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Kindle Oasis to be Announced at 9AM, Could Cost $290 (?)

kindle oasis 1The latest rumor said that Jeff Bezos would be officially announcing the Kindle Oasis this week, and it looks like CNBC may have let the cat out of the bag.

A couple hours ago CNBC broadcast a report which said that the Oasis would be announced today at 9AM (eastern US). The report went on to repeat much of what we already knew and then declare that the Oasis would cost $290 and would be available this week.

I am not sure how much weight we should put into the 89-second story (I’m not convinced they’re not just fudging the new details). But I am sharing it so you can join me and be glued to your computer at the appropriate time.

Stay tuned.

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Comments


Timothy Wilhoit April 13, 2016 um 7:46 am

$290 would be rather pricey. Would that suggest Ammy is using a Mobius eink screen on this one?

Nate Hoffelder April 13, 2016 um 7:52 am

That would be one of the reason to justify the higher price, yes.

Timothy Wilhoit April 13, 2016 um 7:57 am

I seem to recall you saying a Mobius screen was roughly 3x the cost of a glass substrate. That would be about right.


Steve H April 13, 2016 um 9:00 am

I was sort of hoping for 249….!
I guess the diamond crusted 8″ will cost as much as a Super High Definition TV


javi April 13, 2016 um 9:06 am

I think it should be comfortable to read wih it but it is too expensive and I don’t see enough improvements.


javi April 13, 2016 um 9:11 am

Already on presale in Amazon Spain. 289 € wifi; 350 3g.

Certainly… 238 grs. weight with case.


Timothy Wilhoit April 13, 2016 um 9:12 am

Got it right, Nate. $289.99 it is. April 27th.

Timothy Wilhoit April 13, 2016 um 9:21 am

However, no Mobius. Can’t see the price difference in the components listed. The fancy case is not compelling.

Nate Hoffelder April 13, 2016 um 9:28 am

From the description in a couple of the hands-on reports, the Oasis has something like a Mobius screen. The backplane is not glass.

JSWolf April 13, 2016 um 1:06 pm

Amazon says in the description of the Oasis that it is a Carta screen. That says glass substrate right there. Whoever is saying otherwise is wrong. Do you think Amazon would not be shouting plastic if the Oasis had such?

Nate Hoffelder April 13, 2016 um 1:09 pm

I misread one of the reviews. The substrate is not plastic; I had misread a reference to the shell.


Suzatm April 13, 2016 um 9:13 am

9:12. Still glued and waiting. There are a lot of details left from the leaks. They could be the ones when revealed will make the cost worth it.


Frank April 13, 2016 um 9:16 am

The Oasis is confirmed, it is $290. While the Oasis is better than the other Kindles, it doesn’t seem worth the extra cost. The battery cover provided 20 months of normal usage is neat, but I don’t feel that is worth such a high premium.


MKS April 13, 2016 um 9:29 am

From Mashable: "All this cutting edge design comes at a price: $289.99 to be precise. That’s for the Wi-Fi-only edition and with advertisements that appear when you wake up the reader. The Oasis will cost $309.99 without offers, and $359.99 if you want to add 3G (with ads, $379 without)."

So it looks more like a leather-bound book, has longer battery life, and better lighting. Haven’t seen anything about connectors and ability to side-load from a computer. No text-to-speech or ability to play audiobooks; Amazon may be reserving that functionality to the tablets and the Alexa products. Haven’t seen any reviews yet covering navigation and study aid features; reviewers so far seem to be fixated on aesthetics and form factor.

Nate Hoffelder April 13, 2016 um 9:41 am

The description says there is a USB charging cable.

I don’t know whether that means the Oasis has a port, or just the battery-cover.

Nate Hoffelder April 13, 2016 um 9:44 am

I have a first-hand report which says the Oasis and the cover each have a USB port.


Straker April 13, 2016 um 9:30 am

Not nearly enough of an improvement to get me to upgrade from my Voyage. The charging cover is nice but the Voyage has a long battery life and recharging it every couple of weeks is hardly an onerous task. It doesn’t seem like the new cover is designed o be able to stand up on its own, which is a big drawback for me.


