Amazon Kindle Colorsoft review: good color is a good start

The $279.99 Kindle Colorsoft features the aforesaid colour E Ink exertion utilized successful e-readers for illustration the Kobo Libra Colour but customized pinch a caller show stack, brighter LEDs, and typical coatings. Colors look much saturated and a small much vibrant connected the Colorsoft’s seven-inch surface than they do connected the Libra Colour, while surface refreshes are faster and opposition is notably better, making achromatic lines and borders successful comics look darker than they do connected other colour e-readers. The upgrades besides make browsing Amazon’s shop much engaging, pinch book covers that amended drawback your attention.

Despite an rumor pinch screen discoloration affecting immoderate devices, the Kindle Colorsoft has the champion colour surface of immoderate e-reader I’ve tested. But its value has maine wishing for much upgrades, for illustration a larger surface and stylus support. The colour surface doesn’t adhd capable to the Kindle acquisition by itself to warrant the other cost.

When you’re reference successful achromatic and white, page turns still consciousness instantaneous, for illustration they do connected my 11th-gen Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition. They’re a small slower erstwhile displaying larger colour images for illustration comics, arsenic the Colorsoft performs a full-screen refresh each clip you move the page to maximize image quality. (Amazon says a afloat refresh only happens pinch “images supra a definite size,” but it happens moreover connected pages pinch smaller colour images.) The Colorsoft’s refresh feels a spot faster than different colour e-readers, though, and isn’t really a distraction. It’s besides much faster than the Remarkable Paper Pro, which uses a different colour E Ink show technology.

The Colorsoft’s velocity improvements are astir evident erstwhile it comes to zooming and panning a page, specified arsenic enlarging a sheet aliases matter successful a comic. The e-reader temporarily switches to a lower-quality image while you’re moving astir the page, earlier re-rendering everything astatine precocious value erstwhile you’re done. It’s a instrumentality each e-readers use, and the Colorsoft does it much responsively than different colour options. It’s still a mini measurement down the capacity of black-and-white e-readers and obscurity adjacent arsenic accelerated and fluid arsenic a tablet pinch an LCD aliases OLED screen, but the Colorsoft ne'er feels for illustration it’s struggling to support up.

Highlighting passages besides benefits from the caller colour capabilities. The Colorsoft lets you take betwixt 4 different item colors — pink, yellow, blue, and orangish — and select them by color. But Amazon should person taken this characteristic a measurement further. There’s nary measurement to explanation the highlighter colors, truthful it’s wholly up to you to retrieve that you usage bluish to prevention inspirational quotes, for example. The item colors are carried complete to the Kindle mobile app, and while highlighted passages are organized by colour erstwhile exported arsenic a spreadsheet aliases PDF, you can’t limit the export to conscionable a azygous color.

On an e-reader arsenic costly arsenic the Colorsoft, I would person besides liked the action to item pinch a stylus for illustration you tin connected the Kindle Scribe, alternatively of having to pat connected the screen, hold for on-screen controls to popular up, and past resistance the item container complete the text. The deficiency of stylus support makes the Colorsoft consciousness a measurement down the much affordable Kobo Libra Colour.

One point I didn’t expect to admit astir the Colorsoft’s surface is the lack of customization. Competitors for illustration Boox springiness you extended power complete refresh modes, brightness, vividness, and contrast. I find it overwhelming and overmuch for illustration Amazon already optimizing the Colorsoft’s surface for me.

The only action disposable connected the Colorsoft is switching betwixt modular and vivid colour modes — the second of which boosts the strength of colors successful less-saturated imagery. The quality betwixt the 2 is subtle capable that I thin to time off vivid mode connected each the time, but I did announcement the effect while reference the first measurement of Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto’s Ultimate Spider-Man: Married pinch Children. The reddish successful Spider-Man’s suit had much ocular effect successful vivid mode, while the Green Goblin’s armor looked much grey than greenish successful standard. I conscionable wish Amazon hadn’t buried the options successful a paper that blocks a ample information of the display, making it difficult to do a speedy before-and-after ocular comparison.

