I could read for a week or two on my previous Kindle Paperwhite before requiring a charge. On the Kindle Oasis however, I would only be able to read for about 5 days or a week before requiring another charging session. This could be due to the fact that the Kindle Oasis has more LEDs than the Kindle Paperwhite. However, I am not sure either. Many reasons could be responsible for this phenomena, such as the fact that it has an aluminium body which causes it to feel colder to the touch and a higher number of LEDs compared to other contemporary Kindles.

Paperwhite or the Oasis?

Both are great E-readers and they provide an enjoyable reading experience for users of both devices. However, there are a few reasons as to why someone would choose the Paperwhite over the Oasis, or vice versa. This is summarised below.

Reasons to choose the Paperwhite:

• It starts off at $129.99 while the Oasis starts off at a high price of $249.99
• The Paperwhite has almost the same specs as the Oasis, despite the fact that the Paperwhite has a smaller 6-inch screen, no warm light option and no page-turn buttons. Hence, if you are on a budget, the Paperwhite will more than suffice.
• The flat back of the Paperwhite may be more comfortable to hold compared to that of the Oasis for some users.
• It is also IPX8 rated, which is not the case for the entry-level Kindle.

Reasons to choose the Oasis:

• It has an adjustable warm front-light, a premium aluminium body and page-turn buttons, designed to give you the best reading experience possible. It also has a wider screen compared to the Paperwhite
• Money is no problem for you.
• It is the best E-reader available on the market and is Amazon’s top E-reader.

Conclusion

So, that wraps up this post. The Kindle Oasis has served me well in the past few weeks and I trust that it will do so in the future as well. I hope that this review has been of assistance to you. I will continue to post such content on this blog in the future so keep your eyes peeled! Happy reading!