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No update to the Oasis; I guess when I refresh I'll get a Boox or other Android-based device with page turn buttons and run the kindle app on it. I have a firs

No update to the Oasis; I guess when I refresh I'll get a Boox or other Android-based device with page turn buttons and run the kindle app on it. I have a first generation Kindle Oasis, which is a great device, in no small part because of its asymmetric design and page turn buttons. The newer Oasis (still last refreshed in 2022) have better lighting (temperature adjustable) and inverse text mode, which are both nice but have not been enough to get me to upgrade. It lacks the battery cover of the original oasis, which while kind of a pain was nice because it gave a very natural way to hold the device. I'm sad to see that the Oasis line is not mentioned here. I have little to no interest in using my kindle as a writing device, and honestly would prefer that the touchscreen was as little used as possible -- an unresponsive or slow screen is the worst case for a touchscreen, since the feedback loop is terrible. I don't know if they'll have an OS update to go along with this. I have found successive updates to be worse and worse -- my pages are all crammed with ads (not actual ads since I paid to have them removed, but "recommended books") and large page covers. I can barely fit five titles from my library on a screen; I would much prefer to have just the title/author/progress and fit twenty on a page. The integration with the Amazon ecosystem is probably the best selling point, but until somebody shuts down Libby I've switched my habits to be almost entirely rent-based rather than buying books.

unsnap_biceps 2y ago
They officially discontinued the oasis last year. I'm holding onto my oasis until it dies.
- andrewla 2y ago
  Was there an official announcement of this? All I can find in Google is reddit threads speculating about its discontinuation.
  - danso 2y ago
    Doesn't seem like there's an official announcement since any news articles about it describe it as a "quietly discontinuing" [0] I'm in the U.S. and a search for "oasis" has nothing but eye drops in its top results. You have to scroll down to find a listing for the "International Version — Kindle Oasis", selling at just $135 [1], but which Amazon refuses to ship if your address is in the U.S. [0] https://www.thestreet.com/retail/amazon-quietly-discontinues-a-popular-product https://www.thestreet.com/retail/amazon-quietly-discontinues... [1] https://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Oasis-now-with-adjustable-warm-light/dp/B07L5GDTYY/ https://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Oasis-now-with-adjustable-warm...
  - unsnap_biceps 2y ago
    As with all previous kindles, the only official bit is the removal from the store. There hasn't been a case (so far) of a kindle that was removed from the store and then a later model being released.
  - daveoc64 2y ago
    The Verge asked Amazon, and they've said it's completely discontinued now: https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/16/24272009/amazon-discontinues-kindle-oasis-physical-buttons https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/16/24272009/amazon-disconti...
apwell23 2y ago
I have Boox with android like you described. Quality doesn't compare with kindle though. I still prefer reading on kindle.
- alok-g 2y ago
  I have been considering Boox Air 3C. Could you pls. explain more about the differences you see between Kindle and Boox? Thanks.
  - apwell23 2y ago
    screen is not as crisp and a lot of ghosting
  - jestersarmed 2y ago
    Can confirm. I own a Poke 5P and the ghosting is really more obvious until you've fiddled with the settings enough - and I do mean fiddle here. Might take a while. Other than that I'm a real fan: latest update delivered dark mode (black background, white text) and like I said above: no ads, no Amazon-DRM, all formats, cloud storage (if you want to), TTS, annotations that are really comfortable to handle, bluetooth.
  - Teknomancer 2y ago
    Boox suck. Stay away. Horrible android os, low speed, battery and hardware quality issues, and dodgy Chinese practices all around.
- andrewla 2y ago
  I am very, very, very sad to hear this. This does match with my experience of fiddling with various Kindle competitors over the years (nook, kobo), but between generally faster processors and the increasing bloat of kindle OS, I thought maybe the gap would be narrower. Looks like I've got to build my own.
  - bryanlarsen 2y ago
    I'm very happy with my Boox Palma. The Kindle app works fine on it so there's no fiddling with side loading Kindle books into a non-Kindle device.
mmanfrin 2y ago
I have the first Oasis as well. Prior to that I'd pretty much bough every single kindle refresh. Since then I haven't. I'm in the same boat: give me physical buttons.
IPTN 2y ago
You should check out the PocketBook Era. It's what I moved to from the Kindle Oasis and I've really enjoyed it. The device isn't as svelte as the Oasis since it isn't subsidized by Amazon, but has an assymetric design and even more physical buttons which you can fully customize the control scheme. Also like the Oasis it gets amazing battery life with it's light weight OS compared to the Android based e-readers. The PocketBook cloud is just as seamless as the syncing with Amazon if that is something you use. Only time I notice problems is during the weekly maintenance window which just looks like an outage. It has bidirectional sync for your progress as well as syncing new books and has a web interface and a phone app. Also offers the same email endpoint service as Kindle and you can set up Adobe DRM to use with library borrowing as well as other places that distribute ascm. The builtin store probably doesn't have the same availability of titles as Amazon but I haven't used it since I manage my library with Calibre and buy my books from various stores. Best of all is the customizability. Don't want to use their store or cloud? You can turn off (really just not setup and hide) all the features and integrations individualy to make it an "offline" reader but still bring it online for things like Wikipedia lookup and web searches. You don't even need an account to set it up. You can also load additional dictionaries, fonts, and even applications on it. It has a healthy if small development scene. There is a new color version but if you don't read things that require color I would get the original; Based on reviews it has the the same downside as Kobo and others that use the Kalaido screen where it's relatively dimmer in ambient light compared to the B/W one and so needs a higher average backlight level to compensate. Overall I've been really happy with my switch and can't see myself going back to Kindle.
- andrewla 2y ago
  I have a significant library with Amazon -- does this have any support for Kindle books? The Android-based ones let you run a Kindle app, which, while not ideal, at least lets me access the library. I've considered doing a sweep to download all of my kindle books and de-DRM them so that I have an archive, but this is a tortuous process if your library has over a thousand titles, as mine does.
  - IPTN 2y ago
    Not seemlessly because Amazon has their store locked down to Kindle. But you can export all your books from the Amazon web interface or use the desktop Kindle app to download them all. You would then use Calibre with a couple plugins to deDRM them. At that point you have plain ebook files in Amazon's format to do what you want with. Calibre can convert them to any one of the open ebook formats (I personally prefer epub) and sync them to your device(s)). Those ebooks are treated like any others and fully supported by PocketBook cloud if you use it. The convenience of Amazon's store for Kindle is nice, but it's also how they lock you in to their ecosystem and devices so you keep only buying/paying for a subscription with them. The process is really not bad at all if you use the desktop Kindle app to download your library before importing to Calibre. Each step is fully automated with the only manual parts being setting it up and doing each step in sequence for the whole library but not each individual book.
andai 2y ago
>honestly would prefer that the touchscreen was as little used as possible -- an unresponsive or slow screen is the worst case for a touchscreen, since the feedback loop is terrible. I agree in principle (slow feedback is the bane of my existence) but I had one of those 10 inch Kindle DX without touch, and it was a pretty bad experience compared to the Paperwhite. Physical buttons (and possibly the orientation sensor?) were definitely nice to have though.
krzyk 2y ago
First I waited for Kindle Voyage refresh, then started thinking about Oasis, but waited for it to have a normal charging port (USB-C) and now the last reader with physical buttons disappears :( Oh well, at least my Voyage still works and fits in most pockets (and has cool origami cover), the only downside is that if not in airplane mode, it uses up battery in 2-3 days. In airplane mode I can read 2-3 weeks.
- tiltowait 2y ago
  The Voyage was a neat device, though its haptic buttons pale in comparison to real buttons. There are a lot of options outside of the Kindle, but if you want to stay in the Amazon ecosystem, you might be in for rough times.
- octernion 2y ago
  i'm in the exact same boat - was really hoping to see a premium color device with buttons. not sure why they hate us :(

