Introducing Kindle Oasis | Hacker News Reader

Introducing Kindle Oasis

amazon.com

164 pointspiquadrat376 comments

I think the Oasis is for a different market than most people here. It started making sense to me once I looked at the math:

* The Oasis weighs less than my current Kindle Keyboard 3G, even with the Oasis case. The 3G device weighs 247 grams - the Oasis is 133g, plus 107g for the battery cover (240g total). Never mind that my Keyboard 3G case itself weighs another 225g!

* The Oasis is not the "thickest Kindle ever". At the thickest point of 0.33", it's still the same thickness a Kindle Keyboard 3G (0.335"). With a case, the Keyboard 3G was 0.75" thick!

* The Oasis and the Voyage are roughly the same price. The Voyage doesn't include a cover, and it costs $85 to add an Amazon premium leather cover. That makes it just $5 less than an Oasis.

Weight, size & battery life are important criteria for digital nomads or perpetual travellers. If you're trying to keep under a baggage weight limit, saving 225g can make a big difference. So if you're upgrading from a 5 year old device (that still works!), this is potentially a huge upgrade.

This isn't a device for everyone, in fact I'm still unsure I'll upgrade my 3G yet (I don't travel as often nowadays). But I can at least see how it could improve my life.

I'm definitely the target market for this.

I spend so much time on my Kindle that I'd be willing to invest a few hundred in upgrading from my PaperWhite just to have a slightly better UX. Having buttons again to change pages is what I'm most excited about. Plus I've always wanted faster page turns, which is always increasing with each new release.

I didn't get excited for the Voyage since it seemed so much like PaperWhites.

Knowing I spend each night and hours on weekends holding and interacting with the device makes the price point for a 'pro'-style version reasonable.

Doesnt the voyage have the ability to turn pages without this awkward touchscreen of the paperwhite?

Yes, it has buttons on the side. I love it.

The buttons for page turning on the voyage are goofy force sensors. I just use the touchscreen.

Awkward? You can press or swipe. Does it make a difference if you're touching the bezel instead of the screen?

It does. Being able to rest your hand on the button and move a tiny amount to trigger it, vs having to keep your hand on the bezel and move your finger further for the touchscreen. Its only a tiny difference, but it adds up when you're talking tens of thousands of pages!

I rest my thumb on the edge of the bezel and just roll it fractionally to the left so that it touches the extremely sensitive touch screen when I want to turn the page. Think of it as exercise; over my lifetime I expect to burn several calories doing this. I'd hate to spend all that money and end up with fat thumbs!

My one-hand usage is to hold and tap with my thumb. But often I tap the screen and hit a word rather than blank space, shich pops up the dictionary.

This is so frustrating that I have basically trained myself to always swipe. But swiping with one hand is not a very comfortable thing. The 3g kindle's side button where a lot more pleasant to use.

You can tap a word without difficulty to turn the page; you're just holding your finger on the screen for too long.

I do love my paperwhite but I really can't see myself "upgrading" to this. Faster page turns? Really?

Faster page turns is usually what make or break readers to me. It matters a lot.

> If you're trying to keep under a baggage weight limit, > saving 225g can make a big difference

I can't imagine the difference in weight will affect anyone. It'll be hand luggage or literally in your pocket. I've never had my hand luggage weighed.

£270 (£330 for the 3G model) for something which is essentially the same as a £110 device (it's laughable that anyone would pick up a Paperwhite and complain that it's too thick and/or heavy). Now that's a niche market.

I don't think this will sell very many, but I suspect its real purpose is to get people to consider buying a Voyage instead of a Paperwhite as they'll believe they're getting more of the cosmetic thrills of the Oasis without the stupid cost.

> I've never had my hand luggage weighed.

It might be if one's travelling on a low-cost carrier.

If you're taking low-cost carriers on a regular basis, you're probably not a primary market for this.

Curious as to why not?

I travel on low cost carriers on a regular basis between European destinations. Several years ago I bought a Paperwhite, specifically because I was tired of lugging around heavy, space occupying paperbacks, which I often finished enroute, leaving me nothing to read for part of the flight.

If I didn't already have the Paperwhite, I'd be seriously tempted by the Oasis.

I was being a little snarky. All I meant is that the Oasis seems to be a rather premium device compared to a Paperwhite and that doesn't obviously overlap with the market for low-cost airlines. (Though, to be fair, the dynamics on internal European travel are a bit different than the US.)

Saving half a pound (225g) on a backpacking trip is a enough that a frequent hiker would notice.

Some people do spend big bucks to cut out ounces for hiking/backpacking gear. I'm skeptical it's meaningful numbers in the context of a device like this.

you obviously haven't met any ultralight backpackers. Of course, I can't see any of them "lugging" around a kindle on their hikes because there's no way that extra "weight" is necessary

I do know ultralight backpackers. But, yes, I can't see them carrying a Kindle as opposed to maybe some pages ripped out of a book :-) Maybe a certain class of long distance hikers but now we're getting into vanishingly small markets.

> I've never had my hand luggage weighed.

You've never flown Ryanair.

Ensuring hand luggage fits within the required dimensions and under designated weight allowance is now pretty common for low cost carriers (European at least, which is my experience).

Checked in baggage is a revenue earner for the airline. Many passengers try to cram all they need into hand luggage instead, to save sometimes >£40 on the cost of checking in baggage. Ensuring hand luggage is weighed and measured is just another way to squeeze the revenue hose.

I hear what you're saying, but still the price thing...A Voyage is 199 new, 159 refurb. There are GREAT cases like this one for $13 http://www.amazon.com/OMOTON-Thinnest-Lightest-leather-Displ...

Point is, this thing as nice as it is, case or not, is still WAY too expensive for what it is.

Doubt the weight makes a difference for luggage - but definitely if handheld for a prolonged time.

Well, for stuff small enough to keep in a pocket, travel/check-in-weight isn't really an issue.

But you are right, most people here are not in the target market.

"But I can at least see how it could improve my life."

This post goes intentionally against the constructive rules here, BUT this quote has to find its way into the "Silicon Valley" show. I bet it will. /scnr

I'm a digital nomad. I like my paper white. Great battery and light weight. $200 means more to me than half a kilo. I carry-on my kindle so any weight below 1 kilo is fine.

Bezos and others who contributed to the technology that launched the Kindle and eBook stores did great work. The Oasis, however, is not an innovation worth $200 more than other Kindle models.

Still 6 inches. I'm not sure why ebook readers standardized on that size, it feels too small at least to me.

Finally bought one last year and ended up choosing the Kobo H20 partly because of that - it's 6.8" which is not bad, but I suspect the sweet spot would probably be somewhere between 7 and 7.5.

Edit: for people looking for big readers (for technical books and such, where 6" is quite useless), the ones I'm aware of are the 8" Bookeen Cybook Ocean and the inkBOOK 8 (the later was still vaporware when I looked into it, not sure if it's available now).

I am like you, here is my money, just get me a larger format kindle, or kobo for that matter.

You can't read comic books or magazines in such small edition.

Kobo honestly looks better. There must be some technical challenge to issue something 7-8" sized.

Who would read comic books on a monochromatic display? :D There're tablets for that :P

Comics can be black and white - I grew up reading one called The Phantom decades ago printed in b&w, and more recently I read The Walking Dead comics that are b&w too.

Also, most manga is 90+% percent black and white, with many series having at most maybe one or two colored splash pages per issue, or the occasional promotional or plot climax issue that's all color.

Plenty of the popular comics in Italy are published in b&w too, color was only used for premium/special editions.

I bet iPad Pro + Comixology =

That is definitely sick combination. And very pricy. :)

I use an older iPad and it does great for comics, but there are lots of monochromatic comics out there, just not necessarily the popular cape stuff.

Personal theory from watching Nook shoppers, ebook readers are for book readers. I'm not being glib, they are for people who read paperback books. That is the market.

I've seldom seen a person go from Nook to the magazine displays. The same is true from Nook to larger format book sections like bookmaker or tech books.

The remaining market probably, and this is just my opinion from watching tech conversations, is to small to support with existing margins the cost of a larger form factor with the larger resolution screens. I haven't even seen a Kickstarter for such a device. The screens exist. The ability to get the other parts exist. The market for such a product does not, apparently.

Agreed. For reading (primarily) flowing text, I find the Kindle Paperwhite just about perfect. Really light to hold in one hand, great battery life, easy on the eyes.

If I'm reading a graphic novel or a technical book with illustrations, code, etc. I much prefer my full-size tablet--which I don't like as much for just reading.

The issue with the larger screen I suspect is that you're now competing with full-size tablets with a much more specialized device that that would probably be judged inferior to its smaller sibling by many people for plain reading. It feels like a very slim market.

ADDED: I actually forgot that there used to be a Kindle DX. Given that format doesn't exist any longer, I'm pretty sure that it didn't sell well.

The DX was also super expensive though -- like $450 if I remember correctly.

Regular Kindles weren't cheap initially though. I forget when the DX came out but I paid something like $300 for my second gen Kindle.

Amazon ran a promotion on the DX at one point for $250, when I got mine. I'm glad I did.

I have Nook 9", it is perfect sized and even today good tablet. Since they had to do custom plug, if I forget to charge it, it will linger. It is slow but works well for reading.

a color ebook reader for comics would be like a gaming console for kids

The basic problem with that is that comics these days are too expensive. $4-$5 for 26 pages? Yeesh.

There is basically a single supplier for eInk displays. If they thought they could do volume at a larger size, I bet they would do it. However the number of people who want large black & white e-readers is probably quite small.

I like to think they stick with the 6-inch size because it's roughly the same size as a mass-market paperback book, which everyone is used to holding and reading from, and they fit in just about any size bag.

Its just a little too big to fit in my pocket and just a bit too small to be really comfortable to read. I still love my paperwhite though.

Yes, I'd like a larger screen option too. Tech books often have the preformatted code sections wrapping which is horrible and only sometimes eliminated in landscape.

I'd actually prefer something smaller - I still use my ancient Sony PRS-350 just because it fits conveniently in a pocket. I suppose that size has too much competition from smartphones to be viable any more.

6" does seem an odd compromise, though. Too big to be convenient, too small to be nice.

If you've got an iPhone, you might be interested in this:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/popslate-2-smart-second-s...

Alternatively, if you'd prefer an Android device:

https://yotaphone.com/gb-en/

I don't have a phone at all, so neither of those really applies...

