Amazon has just unveiled a Kindle Oasis with adjustable frontlight color.
It appears to be exactly the same as the 2nd gen Kindle Oasis except now it comes with cool and warm frontlights so you can adjust the frontlight color to your preference.
You can adjust the color manually or set a schedule to have it automatically adjust to a warmer color as the day winds down.
This is the first Kindle to offer frontlight color adjustment. Virtually all other brands have the same feature; Amazon finally caved and joined the crowd.
It’s available with 8GB or 32GB like before, with silver and gold color choices. There’s also a 4G LTE model that sells for approximately one arm and one leg.
The Kindle Oasis has a 7-inch E Ink screen with 300 ppi. It’s waterproof and it has Bluetooth for audiobooks.
The description at Amazon says it features “the latest e-ink technology” and “next generation e-paper” but that’s probably just marketing speak. There hasn’t been any word about E Ink’s displays being improved since the 2nd gen Kindle Oasis was first released back in November 2017, but I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
They accepting pre-orders for the new Kindle Oasis now. The release date is July 24th. The price starts at $249 like before, and now the regular Kindle Oasis is marked down to $199, probably to help clear out remaining stock as they shift to this newer model.
This is so frustrating. I can’t believe they kept the same Oasis design. All they’re doing is adding comfort light. I guess this means there’s no other new Kindle being released this year. So much for a 7.8 Kindle.
I saw you mentioned kobo, actually kobo still using IR touchscreen, kobo forma is UR touch
On the plus side, my existing cases should still work.
L.A.M.E. Just an old Oasis with comfort light. I guess we can now hold off on a new premium Kindle release for at least another 2 Years. This was their best move? I highly seriously doubt this is enough to entice people to upgrade their Oasis.
It’s just a Kindle, dude. Why do you get so worked up over this stuff? There are plenty of alternatives for people that don’t want Kindles these days. There’s no use complaining about it year after year. Life’s too short. Be happy.
Yes there are alternatives althought a few of them. I have the forma and Aura but I was still expecting much more from Amazon. Like I said, this is lame.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I have the Forma and Clara and have switched to buying most of my books from Kobo. I love the Forma but hated the Oasis – both sizes. I think Kobo did a better job on the design than Amazon. I had really hoped Amazon’s new device would have been the straight format like the Voyage but 7.8 or 8 inches. The new Nook is what Amazon should have brought out. I have a very extensive Kindle library and read them on my iPad but I had hoped for a better truly new Kindle to be offered. Oh well, Amazon’s money loss from me.
Precisely, are we not to say how we really feel? Can’t we not disagree? And it’s not year after year. That’s the frustrating part that Nathan doesn’t understand. Amazon doesn’t release premium devices year after year. It took Amazon 3 years to release the PW4 and it sucks. The Oasis 7” was released 2 years ago and they did nothing to improve the awkward design. They haven’t even released the update to the Voyage which was released almost 5 years ago. It will most likely take another 2-3 years for Amazon to release a premium Kindle. So yeah IT SUCKS! Yes it is just a device but we are obviously aficionados. It’s a hobby. BTW, how can you say that this is just a device when you have a dedicated blog about eReaders? (Smh). At least Kobo is trying on the hardware front and improving on design while not releasing literally the same device design over and over.
I used to get annoyed by Amazon’s lack of innovation, but over the past few years they have taken steps in the right direction, and I prefer to look at the positives. The fact is they’re so far ahead of the competition when it comes to ebooks they don’t really have to do anything, but they finally released a Kindle with a larger screen and finally did away with the non-frontlit entry-level model and now they’ve added frontlight color adjustment, and they also gave users the ability to sideload fonts and use boldness settings—all things I’ve been saying they should do for years so I can’t complain about it anymore.
The fact is the new Paperwhite is a bargain when it goes on sale and the 7-inch Oasis is a really nice Kindle. Just because you don’t like them doesn’t mean they aren’t selling well or aren’t liked by the majority of people that buy them. I would be totally happy with a Kindle Oasis if I had nothing else. I don’t love the design but I don’t hate it either. Frankly I just want page buttons.
Plus all Kobo did was tweak the Kindle Oasis’s design with the Kobo Forma; their other models are the same thing over and over again.
This was my only real problem with the Oasis, so it’s enough for me.
25 LEDs? how could 25 leds fit into a small gear??
That is a lot of LEDs. The new Nook has 19 so that’s not a huge difference but it certainly isn’t going to help make battery life better.
this new one is actually lighter, like 10g lighter
It’s only 6 grams lighter.
Could it indicate that the Oasis 3 uses the Moebius screen? Or in that case should the difference be more significant?
