Amazon Kindle Colorsoft review: a magical and colorful e-reader

Most people associate an Amazon Kindle with reading books, and for the most part, books consist of words on a page and are, therefore, produced in a single color: black. Aside from the cover or perhaps some illustrations, multiple colors aren’t that important to the experience of reading a novel, but it is for magazines, comics, and books that rely on photographs or artwork to get the point across.

The Amazon Kindle Colorsoft brings a color screen to the Kindle, bridging the gap between it and a tablet and, in an ideal world, making owning or carrying both these devices around redundant. It’s also doing so while retaining its trademark low-power, easy-on-the-eyes e-ink display. I’ve been reading on the Colorsoft for a few weeks to see if it’s Amazon’s Wizard of Oz moment.

Amazon Kindle Colorsoft specs

Reading on a Kindle is magical

My years-old Kindle Paperwhite’s battery stopped charging in 2023, and rather than buying a new one, I used an Apple iPad as its replacement. The big, colorful screen is excellent for magazines and comics, but less so for novels. The device itself is ungainly to use in bed, and it’s not very “friendly,” with its cold exterior and hard edges. I read things on it, but I never really relaxed with it.

What a difference the Kindle Colorsoft made when it arrived. I adore the thin, lightweight, soft-to-touch shell and rounded sides and corners, and it’s wonderful to use whether you’re lying in bed, sitting in a cafe, or when you’ve got some time to spare while waiting for someone to arrive. The size and 219-gram weight make it easily transported in a bag, far more so than a full-size iPad, and the nonreflective screen not only makes it usable in different lighting conditions, but also so comfortable to view.

More than that, I appreciate the 7-inch screen’s extremely wide viewing angles and the way it sits right up against the front glass, replicating the look of a paper page very well. It feels warm to the touch and makes you feel warm inside when you read on it. The friendliness of a Kindle is hard to describe, but its importance can’t be overstated, as it’s a huge part of the device’s appeal. If you’re an experienced Kindler, you likely know what I mean. If you haven’t read on one before, you’re in for a treat.

I happily read a novel in the time I’ve been testing the Kindle Colorsoft. I set the brightness and warmth of the page view up once and haven’t felt the need to change it, slightly altered the font size, and that’s all. The words are pin-sharp on the screen, and it’s fast to respond when turning pages and navigating the menus.

It’s all completely customizable, so if you want larger text, a warmer tone, less brightness, or to schedule a time to automatically increase the warmth of the screen, it’s all a few taps and swipes away. Using the Kindle Colorsoft reminded me of what I’d been missing during all that time I spent reading on my iPad.

Is the color magical, too?

This is where the trouble with the Colorsoft begins. Almost everything I’ve said so far applies to all Kindle models, and you can spend a lot less than the price of the Colorsoft and get all the above benefits. The only genuine reason to buy the Colorsoft over a Kindle Paperwhite or a basic Kindle is the color screen, so what’s it like?

There is a quality difference between the black-and-white and color screens, with a 300 pixel-per-inch (ppi) density for the former and 150 ppi for the color screen. However, color pages still look sharp and filled with detail, even when you zoom in by pinching the screen.

This gesture worked in comics, but not in the magazines I tried, where you were forced to view the entire page without the option to look more closely at any images. It may not be the same for every magazine, though. I also cranked the brightness up and used the Vivid screen setting for anything in color, as in Standard mode and below a certain brightness level, images can look dark and dingy.

Formatting for the comics I tried wasn’t ideal either. I have been reading through Skybound Entertainment and Daniel Warren Johnson’s Transformers series, and the distinct border sometimes seen down either side of the page isn’t very attractive. It is minimized by using the inverted page color (where the background is dark and the text light), but it’s still apparent, depending on what you’re reading. Text can be really tiny unless you zoom in, which is where the Colorsoft’s slow processing speed and screen refresh rate show up. There are flickers and stutters while it rearranges the page and processes the image, which simply doesn’t happen on a tablet.

Magazines don’t fare much better. Gone are the smooth page transitions found in black-and-white books, and the stutters that accompany each screen tap are jarring and unpleasant. Formatting again isn’t always ideal, with some pages blank aside from a single, thumbnail-sized image. As someone who likes to read magazines out of page order, the navigation is usually confusing and makes “flicking through” impossible. It’s not absolutely terrible, but it’s not like reading the print version of a magazine or even reading one digitally on a tablet.

I repeatedly questioned just how much benefit I was getting from the color screen. Comics look sharp and defined, but the process of turning pages and zooming in is slow and janky, while magazines can be formatted oddly and the images are often too small to be anything more than page dressing.

Where the color screen came into its own is in the library and browsing books in the Kindle Store, where the covers pop off the screen and bring life to the normally grayscale world of the Kindle. I like the color screen savers that show when the Colorsoft is in standby, and many people will appreciate the different color highlighter options too.

