# Advice: Buying Kindle Oasis in January 2017.



## INFINUS (Dec 25, 2016)

Is this the right time to buy Kindle Oasis? 
I already own PaperWhite-2.
Since Kobo doesn't do any business in India Amazon Kindle is the only option. I was thinking whether Amazon will release any new device in by April (Its my birthday). Then I'll wait till April or I'll buy one in January 2017.
Please guide me if you can.

Thank you.
INFINUS.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

There are no guarantees that Amazon will come out with a new device in April just because it's been a year since the Oasis was introduced. There aren't any active rumors of a new device. And, if there is a new device, no guarantees it will be a new high-end device.

The difference between Jan and April is only three months...since you already have a fine Kindle, I'd be tempted to recommend waiting till your birthday to see if anything happens!

And welcome to KBoards!!

Betsy

_edited to correct typo. --Betsy_


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## INFINUS (Dec 25, 2016)

Thank You.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

For the first few years of the Kindles Amazon released them about the same time every year.  Then little by little that changed and now we just never know.

Asking when the new model is coming is a bit like predicting a coin toss.  It's a safe bet it'll be heads or tails. 

Barry


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## northofdivision (Sep 7, 2010)

INFINUS said:


> Thank You.


I'd add, if you want to explore your device happiness as well, both the Voyage and the Oasis' are really phenomenal machines and people have had different experiences with each. Do you want a little less thickness? Do you want something with a longer battery life? Do you want the bragging rights to have the newest Kindle? Do you want something lighter? Are you at all unhappy or bored with your PW? All questions to ask. The PW is a great machine but I think both the Voyage and the Oasis are great upgrades and both feel much better to me in hand. I've seen the Voyage go on sale but not the Oasis.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

I have the Voyage and all three Paperwhites.  I do prefer the Voyage to the Paperwhites but not by much.  If I was buying one from scratch and knew what I know I'd buy another Voyage if money wasn't an issue but if there was the slightest money issue I'd get the Paperwhite.

I read with all of them as well as other brands I own and the differences are minor.  What happens when all the available devices are so nearly the same is that the tiny differences stand out and look huge.  But they're not.  They're just tiny differences.  It's mostly perception.

I saw an article about a $30,000 jewel encrusted Iphone the other day.  It's an Iphone with added weight. 

Barry


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## northofdivision (Sep 7, 2010)

barryem said:


> I have the Voyage and all three Paperwhites. I do prefer the Voyage to the Paperwhites but not by much. If I was buying one from scratch and knew what I know I'd buy another Voyage if money wasn't an issue but if there was the slightest money issue I'd get the Paperwhite.
> 
> I read with all of them as well as other brands I own and the differences are minor. What happens when all the available devices are so nearly the same is that the tiny differences stand out and look huge. But they're not. They're just tiny differences. It's mostly perception.
> 
> ...


Haha. True its perspective but I'd say the differences could be pretty major rather than just cosmetic. What reader gives you the most pleasure and which one are you the most productive on? I had a about 5 Paperwhite 1's back a few years ago and it goes down as a terrible reader for me. I'd argue that the differences are pretty big depending on how picky you are (haptic or non haptic buttons, touch, light layers, width if you have small hands, shade of light, weight). I saw, try a few at BestBuy in hand if you're curious. They have em all except for the Oasis. I think going backwards could be good for some even as the K4 and the K3 are great devices as well and offer slightly different experiences (K4 with no extra light and touch layers for the one layer e-ink experience + angles buttons for your palm and the K3's read text feature and larger form factor). But this is just perspective so Barry is right.

Infinus, what are you looking to upgrade for?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

barryem said:


> For the first few years of the Kindles Amazon released them about the same time every year. Then little by little that changed and now we just never know.


Actually not. Here's when the various models have been released:

November 2007 -- Original, classic Kindle
February 2009 -- 2nd gen
May 2009 -- Kindle DX
October 2009 -- 2nd gen International version
January 2010 -- DX international
July 2010 -- DX 2nd generation; 3rd gen (keyboard) Kindle
September 2011 -- 4th gen basic kindle; Kindle Touch
September 2012 -- 5th gen basic kindle; Paperwhite
September 2013 -- 2nd gen Paperwhite
September 2014 -- 7th gen basic kindle with touch screen; Voyage
June 2015 -- 3rd gen Paperwhite
April 2016 -- Oasis
June 2016 -- 8th gen basic kindle with touch screen

So, really, when they've released them has been pretty random except for the 3 years between 2011 and 2014 when they were consistently releasing new products in September. 



