At this point it’s pretty clear that the Kindle Oasis is being phased out. Several Amazon websites have stopped selling it altogether over the past few weeks and now ten of the twelve model variations are unavailable from Amazon’s main website as well.
So the big question is does this mean the Kindle Oasis is going to be replaced soon or is it going to be discontinued?
Considering the fact that it was just released last year and is newer than both the Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Voyage, it seems unlikely that Amazon would get rid of the Oasis line entirely at this point.
It seems more likely for Amazon to release an updated 2nd gen version with some new features to separate it from the other models and help justify the higher price.
Lots of ereading fans, myself included, have been hoping for a larger Kindle somewhat similar to the 7.8-inch Kobo Aura One.
Could Amazon release an 8-inch version of the Kindle Oasis?
The main problem with that theory is they wouldn’t need to discontinue the 6-inch Oasis if they planned to release a larger version. They would just sell both at the same time.
Lots of people point to the Aura One and say Amazon could release a larger Kindle like it this year, but E Ink has been making a variety of screen sizes for many years, including 8-inch E Ink screens, but Amazon has only used 6-inch screens since 2010.
They released the 9.7-inch Kindle DX in 2009 and then updated it in 2010, but then they never even bothered to keep the software up-to-date after that and just let the DX wither on the vine.
Back when Sony was relevant, they offered 5″, 6″, and 7″ ereaders. Over the years Kobo has offered ereaders in a variety of sizes as well. But during that time Amazon has been happy to only offer 6-inch Kindles. Why would they suddenly change things now, especially as the Kindle remains on top as the number one ereader brand?
I’m not saying the upcoming release of a larger Kindle is impossible, but recent history shows us that Amazon has no interest whatsoever in offering anything but 6-inch Kindles.
I really hope I’m wrong about this but I think the odds of Amazon releasing anything but another 6-inch Kindle is painfully minute. They’ll probably just release a 2nd gen Oasis that has the same 6-inch 300ppi screen and add some minor upgrades like the addition of an auto adjusting frontlight and the option to change frontlight color temperature.
Sure, the signs don’t absolutely point to a larger Kindle, but I don’t agree that there would be no reason to discontinue the 6″ Oasis. Didn’t Amazon kill off a 6″ Fire tablet in favor of the larger models?
I don’t know if the scenario is the same since they released it at the same time as 7″ and 8.9″ models. Then they started going with cheaper lower resolution screens after that so they were able to sell them for less. I think a lot of the reason behind the 6″ model was to trim the price down to under $100 back when most tablets were pretty expensive. Back then even the 7″ model was like $140. Prices sure have come down a lot in just a few years! Even the new 9.7″ iPad is pretty reasonable.
Yeah, not the same thing, I know, although the cost of slightly larger E Ink displays is getting to be very near the price of the plain 6″ model. (Not an indicator of Amazon’s large order prices, but if you go to the E Ink shop to buy one for a homebrew application, the 6″, 6.8″ and 7.8″ models are all $149.)
I believe Amazon will release a larger display reader. It will be one way to define a “premium” reader besides a fancy case or some hardware page turn buttons. Also, the manga edition of the Paperwhite shows they have some neat navigation tricks for a larger device that can handle image-heavy documents. It’s just waiting to get the hardware support.
refresh is interesting. just wish I did not buy the oasis a few months ago now.
I got my kindle paperwhite on Sept. 12,2019 and I love it. Was looking at the Oasis but decided I didn’t want to spend that much money.
I would love to know Amazon’s Product Management strategy re: this topic.
A larger e-reader I think would really sell well. Yes, 6″ is probably the optimal size, but I think a lot of people want a larger size. It just seems like an easy way for Amazon to get even more of the market.
Amazon in general is a super aggressive company, why is Kindle’s Product Management so lethargic in this area?
Plus a larger Kindle (or even a smaller Kindle) would be the #1 thing to get existing Kindle owners to buy another Kindle so I can’t understand their logic with that either. They’ve offered several different tablet sizes over the years. Sticking with one Kindle size makes no sense whatsoever. Personally I wouldn’t mind a super cheap and lightweight 4.3″ Kindle for reading on the go and a larger Kindle for reading at home.
