This summer, Amazon released a new e-reader model, the New Kindle Oasis. The New York Times ran a rather positive review titled “It's the perfect time to buy an e-reader,” but neither the New York Times nor the major online tech journals say Oasis is the best e- reader to buy: in summary because, even if it works very well and makes reading very pleasant, it costs 250 euros. Its great screen, they argue, is not so different from that of cheaper e-readers to the point that it justifies more than 100 euros in cost difference.
However, we tried the Kindle Oasis in our turn to understand what makes it different from other e-readers and we compared it with two e-readers of the two main competitors of Kindles in Italy: the Kobo Forma by Rakuten, the e-reader. sold in Mondadori bookstores, and the Tolino Shine 3, which instead is sold on IBS and in Libraccio bookstores.
Why buy an e-reader
A few years ago it seemed that with the spread of ebooks and e-readers the world of publishing would change definitively, because readers they would buy more and more ebooks and fewer and fewer paper books. Things did not go like this: in Italy ebook sales did not exceed 5 percent of total sales, and even in countries where ebooks have spread more, such as the United States and Germany, it has never exceeded. 30 per cent.
This doesn't mean that e-books don't have their own market and that e-readers are useless items. They have some obvious advantages over paper books and among people who read a lot there are several who, depending on the circumstances, choose to read paper editions or ebooks. For example, ebooks are preferred when you go on vacation and carrying more than one book could be uncomfortable, or when you are reading a tome of more than 600 pages and you want to safeguard your pulse (and maybe even fool your brain on actual length of what you are reading). According to Brian Chen of the New York Times, this is the time to buy an e-reader because our ever closer coexistence with smartphones, and with their bright screens, can be limited by a type of technological entertainment device that has a minor impact on our eyes and distract us less, being made only and exclusively to read.
For some time, all the most popular e-reader models have been very readable thanks to the most updated versions of e-ink technology, which make the text clearer and not flickering as it happened with the very first e-readers. Except for the Kindle (the simplest model of Amazon's e-readers), they all have a resolution of 300 ppi. Another thing they have in common is the long battery life: there are differences between one model and another, but all of them work much longer than smartphones, which we are now used to recharging every day or so, to the point that the comparison between the individual models in this respect is not so relevant. All batteries usually last weeks.
How is the New Kindle Oasis made? as an e-reader different from the others: it has the largest screen – one inch more than other Kindles and Tolinos, even if it does not reach the 8 inches of the Kobo Forma – and instead of having a plastic exterior it is has aluminum, like some iPhone models.
The design in general is different from that of other Kindles and takes up that of the previous Kindle Oasis: the screen frame is not wider at the bottom, but at the side. On that side it is also thicker. It is designed to be held comfortably with one hand, like a paperback book folded in half. And it is suitable for both left and right-handed people because the screen can be rotated; along the side to be held there are two long, narrow buttons that you can press to change the page without touching the screen. The screen is touch, like all other e-readers, but thanks to the keys you can also read by disabling this function – so as not to risk, for example, accidentally changing the page by accidentally touching the screen. If desired, you can also orient the screen in a different way, to read with the wider side at the bottom.
It's not the only e-reader to have this shape – the Kobo Libra H2O and Kobo Forma, Kobo's highest-end e-readers, are also like this. Compared to other Kindles, however, it has another feature that should justify the higher price: the shade of the light of the screen can be adjusted from white to amber and the front light can be set (provided by a much greater number of LEDs, 12 white and 13 amber) so that the brightness of the screen and its hue change according to the ambient lighting. It is also impermeable to water, to the point where it can be submerged up to a meter deep (and therefore can be used in the bathtub without problems), but this also applies to the cheaper Kindle Paperwhite.
According to Chen, the fact that the Oasis is a bit wider than other Kindles is a disadvantage (he says it won't fit in the pocket of most coats) and he claims the Kindle Paperwhite is more comfortable to hold for long periods. reading sessions. The editorial staff of the Post does not agree so much on this: it finds the wide lateral side comfortable, both when reading while lying down and when you are on public transport and you risk being bumped, and appreciates the fact of having a screen that is a little bit bigger.