> Asking when the new model is coming is a bit like predicting a coin toss. It's a safe bet it'll be heads or tails.
> 
> Barry


This is absolutely true.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

northofdivision said:


> I'd argue that the differences are pretty big depending on how picky you are (haptic or non haptic buttons, touch, light layers, width if you have small hands, shade of light, weight). I saw, try a few at BestBuy in hand if you're curious.


I haven't seen the Oasis. I live in rural Arkansas about 45 miles from the nearest Best Buy and I don't have a car. I keep trying to find a way to get there but the last time i was there was about 2 years ago.

As for the buttons, I don't use them. I tried them on the Voyage and I agree that they work very well but I never think to use them. I just swipe the screen. So they're never part of my calculation.

Barry


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

barryem said:


> I haven't seen the Oasis. I live in rural Arkansas about 45 miles from the nearest Best Buy and I don't have a car. I keep trying to find a way to get there but the last time i was there was about 2 years ago.
> 
> As for the buttons, I don't use them. I tried them on the Voyage and I agree that they work very well but I never think to use them. I just swipe the screen. So they're never part of my calculation.
> 
> Barry


Except the buttons on the Oasis are completely different to the 'buttons' on the Voyage. I admit, when I use my Oasis, I almost always turn pages with the buttons. On the Voyage, it's about equal swiping, tapping, or the buttons.

For me the Voyage would be very close to perfect if its buttons were more like those on the Oasis -- raised just enough from the surface to be able to feel where they are without looking, and customizable so that 'page forward' can be the top or bottom button as each user prefers. Perfect would be if it also had a dedicated home button.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

I'm just the opposite about buttons.  When I had Kindles with buttons I was always pressing them accidentally and having to go back.  I used them for a long time but I never stopped doing that.  I guess I have twitchy fingers.

When I first got the Voyage, and 2 or 3 times since then, I did try to use the Page Press and I found it worked much better for me than buttons had in the past.  I never changed pages accidentally.  It worked real well.  But in a little while I'd forget about them and go back to swiping.

If I have to have buttons I prefer the ones on the Voyage.  I do realize they're not actually buttons but it's easier not to have to state that every time I refer to them.

Barry


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## northofdivision (Sep 7, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> September 2011 -- 4th gen basic kindle; Kindle Touch
> September 2012 -- 5th gen basic kindle; Paperwhite
> September 2013 -- 2nd gen Paperwhite
> September 2014 -- 7th gen basic kindle with touch screen; Voyage


Those four years were glorious. Something pretty great about getting a new Fall reveal on time like Apple

If I had no interest in buttons of any kind, a Paperwhite would be ideal. I do have very different experiences with haptic (Voyage) vs real buttons (Oasis), both pretty great. Of all the button setups I liked the K4 the best. And that K2 click was pretty wonderful.


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## luvmykindle3 (Dec 5, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Actually not. Here's when the various models have been released:
> 
> November 2007 -- Original, classic Kindle
> February 2009 -- 2nd gen
> ...


I would love for them to come out with a new DX!! I wanted one, but they were so expensive when they first came out, and by the time I decided to get one they stopped making them.


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## northofdivision (Sep 7, 2010)

luvmykindle3 said:


> I would love for them to come out with a new DX!! I wanted one, but they were so expensive when they first came out, and by the time I decided to get one they stopped making them.


Agree, luvmykindle3, that DX is one fascinating creature of a machine. Would be neat for them to have a new 9.7" It seems like such a cool way to reach newspapers, magazines or graphic novels.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

luvmykindle3 said:


> I would love for them to come out with a new DX!! I wanted one, but they were so expensive when they first came out, and by the time I decided to get one they stopped making them.


I don't see that happening. I think they overestimated the market initially, though it's true that those who got them LOVED them. But, ultimately, I think it failed because it came out about the same time as the original iPad and, in comparison, just didn't do enough. And just didn't sell that well for the amount of money they had to charge for them. Apparently the larger screens are much harder/more expensive to manufacture, for whatever reason. If they could make them not that much more expensive than the smaller screen, they might do pretty well.