6'' does fit perfectly into the leg pocket of the cargo pants I'm always wearing. I do not think that was the intention but I really love it.

Kobo used to sell an itty bitty e-reader (4 or 5 inches?) that would slip into a pocket. Seemed perfect for travel, but I never ended up buying one.

They sold a 4.3" reader. I've seen it come up on woot a couple of times. No reviewer claimed to have liked it. http://computers.woot.com/forums/viewpost.aspx?postid=588382...

I don't think that is an actual Kobo reader. It doesn't even have an e-ink display! I think the device I was thinking of was the Kobo Mini:

http://www.amazon.com/Kobo-N705-KBO-W-Mini-E-Reader/dp/B009A...

Any input from lurking Kindle DX owners? Sounds like they are available around $200.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=kindle+dx

I've had one from amazon warehouse deals for a while (around $200 ~2 years ago too). Completely worth it for the screen size when working, studying and for fun. Wish they had a touch screen version and thin bezel.

I bought it specifically for reading pdf papers, and haven't been disappointed. Can't complain about the free 3g, and occasional browser use either if you flash it to 3.2.1 or higher from the kindle keyboard.

My Kindle DX is one of the best device purchases I've ever made. I got mine for $299 right before it was phased out and still enjoy using it to disconnect from the digital world.

PDFs are especially great on it...you can enjoy the original fonts, design, and layout in the original (often larger) size.

EPUBs are the weakest because (1) they're not officially supported and (2) converting leads to huge fonts. There's probably a way to fix (2) but I haven't bothered as I find my phone a better medium to read EPUBs.

I would get one if I was sure that Amazon would keep supporting it. I would be nervous about it being locked out from the Kindle store soon.

I had a DX. I found the PDF support to be useful, but too slow. It was difficult to use it as a reference device, but it worked ok for linear reading.

I migrated to iPads once the iPad 2 came out and never really looked back.

Same experience--PDF rendering was too slow even for a lot of linear reading. I remember once opening a statistical text (Springer has a lot of freely downloadable content if you're at a university). I think it was a Bayesian text with a plot showing model convergence. Because the graphic was a vector plot containing lots of line segments, the page would take several minutes to render.

I loved the screen though. I'd love to have a DX sized reader with even the processing power of a raspberry pi. Actually, I'd love something with a keyboard cover that let me do emacs in the sunshine, but that's an altogether different story.

I dread the day mine stops working. I'm overseas and when they first came out I wanted one, so paid a fortune to some place in Malaysia that bought them in bulk from the US, added a couple of hundred dollars and resold them. I've never regretted spending that much on it.

I have an ipad as well now, but I prefer reading fiction on the DX.

You will take away my Kindle DX from my hands only when I die.

- Huge screen for PDF

- Great for technical books

- no backlit means I can read for hours

- decent batteries

My use case: I read mostly non fiction (technical books, business books with diagrams).

I feel like a dinosaur when on an airplane but there is no way I can read my books in these tiny Kindles.

Anybody who has my same use case believes it's time for me to finally upgrade from this old yet trusty DX thing?

I am starting to feel a little Self conscious!

>no backlit means I can read for hours

You can read for a lot of hours on a tablet, which is a lot better than Kindle epaper for the types of material you describe. There was a time when some sort of epaper/LCD convergence seemed to make a lot of sense. Today, though, while I prefer a small Kindle for flow of text, an LCD tablet really does win for formatted and graphical content. I still prefer paper for some situations but, given digital, there's really nothing wrong with tablets.

Buy a used Kindle DX perhaps? That was 9.7 inches, same as an iPad.

For a counter-point, I find that 6 inches is too big. A phone screen allows much easier one-handing, and reduces eye-scan. Combine that with the fact that an AMOLED screen is much superior than anything backlit for night reading, and my ebook reader collects dust.

I'd love a 4ish inch ebook reader. My pet peeve with my Kindle is that it's not something I can take with me without carrying my bag. I'd love something I could stick in my back pocket or cargo pocket and read while I'm killing 5 minutes.

Right now, I tend to use my phone, but I don't enjoy reading off an LCD nearly as much as I do my eink Kindle.

The Kobo Mini [1] looks promising, but since it's discontinued you only seem to find them used on eBay.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobo_Mini

I have no problems slipping my paperwhite into my back pocket, but of course ymmv.

Jacket pockets - for those of us in countries where the temperature goes low enough. I spend most of the year wearing some form of clothing that has a pocket that comfortably carries a Kindle - I don't have to specifically shop for the size, it just fits.

That means I always have my Kindle on me when I find myself sitting on public transport, when I arrive somewhere early or through lunch. It becomes the alternative to social media on your phone - and broadens your mind.

Agreed. I wouldn't buy anything larger. My Kindle fits perfectly in my coats' inner pockets and also in my backpack's otherwise unused CD pocket.

That doesn't explain why the screen is 6 inches. The bezel on kindles (Paperwhites and below) are quite large and you could imagine a same sized device having a larger screen quite easily.

I imagine the bezels are there partly so you have a place to hold it but I could be wrong

Well, it certainly doesn't explain how some devices have far smaller bezels.

Do they also have touchscreens? I'm not familiar with what E Ink readers are still around.

Well, yeah, stuff like the Sony Z3 phone is mostly screen. Not an E reader but it's still a good example of a device where you make the most of the physical size.

This. I love that I can stick my paperwhite in the back pocket of my jeans, or in the pocket of many of my jackets.

I think it's trying to match the average size of a novel.

I would love a larger one for comics and textbooks.

The problem is that the kindle form factor is similar to many books, but the screen size is smaller because of all the plastic at the edges.

I'm an e-reader fanatic, having bought a total of six for myself and friends/family over the years. I have 3 Kindles - one third gen for reading novels in one hand (I don't have particularly large hands but I can palm the 6" while using my thumb to move to the next page by clenching my hand), one PaperWhite for night reading, and one Kindle DX from ~5 years ago that I still use for PDF's.

Believe it or not there's a huge scene for people who love the 8-9" form-factor. A NIB DX runs 500ish on ebay. I was waiting for this release for ages, but I see no reason to buy it. It looks like you're paying an extra $100 just to get back the side-buttons the Kindle fanatics demanded (it feels way more natural to press a button than make a slide motion, to the point where you don't even realize you're pressing the button after a few pages of immersive reading, unlike the slide action which breaks the continuity -- the same reason why I keep my 3rd gen around).

For $100 more, the Onyx BOOX N96[1] is definitely the best buy out there right now for that larger form factor. You get the same Paperwhite tech, the ability to jot notes down with a stylus, and a significantly bigger screen. I don't have one but I've heard nothing but good things about support from Onyx and let's be honest making an e-reader isn't the most complicated thing out there so odds are you won't need much tech support (you can buy a DX 9.7" replacement screen for ~65 and drive it with a uC almost trivially easily).

[1] http://www.ebay.com/itm/Onyx-BOOX-N96-ML-9-7-E-Ink-Pearl-Dis...

edit: http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Cybook_Ocean 8" for 179$ (not "genuine" e-Ink(tm)) http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/PocketBook_InkPad 8" eInk Pearl with front-light for $250 (I've heard great things about this company too)

> it feels way more natural to press a button than make a slide motion, to the point where you don't even realize you're pressing the button after a few pages of immersive reading, unlike the slide action which breaks the continuity

You probably know this already, but on my PW1, you only need to tap the right hand side of the screen to go forward a page, and similarly, you tap the left hand side to go back a page.

Sadly, it feels to me that half of the side taps I make end up pulling up the dictionary on a word. The 3g side buttons were not prone to "misclicks" :(

Not reliable enough in my experience. And you need to either hold the Kindle exclusively with your right hand, or move your hand more than with corner buttons.

Do you have any examples the DX screen being driven by a microcontroller? I looked into this a while back and it seemed a lot more complex than just hooking up an Arduino or something due to the screen's voltage requirements. The projects I saw involved making a custom driver PCB.

I mean, someone in the 'maker community' has a high probability of having some difficulty, but my 12 year old cousin could build the driver on protoboard, no issues, and it's not like he's worked through 2nd order diff non-homogeneous eq's ;). That's the only 'strange' thing about it is the voltages as you mentioned (well that and the somewhat rare flat-flex ribbon used). It needs a jellybean boost converter to get up to the +/- 25V @ a few tens of mA. This guy[1] did it for what looks to be under 10 bucks in parts. Some LT standard (not as standard as the LM317 or 7805, but close) will switch both rails no sweat, all day, then use 2 standard LDOs will get get your -25 up to -15 and regulate your +25 down to +15. (I don't like his value choices for those caps around U4 and U5, but the rest of the design is so well done and I'd imagine he used SPICE and tested every node, so I'm going to just defer to his design, since I'm not an EE haha). Everything else are jellybeans you'll have lying around (except maybe those inductors).

The only thing you have to watch out for is quiescent current, not only for the obvious reasons (leakage == bad), but also because even a minimal amount of voltage drop 'across the FET' will fade out the image, so its double bad. (Each pixel with the characteristics of an N channel MOSFET.) Acting as the source on the FET -- continuously driving "on" for each "frame render" (it's just latched in from a shift register), and the horizontal pixels corresponds to the vertical pixels (which is just a shift register pushing data for each render).

If you have issues with that guy's build, http://spritesmods.com/?art=einkdisplay this dude consistently has some of the best documented hardware hacks ever. Those two sources in aggregate and a Saturday should be all you need for a one off.

[1] http://essentialscrap.com/eink/schematics.png

Thanks for the excellent reply, I may just give this a try at some point.

I had a Windows Tablet PC back in like 2005, and really liked it. I waited for years for a e-ink tablet with a wacom-style input and good note taking software. I stopped waiting at some point. Is that BOOX any good for note taking? Is that something that for example college students could use to take class notes?

Was in the same boat myself. Tried lots of different styluses, and was hoping that a new DX size kindle would come out. Recently I have been really happy with an iPad Pro and pencil since it's basically the size of a pad of paper! A Sony Ereader with wink was just released but it was basically the same price as the iPad Pro. :/

I think given those prices, I'll just get a wacom tablet for my macbook and use xournal. Does the ipad pro even have a decent eco system for note taking apps?

There's a few decent apps that I've enjoyed using. My favorite two are Notes Plus, and Notability. If anything the ecosystem is better than the Mac desktop. There's room to improve as neither Notes+ or Notability fully take advantage of the size and power of the iPad pro. Still, the shape of the tablet form makes it great for note taking -- even if it's more oriented toward student / business notes.