I doubt if there’s much of a market for a smaller e-ink reader. For most people even the cheapest phones like my $30 LG Destiny are fine for reading for an hour while I’m waiting for an appointment or my car to be serviced. For the extremely rare occasion where I might be stuck outdoors I’d just take the PW with me…
That’s probably true for most people. I don’t have any need or desire to carry a phone with me everywhere I go (I don’t even own a cell phone anymore) so I’d rather have a small ereader. 😀
I was pleased with the way the 9.7″ Kindle DX made PDFs more readable. I purchased the Fire HD 8 in the hope that the larger size would render PDFs more readable. Alas, the software was not up to the task. There was an awful lot of blank space in the margins.
I never use my Oasis….it’s way too small and the cover charging system is terrible….very sorry I bought it.
I think we’re all just guessing what Amazon’s plan is but to me it looks like they’ve kind of lost interest in Kindles. They have 3 e-ink models with variations and they sell a few but the Fire tablets sell better and the point of the Kindles is to sell books and it seems a lot of people are reading on the Fires and on their phones and tablets. It probably makes the Kindle less interesting to Amazon.
My guess is they’ll do an occasional token update and that’ll be about it. E-ink ereaders aren’t dead but they’re not a big thing anymore.
Barry
As someone who did just that (Fire 8 HD), you are probably right. The text rendering is excellent given the physically low screen resolution and being able to run (other) reading apps such as Pocket and Inoreader is a big win.
I wonder if the Kindle is just too limited now. I doubt very much that Amazon would ever allow Kindles to run Android apps because the customer support issues would be immense (action games on an e-ink screen … ?)
Out of curiosity, can you tell me if the Fire tablet will sync reading progress to GoodReads, be it via the reading app or whatever?
Thanks
It does. As far as I can determine the Kindle/Kindle apps are equivalent, at least as far as reading goes. (The Kindle Fire app and the general Android app may well be the same thing).
I’ve bought 5 Kindles from Original Fire and Kindle .Keyboard. I will never buy anything other than 7.8 or 8 inch.
I use a Paperwhite (not bright enough) for waiting at doctor’s offices etc.
My go to ereader is an iPad mini 2. If it’s not as sharp as this, forget it!!!
I almost always read sideways with 2 columns. It’s much more readable than any Kindle. Yeah, it’s a tablet, and I use the hell out of it as a tablet, but I haven’t seen anything at any price that beats this reading experience combined with portability.
I’m a book a day reader; single column would take twice as long.
You remind me of my friend who read “A Brief History of Time” in 30 minutes and told me it was an OK book.
I guess I was generalizing. Something like Nicholas Sparks or the Travis McGee series, yeah 5 0r 6 hours. W. E. B. Griffith’s books maybe two-three days. A Rutherford epic might be a week . A history book like something on Operation Barbarossa, with tons of maps and charts might be a couple of weeks.
But I usually have 3 or 4 books in process at a time, so it’s fair to say I probably do finish close to a book a day.
Many e-book readers allow you to read in landscape mode (to include more than one column). My Sony PRS-T1 does. So not a feature at all exclusive to tablets.
Not sure if the Kindle supports landscape mode, but would be surprised if it didn’t.
I just looked my Sony supports multiple columns in landscape mode. Had to check because I highly prefer portrait mode. I only use landscape mode sometimes to read PDFs.
I checked on my Kindle Touch. It supports landscape mode, but does not support multiple columns. Not sure if this is true for all Kindles?
None of the Kindles I’ve had support landscape, including my current paperwhite.
My comment wasn’t about e-books in general but the story context of larger kindles.
Kindles have always had landscape mode.
I’m happy with my 3rd generation paperwhite. I personally can’t think of anything Amazon could come out with that would make me want to update. I have a fire tablet for audible I’ve looked at print books on the tablet and don’t understand why anyone would read on it the basic kindle would be better but that’s just my opinion
don’t think it’s mandatory for Amazon to release an update on the Oasis, after all it didn’t sell well due to low interest and poor quality control. The Voyage also never got an update, why should the Oasis?