Although Amazon’s upgrades genuinely amended the Colorsoft’s screen, they don’t lick each the problems pinch E Ink’s Kaleido technology. It’s still constricted to 4,096 colors, which leaves colour contented looking desaturated and level compared to devices pinch LCD and OLED screens, which tin show millions of colors. If the iPad is for illustration flipping done the glossy, vibrant photos successful a people transcript of National Geographic, the Colorsoft is much for illustration the washed-out colour photos connected the beforehand page of a newspaper.

Text and black-and-white imagery are displayed astatine 300ppi connected the Colorsoft, but that solution is halved successful colour mode. I had nary rumor reference Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece, but the good people successful reside bubbles successful Spider-Man and Marvel’s Fortnite x Marvel: Zero War crossover was difficult to publication without perpetually zooming successful and panning around. Color E Ink screens successful wide besides person somewhat little opposition than black-and-white displays arsenic a consequence of the other RGB select furniture that Kaleido relies connected to show color. With surface lighting turned off, the Colorsoft’s show looks a spot darker than a black-and-white e-reader for illustration the Kobo Clara BW aliases the Paperwhite. The quality is subtle, though, and easy to compensate for by keeping the Colorsoft’s ray on, moreover outdoors.

Shortly aft the Kindle Colorsoft started shipping, immoderate users reported seeing a yellowish discolored portion crossed the bottommost of the e-reader’s display. My reappraisal portion besides exhibits the issue, but to a lesser grade than others are seeing, based connected images shared connected Reddit. The discoloration connected the Colorsoft I tested is truthful subtle that I’m not judge I would person noticed it had others not mentioned it. My iPhone’s camera picks it up amended than my eyes do.

It’s still not clear what is causing the problem — immoderate estimate it’s an issue pinch an adhesive utilized to manufacture the surface — but Amazon has acknowledged it and says it’s moving to hole the rumor and to guarantee that caller devices won’t person the discoloration. The institution is besides offering refunds aliases replacements to those who person an affected Colorsoft, but Amazon’s merchandise page shows an expected hold of 3 to 5 weeks. I urge waiting until Amazon confirms it has fixed the rumor earlier you bargain 1 yourself.

Amazon claims the Kindle Colorsoft tin beryllium utilized for astir 8 weeks connected a complaint (four less than it claims for the 12th-gen Paperwhite), but that’s erstwhile reference for conscionable 30 minutes a time pinch the surface brightness group to conscionable supra half and wireless features disabled. In reality, you’re going to beryllium charging it much often than that. I find the colors connected an e-reader’s show to beryllium much pronounced pinch a brighter screen, truthful successful my testing, I had the Colorsoft’s surface lighting group to 75 percent. After an hr of reference a comic requiring full-screen refreshes pinch each page turn, the artillery mislaid 5 percent of its charge. I estimate I’d get astir 3 weeks retired of the Colorsoft’s artillery betwixt charges — longer pinch a operation of colour and black-and-white content.

As pinch the latest Paperwhite Signature Edition, the Colorsoft includes wireless charging successful summation to its USB-C port. But without magnets, decently aligning a wireless charging puck is frustrating and not worthy the effort. You’ll only beryllium charging it astir erstwhile a month, truthful plugging it successful for a fewer hours isn’t a large inconvenience.

There are a batch of colour e-readers now, but successful position of availability, personification experience, and surface size, the Colorsoft’s superior title is the Kobo Libra Colour.

Without lighting adjustments, the Colorsoft’s surface looks cooler and much neutral than the Libra Colour’s, which skews somewhat warm. But the quality is negligible erstwhile you move up the Colorsoft’s warmth slider and the Libra Colour’s earthy ray slider. The Colorsoft’s improved opposition besides gives its surface a darker wide tone, pinch colors that look much earthy and vivid. On the Libra Colour, imagery is warmer and brighter, which reveals much specifications successful darker areas of an image. I for illustration the Colorsoft’s vibrancy and attraction connected colour accuracy, but I wouldn’t picture the Libra Colour’s attack arsenic inferior. It’s a matter of preference.

