Color E Ink has been in the wild for a few years now, and we've featured a number of reading and note-taking devices that use it. But Amazon's popular Kindle range has so far stuck with shades of gray. That's changed overnight with the launch of the Kindle Colorsoft.
As far as we can tell, one of the first color e-readers to launch in the US was 2011/12's jetBook Color from Ectaco, which featured E Ink Triton technology. Though the device had a good-sized display, the color reproduction wasn't great.
Comic fans and color-loving bookworms pretty much had to wait for Kaleido and Gallery iterations for something more visually satisfying. Amazon's first color e-reader rolls with 2022's Kaleido 3 E Ink technology, but with a few tweaks under the hood to further enhance the reading experience.
These enhancements include an "oxide backplane with custom waveforms" for high contrast when viewing color and black-and-white content, as well as making for zippier performance. The device offers a choice of standard or vibrant color styles. Some custom algorithms have been cooked in that enhance onscreen color and boost brightness when working with a new light guide featuring nitride LEDs. Amazon also reckons that users can zoom in on images without pixelization spoiling the show.
Elsewhere the 7-inch E Ink display has a black-and-white resolution of 300 ppi and 16 levels of grayscale, while color comes in at 150 ppi and 4,096 colors. Amazon has also included font optimization technology. This should essentially translate to a sharp read for standard text, but as with other color E Ink devices at the moment, if you want dazzling iPad image quality then you're going to have to invest in an iPad.
The e-reader has been tested to IPX8 waterproof standards, which means that it can be submerged in 6 ft (2 m) of water for up to an hour. The device is reported capable of storing thousands of ebooks – along with Kindle ebook formats, the device will also support ePub, MOBI, PDF, docx and more. But the lack of a microSD slot means that once the 32 GB is full, you're done – though Amazon does offer free cloud storage.
The biggest draw for E Ink devices is long battery life, and the Colorsoft doesn't disappoint. Based on a 30-minute daily read, the battery is reckoned good for up to 8 weeks per charge (with wireless off and the built-in light running at level 13). On the subject of wireless connectivity, that shapes up as dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
The Kindle Colorsoft is up for pre-order now for US$279.99, with shipping expected to start from October 30.
The color e-reader wasn't the only new product Amazon announced overnight. A new Scribe e-note comes with white borders and a paper-like feel, plus a "premium pen" input and a built-in AI-powered notebook feature for quick page summaries and bullets. This will be available from December for $399.99 but is up for pre-order now.
The new Paperwhite is the "fastest Kindle yet" – boating 25% snappier page turns in a new 7-inch display format and up to 32 GB of storage for $189.99, available now. There's also a new Paperwhite for Kids, and a new Matcha color for the regular Kindle.
Source: Amazon