Yeah, the difference would be a lot more significant if it had a Mobius screen. They probably just removed the back magnets since they ditched the half cover idea.
Will adding adjustable front lightcolor improve the contrast?
Probably not but adjusting the screen color to the color of the ambient light does make reading feel more natural.
“There’s also a 4G LTE model that sells for approximately one arm and one leg.”
Ha ha! So true.
Frankly I expect the most uniform front lighting on the market. If it was 8″ I would by it today. I recently purchased a Forma from Kobo and really like the larger size…so much so that I really don’t use my Oasis much.
There are features that I really like on Kindles…the ability to search through my entire, on device library for words that Kobo does not seem to be able to do. BUT they made an impressive device in the Forma…comfortable to hold, margin control and most of all a larger screen.
Nathan, you are right. There are alternatives.
I normally invert the color on my kindle when reading at night so the background is black and the text is white. I wonder if that is still an option in the new kindle and if the adjustable front light would even make a difference in the inverted color mode.
I like the inverted color too. I have a problem with my PW4 in that when I turn a page it shows a white page for a second and then the black one. It’s so annoying that I don’t use the inverted color any more.
Maybe more RAM will help this?
Slightly annoyed, but not surprised, as I just picked up the Oasis 2 at its discounted price.
My old inkpad 8 finally stopped working so I needed something to replace it. While I really do prefer having a warmer set of lights on an ereader, I’ll just hold onto my Oasis as is. Its not worth the extra $50 and 30 days without an ereader
“There’s also a 4G LTE model that sells for approximately one arm and one leg.” Is my favorite thing ever read from a tech news site.
Same, I bought a kindle oasis yesterday at a discount rate in Australia. I upgraded from kindle pw 2. My only complain with Oasis, so far, is its battery life :/
When I bought pw 2 they released pw3, the next day. When I bought oasis 2, they released Oasis 3. Lol
With the only new feature seemingly being the color changing frontlight, which is not something I care about in the least, looks like I’ll be holding on to my 2017 Oasis for a bit longer.
Just as well really; since my schedule has changed I don’t have nearly the free time to read like I used to, and it makes justifying a new e-reader all the more difficult.
I read this morning that Amazon have apparently confirmed that the battery in the updated Oasis is 1130 mAh, so with all those extra LED lights, I assume the battery life won’t be any better, if not slightly worse than the 2017 version.
I literally ordered a 2017 Oasis just yesterday, as I finally got swayed by the price drop… should have known, but I wasn’t expecting an update til later this year! I have cancelled my order now, and pre-ordered the new version… the warm light was worth waiting an extra month for, I think.
Oasis 2 is infamous for the short battery life. However, the 1000 mAh battery in it could provide 18-20 hours reading, which is absolutely ok regarding the small battery size and the fact, that a smart charger can fully charge the reader in 50 minutes. So if you see it in a different perspective: you can read 20 times more than the charging time, it is pretty impressive. But to burden it with 13 more LEDs? I don’t think there will be any kind of perspective that could make the battery life acceptable for anyone. However, less number of LEDs could end up in uneven lighting. Actually, I have never seen even lighting in the full spectrum on any readers equipped with comfortlight.
My guess is that with 25 LEDs this will be the most even screen on the market. The Oasis 2 was already even in light distribution. I just like bigger devices. As the odds of Amazon coming out with a larger device in 2019 just went down, many readers looking for a larger device, will have to look elsewhere. While the Kobo Forma has one side lighting issues, it is a good alternative.
I think it’s 12 white led and 13 amber led. I wonder how this will affect the mediocre battery life. Surprisingly the oasis 3 is about .5 ounces lighter than oasis 2
I had a feeling a new one was coming when I saw the Oasis for $199 last week and immediately ordered one. I was planning on getting my wife one for her birthday and $50 off was a bonus.
Glad to see Amazon finally added USB-C it’s about freaking time and only took them ages. Not stoked however on keeping the same tired design dating back years with the first Oasis. I’ll be passing.
Not sure where you got that from. It looks like the same old school USB port in the picture, and the description says it comes with a USB 2.0 cable in the box.
According to the “User Guide” it’s still a Micro-USB power port.
my kobo aura 7.8″ screen (1st gen which i preordered) just might get replaced 😉
love the big screen and so sick of the highlighting and other touch screen issues
Love Vg’r (my voyager) but the screen is so small … with the color in the front light on the new oasis, I’m considering that. Waiting to read reviews and maybe for a sale next mother’s day ;p
Just received a delivery date for my pre-order. July 31st…. A full week after the release day. See if you ever get my money early again Amazon.
I’m a Prime member too. I’m pretty peved.