It is more or less painless passed the Turin Book Fair, gone are the usual speeches and seasonal publishing in crisis, on the future of the eBook (which is perhaps not so magnificent and progressive) and other various recurring amenities. I think the time has come to tell what I have done in recent weeks.
I have tried and used the new Kindle Oasis, the next generation ebook reader created by Amazon IlPost of which has already been mentioned here. It was presented, after several advances, on April 13. It is a square object, very light, very interesting in my view (as I’ll explain in a moment).
The features “physical” Oasis of the Kindle weighs 131 grams (238 grams with the cover) and a thickness which changes from 3.4 to 8.5 millimeters between a side and the other of the device (it is 14.3 cm wide and 12.2 cm high). The screen is 300 ppi (pixels per inch) on a total of 6 inch diagonal and has a greater number of LEDs than the Paperwhite Kindle, to make stronger (60%) and its homogeneous lighting capacity. It is equipped with a housing with integrated battery to allow recharging, made so as to equalize the side often 8,5mm and therefore does not increase the total thickness (but difficult to write a photo explains all). It has up to 20 months of standby time. The internal memory is 4 GB while the nominal reading range is about 28 hours with no WiFi and with low or backlight off.
the necessary introduction
a premise: are several years that I write eBooks and ebook reader in general. However, the director of the Post has always scolded me some enthusiasm on the matter, but it can provide at least that does not derive from the situation in which I live. I in fact the house overflowing books (paper) and you live some family tension to the idea of adding another load to the shelving of stay. Ebooks are however, as you can imagine, welcome. Although I tend to buy two copies of books of paper and then digital because I like the book object (which I leave at home) but I always an ereader with me. Add to this that are also author of the books for a publishing company digital-only and you will understand the passion.
The experience with the eReader began with various tools that only the pre-history when you was it possible to qualify as such. In fact I read a hundred books on Palm since the late nineties, drawing liberally from Project Gutenberg which is the thing that got me to strengthen my English better, and then fall in love with an ereader French Bookeen Cybook Opus given to me by his friend Antonio Tombolini (which I thank), a real turning point of my addiction to ebooks. To that was followed by an embarrassing number of Kindle: from a purchase made in the USA and rather the first generation of Garibaldi (a disturbing object, with virtually unusable and a strange sub-screen keyboard on the side, long and narrow, indicating the progression pages) and then followed up with the famous “Technical Dini” ® to meet the need for new technology (what is also called GAS, Gear Acquisition Syndrome).
the Technical Dini® works like this: when it comes out a new gadget on the acquisition becomes indispensable and at the same time unjustifiable because it already owns the generation immediately preceding (applies to computers, cameras, smartphones, tablets, e-readers and anything else every 12-18 months should be strengthened, improved, made more more palatable), just give the “old” one year to a loved one for Christmas or for his birthday and feel free to this point to buy the new. But in reality, and this triggered my namesake technique, there is no need; here is the way of my own to subvert the purpose of the gift: you gifts and then something happens that the loved one, touched deep down, you ask how to reciprocate. At this point, just cross the gadget. If the loved one you gave to your old e-book reader waiting for the new and loved B you gave your old tablet waiting for the new, when they ask you what you want you can specify the new tablet to A and B the new ebook reader. Does not always work (especially not you get angry with me if you have loved ones from stingy) but never mind, it means that it’s still a gift to a loved one. The guy who imagined game theory, albeit crazy like a horse, we had seen along with the idea of win-win situations that are repeated.
This is to say that pretty much I filled my Kindle family, one generation after another. At first it was easy because these digital text readers are relatively inexpensive, but now with the Oasis I had to do it by myself, because the price of the latest generation of e-readers from Amazon is more full-bodied of the above. In fact, while the Kindle “Normal ” costs 69 euro (and I can testify is a great product, great gift for birthday parties, birthdays, school promotions, visits to elderly relatives, etc.), the Kindle Paperwhite (second generation) 129.99 costs and is in my opinion the perfect generalist tool for those who are serious about e-books, the Kindle Voyage 189,99 coast and is luxurious and intriguing even if very similar to the Paperwhite (applies to those who travel a lot). The Kindle Oasis instead well 289,99 EUR coast and is a completely different instrument because it is different the lightness and portability.
Have it in your hand, even after weeks, it always amazes me . And I like the instant reversibility: Hand passing it in hand I rotate it in order to have the bulk of the side with the two buttons as a handle of the hand and everything is turned upside down: the text and also the function of the two buttons (one to go ahead and one to go back through the pages, but you can do it directly on the touch screen).
Let’s start at the early hour
After then, the the introduction, let’s talk about this Kindle Oasis. What I expect from a Reader eBook is that ( 1 ) has a lot of autonomy, ( 2 ) is comfortable to handle, ( 3 ) has a good screen, ( 4 ) contains many books and makes them easily accessible. We start from the last point.