Popup April 13, 2016 um 9:43 am

It looks like you can’t buy it without the cover. Weird, I don’t want a stinking cover!
(I’ve been using my paperwhite (1st gen) daily for years, and while it’s become a bit scratched – that’s just an added impetus to buy a new toy…)

So far I’ve seen nothing to justify why it costs more than two paperwhites.

burger flipper April 13, 2016 um 10:03 am

The cover is free. The device is 300 😉


MKS April 13, 2016 um 9:47 am

Looking at Amazon’s own description… I suspect that the cover + battery was a sneaky way of doing away with cabling the Kindle to a computer. No more side-loading, no more backing up your e-books on your home computer, no more stripping DRM, no more making unauthorized copies. I wonder if the lower-price-point models (which are more likely to be used by students) will eventually be redesigned to cut down on textbook piracy.

Frank April 13, 2016 um 10:08 am

Of course the Oasis and its cover both have USB slots. There are lots of reasons to connect the Oasis to the computer. It can charge the device (remember, it only comes with a cord and not the charger) and to update it manually.

Even if the ability to connect a Kindle to a PC was removed, you can email illegal copies using your @kindle.com address.


MKS April 13, 2016 um 9:49 am

Just saw your comment Nate, good. Law-abiding ecitizens like to back up our libraries.


Name (Required) April 13, 2016 um 10:41 am

Discussion at Slashdot at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/16/04/13/1347232/amazon-kindle-oasis-with-months-of-battery-life-redesigned-body-launched


Haesslich April 13, 2016 um 10:52 am

Well, I guess that’s one way to drive people to buy your tablets – when they cost less and do more than your premium eInk readers.

Especially if this doesn’t reduce Voyage prices.

Haesslich April 13, 2016 um 11:56 am

Well, it’s $100 more expensive than the the Voyage without a price drop for the latter. And the same storage and 6″ Carta screen. And buttons that work like the Voyage’s haptic sensors.

I don’t see your "regular" reader splashing out $400-$500, not when you can get an iPad with that money. Not unless they include multiple free books each month.

Bezos' statement of "wanting to make the Kindle disappear" could very well happen if they keep increasing hardware prices. Not that I think that’s how he meant it…


Richard Orlin April 13, 2016 um 10:55 am

Not enough of an improvement over the Voyage to be worth the cost to upgrade. Besides, it only gets two weeks more battery life (that is if you ONLY read a half hour per day HAH). Six weeks without charging is good enough for me. Jeff B, you’re not getting my money this time around.

poiboy April 13, 2016 um 12:23 pm

agree.. and more money? no thanks.
minor fail here.


Max April 13, 2016 um 11:16 am

It does look like a comfortable device. That’s worth something.


Ani April 13, 2016 um 11:37 am

It looks beautiful and practical, but without a microSD slot I can’t keep my whole library on it. The hassle of maintaining separate libraries on my ereader vs phone vs tablet vs PC is just too much. I have better things to do than waste time and energy picking and choosing books when I can just copy my library to a card and go.

I’ll start checking out the Android or Kobo readers, I guess.

poiboy April 13, 2016 um 12:26 pm

hi ani,

are you aware that if you send a book via your kindle cloud (via a direct to kindle email address) that your books connected all sync up?

hope that helps

Ani April 13, 2016 um 3:34 pm

That is completely irrelevant, which you’d know if you’d actually read my comment. Either of these 2 bits should clear things up:
"without a microSD slot I can’t keep my whole library on it"
"I have better things to do than waste time and energy picking and choosing books"

Kindles do not have enough storage to put my library on them. Until sufficient storage is added, no Kindle is worth any price to me.


Jason April 14, 2016 um 3:33 pm

I won’t be upgrading at that cost even if it actually does become available in Canada. For my $$ there are more sensible alternatives for reading on such as the Paperwhite or H2O.

Nate Hoffelder April 14, 2016 um 3:43 pm

It’s available in Canada. The price is $399.


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