Oasis: Gold standard for eBook readers

Amazon's latest Kindle is great but comes at a steep price

I've always been a bibliophile and while I'd been dipping my toes in the world of eBook readers, I was forced to take the plunge a few years ago when my wife gifted me a Kindle Paperwhite 3G from Amazon, subtly hinting she didn't want another "physical library" at home. Since then, the Paperwhite has been my trusted friend before turning in for the night.

This year, Amazon debuted the Kindle Oasis (Rs 27,999 for the Wi-Fi+Free 3G version) and the design seems the most striking upgrade since the Voyage. While the Oasis retains the six-inch screen of the Paperwhite and Voyage (and the same resolution), the thin bezel around it makes the latest from Amazon look like a square. It is amazingly light and one end tapers into a thin edge while the other sports a thick spine, with physical buttons.

Switching on, the first thing I noticed was the brilliant screen; text appeared crisp and graphic novels appeared as sharp as it did on the Voyage, of course in black and white.

Amazon also bundles a leather cover along with the Oasis; it's a good thing on three counts: One, the back is a fingerprint magnet; two, the cover has a built-in battery pack; and three, it didn't feel as sturdy as my Paperwhite, without the cover.

While the cover does take away from the svelte form of the Oasis, it adds to the battery life; in the two weeks I used the product after a single charge, the battery was still at 90 per cent, while that on the cover was at around 25 per cent. This was after at least five days of night-long reading sessions and three-four hours of reading on the other nights.

Reading at night, I often tend to fall asleep after a taxing day. This often leads to the book or Kindle falling on to my face. The Oasis, even with the cover, though failed to rouse me. I think I've found a new best friend.

The Oasis was surprisingly easy to use one-handed, especially on a trip I made standing on the Metro. A caveat: It doesn't sport the auto-brightness feature, so you may need to crank up the brightness in sunlight.

The Kindle Oasis sets the gold standard for eBook readers; whether you want to spend the money which can get you nearly three Paperwhites on a single Oasis is a call you need to take. The same way you need to decide why you need that expensive timepiece.