( 4) The software
L ‘ software interface has been changed (and I was not very clear because Amazon takes partially different interfaces on different devices: a mix of capabilities of processors, modes of interaction, but also to diversify among its own products I think) and now adds several “surface features” for the presentation of his books, of consistent purchases tips with their own preferences (just spend five minutes to “train” your already more than predictive automated suggestions system Amazon Store), ability to download extracts and various advertising.
the usability of the library board, however, has remained substantially the same. In practice, try not to have too many books because otherwise it gets really long circled above. The board is especially true for those who have other books as well as those bought in the Kindle Store. Those bought from Amazon are always in the cloud (and therefore riscaricabili as needed) and however you sicronizzano also the folders that are put. But I still stocked on Project Gutenberg, on Archive.org (which has a nice section of eBooks) and our Project Manuzio Liber Liber and then I need more conveniently manage the books. After downloading the Mac to transfer them to your Kindle using always a piece of open source software platform that I think is irreplaceable. It is Calibre, which is not only a jukebox of texts (as had iTunes for music, to speak), but also a high quality converter: if you download books in ePub format we also consider him to turn them in the right format to Kindle . There are also many online bookstores that sell the same books on the market, but without DRM (as do the “big”, including Amazon) and my digital publisher Bookrepublic thankfully is one of them: just buy the ebook, download it, put it inside Calibre and then sync with the Kindle, the rest of us think all miniaturized fine folks that live inside the silicon and Campania doing these strange things.
at the operating system of the Kindle reproach always a certain heaviness in the organization of libraries made from more than twenty texts. Personally I have tried to improve things by creating folders by genre (novels, essays, fiction, etc) and then a folder “on read” where they appear as I’m reading (am one who reads more things in parallel) and “beds” folder to see at a glance what books I’ve done off (without removing them, however, because the space to store them there, is just the difficult interface). Because it is not real folders but simply views of the elements with the same label, and as a book can have multiple labels, it can appear simultaneously in multiple folders. Ie lie both on and “wise men” in which “read” and perhaps even in specific folders designed for certain combinations (for example, if one uses the Kindle as a study tool or something like that). What the labels / folders is a method which I highly recommend.
The Oasis management hardly changes compared to other models. Only difference (and libidinous) is the mechanism of the two batteries. When the cover / battery is disconnected the Oasis records a normal range, and when the second battery is also attached shows the charge level of both and the action in progress, ie the cover of battery that charges the internal battery while this ‘latest is used by the Kindle itself. When attaching the charger, the first to recover energy is the internal one, followed by the external one.
(3) By setting the surface
On the screen not I can only say good things. It is an enhanced version of the Paperwhite. It has a great density of pixels, it is quite fast in the touch response. Actually the problem is different: the eInk reader technology has a trade-off between speed of response in the screen refresh (slow) and energy consumption (low). In this case the refresh, although not comparable to the real time of a smartphone, is still considerable. The operating system is quite toned and, once you understand who awakens with a bit ‘of calm by longer breaks (it goes into a sort of hibernation light then that is what allows for the hypothetical 20 months of battery life. I say hypothetical because we must wait twenty months to know if it is indeed the case). The lighting greatly increases power consumption and as a whole the Oasis seem robust as battery but not a lot: even for this probably has two. (This also cures the Point 1 on autonomy)
(2) Riding the Beast
The pleasure of reading on the screen for me it is absolute. The only fault I can reproach the ereader is that somehow, since publishers basically everyone is using the same typography and the same fonts, make absolutely identical books between them. It’s like reading all Yellow Mondadori, paginated and printed all the same. If you add to this that in reality the page is always only one (an odd, to be precise) because they do not “screen runs” like flipping through, and that the change of font size can lead to violent rimpaginazioni, you understand it becomes very complicated to use spatial memory to orient themselves in the garden of the text. But this is a subject that would take us too far: if you want you can also refer to the act of writing (with a pen, with a typewriter or with a text editor) and the different cognitive that this has brought. I think things are in part profoundly true and partly of rubbish crazy. But let us hold to good for another discussion.
I also know that you could customize the book (a few, a few, are) perhaps changing system fonts each time, but we try to rely on realistic experiences, on the field, my grandmother and your grandmother to speak. As they say the engineers, if a feature is off by default, it will remain in the 90% of installations in the field.
The thing I find revolutionary, it is a small internal revolution throughout the world to the Kindle, is the ‘ergonomics of this device. I am intrigued by the boxy shape, although we are moving into the summer season, and I wear the jackets have smaller and smaller pockets. The screen is always rectangular but it is because on the one hand makes it asymmetric with the handle in which the battery is full and on which there are the two mechanical buttons. The “subtlety” of this unit is truly legendary. Probably, before arriving at the sentient and folding sheets, we will have another iteration in which the handle will disappear.