How about a noteslate? assuming they finally deliver this time, it seems precisely what you're looking for...

http://noteslate.com/

This does look pretty interesting. Could maybe be a bit larger. And their website less shiny and more info.

I like that they are offering (by invitation only) a ios and Android app -- so much of a tool like that is the OS and interface, if you can give people a simulated version on a device they already have, that's a pretty good share-ware like onboarding experience.

...On closer inspection, it seems this thing is yet to come out. And even on their most recent video, it still has a fair amount of lag.

Yeah, it was first announced in 2011 (!) I think, and it's still on preorder

I'm waiting on my signature edition though, hopefully they took their time to make it decent enough...

I'd assume the lag is a software issue, it should be solvable with software updates in theory

There is a 13" Sony DPT-S1 reader that is made for technical documents. The only use case is reading somewhere outside for me, I would else prefer a tablet.

+1 for the Kobo H2O. Weather resistance is something I value a lot in my products.

The sweet spot for me is a paperback book size for the display.

Also, if it could be really cheap; say £7 or so. And rather than charging it you'd just get another copy of it once you'd read one. And when you were finished you could lend or give it to someone else. You could get second hand ones cheap, and there'd not be a central store of all the ones you'd read for a hostile government to data mine, and no company would be able to remove them from you, like, say you were in the middle of reading 1984 about a dystopian future where your every move was monitored by a dicatorship.

Yes, I'd like to see them so cheap they are sold on a wire tab in the supermarket, like calculators. I'd buy a bunch as throwaways!

Regarding your edit, there's still the Sony device (for AFAIK PDF only):

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Paper-DPT-S1-Japan-Import/dp/B...

I'm still hoping more manufactures will release bigger devices, but I assume there are still cost issues with larg(er) e-ink displays. I'd love to have something big enough to work for graphic novels and books with illustrations/diagrams. Even if only black and white.

I suppose if none are released, I'll just have to bite the bullet and consolidate on something like the Microsoft Surface Pro 4, or a Lenovo Yoga. Still not convinced that even the new high-dpi screens will work for ~12-14 hour reading sessions, though.

apparently there's this

http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/good-e-reader...

that will be coming out at some point

For those interested, there's one day left on the IndieGoGo - 13.3" e-reader running Android for ~700USD. Sadly, it's a little too steep for me right now :-/

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/13-3-inch-android-e-reade...

I have a Kindle DX. It's... big. Too big for typical usage like novel reading. Works better for things like PDFs or other things that need a bigger space, but not if I'm just sitting around reading some fiction.

From my experience, uploading a PDF file to your Kindle account destroys the presentation of the content as you would usually see it on Desktop clients, like Adobe Acrobat Reader. On desktop, every A4 page can be zoomed in an out. I wish it would be possible for Amazon's ereaders to display a page at full width and allow the display to scroll down, instead of reformatting the page. I /think/, I am not sure, that if you move a pdf file onto your ereader, you can achieve this. However, in this case, you lose your sync functionality.

Anyone has any ideas on how to deal with this?

I was really looking forward to upgrade my paperwhite, but this is total disappointment. Almost 3x more $$ than paperwhite, but the very similar specs; LED lights are just fine on paperwhite, same DPI, same size, same touchscreen, absolutely nothing worth upgrading IMHO! Buttons are ok but never missed them, definitely not worth money. And I still can't read IT books on that 6" screen. What a shame. Amazon is without ideas, and money. Or paperwhite is simply good enough?

Same. I have an original Paperwhite, which doesn't have the latest firmware with the Bookerly font and everything. So I was really excited about buying a new Kindle. But not for $300.

Now? I dunno. I'm not terribly eager to buy a year old Paperwhite, so maybe I'll just wait until the next generation.

Same for me, it looks good but £270 is too much for me to justify.

I have the 2013 Paperwhite with the Bookerly update. The font looks great, but the system is now so laggy it borders on unusable.

I really don't understand why they aren't targeting students that have to carry a ton of heavy textbooks. Why not target medical students with a product? Why just make a device with a screen that can only accommodate a novel?

Because e-readers are just really bad for textbooks. They work really only for things you want to read from start to finish (they work great for that though!). Paper textbooks are a lot better if you're flipping back and forth or trying to use it for reference.

Even tablets. I bought a couple of cookbooks/cocktail books on Kindle at one point because they were significantly cheaper. A mistake. I like to put post-its and leave pages open on the table etc.

I do have a few technical books I got digitally--usually because I had some free or significantly discounted eBook offer. But it's really not my preferred format.

I agree. The best use case is novels. Even non-fiction books that you want to go forward and backward are weaker in the kindle. I love my paperwhite, but I must confess that physical books beats them for non-fiction. There's a caveat: if your are not in USA, you don't have to pay shipping for american books.

If they outfit one with a bigger screen and greater processing power so switching pages is fast and it's easier to flip (unless I'm under the wrong impression and the page-lag for the paperwhite is because of the screen not the CPU) then you could have a superior referece platform. Multiple bookmarks, search functionality, cross-referece.

For my job I have to read a lot of datasheets. Ctrl-F works wonders and I have no ideea how I'd manage without it.

I hear you. Trying to read text books or books with diagrams does not work on Kindle or even tablets. Several books have text which refer to diagrams on pages other then current page. I would think it's possible to "inline" or provide a "long-press-to-pop-up" type solution. Same goes with notes and other such internally referenced material.

OTOH, if you do read from an actual book... the books are damn heavy on their own !

I found peace in actually buying a Macbook Air, with that I have gotten rid of iPad and Kindle both.

The screen is not the best available but it's the right "gadget" at so many other levels.

E-readers have a very noticeable delay when flipping through pages, especially quickly. If I'm trying to construct a scheme for preimage collision resistance in my textbook on cryptography (which is a humble 400 page textbook), I'll go to the index first (last couple pages), then flip to the page on preimage resistance, then flip forward 20 pages to collisions in hashes, and then maybe flip back a couple chapters to hash function constructions. That's about 5-10 different pages referenced in quick succession, and an e-reader gives a very significant barrier. Add onto that typing on a e-reader is a pretty awful experience as opposed to scribbling notes in the margins of the textbook and you have a product that doesn't provide any real incentive.

One could make the argument that textbooks should be written in a way that accommodates the web and e-readers better, but that's a whole other hill you'll need to climb.

Textbooks are usually printed in color and are "sold" as eBooks through vendors that sell 6 months of access. This market is fairly small and already served well by tablets.

They tried this and even piloted a program at Princeton. It failed. There a lot of non obvious tactile ways that student use textbooks that the Kindle can't accommodate.

> Or paperwhite is simply good enough?

I would say "yes." I was fine with my ancient little paperwhite, and surprised to see that they were asking $300 for an incremental improvement. It would have made more sense to do the Apple thing, dropping the price of the old model and replacing it with the new one at a similar price point. The paperwhite's touch screen is pretty bad, but fine for reading once you get used to it, and the battery lasts long enough that charging is a non-issue.

Several years ago, Amazon started making devices that almost perfectly replaced paperback novels: easy on the eyes, light enough to read in one hand, and cheap enough to pay for themselves quickly with the production cost difference between electronic and physical books. The Kindle sucks for books and magazines with significant layout, and I agree with others here that there's room for a larger version to handle e.g. textbooks (which are pricey enough that a $300 reader is NBD). But this thing? I just don't get it.

> and surprised to see that they were asking $300 for an incremental improvement

They're asking $300 for a new product. If you want an "incremental improvement" on your ancient paperwhite, then you can get the newest generation for $119.

What is the 'new product'? It certainly seems like a paperwhite 1.1 to me. A cover that is arguably irrelevant, better(?) backlight where the paperwhite is good already.

The big selling point seems to be

- the format/size (grip with one hand)

I can do that with the paperwhite and often read while walking to the station that way.

- auto-rotation for left handed people

(only required because of the special format, see above)

I love my Kindle. I see no point in this iteration and would strongly recommend everyone around me to pick the paperwhite instead.

The Voyage is closer to "Paperwhite 1.1" than the Oasis if you want to go down that route, but what it is is a new product in the Kindle family. Just like the Paperwhite was a new Kindle product, and the Voyage, and even the Kindle Touch. They all improve over the previous flagship model, but are fundamentally different in some regard (Kindle Touch - touchscreen, Paperwhite - backlight, Voyage - premium materials/capacitive page turning/first 300ppi screen, Oasis - longer battery life and new form factor) and are sold in parallel for a long time.

Just because it has backlighting doesn't automatically make it the successor to the Paperwhite or even an incremental improvement. There is literally one already: the newest generation Paperwhite which has the same 300ppi screen as the Voyage and Oasis and improved backlighting in the same form factor than the 1st generation Paperwhite. It's still being sold, it'll probably still be sold and improved on for many years to come and I can even see it becoming the new "basic" device from Amazon.

That's how Amazon does Kindles - multiple lines of products which are differentiated from eachother in some way or another. You can even see this with last year's Voyage. They released it, it looks like a premium Paperwhite, but then they came and brought some of the features like the 300ppi screen back to the Paperwhite. The Paperwhite didn't go anywhere, it was still sold, and it's still being sold now.

I'm not really invested here, but I don't quite get the 'new product' defense (is it a defense?).

For me your argument is similar to stating that Visual Studio Professional and Visual Studio Enterprise are different products. Sure - you can totally explain that. For me those are editions of the same thing, and in the case of the Kindle I find it hard to see any benefits - sure, I haven't seen it live yet, but it's the same form factor, same resolution and .. it's used to read.. - compared to the cheaper versions.

If there's a market for this thing I wish Amazon all the best. It just isn't for me and based on this (personal!) position I fail to recognize this as a new product, see it as another iteration at best.

Again: This might be the best thing for a lot of people out there and I don't claim they're wrong at all. Still looks like a refresh. EA brings us FIFA 2016, Amazon the Kindle Oasis?

> Visual Studio Professional and Visual Studio Enterprise

I'd argue this is more akin to WiFi vs 3G models. They're the exact same product with different featuresets. If you were to go for the VS analogy, a new Kindle product is more akin to VS Code vs VS; they're literally different products under the same umbrella brand.

> EA brings us FIFA 2016

This is quite literally the newest generation Paperwhite vs the older Paperwhites; that is, a new version of the same product. In the EA analogy, the difference between the two is like the difference between FIFA 2016 and NHL 16. They're both "EA Sports" games, but they're clearly different from eachother, with different target audiences.

