Text-to-speech and Audible but no audio onboard…a deeper look at Amazon’s 10th anniversary Kindle
I was excited to hear about Amazon’s release of the
2nd generation, waterproof Kindle Oasis (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)
which they have tied into the 10th anniversary of the announcement of the Kindle (November 19th).
I’m working on a book about the tenth anniversary myself…and you can be part of it:
I didn’t have much time to look at it when it was announced this week…things have been busy. This weekend, I may be going up to Santa Rosa to help. My company has been considerably affected (as have family, friends, and coworkers). They are asking us to be available to support, so I’m not quite sure what my weekend will be like yet. I live about an hour away, and the air quality has been unhealthy here…we can see the smoke around us, and the sun has looked like it was red. I wore a mask walking from my car to where I was working (a few long blocks) yesterday…that was much better. The first morning of the fires, one of our dogs was quite concerned…I first thought there might be a fire in our neighborhood. It’s definitely a difficult situation, so I was happy to volunteer in what small way I can. My Significant Other is an insurance claims manager, and has been dealing with the impact as well.
So, today, I did get some time to take a look at the
Kindle Oasis 2 User’s Guide
The first thing I did was search the document for “text-to-speech” and variations. That’s a big issue for me, as regular readers know. I didn’t find anything on it, even though it does Audible books (an Amazon company which does audiobooks).
Note that there are no onboard speakers: you connect it via Bluetooth to an external speaker.
However, I did get good news!
I chatted with Amazon help, and they confirmed (quickly, easily, definitively) that the new EBR (E-Book Reader) does have TTS!
Me: Does the new Kindle Oasis do text-to-speech?
You are now connected to Nagaranjan from Amazon.com
Nagaranjan: Hello, my name is Nagaranjan. I’m here to help you today.
Me: Hi!
Nagaranjan: I will be glad to help you with information regarding the new Kindle Oasis device.
Yes, Bufo. This device does support text-to-speech.
Me: Oh, great! Not Audible books, but text-to-speech? It doesn’t say that in the Quick Start Guide.
Nagaranjan: You can be rest assured about it. Other than audible books , it does support text-to-speech as well.
Me: That’s excellent! Thanks!
Nagaranjan: You’re welcome.
Is there anything else I can help you with today?
Me: No, that was it. I use TTS extensively. I could Bluetooth it to a speaker to hear it…no onboard speakers on the new Oasis, right?
Nagaranjan: Yes, Bufo. Bluetooth speakers is the only option available for this device.
Me: That’s what I thought…thanks so much for your answers!
Nagaranjan: My pleasure.
Bye, Bufo 🙂
Me: Bye!
Great news! For years now, I’ve been doing TTS on my now discontinued Kindle Fire HDX 7″tablet…but having it on an EBR (E-Book Reader) is a terrific option.
Speaking of the 7″ that’s one of the most notable things about this new model…hm, since it is the Kindle Oasis 2, I’ll use KO2 as a shorthand. I’ll have a hard time not seeing that as potassium superoxide, but that’s probably just me. 😉
Anyway, it has a 7″ (17.8cm) display, rather than the 6″ that almost all Kindles have had (except the Kindle DX, which had 9.7″). The 7″ size has been good for me…it still fits in my voluminous pockets, and I can hold it comfortably.
In this case, it doesn’t massively increase the size, because the “bezel” (the part around the actual display) is smaller than it used to be on Kindles. For comparison, here is the Voyage:
6.4″ x 4.5″ x 0.30″ (162 x 115 x 7.6 mm)
and here is the KO2:
6.3″ x 5.6″ x 0.13-0.33″ (159 mm x 141 mm x 3.4-8.3 mm)
The variation in depth will probably depend on the connectivity you select. You can get it with wi-fi only, or with wi-fi and cellular connectivity. My guess is the additional “antenna” will increase the depth. Do you care about cellular? It’s mostly for downloading books, I’d say, but it could also be for things like Wikipedia look up. It does cost an additional $50, and isn’t available in all configurations right now (actually, for pre-order for Halloween, at least on the main configs…maybe all).
Oh, let me address that, too: if you were nostalgic for the 1st gen Kindle, good news…the price is back! 😉
Just kidding…the original Kindle was $399, and you can pay more than that, by the time you get a cover (the K1 came with a cover). Of course, you get a lot, lot more than you did with that one, but a line graph of the most expensive Kindles over time would show a remarkable boomerang…but the least expensive would have dropped over time. Hm…might not be more if you didn’t get the cellular connectivity, but the K1 had that.
