October was an thrilling month for studying units. We obtained a brand new iPad mini, a few merchandise from Boox, and this unusual but compelling iPhone e-reader adapter from Astropad. The largest splash of all, nevertheless, got here from Amazon. It’s unsurprising, because the retail large instructions round 80% of the devoted e-reader market.
The previous month belies the general state of the business. E-readers are one of many quieter mainstream client electronics classes. This is due in no small half to Amazon’s domination. With no opponents positioned to problem the corporate’s throne, refreshes have taken on an more and more sporadic cadence.
This yr, nevertheless, Amazon is greeting the vacation season with the biggest Kindle refresh in current reminiscence. The large-form Scribe has been up to date with improved note-taking capabilities and AI-based textual content summaries. The bestselling Paperwhite is getting an even bigger show and quicker processor. The base Kindle’s web page turns have sped up, and the machine has gotten a brighter entrance mild and extra colour choices.
All of those comparatively minor refreshes have been overshadowed by a brand new version to the road. After 16 years of Kindles, many people had given up on the notion of colour. But colour e-paper has develop into a actuality lately. Notably, the Kindle’s chief competitor, Kobo, launched the Libra Colour in April.
E-paper is the center of those units, and including that further layer by no means appeared like a precedence for Amazon. If folks wished colour, they might merely purchase a pill and cope with the shorter battery life and a show that’s harsher on the eyes.
One key factor that makes the Colorsoft so intriguing is that it’s nonetheless a Kindle within the truest sense. The machine shares way more frequent DNA with the Paperwhite than any Fire pill. In reality, the reader may have simply as appropriately been branded the Kindle Paperwhite Color.
In reality, the addition of colour comes courtesy of a secondary layer added to the e-paper stack. It’s primarily based on E Ink’s Kaleido colour filter, albeit customized constructed for the Kindle line. The outcome lives as much as the Colorsoft identify. I’d describe it as refined — pale even. In reality, for those who’re not wanting straight on the show, you may miss the truth that it’s a colour mannequin.
Amazon compares the studying expertise to print. Certainly the result’s simpler on the eyes than colour replica on, say, an iPad. The impact is good for colours and highlighted passages. If you’re primarily a prose reader, you gained’t encounter the function all that a lot. If you’re in search of a tool for, say, comics, the colour could also be a bit muted to your style.
The long-awaited addition of colour sadly serves as a stark reminder of Comixology’s sunsetting beneath the Amazon company umbrella. Between that app and a colour Kindle, the corporate had the chance to actually personal the house — although, notably, e-paper’s refresh charge is lower than splendid for the type of dynamism Comixology delivered to the shape.
For probably the most half, tablets will hew a bit nearer to the unique artwork. Colorsoft’s reproductions are akin to studying the Sunday funnies. The colour filter brings to thoughts the CMYK printing course of utilized in newspaper printing. The impact is enhanced by the truth that the Kindle show is extra of a grayish hue than the total white you get with a pill or cellphone.
Beyond the colour show, the Paperwhite Signature Edition and Colorsoft are strikingly related. Both now sport 7-inch shows with a 300 ppi density. Both units have the identical footprint, measuring 5 x 7 x .3 inches, with a completely flush show, although the Colorsoft weighs a hair extra at 7.7 ounces (the Paperwhite Signature is 7.5 ounces). You doubtless gained’t discover the distinction.
Both merchandise include 32GB of storage by default; that’s double the storage of the usual Paperwhite and base Kindle. The new Scribe has 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB choices. The USB-C connector has been standardized throughout the road, although solely the Signature Paperwhite and Colorsoft have wi-fi charging — one thing I don’t think about being a dealbreaker for many. While the 2 Paperwhite fashions, the bottom Kindle, and the brand new Scribe all have completely different physique colours, the Colorsoft, satirically, solely is available in black.
It is sensible that Amazon used the Paperwhite as the idea for Colorsoft. It is, as famous above, the bestselling Kindle, straddling the fence between the bottom and Scribe fashions. The premium Oasis — to which I used to be all the time partial — has been phased out. I’m a bit unhappy to see it go, however Amazon hadn’t up to date the factor in 5 years. Likely most customers merely didn’t care sufficient a couple of premium e-reader.
One spot the place the Paperwhite has the higher hand is battery life. The Colorsoft is listed at “as much as eight weeks” to the Paperwhite’s “as much as 12 weeks.” Once you get into the realm of a number of months on a cost, the distinction will get pretty moot. You simply must put aside 2.5 hours someplace in there to totally cost them.
The Paperwhite wins on worth as properly. At $280, the Colorsoft has edged into that premium e-reader class, priced roughly the identical because the Oasis. The Paperwhite and Signature Paperwhite run $160 and $200, respectively. The new base Kindle begins at $110, and the Scribe is hard to swallow at $400.
It’s good to know that the Kindle line has life in it but. Color, the function we’ve waited a decade and a half for, is lastly right here. As for whether or not it’s value $80 greater than the Signature Paperwhite, it’s a much more refined distinction than the value distinction implies, particularly when more often than not you spend studying textual content would be the normal Kindle monotone expertise. Still, the machine advantages from a number of generations of enchancment, providing an total nice studying expertise — even when colour nonetheless looks like a little bit of a novelty.
