Well, it’s finally happened. After years of waiting and requests, Amazon has launched the $280 Kindle Colorsoft, its first ereader with a color display. The company’s ereaders have dominated the space since the original Kindle came out 17 years ago, but in this case, it seems Amazon is lagging behind.
Color E Ink displays are nothing new: We’ve tested and reviewed several color ereaders and E Ink tablets from Kobo, Boox, and reMarkable in recent years.
But Amazon is trying to do the same thing with Colorsoft as Apple: claiming that color E Ink technology wasn’t good enough to put into a Kindle until now, Amazon is promising that Colorsoft will be able to implement it correctly thanks to custom tweaks made to the display. And, not surprisingly, Amazon is willing to charge you a premium for it. So is that all there is to it? As you might think, the answer isn’t as simple as yes or no.
There have been multiple reports of Kindle ColorSoft owners seeing a yellow bar at the bottom of their ereader’s display. My review unit was not affected while I tested the ColorSoft, but upon checking on the morning of November 4, 2024, it appeared for me as well. When contacted for comment, a spokesperson told Engadget: “Some customers have reported a yellow bar at the bottom of the display.
We take the quality of our products seriously – customers who see this can contact our customer service team for a replacement or refund, and we are making appropriate adjustments to ensure this issue does not occur in new devices going forward.”
In the meantime, we have removed our score and recommended labeling until we are able to receive the ColorSoft’s replacement and test it long enough to ensure this issue has been fully resolved. Screen tech and comparisons Let’s get the technical details right first.
The Kindle ColorSoft’s seven-inch screen is based on E Ink Kaleido 3 technology, but a representative from the Kindle team told me they developed a custom display stack for this device. That means they made significant changes to the technology to achieve things like higher-contrast pigments and better speed overall. ColorSoft’s custom oxide backplane uses 24 driving volts to move pigments around more quickly, and that helps those pigments appear with better contrast.
Nitride LEDs enhance color and brightness, and a custom coating between the display’s layers helps focus light through each pigment so colors mix less. Some of the same technology helps make page-turns faster and supposedly reduces the overly noticeable screen refreshing when you move from one color page to the next, or pinch-and-zoom on an image.
Amazon Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition The Kindle Colorsoft (finally) brings color to Amazon’s ereader lineup. It’s a solid premium ereader that will be ideal for those who primarily read things like comics, graphic novels, and other content that’s best experienced in full-color glory.
All of this is to say that Amazon would like you to believe that this E Ink Kaleido 3 screen isn’t like the other girls in this space, and while I don’t doubt the efforts of the Kindle team, the difference isn’t as dramatic as the story suggests.
Until Kobo updates the Sage with color, the $280 Kindle Colorsoft’s closest competitor is the $220 Kobo Libra Color (in size, platform, and overall feel), so I did a lot of comparisons of the two.
The biggest difference I noticed was that the Kobo’s screen runs warmer than the Kindle’s; I increased the brightness to maximum and zeroed all the warm/natural light settings on both devices and the difference was noticeable regardless of whether the display was showing color images, black and white text or a mix of both. This suggests that the Kindle will show more accurate colors more often because its display has less of a warm tilt.
But on the flip side, the blue tint of the Kindle screen was just as noticeable, especially in low light situations (such as a dark office or dimly lit living room).
At maximum brightness and at zero warmth, the Kindle’s screen was marginally uncomfortable to read in those environments – but it needed a slight adjustment to warmth level four (out of 24) so that it could roughly match the warmth of the Kobo’s display (at least to my eyes).
This made it more comfortable to stare at in dark spaces. I also compared the Colorsoft’s screen to my personal Kindle Paperwhite (the previous generation) and the blue skew was noticeable there as well.