The Kindle Colorsoft besides feels somewhat faster than the Libra Colour erstwhile turning pages, but the quality is mostly negligible unless you’re zooming and panning images. The Kindle feels much responsive to digit gestures and conscionable a spot snappier erstwhile switching betwixt the low- and high-quality versions of the images.

While sideloaded contented looks arsenic bully connected the Colorsoft arsenic contented purchased from Amazon, I had to trust connected Amazon’s online Send to Kindle service to sphere the colour contented of PDFs. Copying them to the e-reader from a MacBook Pro complete USB-C (through the Android File Transfer app aliases Amazon’s precocious updated app) resulted successful the PDFs showing up connected the Colorsoft successful achromatic and white, and others person knowledgeable the same. I didn’t person that rumor erstwhile sideloading to the Kobo Libra Colour, truthful if you don’t root your ebooks from Amazon, you whitethorn person to study to unrecorded pinch a fewer other steps to get them connected the e-reader properly.

Overall, I deliberation the Colorsoft’s surface is amended than Kobo’s, but location are immoderate different aspects of the Libra Colour’s creation that I prefer. Amazon’s attraction aft discontinuing the Kindle Oasis whitethorn beryllium “touch-forward,” but excavation isn’t. I’m still a large instrumentality of beingness page move buttons, and I for illustration the asymmetrical creation of the Libra Colour, pinch its larger grip that makes it overmuch easier to clasp successful 1 hand. On much than 1 occasion, I’ve accidentally triggered a page move connected the Kindle Colorsoft erstwhile adjusting my grip. I besides find the Libra Colour’s slumber / powerfulness button, which is located connected the backmost of the e-reader, harder to deed by mistake. The Colorsoft’s fastener is located connected its bottommost separator adjacent to the USB-C port, and I’ve unintentionally woken it up a fewer times while trying to plug successful a charging cablegram without looking.

And while the backmost of the Colorsoft has a smooth, somewhat rubbery finish, I consciousness for illustration I person a amended grip connected the Libra Colour, acknowledgment to the etched texture connected its rear panel.

If you want a compact colour e-reader pinch entree to a robust ebook shop that will make comic books and manga look bully without requiring a heavy dive into surface settings, the Kindle Colorsoft has the champion colour E Ink surface you tin get. It’s besides the perfect action if you’re firmly entrenched successful Amazon’s ecosystem.

If you’re not arsenic concerned pinch colour accuracy aliases don’t want to beryllium stuck successful Amazon’s world, the Kobo Libra Colour is simply a cheaper replacement astatine $219.99 that still looks bully and performs very well. It skips features for illustration wireless charging but gives you the action of utilizing a stylus ($69.99) for easier highlights and basal note-taking, and it has page move buttons. Amazon’s bookstore is much broad than Kobo’s, but I recovered it overmuch easier to sideload contented from different sources onto the Libra Colour, including ePUB files and colour PDFs, which showed up pinch existent colour erstwhile copied complete utilizing USB-C.

As for whether this is the correct Kindle to buy: the Colorsoft is fundamentally the fantabulous Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition pinch a colour screen, but for $80 much than the Signature Edition and $120 much than the modular Paperwhite. That’s a batch to walk connected a colour screen. Adding features for illustration stylus support, basal note-taking capabilities, aliases moreover a somewhat larger surface to amended accommodate contented for illustration comic books — you know, for illustration a Kindle Scribe — would person made the Colorsoft easier to justify.

While I’m gladsome to spot that Amazon attempted to amended the existent procreation of colour E Ink technology, it’s still a spot disappointing, pinch washed-out colors and little resolutions. If you’re already a happy Kindle user, see the 12th-gen Paperwhite instead. A colour surface conscionable isn’t a must-have upgrade.

Photography by Andrew Liszewski / The Verge