Let’s talk about config options (note that not every combination will be available):
Storage
8GB or 32GB (+$30)
Why spend more? More onboard storage may be important if you put multiple audiobooks on there at once. I don’t usually need much memory on my Kindles, since I store most of the e-books in the cloud. An audiobook could be big…
Connectivity
Wi-fi only or wi-fi+cellular (+$50)
Why spend more? You are often in places where there is no wi-fi. I think that is becoming more unusual for many parts of the country…hard for me to imagine that, in my normal routine, I’d ever be away from wi-fi for more than a few hours, but certainly, that’s different in different parts of the country.
Special Offers
With Special Offers (the default) or without them (+$20)
Why pay more? You don’t want to see ads. I always get Special Offers…I don’t mind advertisers subsiding my purchase to puts ads on the sleep screen (and this one has a banner at the bottom of the homescreen, too). They don’t bother me, and I have bought some things that way.
Protection Plan
None | 1 year +$24.99 | 2 years +$29.99 | 3 years +$39.99
Why pay more? There is a thirty day return policy automatically, but this lets you get a replacement after that even if you accidentally break it. With the three year plan, you get up to three replacements
In addition to those, you may certainly want some accessories. I read with my Kindles in a cover…a non-animal leather, water resistant cover (an official one from Amazon) is $44.99, and comes in three colors. The animal leather one (which may not be waterproof) is $59.99, and comes in three different colors (not the same as the fabric one’s colors).
A wall charger is $19.99…it comes with a USB charger, which will be slower.
They do have a bundle for $309.97 at time of writing, which includes the KO2, a cover, and a charger.
A few other notes before we look at the software:
- Even in the standard config, it has twice the storage of a Kindle Voyage
- It has twice the number of LEDs (lights) as the Voyage…12
- It has page turn buttons…not the page press of the Voyage
- It comes in graphite color (which is lighter than the black available on the Voyage), and has an aluminum back
- It is slightly heavier than the Voyage, but lighter than the Paperwhite
- It has the same PPI (Pixels Per Inch…sharpness, basically) as the Voyage and Paperwhite…300
- Note that both page forward and page back buttons are your rightside as you look at the device…in the right place for righthanders who use their dominant hands to turn pages, but not for lefthanders (I’m an ambi, myself). I’ll have to look to see if you can flip the orientation
Next, let’s talk about some of the more software features, gleaned in part from the User’s Guide:
- They talk quite a bit about storing your wi-fi password at Amazon, if want…I think this is a great feature, not new to this device!
- Airplane mode is two taps (Settings, then Airplane Mode)
- There is a “tap to share comments” button
- You can hide the recommended content on the homescreen
- It uses Bing translate
- You can browse the web: “Your Kindle includes an experimental web browser that enables you to surf the web and view most
Amazon web pages. The Experimental Web Browser supports JavaScript, SSL, and cookies, but does not support media plug-ins. You must have a Wi-Fi connection to access most websites.”
- “Some websites may have books or documents that you want to download and read on your Kindle. You will be asked to confirm if you want to download these items to your Kindle Homecscreen. Supported file types for download include Kindle content (.AZW, .AZW1, .AZW3, and .KFX), unprotected Mobipocket books (.MOBI, .PRC), and text files (.TXT).”
- It has a “nightlight” feature, which gradually decreases the brightness, which is intended to account for your eyes adjusting to the dark
- You can invert the colors, so it is white text on a black background
One more thing in a chat with Amazon: I couldn’t find the number of font sizes, so I asked:
Me: How many font sizes does the new Kindle Oasis 2 have?
You are now connected to Vijay from Amazon.com
Vijay: Hello, my name is Vijay. I’m here to help you today.
Me: Great!
Vijay: Glad to meet you, please allow me a minute, Bufo.
Thanks for waiting.
Me: Sure!
Vijay: The font size options range from approximately 8-point size to 36-point size.
Me: Thanks! Do you know how many options there are?
Vijay: May I know the options you are referring to ?
Me: Sure. The font sizes range from 8 to 36, but I assume I can’t pick one for each point (8, 9, 10). If could pick, say, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, or 36, that would be eight options.
Vijay: Thanks for the information.
I’m checking this for you.
Me: Thanks!
Vijay: Thanks for waiting.
Yes, you are correct, the selection will be like 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32.
Me: That answers it, then…looks like 7 options. Thanks!
Vijay: You’re most Welcome!
Is there anything else I can do for you today?
Me: Nope, that’s it!
Vijay: Thank you for contacting Amazon Kindle support. Have a great weekend!
You can click the *End Chat* button on the top right corner of this window to properly close the chat.
🙂
Bye..
Me: Bye!
Hope that helps you make your decision! If you have additional comments or questions, let me and my readers know by commenting on this post.
Bonus deal: the Echo Show (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) is $30 off making it just under $200. Speculation has been that it might be because we still haven’t seen the return of YouTube videos.
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