The Kindle Oasis is Amazon’s latest e-reader and the device simply oozes sophistication. Every time the ecommerce giant introduces a new Kindle device, it takes a step closer to the holy grail of every e-reader; paper. For the last two millennia, paper has remained the reading surface of choice and Amazon has been attempting to match two of its qualities; low reflectivity and the infinite battery life it has. The Kindle Oasis is the company’s lightest, thinnest and most expensive device as yet. With this one, Amazon has taken a step away from its usual symmetrical and tablet-like design.

On three sides, the six-inch screen has been given a border of matt black bezel about half an inch, but the wider right hand side has two protruding buttons designed for turning pages. If you want to hold it with your left hand, you just have to flip the Kindle and the page-turning edge will be on the left. The Oasis gets its asymmetrical look from the right-hand edge, which has a thickness of about 8.5mm and contains the motherboard and battery. It also gives the same feeling as if you are holding a book by the spine as the center of gravity is shifted woards the hand.

The Kindle weighs about 133 grams and the rest of it is a sleek 3.4mm. Therefore, you can hold it for hours quite comfortably. In addition, the Oasis can also withstand any scratches and other damages of daily life as it has a reinforced cover glass, which is a lot like Gorilla Glass, and also has a metal and an electroplated plastic cover. There are 60% more LEDs in this device as compared to the Kindle Voyage and it comprises of a 300 pixels-per-inch Paperwhite display. When you are reading, the black bezel tends to fade into the background so you don’t notice it at all.

Even in near-darkness, the e-ink display is bright enough and there is no eye-burning glare. The display is also responsive as a touchscreen, but not enough as tablets. The home display of the e-reader shows your current book and also provides recommendations from Amazon searches and the user’s Goodreads profile. It takes only a couple of taps to purchase a book from the Kindle Store and there is also the option of continuing your reading where you left off on other devices like your smartphone. There are eight text sizes and nine different fonts so you can easily find one that works for your eyes.

You also have the option to change page orientation, margins and spacing to meet your reading preferences. If you highlight a word in the book, it will show you a dictionary definition and also give you the option of sharing it with friends on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and email. The highlighted words are remembers and stored in a vocabulary bank of the Oasis so you can become familiar with unusual words. The battery life is smaller due to the slimmer body and this is balanced with the leather cover provided, which serves as a battery pack.

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