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A ROUND-UP OF THE LATEST NEWS IN THE DIGITAL WORLD

KINDLE’S LITERARY OASIS

YOU’VE probably heard the news – sales of real books are booming. Just like vinyl records.

The truth is, yes, physical media is booming. But so is digital media, which explains why Amazon continues to make better and better Kindles.

Its latest creation, pictured, is a bit of an oddity – a high-end e-reader that costs £229.99 for the base 8GB version (you can get 32GB of storage for £259.99, and add free 3G mobile connectivity so you can download books on the go for £319.99).

The Kindle Oasis is the best Kindle Amazon has ever made. But, given that what is probably the best-selling Kindle, the Paperwhite, costs £109.99, you have to wonder if it’s worth the upgrade.

The device is beautiful, and feels like a step up from the Paperwhite. It comes in two colours – graphite or gold, and looks amazing as well as feeling considerably more durable, so you can feel why it’s so expensive.

But that’s not all – it also features physical page-turn buttons (you can still tap on the screen to turn pages, though).

And it’s the first waterproof Kindle, which means you can fearlessly take it anywhere.

Finally, it also features compatibility with the Audible audiobook service – so you can now use it to listen to books as well as read them (although there is no audio jack or speakers and you do need to pair the Oasis with Bluetooth headphones to take advantage of this feature).

Having tested the Oasis for a week or so, I can tell you that it’s the best Kindle I’ve ever used.

It feels good and the screen (at 300dpi, a higher resolution than this printed page) looks wonderful and reads very well.

Should you buy it? That question depends on whether you read a lot of ebooks, and whether you’re happy to buy all of them from Amazon.

If ‘yes’, then you’re looking at the best e-reader you can buy today. Find out more at amazon.co.uk