I purchased a Kindle Oasis here on Woot a more than a year ago for three reasons: The larger screen; the page turn buttons; it is waterproof. In spite of all those features I thought I wanted, I didn’t like the Oasis. While the larger screen was nice and it didn’t weigh noticeably more than the Paperwhite I was using, the odd thin-side/thick-side design was a pain to use. Switching between hands meant having to rotate the entire device (not “flip” it, but flat rotate it 180-degrees) in order to get the page turn buttons on the side of the hand I was holding it with. Plus the width was just slightly too wide to hold it across the back with my fingers spread even with my (larger) hands. I had to always use a “pinch” hold in order to keep my fingers in place to press the page-turn buttons, and after a while my hand would start to get tired of remaining in the same position. It was not very comfortable for extended use.
The Oasis is also notoriously battery-hungry. I found myself charging it every second or third day instead of in 3-4 weeks like my Paperwhite. This is a known issue on the Kindle discussion groups, and I tried every suggestion such as activating the Airplane mode and keeping the adaptive lighting turned off to save power, but to no avail. The most extra time I ever got was an additional day or two before recharging it.
My ideal Kindle is the current-generation Paperwhite; it is waterproof which allows me to use it while sitting in the jacuzzi and I found I don’t really need the larger screen (the page-turn buttons turned out to be more trouble than they were worth). Plus I don’t have to rotate it to change hands and the overall size is more comfortable to hold. I recommend waiting for a sale on the Mothership or buying a refurb one here on Woot if you don’t need it to be waterproof.
Are the refurbs not water proof? Because refurbs?
Other than warm light feature, is there anything significantly different between this 9th generation Oasis and the current 10th generation?
The refurb Paperwhites are not waterproof because they are the older versions. Waterproofing only came to the Paperwhite in 2020, and so far I haven’t seen those show up as refurbs just yet.
Not according to the specs, although I would hope they have solved the battery life issue.