The Kindle Colorsoft isn't nice for studying

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Amazon hardly ever undercuts its personal merchandise, however when the corporate quietly slipped a caveat into the FAQ for its new Colorsoft Kindle, it made one factor abundantly clear: in case you care about crisp, black-and-white studying, purchase one thing else. As somebody who nonetheless acts like they’ll earn a pizza social gathering in the event that they learn sufficient books, I spend plenty of time with my Kindle. Amazon’s trustworthy take doesn’t shock me (and received’t shock anybody who’s learn on each varieties of e-reader), but it surely’s a uncommon day I discover myself agreeing with the corporate about something.

Do you favor a black and white or colour e-ink show in your e-reader? 84 votes

Black and white

52%

Shade

25%

I'm detached.

10%

I do not use an e-reader.

13%

Kindle Colorsoft’s trustworthy positive print

<img class="e_9g" decoding="async" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 64rem) 51.25rem, 80vw" title="Kindle Devices Chair" srcset="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Kindle-Devices-Chair-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Kindle-Devices-Chair-scaled-64w-36h.jpg 64w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Kindle-Devices-Chair-scaled-1000w-563h.jpg 1000w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Kindle-Devices-Chair-scaled-1920w-1080h.jpg 1920w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Kindle-Devices-Chair-scaled-1536w-864h.jpg 1536w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Kindle-Devices-Chair-scaled-675w-380h.jpg 675w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Kindle-Devices-Chair-scaled-300w-170h.jpg 300w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Kindle-Devices-Chair-scaled-1280w-720h.jpg 1280w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Kindle-Devices-Chair-scaled-840w-472h.jpg 840w" alt="Kindle Devices Chair" src="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Kindle-Devices-Chair-scaled.jpg"/> Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

Amazon’s disclaimer candidly admits that the Colorsoft’s show sacrifices sharpness and distinction in comparison with the model’s conventional e-readers. It truly suggests readers who need “a barely crisper black-and-white expertise” stick with the common Kindle Paperwhite or Kindle Scribe. That’s corporate-speak for issues might look fuzzy on the product you’re at the moment procuring, however preserve procuring from our lineup. Kudos to the PR group for drafting that one up.

The reality is, colour E-Ink has all the time been a compromise. The E-Ink Kaleido 3 show brings versatility to pictures and content material, however tops out at 150 ppi, or half the decision of Amazon’s greatest monochrome panels. Add a colour filter layer to a superbly legible monochrome panel and also you’ll get softer textual content, muddier blacks, and the nagging sense that your e-book’s been printed on damp paper. It merely dilutes what makes E-Ink nice within the first place: excessive distinction, low eye pressure, and paper-like readability. It even slows web page turns by roughly a 3rd in comparison with the Paperwhite, one thing I discover instantly when flipping or annotating.

Shade E-Ink makes sacrifices in sharpness and pace that I am not right here for.

Briefly, colour e-readers are a downgrade if all you wish to do is devour your summer time studying listing. I’ve learn on all the pieces from Kaleido 3 to Carta 1300 panels, and the sample by no means adjustments: when you add colour, you lose distinction. In the meantime, my commonplace grayscale Kindle delivers all the enjoyment of an old-school e-book with out the paper cuts. For pure, uninhibited studying, conventional black-and-white e-readers are crisp, environment friendly, and satisfyingly acquainted. Till colour E-Ink can match the legibility and pace of grayscale panels, it belongs as a distinct segment characteristic, not as buyers’ go-to flagship possibility.

A case for colour

<img class="e_9g" decoding="async" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 64rem) 51.25rem, 80vw" title="kindle scribe color pen" srcset="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/kindle_scribe_color_pen.jpg 2000w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/kindle_scribe_color_pen-64w-36h.jpg 64w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/kindle_scribe_color_pen-1000w-563h.jpg 1000w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/kindle_scribe_color_pen-1920w-1080h.jpg 1920w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/kindle_scribe_color_pen-1536w-864h.jpg 1536w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/kindle_scribe_color_pen-675w-380h.jpg 675w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/kindle_scribe_color_pen-300w-170h.jpg 300w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/kindle_scribe_color_pen-1280w-720h.jpg 1280w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/kindle_scribe_color_pen-840w-472h.jpg 840w" alt="kindle scribe color pen" src="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/kindle_scribe_color_pen.jpg"/> Stephen Schenck / Android Authority

In fact, some content material genuinely shines on a colour e-reader in a means that falls flat in black-and-white. That’s why the tech was invented. Comics, textbooks, kids’s books, and magazines all profit from character that grayscale can’t seize, and for these, the decision trade-off could be value it. If a tool has stylus assist, I’ll all the time swoon for the colour mannequin. Who doesn’t love organizing their margin notes by hue? My handwriting will nonetheless be illegible, however a minimum of it’ll be color-coded chaos.

So no, color-justifying use instances aren’t area of interest. For each Kindle person parked beneath a seaside umbrella with a novel, tons of customers load up their gadgets with graphic books, data-heavy PDFs, cookbooks, or quilting patterns. There are numerous methods colour earns its preserve, and loads of readers who merely desire a break from their glowing OLED tablets. Whether or not a Colorsoft Kindle, Kobo Libra Color, or some other hued e-reader suits your way of life relies upon completely on what you learn.

There are many content material varieties that profit from colour, I simply do not learn sufficient of them.

I simply don’t eat sufficient visually fascinating content material to justify sacrificing readability. I’m not resistant to the draw; I like seeing colour on my homescreen and e-book covers, however I like my conventional expertise much more. If, like me, you’re principally getting misplaced in Stephen King, Rebecca Yarros, or the most recent New York Instances best-selling memoir, follow a black-and-white mannequin. You may all the time Google the quilt artwork to your 5 seconds of appreciation.

Kindle’s id is etched in black-and-white

<img class="e_9g" decoding="async" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 64rem) 51.25rem, 80vw" title="Kindle 2024 Screen Saver" srcset="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Kindle-2024-Screen-Saver-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Kindle-2024-Screen-Saver-scaled-64w-36h.jpg 64w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Kindle-2024-Screen-Saver-scaled-1000w-563h.jpg 1000w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Kindle-2024-Screen-Saver-scaled-1920w-1080h.jpg 1920w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Kindle-2024-Screen-Saver-scaled-1536w-864h.jpg 1536w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Kindle-2024-Screen-Saver-scaled-675w-380h.jpg 675w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Kindle-2024-Screen-Saver-scaled-300w-170h.jpg 300w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Kindle-2024-Screen-Saver-scaled-1280w-720h.jpg 1280w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Kindle-2024-Screen-Saver-scaled-840w-472h.jpg 840w" alt="A user holds a Kindle 2024 against a patterned sweatshirt." src="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Kindle-2024-Screen-Saver-scaled.jpg"/> Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

In a market hooked on characteristic bloat, Amazon’s transparency issues. As a substitute of pretending that colour E-Ink has lastly arrived, the corporate acknowledges that rainbow studying remains to be experimental. That admission preserves the Kindle’s core id. Consumers who want it will probably discover colour, and for everybody else, the Paperwhite and Oasis traces stay sacred for readers chasing the purest, distraction-free expertise.

The very best transfer corporations could make is to supply choice and be clear.

So sure, Amazon simply admitted its Colorsoft Kindle isn’t nice for studying. Honesty might not assist it promote extra coloured Kindles, however I’ll fortunately preserve staying up too late on my black-and-white mannequin, even when I’m not incomes prizes from the general public library.