Another analogy is that this is an iPad Mini, which is very clearly distinct from the iPad Air or the iPad Pro. They're all different products, none of them are successors to the others, they're all priced differently, and they're meant for different audiences. Nobody would honestly stand up and say that they're the same, or an "incremental improvement" because it's clear they're not. This is pretty much the exact same thing.

I don't understand how you don't see these as different products. They're literally (http://i.imgur.com/hnV8E0x.png) being sold as different products side by side. If you were to argue it's a successor, then the existing Paperwhite would surely not be there, having been replaced with the Oasis (along with the other products, by your line of reasoning), and it would surely not be sold for almost 200 dollars more than the Paperwhite, either.

And that's what I'd do.

My point is that the old paperwhite, new paperwhite, voyage, and oasis all strike me as the incremental improvements you would normally see in a yearly update to a laptop or phone at a particular price point. FooCorp's mid-range laptop gradually gets faster and adds features over time, as transistors get smaller and manufacturing more efficient. Maybe Amazon is treating the Kindle like a gallon of milk, whose price stays the same or slowly rises with inflation. I imagine they'll make a killing if people buy into that, but it seems unlikely.

Interestingly enough, most of the images used in their introduction page are actually the Paperwhite... :D

The fact that it's designed only for right-handed people is what turns me off (as well as my wife, who is also a leftie). Holding a book or tablet with my right hand just feels alien.

> You can turn the page with either the touch display or physical buttons, and a built-in accelerometer detects whether you are reading with your left or right hand — automatically rotating the page (and page turn buttons) to match. [1]

[1] http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/04/the-new-amazon-kindle-oasi...

Look at the last photo in that same article. If you're holding it with your left hand, the cover is on upside-down. Also, every photo in every article I've seen, as well as Amazon's own marketing, shows it held in the right hand only. It's clearly a device designed for right-handed people. I realize that's the world we live in, but this is the only reading device I've seen on the market that favors one group of people over another.

I'll echo everything else: far too much money.

I felt like a chump for buying the Voyage weeks before the new Paperwhite came out with the same screen. The voyage is nice, but I would have gladly saved money with the PW3.

And that's at $200! The Oasis is definitely a tool for the really hardcore reader, or otherwise for the wealthy.

And frankly, I really like the Voyage case for setting it on tables or laying in bed.

This feels like Amazon putting out a new Kindle for the sake of... putting out a new Kindle to keep the product line looking fresh.

If this somehow knocks down the price for the Paperwhite, I'm all for it... so I can get a Paperwhite. :P

They did bring back physical buttons though. And the ergonomics have change significantly - for better or worse. I really think they're trying their best and not just trashing around products every x months...

And frankly, I've only owned one Kindle v4 and it's been going strong ever since, albeit I use it much less than before.

Why not talk to customer support and see if they'll let you exchange it by paying the difference?

The pricing is especially egregious as it appears that this model shows ads on the lock screen with no way of disabling them. With some previous models you could pay ~$30 more and have an ad-free experience.

You can buy the upgrade afterwards like the other Kindles.

Or from the add to cart page. It's $20

I wonder if they're trying to do price anchoring here. The Voyage and the Paperwhite have now moved down a step on the Kindle scale, so people might get the Paperwhite instead of the regular Kindle, or the Voyage instead of the Paperwhite, because now these are middle of the line devices.

Don't feel to bad for buying the voyage. the paperwhite is heavier than even the older Kindle version that I own (no touchscreen with page turn buttons).

I read a lot with one hand and I couldn't make the switch to the paperwhite because of its weight (I read quite a bit with my brother's one, you can definitely feel the difference).

I still agree that the Oasis is really expensive. It's really a shame because it's designed for my favorite use case.

don't feel too bad about buying the Voyage - i upgraded from the original paperwhite to the new one with the 300PPI screen and hardly notice a difference. The 300PPI screen is nice but not that big of a difference.

The benefit of the voyage has to be the pagepress buttons, the flush glass screen, and better backlighting. the PPI is minor.

My first thought when I say the buttons only on the right side were 'what if you're left handed!', but it seems they've thought of that:

"Comfortably turn the page with either the touch display or dedicated page turn buttons located on the front of the handgrip. Whether you choose to read with your left or right hand, Kindle Oasis automatically rotates the page orientation to match."

Having said that, when using my Kindle I often switch from one hand to the other to accommodate things like picking up a cup, or one arm getting tired.

This is also a lot more expensive that the Paperwhite, or even the Voyage. While the dual battery concept seems nice, I can't say battery life with my existing Kindle has ever been an issue... don't think I'll be upgrading.

The older Kindles, like the keyboard one I have, simply put the buttons on both sides. Seems like a more sensible solution. ;)

I don't think I've ever heard of anyone complaining of the buttons on both sides on the old kindles. I cannot understand why they chose to change something so obviously good.

Totally agree. Going by the excessive price, removing them from both sides certainly wasn't a cost decision!

Downvoter care to comment? Genuinely interested in what you find disagreeable!

Because the grip and weight balance will make one-handed reading more comfortable.

The design and added features look nice, but it's hard to believe they're charging $289 -- well over twice the price of the Paperwhite, which is a great e-reader itself. Makes me wonder if this is an artificially high price point meant to drive sales of the Voyage, which now looks comparatively cheap at $199.

You can always lower a price, but you can rarely raise it. And a high original MSRP lets them advertise a steep discount when the price does get lowered.

Interesting, it's kind of what clothing retailers have been doing especially in the past ten years or so. I think the access to more shopping options have led consumers to expect "large discounts" so maybe companies benefit from high original MSRP more than "pricing right".

The price includes the cover. The Voyage price doesn't.

Right. It's a $200 Voyage (overpriced already), with a better backlight system, and thinner plus a $90 leather battery case.

I think the price, relative to the Voyage, is reasonable.

I think the Voyage price, relative to the PaperWhite, is insane. I should know, I own one (I like it but wow it's expensive to buy those pseudo-buttons).

Yeah, but how many people really even want a $90 cover? I don't use a cover at all, but when I did I sure as hell didn't drop $90 on one.

The cover doesn't cost $90, look:

Voyage ($200) + Premium leather cover ($85) = $285

The Oasis costs $290 with battery cover. You're paying for a more expensive Kindle and a cheaper cover :)

From what I can tell this is still micro-usb. What happened to the everything is type-c dream? Honestly that's probably the only thing that'll get me to upgrade from my current one as I just want the same damn connector for everything. (which I did for a while with micro-usb, but damnit, we are moving on in theory!)

Before I got my Nexus 5x, I would have thought your comment nitpicky, but it really is a vastly superior connector.

... except for power. Damn Apple for replacing the MagSafe with USB Type-C.

It is still much better than Micro-USB for power.

I'm still annoyed they didn't ship it with a Type-A -> Type-C cable. Would that have ruined their ability to do the fast charge? Because if not, it would be really nice to not have to bottleneck it through an adapter or buy new PC hardware that supports a Type-C port to xfer data or charge it via PC.

6P came with one I believe, not sure why 5x didn't.

Yes, my 6P did.

Yes. Type A->Type C cables, according to standard, are only allowed to charge at Type A speeds. The only way around this is to buy a non-compliant cable with the Type C-C resistor in it (and be very careful what you plug it into to avoid causing a fire/explosion/worse).

Not only is it not type-c, it's still USB 2.0. I guess there's not much call for higher speed data transmission on a device intended to be loaded wirelessly.

I'm sure micro usb is the required standard in Europe for mobile devices

It's still voluntary, though the manufacturers are pressured to accept it; but you can comply with it by having an adapter cable, like Apple does. Chinese companies are already selling them for <$2 a pop.

Ebook files are generally not very large - my entire extensive collection takes up less size than one 30 minute h264 television show.

It's probably good enough

Typical book is less than 1MB; loads in a fraction of a second at USB 2.0 speeds. Maybe a second if you've got USB 1.1. Really not worth optimizing.

Type C USB would be nice. On the other hand, I don't have any type C USB connectors / sockets in my possession yet.

I'd really like a wireless recharging standard. Just toss your devices onto a surface and they charge overnight, it doesn't need to be fast.

Qi is that standard. Built in to lots of Androids now.

Only real issue with it is slow rate of charging. Not a problem for overnight recharges - but my phone still discharges when I'm using GPS + Bluetooth in my car's Qi holder.

Sadly it's probably going away as newer nexuses don't have it.

> Qi is that standard

Unless you're at Starbucks, who have deployed Powermat/PMA. Even though Qi has vastly more support from phones and chargers (Toyota is even putting Qi in some cars), there's probably many more people who have actually used Powermat, just because of SBUX.

I'm really getting sick of seeing micro-usb devices shipping in 2016. C is vastly better, the cables and chargers are available, and my god the reversability is a godsend. Almost all my devices are either the current ipad connector or usb-C. Going back to non-reversable connectors is fairly ridiculous. Worse, until more OEMs get on board, we won't be able to get cables and chargers at retail stores. My wife just had this issue with losing her 5X charger and being unable to find the cable anywhere convenient while on a trip.

Also, the short-sightedness of the EU legislating semi-voluntary micro-usb support is asinine. Of course new standards would eventually unseat that connector. How much political inertia needs to be overcome in Europe now due to this?

This solves the problem I am having with my kindle paperwhite -- difficult to read with one hand, often I hold it at the bottom with my thumb awkwardly sideways across the front to not invade the reading area, with my hand spread out across the back so it doesn't fall out of my hand. It gets tired after a while, so I end up switching hands, until eventually I have to put it down on a table, and then I am reading with my head down, which is also inefficient.

I hope this creates demand for a paperwhite attachment / cover that will achieve this same ergonomic design for those of us that don't feel like forking over that much money after only just buying their paperwhites.

Books are also difficult to read with one hand. I'm not sure if one hand is really important as a spec.

Ridiculous. Books also burn very easily, so apparently flammability should be an important spec of any e-reader.

Not a great analogy. The designed use-case for a book is to be held in your hands and read. Whereas burning is almost never desired, generally only happens if something goes awry.

Given that two-hand holding is the norm for paper books I would say single-hand holding isn't a terribly important spec for an e-reader. Maybe it's desirable for some, maybe not. I would definitely give up a little bit of single-hand holdability for a larger screen, someone in thread above pointed out the 8" Bookeen Cybook Ocean, which at $180 looks like a good Kindle alternative: http://www.bookeen.com/en/cybook-ocean

I think that was the point of the analogy -- to illustrate how silly it is to compare the two based on that. They are different mediums. Books are books, and ebooks are ebooks.

