I’m a huge fan of my 1G Kindle Oasis. I’ve been wanting to upgrade but I’ve been holding off for an Oasis 3. Now I’m conflicted because the new Paperwhite seems to have all the best features of the Oasis for a lot cheaper. Same weight, the bezel you hold is the same thickness.
@amit Initially the Oasis was a lot lighter weight when it had the separate battery. There is something to the larger screen and side holding that I appreciate over holding on the bottom. But with this latest update to the Paperwhite makes it a pretty difficult proposition for the price difference.
@EddieHinkle I loved the size, weight, and handling of the first Oasis. I upgraded to the newer one because I thought I'd enjoy the larger screen but it didn't turn out that way. If they would just actual page turn buttons on the Paperwhite I'd go back to that in a heartbeat.
@jack That's interesting to know. Do you just not find benefit to the larger screen or do you dislike the size/weight/shape of the device? Yeah, I would probably miss the physical buttons...
@EddieHinkle I do like the screen size, but it obviously requires things to be bigger and heavier and I'm not a fan of the metallic material. To me the whole thing feels sharp and cold (comparatively). Somehow with the first Oasis the wedge shape made it feel thinner and easier to hold, but the new one doesn't benefit as much from that for some reason.
@jack For me, weight is the most important property of an ereader. The original Oasis nails it. If I didn't care about weight, I’d just read on an ipad because it looks better.
@jack Ohhh interesting. Yeah, I've thought the first Oasis does feel better because of the wedge shape. That's interesting that the second one doesn't seem to have that same effect. 🤔
@rmcrob Yeah, I definitely think weight is a huge factor. That's one thing that struck me about the original Oasis. Sad to hear it seems like the second Oasis isn't as good. Definitely starting to feel the pull to the new Paperwhite given all the variables.
@EddieHinkle I am an iPad reader, but was thinking about the new paperwhite. I too am confused as to why I would buy an Oasis for twice the money? Little bit of a bigger screen would be nice I suppose?
@Burk My only thought is, do they have better plans for the Oasis 3 that just hasn’t been announced yet that will make it worth the money so they don’t want to lower the Oasis 2 price? 🤔
@Burk I previously had the paperwhite and now have the Oasis 2. The paperwhite drove me crazy because it’s a touch screen and the screen is not flush with the body - so you get bits of lint and stuff trapped around the edge of the screen and you occasionally accidentally go forwards or backwards a page when adjusting your grip. Plus waterproof (or resistant, I don’t remember) is very nice for by the pool/cold drinks around!
@rosemaryorchard @Burk The new Paperwhite seems to solve both those problems: It's waterproof and the screen is flush. Also up to 32GB from 8GB. It does make the Oasis less interesting to me, but I still need those hardware buttons!
@jack Curious that they discontinued the model I use, the Voyage, which has the form factor of the Paperwhite but also has hardware buttons. That’s the sweet spot for me.
@jack I keep waiting for Amazon to render my Kindle Keyboard obsolete with a change in delivery services or file formats. I'd appreciate a higher resolution, backlit screen, but I'm not giving up physical page buttons or paying Oasis prices for them.
@rosemaryorchard I had an older kindle years ago with the bezel and the dust was annoying. The new flat screen on the paper white got my attention!
@jack @rosemaryorchard @Burk I notice the waterproofing mentions fresh water immersion. What about pool chlorinated water, or sea salt water? I worry it’s a spec that might not be helpful in the real world.
@canion From what I’ve heard, if you drop any water-proof/resistant items in a pool or other non-fresh water you should then poor fresh water on it to clean it out and then you are fine.
@EddieHinkle Hmmm. My problem I guess was with Oasis unbalanced design - and I guess the page turn keys only on one side. I like to switch my books between hands 🙂
@amit Interesting! I mostly read from my right hand so I did actually enjoyed it. But I think the 2nd Gen Oasis is a bit heavier and so that might be a bit harder to hold with the asymmetric design.
@amit @EddieHinkle I switch between hands constantly reading on my Oasis first gen. You have to flip the device, but it recognizes and reorients the screen as quickly as a page turn.
@Kordumb Yeah, I had heard about that workaround. But for some reason, just sounds a bit inconvenient. But may be it isn’t. Not for me for sure though.
@amit 100% get it. At the time I bought it, the light weight and physical buttons were worth it for me to upgrade. I think the Oasis gen 1 is still the best for my needs given the tradeoffs, but flipping it to switch hands obviously isn't the greatest.
@EddieHinkle Thanks! Good tip. I’ve been reading on my ancient Kindle (pre-paper white) and wondering whether I should/need to upgrade, given this device still works.