It’s a busy time of year in the consumer electronics world. For starters, the top-of-the-line iPhone X (as in the Roman numeral for “10”) ships on Friday, with long lines expected at Apple stores for those who haven’t preordered.

Just to make things interesting, the Xbox One X (just the letter “x” this time) comes out just a few days later. It’s the newest Microsoft gaming machine, billed as the most powerful home console ever, and it starts shipping on Nov. 7.

We take a look at both of those X-citing launches on this episode of Geared Up.

We also revisit a device from an earlier show: The new Kindle Oasis, Amazon’s top-of-the-line e-reader. Regular Geared Up listeners will remember that Andru criticized the Oasis for its price: $250, more than what he says is reasonable for a single-use device. But for people who love books, and read all the time, Todd says the Oasis is a great device, perfectly balanced for one-handed reading, with a beautiful front-lit screen.

The Oasis’ other standout feature is that it’s the first waterproof Kindle. We put that feature to the test by taking it for a little swim in a big bowl of water.

The good news is the Oasis’ waterproofing is excellent — even after multiple trips into the water, the device still worked and didn’t seem to have any kind of water damage. Unfortunately, the Oasis has another issue: It senses water on the screen as a touch input. That means even a droplet of water can page through an open e-book or start navigating through the Oasis’ menus.

Or the results can be even more dramatic: We discovered after recording this episode that the Oasis actually bought a book for Todd while we were testing out the waterproof feature.

Listen to the full episode above or download it as an MP3. Don’t forget to subscribe to our live behind-the-scenes videos on Facebook or YouTube and subscribe to the podcast in Apple PodcastsGoogle Play or wherever you listen.

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