Amazon unveils the new Kindle Oasis, its highest-resolution e-reader yet

Well, after years of prayers, Amazon has finally launched a new Kindle e-book reader that has a water-resistant design. The new Oasis doesn’t feel as unnaturally light as the last model, which was one of my favorite aspects of that e-reader.

That screen has a pixel density of 300ppi and displays text that looks as sharp as it does on the pages of a paperback. This Oasis, like the previous one, has adaptive front lighting, so the backlight brightens and dims based on your surroundings, although the screen doesn’t have a blue light filter.

The all-new Kindle Oasis is $249.99 for the 8 GB model and $279.99 for the 32 GB model-the 32 GB with free cellular connectivity is $349.99.

Other Kindle e-readers still offered by Amazon include the $79.99 Kindle, $119 Kindle Paperwhite and $199 Kindle Voyage. As it knows what page you’re on, it will know where to start the audio and vice-versa.

Another change to the new version of the Oasis is the exterior. That means it can fit 30 percent more words than before and Amazon says page turns are even faster.

The new Kindle Oasis’ display boasts 300 pixels/inch and 12 LED lights are used to illuminate the screen.

You can now invert the black and white on the display, which will be particularly useful if you’re reading in bed at night. The shape is smoother than on the old Oasis, while the weight comes in at 194 grams; it’s nicely balanced to sit in your hand. More importantly it’s faster, down to both hardware and software improvements. Text can be set to bold and readers can now select from an increased number of size options, up from eight to 14. It’s cheaper and has a bigger display (7-inch versus 6-inch). Since it doesn’t have speakers, they will have to stream to Bluetooth speakers or headphones. Oddly, Amazon has followed in the footsteps of Apple and Google and decided not to equip the device with a 3.5mm headphone jack.

There is more to this than meets the eye, though. Later this year, Amazon will put this Kindle’s Bluetooth capabilities to use through Audible via a similar OTA update. Why on earth would you need all that for notoriously small eBooks? The new Kindle Oasis 2017 keeps the asymmetric form-factor of its predecessor but does away with that model’s removable battery cover. And it just got better, with a larger screen and waterproofing for bath-time reading. A 32GB model is also available for £259.99.

The original Amazon Kindle was likely the first introduction that many of us had to a modern e-reader.

Theres more good news – Audible is now built in.

The larger surface area also means the battery has more space to spread out – though the company has once again made a decision to go with that unsightly battery bump on the back.