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 …