image from Amazon

Amazon’s upcoming Kindle Oasis is their most expensive model. The current design released in 2017 with a 7″ screen, front-lighting, and physical buttons. The newest model, the Kindle Oasis 3, is set to release July 24th. If you pre-order, it includes 6 months of Kindle Unlimited for free. Here are my thoughts on the Oasis 3 as an e-reader for any type of reading including the Bible.

Kindle Oasis 3 Specs

image from Amazon

It has a 7″ screen with 300 ppi, IPX8 waterproofing for reading in the tub or pool, an aluminum case, 25 LEDs for front-lighting with color temperature controls that you can schedule to adjust by the time of day, physical page-turning buttons, Bluetooth with Audible syncing, and it weighs 6.6 oz. It comes in 8GB or 32GB, WiFi or 3G models, and with or without special offers.

Kindle Oasis 3 Color Temperature

image from Amazon

What set’s it apart from the 2017 model is the 25 LEDs with color temperature controls. It has white and amber LEDs that work together to create color temperatures that range from white to amber. You can schedule the colors to change at specific times of the day. It also has adaptive front-lighting to automatically adjust the screen brightness based on the lighting conditions.

Reading the Bible on Kindle

image from Amazon

My question, of course, will be how well will it work with Bibles? I’ve always loved reading the Bible on Kindle. I bought the Kindle Keyboard edition back in 2010 (I don’t upgrade that often) and I’ve reviewed several Bibles on Kindle. There are times when holding a paper Bible isn’t as ideal as I’d like, but I don’t like reading from a tablet or smartphone for hours at a time because of the backlighting and distraction. I have to look at backlit screens too much already, so electronic ink is a great choice for me.

One thing that’s bothered me, though, is the 6″ screen. It’s great for normal books or for Bibles without any type of poetic setting. Poetry has to either have a small enough text to keep the lines displayed correctly, or the screen has to turn to landscape mode to take advantage of the width of the screen.

Here’s the same font size in the landscape layout. It looks much better, but now the buttons are in an odd location and I have to change back to use the keyboard. A Kindle Paperwhite would be better for this since it doesn’t have a keyboard or buttons to deal with.

The other alternative is to reduce the font size, but I like the larger fonts and one of the advantages of reading on an electronic device is the ability to use any font size you want. The 7″ screen of the Oasis will help this a lot. You can have a larger font in portrait mode without breaking poetic lines.

My Thoughts on the Kindle Oasis

The Kindle Oasis 3 looks like an excellent Kindle for Bible reading, but the price will set it apart for serious readers only. I don’t think the price will appeal to casual readers. Those who spend a lot of time reading will appreciate the features enough to consider the Oasis as their e-reader of choice.

Since most of the weight is on one side with the page-turn buttons, this model is easier to hold in one hand for long periods of time. The larger screen is better for Bible layouts, or to just show more text on the screen and require page-turning less often. The waterproofing and physical buttons are always ideal in my opinion, but the color temperature adjustments are the real icing on the cake. The 6 months of free Kindle Unlimited is a $60 value, so that helps bring the price down considerably.

If you don’t need the color temperature adjustments, then the 2017 model is still a great choice and it’s currently on sale and is available with 3 months of Kindle Unlimited.

What do you think? Do you like the Kindle Oasis? Let us know in the comments below.

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