By Mark Kawalya
Amazon has finally introduced a color Kindle, years after other companies launched similar devices. The new UGX1,036,000 Kindle Colorsoft utilizes color E Ink technology, much like the Kobo Libra Colour. The device uses Amazon’s own enhancements, including an improved display stack, stronger backlighting, and specialized coatings. These adjustments make colors appear richer and more vibrant on the seven-inch display compared to competing models. Black outlines in comics also appear bolder, and navigating Amazon’s store is more visually engaging.
Despite these advancements, the Colorsoft’s high price raises questions about its value, especially given its lack of features such as stylus support or a larger screen. While black-and-white text refreshes almost instantly, colored content, particularly large images, causes slight delays as the device performs full-screen refreshes to preserve image quality. This process is quicker than on other color e-readers but still lags behind traditional black-and-white models and tablets with LCD or OLED screens.
Navigating through pages, especially when zooming into comics or enlarging text, is relatively smooth. The Colorsoft uses a temporary low-resolution preview while moving around the page before refining the image when adjustments stop. This is a standard technique in e-readers, but Amazon has refined it to be more responsive. However, it still falls short of the seamless experience found on tablets.
A notable feature of the Colorsoft is its ability to highlight text in four different colors. These are pink, yellow, blue, and orange. While this adds a layer of organization, the lack of customization means users must remember what each color represents. Highlight colors do sync with the Kindle app and appear in exported notes, but there’s no option to filter highlights by color when exporting.
Unlike competing models, such as the Kobo Libra Colour, the Colorsoft does not support stylus input, making annotation a slower process that relies on touch-based highlighting. Additionally, customization options for the screen are minimal. While competing brands offer extensive controls over refresh rates, contrast, and vividness, Amazon provides only a standard and a vivid mode. The difference is minor but noticeable in graphic novels and comics.
The Colorsoft’s display is still constrained by E Ink’s Kaleido technology, which can only reproduce 4,096 colors. This results in somewhat muted tones compared to LCD and OLED screens. The resolution drops in color mode, making smaller text in comics harder to read without zooming. The added RGB layer also reduces contrast slightly, though adjusting screen brightness compensates for this.
Shortly after release, some users reported screen discoloration, with a faint yellow tint appearing at the bottom of the display.
Amazon claims the Colorsoft can last eight weeks on a single charge with 30 minutes of daily reading, though real-world usage varies. With brightness set at 75%—where colors appear more distinct—battery life declines more rapidly. After an hour of reading color-rich content, the battery dropped by 5%, suggesting a more realistic charge cycle of about three weeks with mixed usage.
The Kindle Colorsoft improves upon previous color e-readers, but its high price and lack of key features limit its appeal. For those primarily reading text-based books, a traditional Kindle remains a better investment. Meanwhile, users who prioritize comics, magazines, and color-rich content may still find tablets to be a more versatile alternative.
