Amazon has launched its eighth generation Kindle, the Kindle Oasis, its thinnest and lightest Kindle ever.Weighing in at 131 g and 3.4 mm at its thinnest point, the Oasis is 30 per cent thinner on average and over 20 per cent lighter than any other preceding Kindle, sporting a featherweight polymer frame plated with metal by structural electroplating.
The Oasis is designed to shift the centre of gravity to the reader’s palm, with Amazon stating that it rests in the hand “like the spine of a book so that the device feels balanced for one-handed reading”.
Pages can be turned with either the touch display or physical buttons, and a built-in accelerometer detects whether the reader is reading with their left or right hand, automatically rotating the page and page turn buttons to match.
The Oasis is equipped with a dual-battery system, delivering “months of battery life” – when the leather cover is connected, a battery in the cover begins recharging the Oasis automatically, while the device and
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cover can be charged simultaneously when both are snapped together and plugged in.
Amazon states that the Oasis is decked out with the “latest-generation high-resolution 300 ppi Paperwhite display for crisp, laser-quality text”.
“A redesigned built-in front light features 60 per cent more LEDs for our brightest Kindle display ever and leverages new cylindrical diffractive patterns to increase the consistency and range of screen brightness for improved reading in all types of lighting,” Amazon states,
“The new Paperwhite display on Oasis is the first Kindle display designed using a groundbreaking 200 micron display backplane that is as thin as a single sheet of aluminium foil, but is robust enough for you to throw in your bag and take with you on-the-go, combined with a custom cover glass engineered from chemically reinforced glass.”
Priced at $449 RRP, the Oasis is available for pre-order from Amazon and Officeworks, with Amazon stating that it will start shipping in the coming weeks.
