Review: Kindle Oasis

The Kindle Oasis is an incredibly thin and light-weight, amazon owned e-reader tablet that is used solely for reading books, magazines, comics, and other reading material.

It has many features that allow for quality reading, such as its matte E-Ink display screen that mimics the looks of ink on a page. This feature not only helps keep the aesthetic of a book page for those that don’t want to lose that aspect of a book but also reduces the eye strain that comes with reading on an electronic device. The screens on your phones and laptops strain the eye due to the strong blue light they’re constantly emitting and the glare that comes with that kind of screen. Kindles do also emit blue light, though they have the option of turning up the warm light, but it’s less than that of a phone and the E-ink it displays is a lot closer to that of actual ink on a paper, so the irritation that comes from the glare is hardly a problem. The screen is also a lot easier to see in sunlight, so your eyes don’t have to strain so much trying to focus on the screen.

Another cool feature on the Kindle Oasis is the page turn buttons. They make page turning so much easier than having to tap either side of the screen to turn pages. The top button turns to the next page while the bottom one turns to the previous page; the buttons also automatically sync with the way that your Kindle is turned, whether you hold it with the buttons on the left or right. The buttons also feel great with another feature the Oasis has: an ergonomic grip that allows for easy holding and minimized strain on the hand you use to hold the Kindle.

Not to mention that the Oasis is water resistant, a useful feature if you like to take a relaxing bath while reading.

Also, if you’re worried about losing the ability to annotate and bookmark your pages, there’s no need for it, considering that the Oasis allows you to do all of that along with seeing what lines from the book are popular highlights.

The Oasis also functions without WiFi; you do need WiFi to download the content to your library, but once it’s in your library, you are able to read, annotate, and hold onto a word or phrase to look up its meaning or context in the book.

All of these features have improved my quality of reading: I can carry the kindle around and it doesn’t take up much space in my bag, I don’t get a headache after reading on my Kindle like I would with my phone, it’s easy to hold, the battery life is significantly longer than that of a phone’s, I can read anywhere and everywhere, and I can annotate to my heart’s content.

However, like everything else, there are downsides to the Kindle as well. One of these downsides actually has to do with the annotating features I’ve previously mentioned: you are able to highlight text and type out a note to go with it, but it is pretty slow sometimes when highlighting and mainly when typing out your note. This is due to the slow nature of E-ink technology. It can be a little frustrating at times, especially when you’re excitedly trying to jot something down and it jumbles up your words because of its slow response. Another thing I noticed when purchasing the Oasis, is that the price for the Kindle Paperwhite, around $100, is almost half the price of the Oasis, loosely around $200, and they share quite a few of the same features, with the page turning buttons and the ergonomic grip being some of the biggest upgrades the Oasis offered. Some find that the price for the Oasis is unreasonable because of this. I, however, feel that the Oasis does feel more luxurious than the Paperwhite and prioritizes comfortability in a way that the Paperwhite doesn’t.

That being said, I can’t think of other problems I have had with my Kindle Oasis. It may be pricey compared to other e-reading tablets on the market, but I’ve had nothing but a good time while reading on my Kindle. It truly has improved my quality of reading, my reading time, and my previously sobbing bank account: it really has saved me money from buying all the physical copies of books. If you are quite the bibliophile, have the money, and are willing to spend a little more on quality, I definitely recommend investing in a Kindle Oasis. I’m sure you too will enjoy all of the convenient and amazing features it has to offer its dedicated readers.