Amazon
has released its latest version of the Kindle
Oasis,
the Oasis3
(OA3). This is the “2019” evolution of the brand’s iconic
high-end e-reader. What are the differences with the Oasis
version 2? Is it interesting to upgrade? We will try to see it more
clearly…
Oasis
3: A natural light mode finally!
The
Oasis 3 is much more pleasing to the eyes than previous Kindle
e-readers for those who like to read at night,
in complete darkness, because it has a “natural light” mode
that allows you to adapt the lighting to yellow/orange so that your
eyes are less tired in the evening and to limit exposure to blue
light and therefore the negative effects associated with it (in the
same way that Apple offers it on its products). If Kobo introduced
this on its Kobo Aura One then on its H2O version 2, and if
Pocketbook has implemented it on all its models for a few years now,
including the mythical Inkpad 3,
Amazon was late on this point. But was it really late?
The
Kobo Aura One was suffering from major irregularities and many users
were disappointed by their purchase. Maybe Amazon didn’t want to go
too fast (especially since its e-readers backlighting was, even
without any possible adjustment, less aggressive on blue light
than
most of its competitors’) in order to wait for the technology to
mature. And this seems to be the case: according to user feedbacks,
the
Kindle Oasis 3 is very evenly illuminated, and many of them say they
find it very comfortable to read in the dark.
This probably makes it an e-reader
to
consider for whom this is the main purchase criterion. In addition,
when the e-reader is not set to “orange”, the lighting
tones are more sepia than blue, making it a fairly gentle e-reader
for the eyes, as shown below:
On
the other hand, there is no sensor to automatically adjust the
lighting as on Apple products. The Kindle
Oasis
gives you two options: manual control, or apply pre-configured
presets.
The use of pre-programmed settings is easy and allows you to automatically adjust the brightness and the “warmth” of the light, depending on the time of day, in the same way that you can do with Pocketbook e-readers. The manual control makes it easy to adjust the lighting manually by opening the top menu. The Kindle’s fast, fluid interface makes it really easy.
But
if the light is even, and the settings are easy to adjust, what
about the other features of the machine? What does make it especial
an Oasis 3 compared to the Oasis 1 or 2, which are available much
cheaper second hand?
Differences
between the Oasis 2 and other Kindle e-readers
The
Oasis
3
is quite similar to the Oasis
2,
but using the
latest version of e-ink Carta screen we can find a better contrast,
although even at the contrast level, the Travel is superior.
Compared
to the Oasis
2 (OA2), the Oasis
3
(OA3) has a warmer and more natural light, even when the “warm
light” mode is not activated. In addition, the page change
buttons are quieter and more discreet than those on the OA2. The
lighting is homogeneous but the lighting of the OA2 was quite good
too.
On
the other hand, a difference that may bother some people is that the
Oasis 3 is not compatible with the magnetic light cover:
this one is designed for the OA2 and cannot be magnetized on the OA3.
Value for the money: is the Kindle Oasis 3 “worth it”?
It’s up to you! For those who want to read at night, in complete darkness, the natural light mode brings to my mind a real plus. If you don’t have an e-reader yet and want to go with a Kindle, the OA3 is a good choice if it’s within your budget. Having a larger screen than the Kindle Paperwhite, the possibility to adjust the light warmth and physical buttons make this e-reader easy and pleasant to use. It’s easy to find at Amazon, and sometimes at a good price on eBay.
If
you’re not attached to a Kindle, the Kobo Libra H2O is an option to
consider: slightly less expensive than the Kindle Oasis, it also
offers a 7-inch screen and an adaptive lighting mode. The lighting is
significantly better on the Kindle OA3, but the Kobo will open all
types of files more easily, without having to convert them…
If
you want to read
documents in PDF format, the processor is fast enough to read any
kind of documents, and Kindle’s internal reader for this format is
among the best on the market. Nevertheless, the 7-inch screen is a
bit small,
as we mentioned in our article “Which e-reader to read PDFs?”,
an 8-inch screen or more is much more comfortable for reading PDFs,
and at this level the Pocketbook Inkpad 3 e-reader probably offers a
better quality/price relation.
For
those who want to read any other format, they are easy to convert
thanks to the free software caliber to a Kindle
compatible format and can therefore easily be side-loaded
on
the e-reader, in addition to the books in the Amazon catalog, one
could not be easier to access …