unsnap_biceps 2y ago

They officially discontinued the oasis last year. I'm holding onto my oasis until it dies.

andrewla 2y ago
Was there an official announcement of this? All I can find in Google is reddit threads speculating about its discontinuation.
- danso 2y ago
  Doesn't seem like there's an official announcement since any news articles about it describe it as a "quietly discontinuing" [0] I'm in the U.S. and a search for "oasis" has nothing but eye drops in its top results. You have to scroll down to find a listing for the "International Version — Kindle Oasis", selling at just $135 [1], but which Amazon refuses to ship if your address is in the U.S. [0] https://www.thestreet.com/retail/amazon-quietly-discontinues-a-popular-product https://www.thestreet.com/retail/amazon-quietly-discontinues... [1] https://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Oasis-now-with-adjustable-warm-light/dp/B07L5GDTYY/ https://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Oasis-now-with-adjustable-warm...
- unsnap_biceps 2y ago
  As with all previous kindles, the only official bit is the removal from the store. There hasn't been a case (so far) of a kindle that was removed from the store and then a later model being released.
- daveoc64 2y ago
  The Verge asked Amazon, and they've said it's completely discontinued now: https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/16/24272009/amazon-discontinues-kindle-oasis-physical-buttons https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/16/24272009/amazon-disconti...

apwell23 2y ago

I have Boox with android like you described. Quality doesn't compare with kindle though. I still prefer reading on kindle.

