Amazon has made its premium Kindle Oasis e-reader an inch larger and given the device an IPX8 waterproof rating (in this case, immersion in up to 2 meters of fresh water for up to 60 minutes):
Amazon has been selling Kindles for 10 years now, but "waterproof" hasn't appear on its list of incremental technological advancements until now. The company just announced a new version of its popular e-reader that builds on last year's Kindle design and now has an IPX8 waterproof rating.
The new Kindle Oasis — the same name as last year's premium Kindle — has jumped up in size, moving from a 6-inch screen to a 7-inch screen. It has an aluminum back, which gives it a more premium look and feel than the Kindles with soft-touch plastic.
It supports AZW, TXT, PDF, MOBI, and PRC, but lacks EPUB support. Storage starts at 8 GB ($249) but there is a 32 GB option. Amazon has brought back physical buttons for page turning as an alternative to the touchscreen, and comes with an accelerometer to automatically change page orientation.
Still no color e-ink.
What's that book to the right of The Hobbit? Does it support that book?
Also at CNET and TechCrunch.
(Score: 2) by t-3 on Thursday October 12 2017, @09:49PM
My paperwhite is running either netbsd or Linux, I can't remember which. Anyway, it's trivial to "unlock" (ssh over serial USB connection, change a few settings) and then install whatever reading programs you'd like. I don't know if this is also true for the Oasis, but it probably is.