Getting the basics right

The color screen does add a touch of class and modernity to the Kindle, but I don’t think it enhances the act of reading on one. Amazon’s Kindles are at their best when things are kept simple, and a great example is the software experience outside of books. There’s a Home Screen and a Library screen, a swipe-down page where commonly used settings live, and a single tap in the top of a page in an open book lets you quickly return to your library. It’s equally as easy to jump into the Kindle Store, find a book, and immediately purchase and download it — something you can’t do through the iPad’s Kindle app.

Even setup is simple, with the Colorsoft guiding me through getting it ready using the Kindle app on my phone. It was up and running in less than 10 minutes, and the Wi-Fi connection has been faultless. There’s 32GB of internal storage, and while it supports a range of different formats, using anything other than the Kindle Store is a bit of a pain due to individual DRM restrictions. For personal files, there are various options to transfer them over, including through the Kindle app on your phone or connecting it physically to a computer.

Charging is through a USB-C port on the bottom of the Kindle, and the battery will last for up to eight weeks according to Amazon. I’ve used the Colorsoft Signature Edition every day for the last three weeks, reading different material for up to an hour, and the battery is at 70%, so I expect it to easily reach this estimation. Recharging is slow, though, and a full change is expected to take two-and-a-half hours using the maximum 9 watts of power.

The Colorsoft’s screen has a maximum brightness of 94 nits, plus the device has an IPX8 water resistance rating for reading at the beach or in the bath. I love the Kindle Colorsoft’s overall simplicity, but unfortunately, Amazon decided to only offer it in black. For a device that’s presumably going to be sold on the fact that it has a color screen, it’s a shame the shell doesn’t come in different colors too, as the flash of reflective color in the Amazon logo on the back just isn’t enough.

What’s not so good about the Colorsoft

There are a few things about the Colorsoft that have frustrated me a little, and they deserve special mention here. The Kindle has an auto-brightness setting that adjusts the screen’s brightness according to the conditions. It consistently set the brightness too low for my personal taste, especially as comics and other color content really require a high-level of brightness to appreciate. I turned it off and adjusted the brightness manually when needed.

I’m sure there are manufacturing reasons why the power button is on the bottom of the Colorsoft, but it’s not the most ergonomic location. I’ve accidentally pressed it when resting the Kindle on my chest, and would have preferred it on the top of the device. Also, it’s unfortunate that the Colorsoft does not have the full dark mode found on other Kindle models. Considering the price, the Colorsoft should have all the features, but full dark mode may arrive through a software update in the future.

The last thing to mention is if you check Amazon’s page for the Colorsoft, you’ll note the low review rating. This is mostly due to some early buyers of the Kindle Colorsoft seeing a yellow tint on the lower part of the screen, but my review model does not seem to be affected. Amazon is aware of the problem and is offering a refund or exchange to anyone with an affected device.

Amazon Kindle Colorsoft price and availability

The Amazon Kindle Colorsoft is available to buy now, it comes in only one color and one storage space option, and costs $280. Aside from the Kindle Scribe, it’s the most expensive Kindle you can get. If you want to just read books, the base Kindle (2024) costs $110. It’s quite the savings, and the very desirable Kindle Paperwhite is just a little more at $160. You need to be very sure you want the color screen to invest in the Colorsoft. Because of the Colorsoft’s high price, anyone who wants some color in their life also has a selection of very temptin,g but technically different alternatives.

The Amazon Fire Max 11 with its keyboard comes into play as it regularly hovers around $330 for the whole package, and a 64GB 10.9-inch Apple iPad costs $350. If you want to read magazines, comics, and image-heavy books, they’re better at it than the Kindle Colorsoft, and aren’t that much more money. When you consider everything else you can do with a tablet, they are a good value, too.

Finally, if you aren’t married to Amazon and the Kindle book store and want a slightly more off-the-wall alternative, the $250 Onyx Boox Go Color 7 does a lot of what makes the Colorsoft special, with greater versatility through its Google Android operating system.

Should you buy the Kindle Colorsoft?

At first, the case for buying the Kindle Colorsoft looks quite complicated, but when you break it down and fully understand the color screen, it’s far easier to make a decision than you may think. As a Kindle e-reader for books, it’s excellent, just like the other models. The color screen primarily makes it more modern and adds visual punch to the store and your library, and also makes comics and magazines more readable. It really does provide more reading opportunities and a touch of fun to the Kindle, and I would miss it if I went back to a grayscale screen. For these reasons, I’ve loved my time with it.

Much as I’ve loved reading books on the Kindle Colorsoft, I know I’d love reading them on a Paperwhite, too; plus, reading comics and magazines is a more ponderous experience than it is on a tablet. Even with my relatively low comic and magazine consumption, the color screen’s ability to hold my attention is strained, and if I only read comics and magazines, it would quickly become frustrating, and I’d reach for my iPad.

The Kindle Colorsoft is brilliant, and it’s a recommended buy, but mostly because it’s a Kindle and not really because it has a color screen. Colorizing the Kindle has made it more modern and will definitely mean it will reach new eyeballs, but like Night of the Living Dead and The Mist, sometimes black-and-white is just better.