alok-g 2y ago
I have been considering Boox Air 3C. Could you pls. explain more about the differences you see between Kindle and Boox? Thanks.
- apwell23 2y ago
  screen is not as crisp and a lot of ghosting
- jestersarmed 2y ago
  Can confirm. I own a Poke 5P and the ghosting is really more obvious until you've fiddled with the settings enough - and I do mean fiddle here. Might take a while. Other than that I'm a real fan: latest update delivered dark mode (black background, white text) and like I said above: no ads, no Amazon-DRM, all formats, cloud storage (if you want to), TTS, annotations that are really comfortable to handle, bluetooth.
- Teknomancer 2y ago
  Boox suck. Stay away. Horrible android os, low speed, battery and hardware quality issues, and dodgy Chinese practices all around.
andrewla 2y ago
I am very, very, very sad to hear this. This does match with my experience of fiddling with various Kindle competitors over the years (nook, kobo), but between generally faster processors and the increasing bloat of kindle OS, I thought maybe the gap would be narrower. Looks like I've got to build my own.
- bryanlarsen 2y ago
  I'm very happy with my Boox Palma. The Kindle app works fine on it so there's no fiddling with side loading Kindle books into a non-Kindle device.

mmanfrin 2y ago

I have the first Oasis as well. Prior to that I'd pretty much bough every single kindle refresh. Since then I haven't. I'm in the same boat: give me physical buttons.

IPTN 2y ago

You should check out the PocketBook Era. It's what I moved to from the Kindle Oasis and I've really enjoyed it. The device isn't as svelte as the Oasis since it isn't subsidized by Amazon, but has an assymetric design and even more physical buttons which you can fully customize the control scheme. Also like the Oasis it gets amazing battery life with it's light weight OS compared to the Android based e-readers. The PocketBook cloud is just as seamless as the syncing with Amazon if that is something you use. Only time I notice problems is during the weekly maintenance window which just looks like an outage. It has bidirectional sync for your progress as well as syncing new books and has a web interface and a phone app. Also offers the same email endpoint service as Kindle and you can set up Adobe DRM to use with library borrowing as well as other places that distribute ascm. The builtin store probably doesn't have the same availability of titles as Amazon but I haven't used it since I manage my library with Calibre and buy my books from various stores. Best of all is the customizability. Don't want to use their store or cloud? You can turn off (really just not setup and hide) all the features and integrations individualy to make it an "offline" reader but still bring it online for things like Wikipedia lookup and web searches. You don't even need an account to set it up. You can also load additional dictionaries, fonts, and even applications on it. It has a healthy if small development scene. There is a new color version but if you don't read things that require color I would get the original; Based on reviews it has the the same downside as Kobo and others that use the Kalaido screen where it's relatively dimmer in ambient light compared to the B/W one and so needs a higher average backlight level to compensate. Overall I've been really happy with my switch and can't see myself going back to Kindle.

andrewla 2y ago
I have a significant library with Amazon -- does this have any support for Kindle books? The Android-based ones let you run a Kindle app, which, while not ideal, at least lets me access the library. I've considered doing a sweep to download all of my kindle books and de-DRM them so that I have an archive, but this is a tortuous process if your library has over a thousand titles, as mine does.
- IPTN 2y ago
  Not seemlessly because Amazon has their store locked down to Kindle. But you can export all your books from the Amazon web interface or use the desktop Kindle app to download them all. You would then use Calibre with a couple plugins to deDRM them. At that point you have plain ebook files in Amazon's format to do what you want with. Calibre can convert them to any one of the open ebook formats (I personally prefer epub) and sync them to your device(s)). Those ebooks are treated like any others and fully supported by PocketBook cloud if you use it. The convenience of Amazon's store for Kindle is nice, but it's also how they lock you in to their ecosystem and devices so you keep only buying/paying for a subscription with them. The process is really not bad at all if you use the desktop Kindle app to download your library before importing to Calibre. Each step is fully automated with the only manual parts being setting it up and doing each step in sequence for the whole library but not each individual book.

andai 2y ago

>honestly would prefer that the touchscreen was as little used as possible -- an unresponsive or slow screen is the worst case for a touchscreen, since the feedback loop is terrible. I agree in principle (slow feedback is the bane of my existence) but I had one of those 10 inch Kindle DX without touch, and it was a pretty bad experience compared to the Paperwhite. Physical buttons (and possibly the orientation sensor?) were definitely nice to have though.

krzyk 2y ago

First I waited for Kindle Voyage refresh, then started thinking about Oasis, but waited for it to have a normal charging port (USB-C) and now the last reader with physical buttons disappears :( Oh well, at least my Voyage still works and fits in most pockets (and has cool origami cover), the only downside is that if not in airplane mode, it uses up battery in 2-3 days. In airplane mode I can read 2-3 weeks.

tiltowait 2y ago
The Voyage was a neat device, though its haptic buttons pale in comparison to real buttons. There are a lot of options outside of the Kindle, but if you want to stay in the Amazon ecosystem, you might be in for rough times.
octernion 2y ago
i'm in the exact same boat - was really hoping to see a premium color device with buttons. not sure why they hate us :(