Short of large hardcover books, I can't say I've ever read two-handed. Perhaps I have larger than normal hands. but every book I've ever owned (and most books I've checked out from various libraries) I read one handed.

I object greatly, and think that single handed holding is an extremely important spec. Far more important than some silly touch-screen.

But like books, we are all different. So I hope you enjoy your e-reader however you choose to read it.

> Given that two-hand holding is the norm for paper books

It's not.

Part of the reason I like my kindle -- easier to read in bed or lying down.

One hand is great for me. I can carry my luggage in one hand, read with the other.

http://www.padlette.com/ is awesome for one handed reading.

I have a weirder holding scenario, in which I hold it much like I normally would a book, but stick my pinky finger in towards myself and let the weight of the Kindle rest on that.

I often complain about it, and this Oasis appears to be an upgrade, but I have the same problem with books as well. Adding the physical buttons in is a nice feature that I've missed from my earlier Kindles, as it at least means I won't have to move my hand while my Kindle is precariously balanced on the aforementioned finger for every page turn.

What I've found works well for me is to put my Paperwhite into landscape mode and hold it such that the cover folds around on the top.

This then allows me to squeeze part of my hand/fingers between the cover and the Kindle and doesn't get too tiring.

Yea, looking at this made me realize how uncomfortable my Paperwhite is one-handed. When laying down I usually end up holding it awkwardly with my thumb underneath and my pointer finger straight up the bezel. It's fallen out of my hand too many times to count.

Price aside, this is a worthwhile upgrade simply for the ergonomics.

> It's fallen out of my hand too many times to count.

Glad I'm not the only one :-)

I really wish they'd bring back the Kindle Developer Program in a better form than what it was. My Kindle is jailbroken, and software like KOReader [1] and KindleExplorer [2] have become must-haves. In the case of KOReader, the flexibility offered is just miles ahead of Amazon's stock reader app—even though reading is the central purpose of the device.

[1] https://github.com/koreader/koreader

[2] http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=206296

Do you happen to know if there's any of these alternative reader apps for Kindle that'll sync ebook files from Dropbox?

Sorry, I don't know of any that do that directly.

KOReader can sync with Calibre on the desktop, so you could perhaps set that up as a passthrough. Or you could use something like BookDrop [1] or IFTTT that sends ebooks from Dropbox to the Kindle over Amazon's WhisperSync service. Those are stored in the "documents" folder on the Kindle, where KOReader could read them as well as the stock reader app.

[1] https://getbookdrop.com/

You and me both. I have a turn based strategy game I had half developed for the Kindle, but I had some issues getting some things working (lots of limitations and peculiarities, especially supporting the 1st and 2nd gen devices, which was required) and life got in the way for a little while.

Once I was motivated to start working on it again, it wasn't long before it became pretty clear that Amazon didn't believe in Active Content anymore and the rumors were flying that Amazon was going to pull the plug entirely, so I decided to move on.

It's a shame, too, because the game really looked nice, and I think it would look amazing on the Paperwhite. The game stopped working on my Kindle Keyboard a couple of years ago (expired certificate).

This is a huge disappointment. I'm kicking myself for not buying a Paperwhite when they were on sale last week. This was absolutely not worth waiting for. I wouldn't find this compelling if it were $20 more than the Voyage, much less $90 more.

They've been on sale at least 3 times this year. Hold tight!

Try looking for a refurbished unit. Amazon also sells them. I got an old Kindle refurbished 2 years ago and it works perfectly fine.

I still use some old Kindle from 2012, which was 80$ or so and had the best design.

I'd love to have the illuminated screen, but the 2012 one was the lightest, had physical page turning buttons on both sides and could be used by me as a left-handed person easily.

I will stick with my old Kindle until Amazon will make a remake of it.

Same here. Mine is the "keyboard kindle" with the physical page-turn buttons. My only regret is that I didn't buy the larger DX model while they had it, as the bigger screen is more useful for technical titles.

I've been wanting to buy a Digital Paper from Sony since it came out for technical articles / textbooks.

Overall, I think the product is worth the price (around $1000 last time I checked), but I have other things to spend the money on right now. It seems to be marketed towards legal firms (possibly a source of the high price), but I don't need the collaboration software.

The price has dropped to $800.

>Our thinnest Kindle ever

*except for the half of the device that makes it the thickest Kindle ever

Almost as bad as HP advertising their new laptop as being as thin as a AAA battery: http://www.blogcdn.com/slideshows/images/slides/384/908/4/S3...

Per the specs on the store page, the thickness is 3.4-8.5 mm. This means that even at the thickest point, it is still thinner than the normal kindle (10.2 mm) and the paperwhite (9.1 mm), and slightly thicker than the voyage (7.6 mm).

I don't really see the point of the charging cover. I have a 2 year old paperwhite and I charge it about once every two months.

That being said, I really like the new design. Glad they're embracing physical buttons.

I don't know anyone who's ever said "I wish the Kindle had a better battery life."

The long life of the Kindle battery sometimes comes back to bite me. I'm terrible about remembering to bring a charging cable with me when I travel, and when I do get the low battery warning it's usually three minutes after I sit down for some serious reading.

I have to charge so infrequently, I'm never prepared to do so.

But when do you travel without a usb charger?

Guessing he is not an Android user. I use iOS devices so I will have a USB charger but not one that fits my kindle from time to time (as there is just the 1 by my bed I will forget to take)

Thankfully people tend to forget chargers and (so far) I haven't had a problem dumpster diving at hotel's lost and found :)

If I'm traveling, I bring one of these [0] cables. It handles both lightning (for phone) and micro USB (everything else).

[0] http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00XINCAJA/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=...

Funny, my girlfriend actually had to call Amazon to complain that her Paperwhite was dying after roughly two or three days of moderate use following the last update. And that was keeping it in airplane mode.

Rebooting it seemed to help, although I'd say she still has to charge it about once a week.

> Glad they're embracing physical buttons

Re-embracing, more like it. I forget how old mine is, but it's from before the basic Kindles went to touchscreen. The side-mounted page flipping buttons are just about perfect. Throw in battery life of like six months of hard use on airplane mode and the non-glare screen that you can read outside on the beach in full sun, and it is just about a perfect e-reader.

I just wish they would resurrect the DX concept. I'd like to have a thin, light Kindle that was approximately letter-sized, for textbooks, programming books, etc. It'd probably also be a great fit for somebody like my dad, who's eyes are going bad - you can crank up the font size on 6" kindles, but then you only get a handful of words on a line.

Nook Simple Touch had page turning buttons too. Mine's on its deathbed and I'm loathe to replace it with a newer touchscreen only device.

If you ask me, half the point of ebooks is that you can turn pages with your hands under a blanket or a cat flopped on your wrist.

Yeah, re-embracing is correct. Lack of physical buttons on my paperwhite is a pain because the OS starts to severely lag after a few weeks of usage and turning the page can sometimes take 2-5 seconds. I've actually been looking around for a smaller kindle that's easier to keep in my pocket for traveling.

There is a 13.3" eReader due from Onyx in the next few weeks.

http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/onyx-boox-13-...

>The side-mounted page flipping buttons are just about perfect

I completely agree. I've had a Kindle 3 keyboard with the physical page-turn buttons for nearly five years and although the new models might have sharper screens, the lack of physical buttons is an deal killer for me.

They also seem to have gone backwards with the form factor. The 3 screen is nearly flush with the bezel, which slopes away to the buttons at the edge and feels great in the hand. I've handled the newer versions and they're thicker and feel more clunky and cheap.

When you can replace the screen for $20 (replaced once) and the motherboard for $4 (replaced twice), it's kind of hard to justify upgrading, even after you break both by sitting on it.

Yes I've been dying for a DX again. I had one years ago and it was my favorite gadget. Perfect for the PDF books and what not.

I'll pick up a used one someday.

2 months seems really long to me. I have to charge my Kindle weekly. That said, I'm still not exactly unhappy with charging a device once a week.

The charging cover is there because the change in design has reduced the battery capacity by 2/3. The cover brings it up to parity (and 50% beyond) with the Paperwhite/Voyage line. Making it mandatory lets Amazon advertise "months" instead of the somewhat more accurate "2 weeks" if you compared to the others without the cover being included.

Their spec days are 30 minutes a day on WiFi with the light up, I believe (iow, they model reading in bed), so what you should actually be hearing is something more like "21 hours for the old one, 7 hours for the new one but 30 hours with the charging cover on." It's a pretty big step down.

That said, I've still pre-ordered an Oasis even though I have a Voyage already. The ergos on this look much more suited to my reading style.

The Voyage is by no means heavy, out of the case at least (the official leather case is a brick, unfortunately) but the thin bezel means I either put fingerprints on the screen or can't really get a solid grip on it without cramping my hand and causing some shake.

The Oasis looks like it's taken a page in ergonomic design in particular from cameras and will be much more steady and sure to hold. That has to translate into a better reading experience. I'll probably end up using the cover as what amounts to a leather charging dock.

I love my Kindle Voyage, but I after the new Paperwhite came out with the same resolution as the Voyage, I thought the Voyage was overpriced. At $90 more than the Voyage and 2.4x the price of the Paperwhite, I don't know who the target market for this Oasis is.

It does include a leather cover which is another $60 for the voyage. So in many ways the difference is merely $30.

Comparing the uk and us prices this is the first product in decades that seems to have been priced $1=£1

Do this have the same display as voyage and paperwhite? 300ppi

Same resolution but by the looks of it a different thinner display

I have the Voyage but wish I would have gotten the Paperwhite instead as it is not worth the extra cost. The Voyage is also very buggy when trying to turn pages. There is no way I am paying even more for this new Kindle that looks to correct all the problems that the Voyage has with page turning.

I also have the Voyage, at the time the Paperwhite was a lower resolution so the Voyage was a better choice - but there is no question I'd buy the newer paperwhite now instead.

When you say the voyager is buggy when you try and turn pages what is the issue? I have a problem with the (stupid, hateful) haptic buttons. The ones on the right mostly both go backwards, periodically it works as expected. I thought this was a hardware fault, but maybe you are experiencing the same issue?