Also, if you think about it, lately they've been moving to 'small and light'. It seems they use a paperback book as a size template and are looking to replicate that -- which makes a lot of sense, really. The DX falls outside that mold . . . it's even bigger than hardback, though thinner, but definitely less portable in terms of size and weight.

So, yes, the bigger screen is a perfect size for, say, magazines and newspapers, but unless there's color, it's probably not, for most people, going to be as good as 'the real thing'.

Newspapers are maybe easier to replicate since they tend to be black and white -- I get a daily newspaper and page through the articles; I don't care about page layout and, in fact, prefer not having to bother with it. (Newspapers I've always found to be awkward to read and messy besides, and didn't read any regularly until I could get it on kindle.) I do miss the comics a tiny bit, and box scores in the sports pages more, but, overall, the kindle edition serves my needs quite well and works just fine on my Voyage.

But magazines -- even ones like the New Yorker or Atlantic that are mostly articles -- still have color illustrations/pictures/drawings and, for many publications, the layout tends to be kind of important. I have a couple of magazines I get for my tablet and they work pretty well on it -- you can view the page and tap to click and read on a specific article, or just zoom in. I think about trying to read 'em on an eInk screen but I think the technology is not such that they would work satisfactorily even on a DX size screen. At least, I don't think so.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

There are a few larger e-ink readers available, mostly from oriental and european makers.  You can get them in 8", 9.7", 13.3" and probably other sizes.  The one thing they all have in common is that, like the DX, they're very expensive.  I'd be surprised if the high price of the DX wasn't part of the reason for it's failure.

It's hard to guess the reason for the high prices of larger e-ink devices.  Possibly because they make fewer of them but I wonder if there's also a problem making larger e-ink screens.  I remember when TFT laptop screens first became available they added about $1500 to the price of a laptop and the reason they were so expensive was that making a screen that large meant a lot of waste.  It was difficult to make one that large without dead pixels so most of them had to be thrown away in the manufacturing process.  I remember reading somewhere that they could actually use about 5% of the screens they made.

I wonder if there might be some similar issue with large e-ink screens.

Barry


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Except the buttons on the Oasis are completely different to the 'buttons' on the Voyage. I admit, when I use my Oasis, I almost always turn pages with the buttons. On the Voyage, it's about equal swiping, tapping, or the buttons.
> 
> For me the Voyage would be very close to perfect if its buttons were more like those on the Oasis -- raised just enough from the surface to be able to feel where they are without looking, and customizable so that 'page forward' can be the top or bottom button as each user prefers. Perfect would be if it also had a dedicated home button.


Agree. The buttons are one of the reasons the Oasis is my "go-to" reading device--that, and its lightness. I can read one-handed and barely have to move to change a page. The haptic "buttons" on the Voyage were more difficult to use.

I've never had much trouble with the buttons on any of my Kindles--even the big ol' buttons on the K1. I always figured out a way to hold it where it wasn't a issue. Maybe my big hands are good for something! . Truthfully, I'm more likely to accidentally tap or swipe when I don't mean to! . I think, if there were a way to turn off that option on my Oasis, I would use it.

And woud love, love, love a dedicated home button!

Betsy


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

As for buying the Oasis now, if it is what you want, I would buy it. New releases are unpredictable as mentioned, though I personally doubt the Oasis will be updated for awhile.

As for choosing between the different models available now, your wallet is  most important guide.  The differences between the Paperwhite, Voyage, and Oasis  aren't great enough to justify financial pain with a few exceptions.  The incremental decreases in weight might justify spending more for a person with severe arthritis or other hand issues,  but I think will be insignificant for most people.  I do think the screens improve with each upgrade, but again I think most will not really find the difference that great.

I prefer the oasis, but one disadvantage it has is that it is overall smaller, but it is wider than the voyage. The difference is enough that for some of my jackets the voyage goes in fairly easily, but the oasis is difficult or sometimes impossible to slide in.

For me the biggest difference is the Physical keys. I am a fan of Physical keys on my ereader. Many people could care less about physical keys of course.  But for me, the oasis has the first keys that are really usable since the K2. The Voyage keys are tolerable to me, but I don't really like them.

And as for a coin be sure to be heads or tails, that is just so wrong!  A coin can always land on edge!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> And as for a coin be sure to be heads or tails, that is just so wrong! A coin can always land on edge!