Summarizing the differences with the Kindle Paperwhite are that the Oasis screen is slightly larger, that the Oasis is held in the hand differently and that the brightness of its screen can be adjusted to have an amber light (more similar to the pages of old books) and adapted to the surrounding environment, so as not to tire the eyes too much. Probably any reader who reads ebooks would like to receive a Kindle Oasis as a gift, however it cannot be said that those extra 130 euros can completely change the reading experience.
Some things to know about ebooks
In order to be able to compare the Kindle Oasis well with e-readers of other brands it is important to know a few things about what ebooks are and in what formats exist. The first is that when you buy an ebook, you don't buy a digital copy of a book, but a license to use it to be able to read it. For this reason, not all ebooks can be read on all digital devices and cannot be copied (at least legally) or lent to a friend.
Which ebooks can be read on which e-reader depends on the format of the ebooks and is the reason why those who have already read so many ebooks on a Kindle, hardly change the brand of e-reader: doing so could lose the library accumulated up to that moment. In fact, the formats of the ebooks purchased through Amazon (AZW and AZW3) are not compatible with the e-readers of other brands, they are closed formats. Switching from a Kobo to a Tolino or vice versa is easier, since both allow you to read ebooks in EPUB format, the open format for publishing ebooks, which however is not accepted by Amazon devices. All e-readers then allow you to read documents in PDF, but it is not very convenient to read books in this format, since the length of the page cannot be varied and therefore you have to proceed with cumbersome enlargements.
How to borrow ebooks
An advantage of e-readers on which you can read ebooks in EPUB format (and therefore the Kobo and Tolino others) is that they can also be used to read ebooks borrowed from the library, if your library is one of the 5,500 that are part of the MLOL network: through the network portal you can consult all the digital contents of the library for free where you registered, without having to go in person. These ebooks are in EPUB format and – except for the rights-free ones – they have the Adobe DRM (Digital Rights Management): a technology for the defense of copyright that allows ebooks to be read only for 14 days, they cannot be copied or changed in format. Since it is a loan, in some cases, on the basis of an agreement (arguably questionable) between several publishing houses and libraries on the subject of ebook lending, if someone else is reading the ebook you are interested in, you cannot take it you. However, more and more publishing houses are abandoning this model.
Due to their format, ebooks borrowed through MLOL cannot be read with a Kindle – unless you subject them to illegal processing, which you shouldn't do. If, on the other hand, your e-reader is compatible with Adobe DRM (in addition to Tolino and Kobo all these are) there are no problems: the first time it could be a bit laborious to download an ebook and put it on your device, but following the indications of MLOL shouldn't be difficult.
MLOL also offers a subscription service that allows you to borrow ebooks from all the libraries in its network and not only from the one you are subscribed to: it is called MLOL Plus and exists in various formulas depending on the number of books you think about. to read in a year, or in a month, from 10 to 200 euros per year. For those who read a lot and spend too much on books, it can be a good way to save.
The comparison with the Kobo Forma
The Kobo Forma and the Kobo Libra H2O are the e-readers that both in terms of price and quality are more similar to the New Kindle Oasis. They all have the “wide side” on the side rather than below, and both the brightness and the light hue can be set to vary automatically throughout the day. They are also all three equally waterproof. In the versions with 8 GB of memory (both the Kobo Forma and the New Kindle Oasis also exist in 32 GB), the Forma costs 280 euros, therefore 60 euros more than the most of the Kindle Oasis, the Libra H2O 180, 40 euros less of the Kindle Oasis. The Kobo Forma, however, has an 8-inch screen, while both that of the Kindle Oasis and that of the Libra H2O are 7. The difference is noticeable.