For now, however, this Kindle Oasis seems like a magical object. It keeps very well in hand (the asymmetrical design with the weight on the side of the wrist makes it more comfortable to hold for long periods: with the cover / battery is comfortable but plain), is very light (thanks to heavy duty but lightweight materials such as the new plastic used), has truly meaningful reading comfort. The maximum brightness of the text seems to be floating on a pool of light: overtime).
I put the Oasis next to my Voyage, and I must say that there is no story, unfortunately (or fortunately my cousin, what you just did for years and which still does not know that he had “won” a virtually brand new Kindle: do not let them spoilers, please). The Oasis is slightly wider, shorter than a side and thinner by half. Above all, it has a remarkable lightness, that is felt immediately. Difficult to notice to have it in your bag, for example. Hard to get tired of to keep it in hand.
I am a bit ‘more puzzled the fake-leather cover / battery style cover. I would have preferred something more technical because it is ruining a bit ‘faster. Mind you, I like the lived objects, but I prefer that they are durable and good in shape (since then nine out of ten gift them to a relative). Above all, this suede effect I see the bad especially for the beach and pool, two typical places where I think the Kindle is at home: the screen makes it much easier to use than a smartphone or tablet, and if Amazon does them really waterproof, indeed “tropicalized” as they say the cameras, it would be a real ace.
The enemy next to us
Speaking of tablet and above smartphone, it also speaks of the biggest problem of the Kindle and other e-readers on the market. With the constant improvement of the screens of mobile phones, all Retina (if iPhone) or something else (if other) the number of dots per inch has become very high, even higher than that of the Kindle screens. But do not be fooled: the great thing about the Kindle is that the images are “printed” and to limit gracefully illuminated by light dense and full-bodied, not excitement daughters of a screen liquid crystal illuminated by an LED lamp and amplified to try to make it clear and defined offensively for the eyes if it is fixed too long.
for me, as a Japanese continuous atoll to use a dedicated tool for reading and I avoid converge until i can, there are some strong points of the Kindle (or whoever among the reader on the market) that is worth pointing out.
the first is the screen: the yield is higher, at least for my eyes. I can safely read me a book on the iPhone 6S Plus, but the Kindle is better, it does not fatigue, is more comfortable. The only difference you may notice is that on a smartphone I have more choice of apps and then the platforms, while on the Kindle I have to make an effort to convert content produced for other platforms on the Amazon. As mentioned, if there is no middle ground with Calibre DRM is not a problem.
The second is the concentration: it is an old story but always good for me. On phone and tablet I have a million distractions. On the Kindle, apart from shopping on the Amazon store, I can not do anything but read. And I can only read things that are shaped like a book, more or less, except in the case of rss feed subscriptions that convert dozens of websites Mobi documents and load them on the Kindle (if desired, Calibre does). Best avoided though, believe me. If there’s one nice thing about reading a book is that it abstracts from the rest of the world, I do not want you to wallow. Do not pull in millions of small documents, which moreover are also awkward to handle, as mentioned above.
The third is that autonomy, portability and flexibility of a Kindle (in my case) with both touch and backlighting are superior to those of a smartphone. It’s a little ‘speech in the concentration of the above, but there is even more. I used the ebook reader over the last decade into a virtually endless series of contexts in which he always showed up. He has ground a few hundred books without ever giving problems and, if I can say I have a travel companion especially by train and by plane, this is definitely the Kindle. The fact that it does not need to be loaded all the time, moreover, allows you to go a few days without needing to carry around a charger (which incidentally Amazon does not give you) and even a cable, since it uses a standard USB micro filler. Someone who has it is always and in half an hour is practically load.
Here, for now this is my experience with Kindle Oasis. If I find other things, strengths and weaknesses, add them slowly below. Dopottutto books are one thing “slow”, right?
- Excellent reading experience, the best I’ve tried so far on this already excellent type of devices
- Integration with Wikipedia and translations (if you have the connection alive) quite useful
- Integration with Goodreads (if you have the WiFi-3G model)
- the cover does not protect the back but on and off the Kindle
- Excellent fonts generated from Amazon: Bookerly and Ember (Ember prefer)
- There are a couple of dozens of features that you can configure and at least three different ways to manage settings, what that does not make it all too intuitive, but not too complicated
- the management of books is always laborious if you have many volumes
- the new home, which is more of a splash screen I also really like because it acts as a “cover” the whole of the Kindle experience, very well dressing it
- the leather cover “soft” brown I do not like, but it is subjective
- Unfortunately it is not waterproof or weather sealed