And then there are the two-headed coins! Which, of course, would still have heads as an option, but not tails.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

FYI, re: the screens . . . at this point I think the screens in all 3 devices are identical . . . and the software is nearly so. It's the other hardware -- light or not, buttons or not, etc. -- that distinguish the various models.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

Once, after a silly discussion of coin tossing, a few of us tried to make a coin land on edge.  We all picked the coins with the flattest edges in our pockets but even so after 3 or 4 people trying for several minutes we couldn't make it happen.  I focused my attempts on tossing it onto a flat surface that butts against a vertical surface, thinking that would be easier.  It didn't happen.

I'm sure it can be done if you try long enough but it ain't easy. 

Barry


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

For a while there my son could pretty regularly flip a coin and have it land on the edge. The first time he did it, it was an accident . . . it landed in the sidewalk crack. He and my husband were flipping for a chore or something and the hubster, ever the snarkmaster said "edge".

After that it was a case of practicing so it would land in the crack.   He got pretty good at it . . . . . I think to the point where there was a better chance of it landing "on the edge" than on either side.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> FYI, re: the screens . . . at this point I think the screens in all 3 devices are identical . . . and the software is nearly so. It's the other hardware -- light or not, buttons or not, etc. -- that distinguish the various models.


I read in a discussion on Mobileread that the Voyage has a different screen. Or at least a different substrate, whatever that is. I don't recall what the difference was. It may have been that the surface on the Voyage is glass and it's plastic on the others even though they all have a glass substrate. I just don't recall. And I'm not even sure if this was authoritative but in general Mobileread is fairly trustworthy.

From my own experience with my Kindles and my neighbors I do know that individual screens, even of the same model, are so different in appearance that it wouldn't be a simple thing to determine if there's more variation in models or individual units.

Barry


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

My memory is that the Oasis has more lights than earlier models, and this was supposed to be an improvement. I really thought I remembered discussion of very minor screen resolution differences between Paperwhite and Voyage, but could be wrong. I don't have a Paperwhite anymore, and the difference between Boyage and Oasis is at most very small, so I'm not going to worry about it--the choice between Oasis and Voyage shouldn't be driven by perceived screen differences!


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

And for tossing coins, don't forget the prospect that a passing bird could snatch the coin out of the air!


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

The Hooded Claw said:


> And for tossing coins, don't forget the prospect that a passing bird could snatch the coin out of the air!


I always check the sky all around with binoculars before tossing a coin. That ain't gonna happen to me. 

I have all the models of lighted Kindles except the Oasis, as well as Kobos and Nooks. When I put them next to each other to compare the differences become obvious. Offhand I'd say my Paperwhite 2 looks the best, with the Voyage second best. Other Paperwhite 3's look better than mine and better than my Paperwhite 2. Actually the best screen of all those I have is probably the Nook Glowlight Plus, although the fonts are nicer on the Kindles. The Kobos are the least evenly lit of them all.

That's when comparing. When reading none of that matters. The words always find a way to get from the surface to my eyes and my attention is on the story. The Kobo's are the lightest and smallest and that means they're the most pleasant to hold in my hand for extended periods. If I didn't consider things such as the dictionary the Kobo would probably be my favorite ereader. But there are a lot of sometime features that make me prefer the Voyage.

Right now I'm doing an experiment with reading more on my phone using Moon+. I can't do really long reading sessions on it but for short sessions, up to 15 or 20 minutes, it's the nicest way to read. I'll still do my long reading sessions on the Voyage but for a while I'm going to see how I do with a lot of shorter sessions on the phone. I've been doing that for 2 or 3 days now with good results. Usually I just read with the phone away from home but now I'm reading at home as well. It's always in my shirt pocket.

My phone is a Nexus 5, with a very good 5" full HD LCD screen. I've just ordered a Galaxy S5 which should be here in a week or 10 days. It has an AMOLED screen, which is said to give less eyestrain. I bought it because I want the longer battery life but if the AMOLED screen really doesn't give me the eyestrain an LCD does this could turn out nicely.

For anyone who doesn't know, LCD has a light behind the screen shining into your face, producing colored light by shining through the colored LCD. AMOLED doesn't have a backlight. Instead it has tiny points of colored light, meaning much less light has to hit my eyes. Here's hoping it makes a difference.