Same. I bought the Voyage when it first came out, but the current gen paperwhite includes all the things that drew me to the voyage for less money. I recommend the paperwhite to everyone who asks me about Kindles. I had a hard time with the Voyage price, but this is just too much, even for a gadget-phile.

I'm not the guy you were originally asking, but I've had issues with page turns on my Voyager. I think it's a pagination ordering issue - if I've been reading on my phone, and then open my Kindle and sync to the location in the book where I left off at on my phone, the first manual page turn I make sometimes fails to match up perfectly.

As a for instance, if "the quick brown fox" is the last words on my current page, and I turn to the next page, I'd expect the first words to be "jumps over the lazy dog" but in this instance "jumps over the lazy dog" is typically somewhere mid page.

I've also had issues, again when syncing my position from a different device, where the location totally bugs out if I try to swipe back to the previous page. This happens infrequently, so I'm uncertain if there's any logic at play, but the location is often way off of where it should be when aiming for the previous page.

I bought Voyager when new paperwhite was out and I think I made the right choice. Voyager is much nicer to hold - build and plastic quality are much higher than on Paperwhite. I use Kindle a lot and in a grand scheme of things $80 difference is negligible when compared to the cost of books or time I spend using Kindle.

£269 in the UK for the Wifi model which also has "special offers" (which is just advertising). Umm no thanks Amazon.

I said elsewhere that it's years since I saw a $1=£1 conversion rate

To avoid the ads, just leave it in airplane mode unless you're syncing. This has the added advantage of saving battery.

$399 in Canada before sales tax. At that price they'll sell dozens if they're lucky.

While this is a bespoke reader, I like the price point of the $120 (often cheaper with frequent sales) Paperwhite. It's always with me, and relatively inexpensive and durable enough where I don't bulk it up with a case or sleeve.

Either $289 seems overkill for a single purpose device, or Amazon screwed up and provided too much value in the Paperwhite.

Amazon sure has a problem pricing things. When they announced the Fire Phone I was all set to buy one out of plain curiosity, assuming it'd be priced at $299 -- then it came in at $699. Nope.

I have bought every iteration of Kindle (other than the large one they sold when they first came out). This one I might skip. $300 for the same internals as the Voyage is steep. The only major changes are the form factor and a few more LEDs. I do like that it has physical buttons, but not $300 like.

e: Also chiming in that I probably would have bought it anyway had it had usb-c, but it doesn't, still stuck on micro.

I've bought pretty much every previous generation of kindles, but don't see the point of this one.

The voyage is already quite expensive for an ereader, and an upgrade of questionable value over the Paperwhite, and this one is still more expensive, for hardly any benefit.

To put it more positively: The kindle paperwhite is amazing value for the price ;-)

I bought the Voyage when it first came out (moving form a paperwhite gen 1) and I thought it was _barely_ worth the upgrade then. Now that the paperwhite 3 is out with all of the features that I bought the voyage for, I don't see any reason to pay the extra for it.

Interseting to see that the UK price is £269.99, and the US price is $289.99 (£203.95). Seems a steep price different, even accounting for VAT.

Edit: Wasn't taking into account Sales tax, it's not that bad actually

If by steep you mean £25.

Usual caveats apply: U.S. sales tax is still to be added to that £204 figure, so it's not actually £204 for an American buying it.

Adding vat to your £204 figure takes us to about £245, so even if we assume that an American does pay just £204 for it, it's only a £25 difference (~10%). It's not ideal, but it's actually not bad either --- I've seen that difference being much, much bigger in the past.

I was under the impression that online shops didn't get Sales tax (not sure where I heard that, thanks for clarifiying)

Used to be the case, but it's happening less and less.

Specifically, by default, mail order stores are not required to collect sales tax unless the have a physical presence in the state (retail store, sales office, distribution center, etc.) Quill Corp. v. North Dakota from 1992 is the major SCOTUS case law.

In theory--at least in most states with sales tax--residents are supposed to pay a use tax on out-of-state purchases bought to be used in their state of residence.

A number of states have put pressure on online retailers like Amazon to collect. One of their levers has been to argue that Amazon Associates constitute a physical presence. And Amazon has agreed to collect sales tax (although not for affiliate sales) in several states. Massachusetts for one.

Online shops aren't required to collect sales tax unless they do business in the state that they're delivering to. If a company only exists in California, then only California residents have to pay sales tax. Amazon has warehouses or offices in most states.

The answer to that is "it's complicated"

In California, you were, in theory, required to pay a "use tax" on any goods purchased from out-of state, that just happened to be equal to sales tax. The reality is that most consumers didn't do this, since the only way to get caught would be if they audited your return.

On top of that, if you maintained a commercial presence in the state you are shipping to, sales tax was required. So, any national retailer that also sells online had to charge sales tax.

Amazon was in a gray area where they had shipping warehouses, but not commercial offices in California. They ended up making some deal a couple of years ago where they would charge sales tax online. I'm not sure what Amazon got out of it though.

So you used to be able to illegally get away with buying online without sales tax in some circumstances, but it is no longer the case for Amazon.

At that price Amazon are going to sell - oh... - five or ten. At least.

I really can't imagine who's going to buy this. There may be a mythical subset of hyper-rich hyper-readers who are bored with their existing Kindle collection and want something newer and shinier, because.

But the average reader is already happy with their average reader. This offers nothing of value to them.

At half the price there might be serious interest, but £270 is completely unrealistic.

I've owned a kindle paperwhite since 2013, it works fine tbh I don't feel the need to upgrade. Even the touted 10 LED backlight on the Oasis is meaningless to me, I never use the backlight on my Kindle as it is.

The thing that is frustrating me more and more about the Kindle (and e-readers in general) is the amount of books still not available as ebooks, I don't understand why publishing houses like Penguin books have such a mixed bag when it comes to having a Kindle offering for some titles.

> the amount of books still not available as ebooks

And the retarded pricing. Its regularly at the same or higher as mass paperback. Unless shipping costs have turned negative thats just bullsht.

There's a conspiracy theory going around that the nonsensical pricing for Kindle ebooks is caused by a strategy from the big publishers to make the Kindle less attractive. Their worst nightmare of an Amazon monopoly on digital distribution is becoming more and more a reality. Setting the price for Kindle editions unrealistically high is one way to fight that.

>There's a conspiracy theory going around that

Well something definitely is screw-y with the pricing so I'd consider that theory quite plausible.

I already have a great portable e-book reader that's light enough to hold in my hand. It's my phone. And it's a sunk cost. Oh, and it's not locked to a single bookseller.

I spend all day reading text on screens; when it comes to recreational reading, why are my eyes suddenly so precious that they need a special display that's supposedly easy on them? Like, the rest of the day I'm beating them up or something? $500CAD is almost the up-front cost of a Nexus 6p. And when I get tired of reading Proust I can play Neko Atsume.

This is vesselmancy -- the same wayward urge that had fools plonking out for leatherbound copies of Encyclopedia Britannica as late as the '00s, when they could have -- should have -- known better.

The container has been abstracted. The value is not there anymore. Amazon is just doing arbitrage on the delayed response the background culture has to value migration. $60 leather case included indeed.

It's funny that you mention vesselmancy. As an early adopter of e-ink, I had to endure years of talk about how e-ink will never smell or feel like a real book. I'm the opposite of the person who ordered the leatherbound Encyclopedia Britannica. I bought an early ereader and put all my books in the attic!

Phone displays and computer screens are just fine for reading text, but the fact that you completely discount the value of e-ink makes me wonder if you've seen a recent e-ink display in person. The advantages really become apparent at the extremes: bright sunlight or dim rooms in the evening. Also, the ergonomics of reading on a phone or a computer are not great for books and long articles. It's no coincidence that e-readers tend to be about the size of paperback books. Tablets are better, but they are more expensive, more fragile and more power-hungry.

Augh - I wish they'd stop making smaller kindles and go with another DX! Giving up all that screen space after having gained it is just painful.

I wouldn't mind a hard keyboard again either, but apparently the design meme nowadays is that keyboards are a terrible thing to be virtualized or omitted entirely. (Bitter? Me?)

I've owned about 4 Kindles (always upgraded, never had one break), but I just don't see any reason to upgrade to this model, especially given the price.

I don't understand why they haven't included waterproofing yet. Or at least IP68 certification so you don't have to worry at the beach or by a pool.

Wow, while I'm still disappointed that this doesn't support EPUB, I'm impressed by the feature set. It's clear that the team that did product design is really starting to understand book readers and their needs. The price-point seems to be targeting more dedicated readers it seems, especially with "luxury" offerings like leather covers. My only gripe is that a lot of the touted features will probably only be available for a select few books. It's good to see that even though the e-ink technology isn't maturing that much, the software integrations are increasing. Though personally I'd still go for a Kobo because of size and compatibility issues. Fingers crossed for that experimental color e-ink to ever make a debut...

Ergonomically looks great. They have fixed one of the issue with Paperwhite by adding physical page turn buttons. I prefer to use my Kindle Keyboard instead of Paperwhite everywhere but in bed. Accidentally touching the screen or tapping on a link when you wanted to turn a page is just too annoying.

Now I wish that they had re-introduced Text-to-Speech feature, I would have bought it then. At present, I think it is too overpriced.

There are many times when I get tired of holding Kindle and want to rest my hand. I simply plugin headphones and listen to whatever I was reading. Kindle's TTS is amazing and almost sounds like human.

Yeah for physical buttons! I miss them on the Paperwhite.

I have two Kindle 4s, the last with physical page turn buttons on the edge (until know). I have drooled over the Paperwhite screens but was holding out for one with physical buttons. If the Oasis and its Apple Watch market segment price is anything to go by, I'll be holding on to the 4s for quite some time.

My 5.5 year old Kindle 3 is still going strong. I could definitely see a strong case for a backlit display, but the device I have right now is not worse than a dead tree book in this regard.

My attitude might seem reactionary, however, I feel that in the case of a device that is used for an intimate and intellectual activity, more does not always equal better.

No, but better is better. The paper-white display (with backlight) is substantially, appreciably better than the old displays. The absence of the extremely rarely used keyboard is also welcome. The Paperwhite model doesn't have page buttons though which is a regression (fixed on later models which still has the paperwhite display).

Yeah, the keyboard is just a gimmick. I only ever use it to enter wifi passwords. So, in this case less is actually better! :P

Just recently bought a Kindle Voyager (to replace my Kindle 2, which ended up having its screen crack after a fall), and I have to say the physical buttons on this are appealing-- definitely something I miss about the Kindle 2, though the Voyager's pressure-sensitive sides aren't terrible. Not sure it's $90 appealing, though.

