Kindles – Voyage & Oasis

Recently I decided to upgrade my Kindle. And went on a splurge and first bought the Voyage, and then the Oasis (on a 5 month installment scheme from Amazon). This was a huge upgrade for me – device I hitherto used for reading being the first gen Paperwhite. 

The first gen Paperwhite was my first and only Kindle up to this point. When the subsequent generations were released I never upgraded. Mainly coz my reading habits were off and on, and also because I used to supplement the Paperwhite with the Kindle apps on my iPad and Nexus tablet. Neither of them were as good as the Paperwhite but like I said my reading was off and on, and I used to read other stuff like PDFs and Instapaper and Longform, plus for a long time I was into comics. 

Fast forward to the present I slowly stopped reading all those other mediums too and pretty much stopped any reading. I think after a long time I read  “A Slight Trick of the Mind” by Mitch Cullen mainly because I saw that excellent movie “Mr. Holmes” which is based on the book and was so in love with the movie and it’s background score. The book didn’t live up to either of them but I persisted and finished it nevertheless over a weekend. After this I think I read a few books on the Paperwhite – mostly non-fiction. 

A few months later I signed up on Audible to try it out, this with yet another Holmes book – that of the elder brother (a book called “Mycroft Holmes”). I didn’t enjoy this book much either but I bought the Kindle version to read side by side and also try out Whispersync. That was nice. The book wasn’t great but I enjoyed the ability to sync and read together etc. Anyways, I didn’t manage much on Audiblr either and was about to close it after the trial month but Amazon offered a 3 month extension at half the price and so I stuck on. Good that I did coz now I am hooked on to Audible. 

I guess it’s coz of Audible and a rekindling of my interest in reading/ prose, plus a nudge from Amazon in terms of a reduced price on the Voyage for Prime members that I bought the Voyage. This was a giant step forward from the aging first gen Paperwhite that I was hooked and started voraciously reading.  Then I wanted to try the Oasis too, and even though it is pricey and has many negative reviews regarding its screen (and I am not rich and don’t have cash to throw around) I decided to buy it. 

Both are delightful devices. My favorite features would be the single pane of glass (without the depression on the screen as with the Paperwhite) – not sure why that matters, but it feels good – plus the ability to turn pages via Pagepress or the physical buttons. I especially love the latter. Makes it so convenient reading single handedly. 

I like both devices. I think I prefer the Voyage slightly more coz it feels more polished; but the Oasis has a lot more “cute” or children’s book sort of feel to it. It’s a nice little device. Sort of short and squarish. And more handy reading in a dark room as the page turn is via physical buttons as opposed to pressing the bezel on the Voyage (which is a hit and miss in the dark). Plus I love the cover and I feel it a lot easier to hold in hand. That’s not fair to the Voyage though as my comparison doesn’t include the Voyage case (which I don’t have). 

Initially I thought my Oasis had lighting issues as I felt one side is a bit darker than the other. I still feel so but when reading in the dark it doesn’t feel so, so maybe it’s just the external lighting. The Voyage consistently feels better in terms of lighting though. And maybe I am wrong but the text on the Voyage seems slightly more sharper – but that’s probably just me nitpicking. 

Anyhow. For anyone sitting on the fence these are excellent devices and a worthy upgrade over the Paperwhite (which is a good device too – what I mean is that you are getting some value for the extra cash you dole out for the Voyage or Oasis).