Barry


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> My memory is that the Oasis has more lights than earlier models, and this was supposed to be an improvement. I really thought I remembered discussion of very minor screen resolution differences between Paperwhite and Voyage, but could be wrong. I don't have a Paperwhite anymore, and the difference between Boyage and Oasis is at most very small, so I'm not going to worry about it--the choice between Oasis and Voyage shouldn't be driven by perceived screen differences!


The screen is exactly the same on PW, Voyage, and Oasis. The lighting does differ a bit -- which could obviously translate into different perceptions of 'betterness'  I do think that the Voyage was the first with a 300dpi screen and, at the time, the PW screen was somewhat less -- 212dpi sticks in my mind. But with the 3rd gen PW, it's the same screen.

PW has 4 lights, Voyage has 6 with a light sensor (which can be turned off), Oasis has 10.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

barryem said:


> Right now I'm doing an experiment with reading more on my phone using Moon+. I can't do really long reading sessions on it but for short sessions, up to 15 or 20 minutes, it's the nicest way to read. I'll still do my long reading sessions on the Voyage but for a while I'm going to see how I do with a lot of shorter sessions on the phone. I've been doing that for 2 or 3 days now with good results. Usually I just read with the phone away from home but now I'm reading at home as well. It's always in my shirt pocket.


What makes you say it's the nicest way to read, Barry?

Noting that it's not available for iOS devices. I'm in the middle of testing various ePub readers for iOS...curious to know what you're enjoying about Moon+.

Betsy


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

Part of the reason is Moon+ and part of the reason is the size.  I like the narrow text, the size of a newspaper column.  I think it makes reading faster, at least for me.

Moon+ also gives me very fine control of font, font size and the boldness of the font, as well as the color of the background and text.  I use an amber background that's just one of the many ambers available.  I really don't do much with the font except to make it a little bolder.

All of that is kind of nice but what makes Moon+ really shine for me is that I can scroll instead of turn pages.  Each chapter is a very long page, much longer than the screen, and I just move the text up to keep reading down.  I love that about it.  I generally keep the top of my current paragraph near the top of the page and if I have to stop in the middle of a paragraph when I come back I know right where to start.  I like re-reading from the beginning of the paragraph to bring myself back into the book.  It has automatic scrolling also but I don't use that.

Another very nice thing about Moon+ is the way it measures progress.  Actually it has a variety of ways to do that and I can choose the one I prefer.  I keep it set to give me 2 numbers in parentheses like (a,b) where b is a number indicating the number of screens in the current chapter.  That, of course, changes if I change the font, but I usually don't so it's pretty stable, and a is how many screens I've read into that chapter.  This lets me see a very fine-tuned report of my progress, which I like.  I usually try to make a session last at least to the end of my current chapter and this kind of pushes me a little and gives me an idea if I want to go ahead and read the next chapter too.

Moon+, like the Kindle, syncs my progress between devices using Dropbox.  The problem with my Nexus is short battery life so now when I'm reading on the phone at home I keep my old, no longer connected phone handy to use while charging the Nexus.  Syncing on this is much smoother and faster and simpler than on Kindles.  Not that Kindles are bad at that, this is just a whole lot better.

It can also use my ebooks folder on Dropbox as an extended library.  It can do that and also sync with OneDrive or Google Drive and probably others.  I've been putting books on Dropbox for a while now just in case.  I've never really needed them but it's often easier to get to them than to go to my computer so that's working out nicely.

When I had an Ipod Touch a few years ago I tried a number of ereader apps and found a few nice ones but nothing that scrolled.  Scrolling is something that nearly all Palm ereader apps did and it's what I've always been used to.  In fact my very first ereader, Vertical Reader on the HP95lx scrolled.  I've never understood why people turn pages.  What a silly idea! 

Not long ago I read a review of some ereader for the Iphone that sounded pretty good and I can't think of it's name.  I just googled for it but no luck.  I do remember the review talked about it's scrolling abilities and made it sound pretty good.  That's a favorite feature of mine.

When I had my Ipod Touch I used a number of reading apps and I think Bluefire was one of my favorites.  I don't recall why.  I have no idea if it's still a good one.  At that time it was brand new.  I did a bit of emailing with the author and it was obvious he was both serious and knowledgeable.

I'm hoping when my new phone with the Amoled screen gets here I'll be able to read in longer sessions on the phone.  I don't expect to be able to abandon my Kindle but if I could that would be the most desirable outcome.

