NEW YORK — The folks at Amazon have never stopped investing in dedicated Kindle electronic readers, even eight years after CEO Jeff Bezos introduced bookworms to the very first Kindle and well into an era of more well-rounded multimedia tablets.
The latest proof arrives in the brand new Kindle Oasis that Amazon started taking preorders on Wednesday, billed as 30% thinner on average and 20% lighter than any other Kindle. Bezos had hinted that a new top-of-the-line Kindle was coming in a recent tweet. It starts shipping April 27.
What isn’t lighter is the price — $289.99, compared to $79.99 for the current entry-level Kindle, $119.99 for the Kindle Paperwhite that’s the most popular model of the series, or $199.99 for the premium Voyage model. (Prices here reflect models with what Amazon refers to as “special offers” or ads.)
Consider also that the original Kindle cost $399. And for another perspective, Amazon’s multimedia Fire tablets, which let you read eBooks but aren’t single purpose reading devices, now start at $49.
Notwithstanding price, Kindle Oasis is mighty tempting, though I only got a relatively brief time with it in advance, certainly not long enough to dive into a bestseller or read like I normally would on a Kindle — lounging on the couch or laying in bed. Instead, I was with Amazon execs in a conference room.
That said, you do feel the difference in weight when you pick up the 4.6-ounce Oasis in one hand and the 7.2-ounce Paperwhite in the other. Bezos stated in a press release that, “We want Kindle to disappear, and Kindle Oasis is the next big step in that mission … it gets out of the way so you can lose yourself in the author’s world.”
Amazon appears well on its way to meeting Bezos' goal. The thinnest part of the new Kindle is a mere 3.4mm.
You pick up Oasis via an ergonomic grip that Amazon explains shifts the center of gravity to the palm of your hand. You can turn pages by making contact with the touch display or by pressing physical buttons. I found I could easily hold Oasis and turn pages with one hand.
The design accommodates righties as well as southpaws. If you switch hands and flip the Kindle, the screen rotates.
Despite the light weight, Oasis feels sturdy. It is built with a polymer frame that is coated by a rigid internal metal though a structural "electroplating" process.
The new reader promises the longest battery life of any Kindle, accomplished through an extended battery leather case that comes with Oasis. Through a dual-battery approach — a battery in the cover, one in the Kindle itself — you can read for up to nine weeks, Amazon says. Oasis snaps inside the cover through a system of 12 magnets. It took me a few tries to get it right.
Amazon has also bolstered the 300 ppi Paperwhite display on Oasis. It has a built-in front light with 60% more LEDs than before, making it the brightest of the Kindle displays. The backplane underneath is as thin as a sheet of aluminum foil, Amazon says.
In all other respects, Oasis shares features found across the Kindle line, including the least expensive model. Among other features, you can download books in less than a minute, synchronize the last page you read across numerous devices, summon simple definitions above challenging words, or tap into an X-ray feature that lets you explore more about characters in a book. There are now 4.4 million books available in the U.S. Kindle store. There were 90,000 in 2007 when the first Kindle showed up.
I look forward to putting Kindle Oasis through a true test. By reading in bed.
Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; Follow USA TODAY Personal Tech Columnist @edbaig
