Amazon adds water resistance to Kindle Oasis

Shawn Knight

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Staff member

Amazon in April 2016 added a new member to its established Kindle family. The 8th generation Kindle Oasis launched as the thinnest and lightest Kindle to date yet despite its name, the e-reader didn’t afford protection against liquids.

On Wednesday, Amazon remedied the oversight with the announcement of a new Oasis-class e-reader.

The new Oasis features a larger 7-inch display (300 PPI) coated in Amazon’s strongest cover glass to date. The extra real estate means it’s capable of squeezing in over 30 percent more words per page, resulting in fewer page turns.

Despite its larger size, the new Oasis tips the scales at 194 grams - 10 grams less than the Kindle Paperwhite - and tapers down to just 3.4mm thick.

The Oasis is Amazon’s first waterproof Kindle, rated for immersion in up to two meters of fresh water for up to 60 minutes. Accidental dunks in the bath tub, a pool or hot tub shouldn’t present any issues.

It’s hard to think that the Kindle has been around for nearly as long as the iPhone but it’s true as Amazon introduced the first Kindle e-reader in November 2007.

Amazon’s new Kindle Oasis is available to pre-order from today starting at $249.99 for the 8GB model. There’s also a 32GB model that’ll set you back $279.99 should you command more local storage and another model that adds cellular connectivity for $349.99. Look for them to ship on October 31.

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