By the way, Moon+ has one downside, a mediocre dictionary.  It let's you choose other dictionaries but the default one seems to be the best.  It's as good as the dictionary on the Kobo or Nook but not as good as the one on the Kindle.

And, if anyone has an old Fire Phone (I do) the Kindle app in that scrolls, and very nicely too.  I wish the other Kindle apps were as nice as that one.  It has quite a few special features none of the others had.  The Fire Phone in general isn't that great.  it was obviously designed by a bunch of bright and eager 5 year olds but you have to give them credit for trying.  They did get the Kindle app right.  I also have Moon+ on the Fire Phone, where it works just fine, but I tend to use the Kindle app on it.

Barry


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> The screen is exactly the same on PW, Voyage, and Oasis. The lighting does differ a bit -- which could obviously translate into different perceptions of 'betterness'  I do think that the Voyage was the first with a 300dpi screen and, at the time, the PW screen was somewhat less -- 212dpi sticks in my mind. But with the 3rd gen PW, it's the same screen.


 I was very certain that there were screen differences between the PW and the Voyage. This explains it, I had a PW2, but never had the PW3.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

I left out 2 problems with Moon+.  It seems to be harder on the battery than other reading apps.  On my Nexus with it's short battery life that's kind of a problem.  I have a Galaxy S5 coming with both a replaceable battery and a lot longer battery life so that may alleviate that.

The other problem is a progress bar when I tap the screen to make controls pop up.  I have to be careful not to touch the progress bar or it'll move me to some other location in the book.  It's easy enough to avoid but every now and then I get sloppy and tap it by mistake.  Fortunately a tap on the back button takes me right back so it's not as big an issue as it might be.  I emailed the developer about that and he didn't think that's a problem so I guess it'll stay there.  Personally I can't see any possible use for it for the vast majority of readers but there it is.

One other comment; Moon+ is so totally controllable in every way that it's not only easily the most customizeable ereader app I've ever seen, it's one of the most customizable apps I've seen of any kind.  And that's done so elegantly that it's still a very simple app to use.  Learning all the things that can be changed can be pretty onerous but there's really no need to do that.  You can simply install it and use it and make changes as you feel the need.  it works very well right out of the box.  And the controls are organized beautifully so things are very easy to find.  The developer and I don't agree about progress bars but he's sure a great designer.  One of the best.  When I was a developer interface design was never my strength so I'm especially impressed.

Barry


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## northofdivision (Sep 7, 2010)

The Hooded Claw said:


> I was very certain that there were screen differences between the PW and the Voyage. This explains it, I had a PW2, but never had the PW3.


Feel the same about the Paperwhite vs Voyage vs Oasis though the latter two i'm guessing have more to do with the light layer and where the LEDs are located *as well as how many there are* than the screen itself. In the sunlight with lights off, the screens on the Oasis and Voyage look similar to me with the Oasis a little more yellowish (sepia-ish). The Paperwhite, however, is visibly different to me. All three have layers of glass, plastic and thin films (including the light layer and the touch layer). If I were to guess, the "diffuser" (anti glare) layer closest to the top or the E-pigment layers closest to the bottom, are what likely make the difference on the three readers. For the super nerdy, the optical teardowns online are pretty fascinating.


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## barryem (Oct 19, 2010)

northofdivision said:


> If I were to guess, the "diffuser" (anti glare) layer closest to the top or the E-pigment layers closest to the bottom, are what likely make the difference on the three readers. For the super nerdy, the optical teardowns online are pretty fascinating.


I mentioned that I'd read about some screen differences in the Voyage and Paperwhite and what you said reminded me what it was, I think. This is still vague in my mind but I think it was that the diffuser is glass on the Voyage and plastic on the Paperwhite. I remember that glass diffuser being introduced as a new feature when the Voyage was announced. I have no idea which the Oasis has.

Barry


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## Nate Hoffelder (Jun 9, 2014)

The thing I got from your timeline is that since 2012 Amazon has released new Kindles in even-numbered years and updated the Paperwhite in odd-numbered years.

So I don't expect a new Kindle in 2017, just an updated Paperwhite.

Okay, that might meet your definition of a new kindle, but I don't think it's worth waiting for. I think the current model is awesome.

my two cents



Ann in Arlington said:


> Actually not. Here's when the various models have been released:
> 
> November 2007 -- Original, classic Kindle
> February 2009 -- 2nd gen
> ...


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