I believe the reason it’s being phased out it’s to make room for it’s price point the larger model will be offered at. There’s simply know way to release another 6″ Oasis and price it at the current price point when the Aura One costs $200 and blows it away in every aspect. It just doesn’t make sense. It would be another failure. You also can’t especially when the Paperwhite costs $99 and is practically 95% identical.
Too keep the Oasis line and release a larger Kindle would mean offering an eventual larger Kindle at a ridiculous $500 price point, that is just insane for a single purpose device that costs as much as an iPad air….You also can’t price it so high when (again) the Kobo Aura One is $200 and will most likely still have superior specs to the new Kindle.
Amazon shot themselves in the foot with the Oasis and I believe it’s the reason it’s being phased out. Also remember, it’s the X Anniversary. I highly doubt Amazon will release a lazy device for it’s tenth edition. I just can’t see it.
I can’t speak to quality control, but if there was low interest in the Oasis I’d have to think the price was a large part of that.
After the Voyage was out for a bit I finally coughed up the AU$300 it cost! And then they bring out the Oasis, which looked neat and I think I’d like it a good bit more than the Voyage, but the local price of the Oasis is AU$450! It’s a nice device, but that is a lot of money for a book reader.
Oh and the only way to get it is through the local Officeworks chain. Amazon literally refuse to sell it online in the Australian market, or via the US website.
You mention it’s crazy to spend $500 for a single purpose device, well welcome to Australian pricing 🙄.
Yes quality control was bad, for example I went through 3 exchanges and they all had light cone shadows along the sides and charging cover issues.
Also battery would drain quick and was nowhere as advertised. I also had an issue that the text wasn’t as sharp and black as my Voyage. It also was plagued with uneven lighting on all 3 devices.
I mean if you’re going to release a “Premium” Kindle at such an insane high price then it should literally be PERFECT! There shouldn’t be any issues whatsoever, that’s why you pay extra.
And yes $500 USD is too high for a Kindle eReader despite the size which is why I truly believe the Oasis is being phased out to make room for it’s price-point.
Well, if they do phase it out and the replacement isn’t attractive to me (which is likely if it’s much bigger) hopefully I’ll be able to get an Oasis for a reduced price somewhere 😀
Agreed. I imagine the high price was the main reason for the Oasis’ failure.
Yes, they w’ont. the reason is price for mobi versions (especially for of non fiction) books are much lower than for paper versions. High quality (carta, 200+dpi) big screens wuold make such pricing … it jusr doesn’y work this way
I love the size of the Kobo Aura One and when I have to read a Kindle book I switch to the iPad mini – even when I had the Oasis (which has been sent back to Amazon). I have really started enjoying using the iPad mini since I can have all of my books on it and for the size. The night shift mode which I use all of the time helps prevent eye strain for my eyes. When I am out and about I use my phone if I need to read while waiting in a line. If Amazon comes out with a larger device I doubt I will buy it. They are too late to the market now.
I still dislike tablets for reading for several reasons: Battery life and reading in direct sunlight. With an e-ink reader I just have it in my backpack and it’s always ready to go. Don’t have to remember to charge it.
With some tablets you can read in sunlight, but IMHO makes for a poor experience, one of the big advantages if e-ink.
If I know I will be outside and want to read I will read on the Kobo Aura One which has spoiled me on screen size. I got rid of my Nook and Kindle because I just can’t stand the 6 inch screen anymore especially when needing larger fonts. If I had to absolutely only have one device to read on and had to choose I would pick the Kobo Aura One for the reasons you mentioned and for the size and comfort light.
Given the crazy price of the Oasis I seriously started thinking about reading on my iPad (now iPad Pro), but the problem is the app is still missing basic functionality, like syncing progress to GoodReads. That is very annoying.
It would be nice to give be able to avoid the cost of a standalone reader, but I won’t be happy doing that until they improve the app, which doesn’t seem all that likely. And then of course you have the trade offs of using a 9.7″ tablet.
I know Onyx has been selling large eReaders for a few years now but with the popularity and success of the Aura One, not to mention the new Sony DPT and companies like Onyx now in the fold with their larger offerings, I can’t imagine Amazon not releasing a larger Kindle for their anniversary. It would be a real shame. There simply is no interest in a premium 6′ model at the current price the Oasis is being offered. Both the Paperwhite and Voyage are good enough.