Wow it's significantly lighter than previous kindles, with more battery, and a nice case.

People are going to say "ah, same old" but there are a lot of big changes here without going and breaking what makes kindles great. Will lots of people upgrade though? Probably not, the existing Kindles are also very good in their own right.

Seriously?

It significantly lighter without the cover. And is charging every few weeks really so burdensome that you'll pay an additional $170 (compared to the Paperwhite) to avoid it?

That figure really bears repeating: ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY DOLLARS more. They're charging over twice the price of the Paperwhite, for a device with the same screen size, same resolution, same connectivity, etc.

Madness.

I can buy three Kobo Glo HD for the price of this, which are, in my experience, superior to the Voyage in everything but looks. And should, combined, have a comparable battery life to the Oasis…

This might be a niche market, but 4.7 oz (Oasis) down from 7.6 oz (Paperwhite) is nothing to scoff at for through hikers. People will gladly spend MUCH more than $170 to shave ounces on other equipment. The additional battery life also removes the need to carry a charging cable reducing weight further.

I don't see what makes this worth $100 more than the Kindle Voyage other than it being thin? Am I missing something?

Comparing like for like with the voyage, the voyage is missing $60 of leather case that Amazon is including this time around

Is it me, or is the whole product line looking a bit weak right now? Only one model has proper page turn buttons, and that's the most expensive. The cheapest is nice and cheap but has a low resolution. The paperweight looks like the best option at the moment; I'm not sure what the voyage offers for an extra $80.

Not just you. The screen size being locked to 6 inches across the lineup is disappointing. I can understand why someone would want the small screen for portability, but an option for an 8-10 inch screen would be nice.

Cool product, but I don't see any reason to upgrade from Kindle Paperwhite that would warrant spending additional ~$300 on.

Paperwhite is just good enough across all of the key dimensions - size, weight, screen resolution and battery life for the users who don't run after the latest and greatest.

+1. Unlike mobile-ish apps that run on tablets, new books on an e-ink reader aren't in an arms race with CPU performance.

Agreed. I'd also add its durable enough to not worry about it.

I got a paperwhite for the touchscreen and backlight - both made the device a lot better for reading in bed, and that was a long time ago: a 1st gen paperwhite replaced a 2nd gen kindle, and the turn-page button on the 2nd gen was loud enough to bug my wife if she was trying to sleep. The battery on my paperwhite still lasts a week or more of regular reading, so I'm not about to upgrade for battery life (I have an anker for long trips anyway).

I guess maybe the big bezel would have to be a lot more comfortable for me to want to spend on the upgrade. OTOH, I'm a loyal customer who buys kindle books from the amazon store (or gets them from the library), so amazon already has me as a customer anyway, so maybe the device sale is no big deal.

My first Kindle was the 2nd gen one, right after they dropped the price to $359 (from its original $399 debut price).

Hard to believe I happily paid $359 for my first one, but $289 looks outrageous for the latest model.

The Oasis looks awesome, but I have a 1st gen Paperwhite and it still runs just fine.

Positives: -Physical buttons -Lighter -Smaller -Better frontlighting (supposedly)

Negatives: -Shorter battery life (without the case) -STILL no memory expansion slot -Very, very expensive for a small-formfactor monochromatic e-reader

I've owned every e-ink Kindle model released to date. Going to be skipping this one because there's no real value added over a last gen paperwhite except for physical buttons, which, while very nice, aren't worth tripling the price.

Why do you hate people actually hauling around decent sized libraries, Amazon? Why no SD slot? The device isn't even waterproof yet, there's no excuse.

Their pricepoint is a mistake, unless they just don't want to sell very many of these for some reason. Not much more to say about that.

It feels like innovation on e-readers has stalled. Where is our color eink? Flexible screens?

I don't know how many years its been, but all this time and the only reason I see to upgrade from my gen4 Kindle is my lack of back light, which has never really been a huge issue as I don't do much night reading.

I also have a gen 4 Kindle and a few months ago bought a Paperwhite. The Paperwhite backlight is fantastic, but what really stands out for me is the improved layout engine.

http://www.fastcodesign.com/3046678/the-kindle-finally-gets-...

Previous (current) discussion from 1 hour ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11488082

I wish Amazon would start investing more effort into the software of the Kindle, and make it more into a platform. I still use mine mainly to read eBooks. I would love to use it for reading my Pocket list, for instance. I've been waiting for such an integration for a while.

Amazon's doing a much better job with third party integration in the smart home domain. I still hope the eBook division will follow suit..

Checkout https://p2k.co/, I think it does a good job solving the specific Pocket problem. I agree with your general sentiment though

Disappointing. I can see some very small demographics being interested in this, but I don't see the average consumer benefiting purchasing it.

Apropos nothing, I just checked my email records and I have 294 purchase receipts from Amazon Kindle books going back to 2010. I've read the vast vast majority of these on various iPhones and I have no complaints. It works great for me for 6+ hour sessions of reading.

I'm still looking for the right PDF reader, currently using GoodReader which for me is merely acceptable.

Looks pretty good maybe even worthy of an upgrade but that price is just too rich for me for an ebook reader. Maybe in a year or so when they've come down significantly. The charging cover almost seems unnecessary but if it really extends the battery life into months then that's pretty awesome. Certainly would be great for long term camping / hiking.

E-Reader for the price of a new PS4, no thanks.

Ok, I have a Kindle Paperwhite 7th generation. It's 300dpi. There's no reason even to desire this, right?

You shouldn't let other people tell you what to desire ;)

All of the images show it being held with the right hand. Can it not be turned upside down and held with the left?

This is a terrible price point for what's at best a weak upgrade to the Voyage. $290? That's nuts, unless you're going to give me a 10" screen with it. I was waiting on buying a new Kindle, hoping the Oasis would have a larger screen. Now I'll just buy the Voyage instead.

A new Kindle, and still the size of a postage stamp. Do people really like to read on such a tiny screen? I ended up buying a Kobo H2O when I compared it next to a Kindle Voyage - bonus is I can use it in the bath without worrying about getting it wet!

Late last year I upgraded from a kindle 3 (keyboard) to the Voyage. I like the Voyage quite a bit and the cover flipping over the top rather than to the side is more usable than the case for the paperwhite.

As others have said, additional battery life isn't an issue for me.

Nice. We have a Kindle for book reading but I have been considering letter/a4 size epaper reader for music score notes for my children, the amount of paper they carry around is incredible. Too bad Amazon doesn't offer anything like this yet.

I suspect that Amazon has realized that people don't upgrade their kindles the way they do their phone per say and they think that people will be willing to pay a lot more for something that lasts them 4 or 5 years, if it feels higher quality.

This is a terrible price, especially at the CAD ($400!) pricing.

I would love page turning buttons on my paperwhite like my older kindles had. But I'm not paying $400 for the privilege of getting back what Amazon took away.

The touchscreen on the paperwhite is a terrible idea.

Wow, $289?!?

I loved the previous generation priced under $100 but that's a huge jump and I'm not convinced the feature list justifies such a price. I predict this is not going to sell very well.

And I would have loved a slightly larger screen (7 inches).

$289 with offers.

Who is going to buy this? Who is it for?

And don't forget $20 for a power adapter :)

The only thing that have held me back from upgrading to a Paperwhite is that the background LED is always on.

I hope this allows you to turn it off, but like the information about the Paperwhite, it is probably going to be buried in the forums.

You're not the first person I've heard to complain about this, but is it really an issue? When it's on the lowest setting you're hard pressed to see the glow in even the darkest of rooms, and the battery life is still amazing.

I have Voyage with the lights turned off. Maybe it's just Paperwhite issue?

My first thought when I say the buttons only on the right side were 'what if you're left handed!', but it seems they've thought of that:

Having said that, when using my Kindle I often switch from one hand to the other to accommodate things like picking up a cup, or one arm getting tired.

This is also a lot more expensive that the Paperwhite, or even the Voyage. While the dual battery concept seems nice, I can't say battery life with my existing Kindle has ever been an issue... don't think I'll be upgrading.

For someone who never had e-reader: how good are they to read PDFs with code? Most of my "books" are just PDFs and I've read e-readers were bad for them some time ago. Is it better now?

I'm on a paperwhite (the newest, I think?).

Honestly, I think it works quite well. Code is fine. Graphics / Illustrations might be bad at times, depending on the formatting job.

But then .. you know .. if you want an ebook reader, I'd consider this ~300 bucks one too expensive.

Still bad IMO. I do not recommend using an e-reader for PDFs. I use a Kindle DX on a rare occasion.

A tablet computer with pen provides the best experience IMO. I've used a iPad and an Android tablet before. Both have excellent PDF reading software. I recommend Bookari on Android. The Microsoft Surface, however, beats everything else I've tried.

Not great -- the screen is too small, though the high DPI helps a bit. IMO the iPad is the only way to go for technical PDFs. The iPad Air 2 is a magnificent device.

The design does look way better, but 300 is a stretch for me for a kindle.

I'm sorry but the device didn't need fixing. The shitty user experience of getting content on it and managing it needed fixing.

Until that is taken care of this is still not the device it could be.

Calibre solves that for me. Also I barely buy books on Amazon thanks to it.

I love the Kindle and ebook readers in general, but my beloved Kindle doesn't like PDFs.

Is there any Kindle that does a proper job displaying PDFs without one having to play all the time with zoom?

No, but if you are serious about a PDF workflow for reference and annotation, the Sony DPTS1 is an excellent single-purpose device.

http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/product-DPTS1/

Interesting I wasn't aware of it. A bit pricey though.

Looks really nice, but $500 CAD for the 3G version seems very steep.

Was looking forward to buying this, but have no interest in buying leather for ethical reasons. I emailed jeff@amazon.com about this and am curious what kind of response I get.

Indeed, it's stupid that such high-tech device ships with dead animal skin.

Why have the buttons on just one side? That means I can effectively only read with one hand. I basically just want a paperwhite with page turn buttons on both sides.

I wonder if it's actually now better to read things on the new ipad 9.7". Notably with true tone, night shift and the wide color gamut of the new display.

I've been thinking the same about my new phone. The latest screens are very crisp, and age turning is much faster.

Perhaps night-shift helps now, but for me reading on e-ink has always been a more pleasant experience that results in little eye strain after long periods of time.

