Amazon’s best Kindle is called the Oasis. And it’s just got better.

Read the new Amazon Kindle Oasis in the great outdoors.

I love books. Real books. They feel better in the hand, you can tell how far you are through your latest novel by the way it opens in your hand, even with your eyes closed, not from a little percentage sign at the bottom.

But ebook readers are great devices, especially when you're going on holiday. After all, the most committed reader can't stuff their luggage with heavy books. No, for holiday reading especially, the ebook reader is king. Thousands of books in a small, lightweight gadget that's slimmer than a paperback. A gadget with search facilities so you can find a favorite quote, and with connectivity so that when you finish the middle book in your new page-turner trilogy, you can order the next volume without even rising from your deckchair. It’ll be downloaded in less than a minute, too.

As far as ebook readers go, Amazon’s Kindle range is remarkable. There are very strong competitors from Barnes & Noble and Kobo, but Amazon’s three are hard to beat.

The top-of-the-range model, called the Oasis because you can lose yourself in a book without being distracted by emails and other notifications as you would on a tablet, has just been upgraded.

Kindle Oasis in cute Champagne Gold version.

Today, Amazon revealed a new Oasis. Here’s all you need to know.

It's waterproof so you can read the Amazon Kindle Oasis in the tub!

All the good bits stay

It was already the best ebook reader on the market, thanks to its snazzy aluminum design, impossibly light weight, larger-than-usual display and more. The screen measures seven inches where most are six, but the narrow bezel means the Oasis is still a manageable size. The only bit that isn’t screen is the section to the side with handy physical buttons for turning the page. When you’ve used readers without this physical capability, you miss it.

It’s also waterproof, so if your holiday reading is poolside, you needn’t worry about it slipping off your lilo (though it needs to be retrieved from water less than two meters deep within the hour, please).

The display is high-resolution, 300 pixels per inch. This is standard among higher-end readers, but almost double the resolution of the entry-level Kindle. The Oasis, like other Kindles, is capable of playing back audio books from Audible.

Battery life remains extensive, measured days or weeks rather than hours.

Amazon Kindle Oasis with its warm light colors.

The new Oasis retains all the advantages of the current model but adds a new frontlight. A frontlight, by the way, is another key reason why ebooks work so well. Unlike a tablet backlight which shines in your eyes, a frontlight plays light across the surface of the screen from bottom to top, for instance, so nothing is shining at you. Much more restful on your peepers.

This new light aims to be even more appealing to use, because the color tone can change from white to amber, that is, from cool to warm. You can adjust it yourself or it will take care of the change as the day goes on. A warmer, less-blue light shining in your eyes is said by some to help you get to sleep.

Amazon Kindle Oasis in Graphite finish.

This may not sound much, but it is. In the early days of ebook readers, page turns were grim. The black letters would flash white as the page went from positive to negative to positive again. Every single page. Things got better, and faster. Amazon says the new display will turn pages faster than previously. I’ll report back when I’ve tried it for myself, but this can only be a good thing. Though, to be fair, the current Oasis was no slouch in the page-turning stakes.

Look up words with the built-in dictionary in the Kindle Oasis.

Actually, it’s the same as the older model, which was released in 2017. That’s $249.99 for the 8GB capacity, $279.99 for the 32GB model. You will only need this if you are going to put audiobooks on it – there’s enough room for thousands of books on the smaller capacity.

These prices include special offers, that is, advertisements that appear on the lock screen. You can get rid of these at any time, including at purchase, by paying an extra $20.

These prices are for the model with wi-fi, so you can only download the next book in a wi-fi area. For true freedom, a model with wi-fi and 4G connectivity costs more, but it’s a one-off cost, there’s no subscription for that over-the-air connection. That’s a 32GB model for $349.99.

British readers can snap the Oasis up for £229.99 and £259.99 for 8GB and 32GB wi-fi models respectively. The 32GB model with 4G sells in the U.K. for £319.99. There are no special offers on the U.K. versions of Oasis.

You can also buy smart covers which sleep and wake the Kindle as the cover is closed or opened. These cost $39.99 and up, from £49.99 in the U.K.

It comes in two colors: graphite and an even more fetching champagne gold.

Covers for the Amazon Kindle Oasis.

When can I get one?

You can pre-order from today and shipping is from July 24.

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