Even in the Kobo the orientation of the screen can be changed: unlike what happens with the Kindle Oasis, if you do not lock it it rotates by itself. Another difference lies in the material of which the two different e-readers are made externally: the Oasis is aluminum, the Kobo Forma is plastic. For those wishing to use them without a protective case, the grip on the Forma is certainly firmer, since the back has a lattice that makes more friction than the smooth surface of the Oasis. However, it is advisable to use a case, in particular, for the Kobo, the SleepCover (31 euros on Amazon), which also turns into a lectern. A similar case was also made for the Kindle Oasis and is priced between 15 and 20 euros, depending on the color.
The Kobo Forma costs 280 euros, a little more than the Kindle Oasis, so even in this case it is a beautiful object to receive and less to buy. However, if you are interested in buying it, at the moment on Amazon it costs about 10 euros less than on the Rakuten website. The Kobo Libra H2O on the other hand costs 180 euros and is therefore more competitive for those interested in an e-reader with a 7-inch screen.
One thing to know for those considering buying a Kobo e-reader is that you don't need to register a profile on the Rakuten site to use it: you can use an existing profile on the La Feltrinelli bookstore site, for example, or on various foreign bookstore sites, or log in to the e-reader for the first time using your Facebook or Google account. Another interesting thing is that, in addition to being able to be used to read ebooks borrowed with MLOL, Kobo e-readers also allow you to read articles from newspapers and magazines online saved through the Pocket application, accessible directly from Kobo. Post editors who have it end up accumulating a lot of articles and reading a few, but perhaps for someone who wants to retrieve old pieces of the Post by reading them in the evening, from a less aggressive screen, this function could be useful.
Finally, when the Kob is in stand-by or show the cover of the book you are reading: a little thing much appreciated by an editor bored with the usual images of Kindles.
And Tolino?
Tolino is the e-reader brand born in 2013 from a collaboration between Deutsche Telekom, the largest telecommunications company in Germany, and a group of German distributors and booksellers. Since the end of 2014 the bookstore chains Ibs and Libraccio have also been part of the collaboration and currently there are two Tolino models that sell: the Tolino Vision 4 HD, from 180 euros (the same price as the Kobo Libra H2O), and the Tolino Shine 3 , from 140 euros (the same price as the Kindle Paperwhite, of which it is the competitor).
Both the Tolino Vision and the Tolino Shine, like the Kobo Forma and Libra H2O and the Kindle Oasis, allow you to adjust both the brightness and the hue of the light, even so that they change automatically throughout the day. However, they have a 6-inch screen: therefore they are suitable – the Shine in particular, if you also want to save something – for those who are very interested in varying the shade of the screen on which you read and not so much to its size. However, it does not reach the same brightness as the more expensive competitors.
In addition to the Shine, the Tolino Vision is waterproof like other more expensive e-readers and has the “tap2flip” function: it allows you to change the page simply by touching the back of the e-reader with a finger. It also has two buttons instead of one, unlike the Shine which, switching on separately, is simply controlled with the touch screen. According to a Post editor who tested it, it's a little slower in screen responses than the Kindles and Kobos, but not in an annoying way. However, it has a primacy over all Kindles and Kobos: it is the lightest e-reader.
As for the image that is seen on the screen when they are in standby, the Tolos show a stylized face that sleeps: another little thing appreciated in the editorial office. Obviously all e-readers have their own operating system and changing what you are used to can be confusing at first: however e-readers are objects that basically serve only one thing, and relatively simple, so the differences they have little weight.
One thing about this aspect that we would like to point out is the page numbering system, which allows us to understand where we are in the book: on Tolino and Kobo it is similar to that of paper books because it is “Pages”, although not corresponding to the paper ones, and gives an idea of how many are missing. For example, it says that it is page 72 of 110. With the Kindle Oasis, which like other Kindles gives information on the progress of the reading with a percentage, instead we have noticed a certain degree of confusion when it reports the missing reading minutes to the end of the book: much lower than the real ones.
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