Releasing another 6″ Kindle is like Apple releasing the new iPhone 8 at 4.5″ and calling it the best iPhone ever. That would be ridiculous considering all the larger premium options available. Makes absolute no sense!
Let’s not forget how Amazon reacted when the Kobo Glo HD came out, they were quick to update the Paperwhite to 300ppi, so i’m sure they are paying attention to recent trends.
I see on the website Amazon it says
The Oasis is
Currently unavailable.
We don’t know when or if this item will be back in stock.
Something is up !!
I think Amazon will actually put out a larger reader…possibly wishful thinking!I have requested by email and phone a larger Kindle several times(hopefully many other readers have also) and Amazon has responded-once to tell me that they don’t let customers dictate policy but they will take it under advisement…
My prediction is one larger reader and two standard 6″ models. Hopefully, an ego drives the Kindle team to put out a top end model to brag about that actually gets signed off on by Jeff Bezos’ executive team.
I shortened it-here is part of the response-I did not get offended-the rep talked to me directly:
Jeff Bezos received your email and asked me to respond on his behalf.
I want to thank you for taking the time to share this feedback with us. As a Kindle user myself, I can tell you having a device like the one you described would be simply amazing. I’ve passed along your comments and suggestions to the Kindle team for team consideration, and I’m totally sure they’ll be happy to listen to your feedback. While I can’t make any promises nor speculate about potential features, you can rest assured this feedback will definitely be taken into consideration for future improvements. Your feedback is very important for us, as we continuously look forward to improve our devices and offer the best service to our customers.
While we appreciate your idea, we’re required to relay the following Statement of Company details to you:
– Amazon.com does not accept creative ideas, proposals, concepts, suggestions or materials (whether of a technical, business, financial or other nature) other than those that we specifically request.
– While we are happy to review non-confidential ideas and proposals that are sent to us, we generally do not become involved in business opportunities proposed by individuals unless we have contacted them first.
“they don’t let customers dictate policy but they will take it under advisement”
Did they really use that wording?
Doesn’t seem like any company would say “… we don’t let customers dictate policy…”
I think ALL ebook marketer’s are intentionally holding the market back. I resent Amazon’s closed environment but I have been absolutely floored to learn Kobo/ Rakuten own Overdrive and have taken over Torino in Europe.
I prefer ereaders to tablets for reading books outside on a sunny day and am going to have to get a Kobo Aura one only because Kobo does not put Overdrive access on its cheaper models.
These retailers would sell more ereaders if they woke up to the fact that single trick technology has to be cheap & reliable. It won’t sell unless it is cheap
Uh oh. The Kindle Oasis is back in stock again. Maybe their shipment was just delayed or something. What if it’s like last fall and no new Kindle gets released at all again?
I still say Amazon releases a new eReader, and if the Oasis isn’t being discontinued then I am almost 100% certain Amazon will release a Larger Kindle.
3 Reasons
1. There’s no way in hell Amazon releases another 6″ Kindle that costs more than the BS price of the Oasis
2. There’s no way Amazon releases a newer 6″ Kindle that’s better and cheaper than the Oasis and thus undercutting it.
3. There’s no way in hell Amazon doesn’t release a new Kindle for their 10th Anniversary.
Basically there’s no room for another 6″ Kindle. Any upgrades would only be aesthetically, being thinner. You cant add a flush screen, higher resolution, or buttons to the Paperwhite and keep it at $120. You cant do anything to the Voyage without undercutting the Oasis and you cant discontinue the Oasis if you are still manufacturing more stock this late in the year (remember the new model comes out in November).
Basically all signs point to a new larger Kindle in November.
Thank heavens for this site. All the other Kindle reviews on-line have are by people who clearly never read books.
Just got an Oasis /32Gb as a birthday gift. I haven’t unboxed it as I’m concerned that the 7″ 300 dpi screen is too small for serious book reading. It does have higher dots than my old Kindle DX but I was hoping for something a little bit better than
“the ability to read an entire (small) paragraph”.