Personally, I find eink screens easier to read, even over retina displays. There's simply less strain on my eyes with the eink.

IMO, any good AMOLED phone is a far better reading device than a Kindle, since I do a good portion of my reading in the dark.

Is Amazon still refusing to support ePub on their devices? It looks like that from the spec and conversions didn't look correct last time I tried.

Can anybody tell where the power button is? The Paperwhite has it at the bottom, which isn't ideal for setting it on the elliptical machine.

It doesn't have the adaptive light sensor from the Voyage? It always feels like one step forward, one step back with this product line.

Looks like it's meant to be held with your right hand. I wonder if you can make it flip the screen so left handed people can use it too.

Given that current Kindle e-ink readers can be read in portrait or landscape, it seems within the realm of possibility.

Paragraph 4: "Whether you choose to read with your left or right hand, Kindle Oasis automatically rotates the page orientation to match."

I am pretty sure that I saw a leaked image that showed it being held with both hands, so I am guessing there is, at least, a option to flip the orientation to use it with your left hand.

Every preview I've read mentions that it's "reversible" and works held in either direction.

It could have been more clearly spelled out, but here's a promotional image from the link that should quell any fears that it is not lefty-friendly:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/kindle/d...

I wondered the same thing. Then it occurred to me that I have a $15 musical instrument tuner that, in addition to telling what note is being played, can figure out which way is up, so I just assumed a $289 device could do the same.

The fine print confirms my suspicions, though it could have been made more clear in the copy.

The copy here makes a big deal about reading outdoors. Can anyone comment on the current offerings and how reflective they are in sunlight?

paperweight and other e-ink readers are absolutely superb when reading outdoors.

They are perfect for reading in sunlight. I use mine all summer long by the pool.

I have Kindle Keyboard and Paperwhite. Both of them are great for reading outdoors. Only time it is problem is when sun is directly reflecting in your eyes, but slight adjustment of wrist, problem is solved.

If you can read a magazine, you can read a kindle. It's similar to glossy paper.

so thin that the screen breaks at the slightest pressure, I owned 2 kindles, they ended up with the screen broke in two after every travel.

What were you doing to them? I treat my Kindle terribly and the only damage its ever had is a small part of the screen which no longer works because my keys pushed into it.

What Kindle do you have? My Kindle 3 (complete with physical keyboard!) still keeps rocking, but my Voyage broke after less than half a year.

I moved to a Kobo Glo HD after that. DRM free, account free, same screen, more robust.

I've got a Paperwhite, so maybe that's what did it. I don't really see the point in the higher end models myself, I wouldn't even have bought the Paperwhite if it weren't for the screen backlight.

I bought the Voyage for its better screen… a week or so before Amazon announced an updated Paperwhite with the same screen.

I abuse the hell out of my Paperwhite, and it only suffered any ill effects when it got dropped into a campfire on a recent trip. I literally cannot imagine what you could be doing to reliably destroy Kindles during normal travel.

As a leftie, I feel like it is going to be uncomfortable to use, given that most of the weight of the device sits on the right hand side.

From the photos, it seems you can flip it around and it works for lefties.

Hold it upside down. The pages will flip orientation if you do that, and all the weight will be on the left side.

Turn it upside-down.

Without looking it up, I'm guessing its rotatable?

$289.99 for an ugly looking kindle that isn't that different from the paperwhite... no thanks.

Isn't it easier/cheaper to add small solar panel than second battery?

I wonder how much battery might be saved with an "invert colors" mode for nighttime reading. I love that feature for my various iPad reading apps and desperately wish my Paperwhite had that capability. It would be so much easier on the eyes as well.

Probably not much. e-ink only sucks battery when it's changing pixels, and the same ones change whether or not it's inverted.

Bummer--makes sense though. Thanks for the explanation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink

I don't like that the page turners are only on the right side.

Simply rotate the device, and the content will also rotate.

Then they'll only be on the left side!

You can turn it round so the buttons are on the opposite edge.

So, if you're left handed it's upside down by default?

Kindle keyboard (and text-to-speech) for life! :)

The test-to-speech on the old kindles was surprisingly good. I used to walk to work, and listen to my kindle on the way. Also worked pretty good with one of those audio-to-tape adapter rigs in my old car - way better than trying to find non-abridged audiobooks on tape and then deal with switching through a box of a dozen tapes on long drives.

Yup I love my Kindle Keyboard. TTS is really useful when you are driving or want to give your eyes a break.

I've mostly gone back to physical books. The Kindle was a nice experiment and all, but honestly it's more expensive and less convenient

Well, a little more nuanced than that. I'd argue the convenience of getting books at the touch of a button outweighs some of its inconveniences (battery, etc.).

I don't particularly experience the inconveniences since I like going into bookshops and usually have a backlog to read. I still have the kindle app and a few kindle books for the occasions when they are useful. The real killer for me though is that at least a third of the books I read are lent to me by a friend, and most of the books I buy are shared on. Kindle doesn't really support this, and that makes the economics of ebooks rather poor for me.

I'm glad the buttons are back!

It is about time that an e-Reader works one handed. I have no idea why this wasn't done years ago.

The original Kindles had page turn buttons on each side. The Kindle Voyage has capacitive page turn buttons on each side. I don't really see what's so special about this other than that it has a bigger bezel on the side with the buttons.

I love my 2nd gen Kindle for having those page turn buttons on both sides.

Not just for left or right hande people. Sometimes you want to rest and can't stop reading.

Still look my Nook which allows you to determine the function of the buttons, so I can happily use it one handed down at the beach etc. Great bit of kit and was so cheap!

Yes finally an ereader designed for Africa the land of wild animals and no electricity !

10 whole leds!

4GB in 2016. Amazon, it's not funny, really! Or actually it is very funny... Good luck!

How much on-board storage do you think would be enough? I'm guessing Amazon has a pretty good idea of how much storage their best customers need.

I have to read plenty of PDFs (imagine recent research articles) and have many books in PDF format I bought (a single photography/visual art book PDF can be easily 100MB) - if Amazon had incorporated a silly microSD card slot, I could stuff everything I got into it. Now my Voyage is relegated to "hot items" only, the ones I need to read right now, and often I don't bother. Now what is the cost of a microSD slot? $0.20? They insist on some silly business model and they just ruin it for the resourceful clients that don't want to waste time switching between multiple devices, could buy a lot from them and inspire other people to "ape" after them as well. Now I rather stuff a 200GB microSD card into my Android phone (iPhone has the same issue), put everything there instead and buy ebooks elsewhere. Win for Amazon?

How can you even read PDFs on it? Whenever I try it tries to cram it from a 8.5x11 down to he 6in screen and everything turns out blurry. Images also don't seem to be fantastic on the devices, so I don't know how many high-image documents you could even use on that device.

Voyage has 300ppi as well, so it's readable from close distances (kinda like low-quality laser print); research articles often have two columns per A4 so I just zoom in 200% and am more-less fine. I would rather have 8"+ 4:3 of course. And sometimes PDF rendering is extremely slow as well, but...

On the other hand if I need a certain photography setup for achieving a certain look, I can use Voyage for that - imagine instead of a PDF book with lighting setups and examples of results you had a piece of paper with a drawing - seems pretty comparable quality-wise.

For research articles I do this:

1. crop out page numbers: http://briss.sourceforge.net/

2. remove columns and reflow with: http://willus.com/k2pdfopt/

The later one works like magic, it totally made my ebook reader so much useful. (A Tolino Vision, a very fine german device not locked to the Amazon store: http://mytolino.com/)

(edit: fixed links)

What do you mean by not locked to the Amazon store? Does the Tolino work with books bought from Amazon? How about Google, B&N, or Apple?

It means you can copy Epub files to it without conversion (with or without drm). It has direct integration with various ebook shops (mostly German) as opposed to be tied to the reader manufacturer's bookshop. It's not the panacea but it seems better than the situation with most other readers. I also enjoy the tap-to-flip feature (tap with your finger on the back to flip page), specially when lying on the bed.

The lack of a microsd slot and tiny internal storage is also the reason why I have never bought a Kindle, including the DX. I also have a lot of books that were converted to PDF and I typically need about 20GB free storage so far to keep my collection.

"Buy once, read everywhere"

I can't get this to work for my Kindle. I export lengthy articles and journal papers to mobi and save it on kindle device, but I can't find it on my mobile or my laptop ever.

The key word is "buy." If it's associated with your digital purchases on Amazon, you can directly access them from any device. If you've downloaded/saved a document to a specific device, it's only on that device.

However, my understanding is that you can import content to your personal Kindle library. https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_...

I owned a Kindle 1, 2, Keyboard, and then a Paperwhite.

The first-gen PW was EXTREMELY disappointing - their much-hyped backlighting was uneven and splotchy, and I hated being forced to use a touchscreen instead of having page-turn buttons.

So, when the Nexus 7 FHD came out, I switched to using that (despite having to use a touchscreen) and the PW has gathered dust. If I ever dig it back out, I'll have to do a manual firmware update for the SSL cert issue, but I need to do that for the K1 I have in storage as well.

It was surprising when I dug the K1 out of a box last year and the built-in 3G still worked fine.

I really wish the Kindle team had more imagination. It's a tablet designed for reading enthusiasts-- what about making one for writing enthusiasts?

Imagine a very affordable, portable laptop with week-long battery life, completely free of distractions like youtube.

It writes. It reads. It sends emails. That's it. Maybe as a stretch, they could quietly make it attractive to the tech community with a Unix-compatible shell and SSH ability. Call it the Kindle TypeLighter.

You're welcome, Amazon. I'll accept my royalty payments in personal check.

EDIT: Before anyone says anything about refresh rates, there's plenty of electronic ink technologies that are more than capable of supporting the rates needed to rapidly add characters to the screen. This thing, for example: http://www.dasung.com.cn/

They probably already thought about it ten years ago and probably working on it. It's not some groundbreaking and original new idea you're suggesting, it's natural that once you're able to read you want to write. I at least had the same thought the first day I bought my first kindle. Probably the reason we don't have it is because of implementation details.

You can buy this Sony thing right now: http://www.sony.com/electronics/digital-paper-notepads/dpts1 -- thin A4 display.

It looks interesting if it works as advertised. (The reviews seem a bit mixed.) But at $799 you'd need to have a pretty compelling use case (like reading an annotating a lot of PDF journal articles) to justify it vs. just annotating articles on a tablet.

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