Amazon has finally produced a waterproof Kindle. The new Oasis model remains the most high-end Kindle, albeit painfully expensive.
It costs $250 (down from $290 for the original Oasis), so it certainly isn’t an impulse buy or a stocking stuffer. The most visible change, besides an all-metal casing, is a seven inch screen. That’s the biggest Kindle to date other than the magazine-sized DX, but an increased resolution means it should still be largely indistinguishable from printed text.
Amazon says the new size also allows 30 percent more words per page (at the same letter size), which should cut down on page turns. In theory that might mean a slightly increased battery life.
In practice it’s actually a little shorter: where the old model had a combination of two weeks’ worth on the device itself and six weeks from a battery in the bundled case, the new model has six weeks on the device and comes without a case.
It also supports Bluetooth for connections to headphone or speakers, as well as integrating with Audible. If you have the same title in both e-Book and audio version, it’s even possible to automatically switch between reading and listening without losing your place.
The waterproofing is rated as IPX8, the second-highest on the International Protection Marking scale. In this specific case, Amazon says it will withstand being submerged for up to an hour in water up to two meters deep, so it should be fine for using in the bath or next to a swimming pool.