Amazon's basic Kindle is one of my favorite recent purchases — I even raved about how much I love its portability for Mashable — but amongst the lineup of new releases Amazon dropped last year, the Kindle Colorsoft is something that has caught my eye. This is the Amazon's first color Kindle, meaning you can enjoy book covers, comics, and more with a pop of color. But since this is Kindle's first outing with a color e-reader, I was curious if the Colorsoft was worth the hefty $280 price tag.
The Kindle Colorsoft hasn't been short of praise. Senior Editor Allison Murray from Mashable's sister site ZDNet reviewed the Colorsoft upon release and said, "In the world of color e-readers, the Kindle Colorsoft is a top competitor thanks to its customizable color display, fast performance in downloading books and page-turning, and wireless charging." However, customer reviews haven't always been super positive — it's currently sitting at 3.5 out of 5 stars on the Amazon store page.
This is largely due to a yellow band issue that has been widely reported. The Verge reported on the issue back in November, noting how shoppers found the discoloration at the bottom of the screen to be distracting. It was such an issue at launch that the company even delayed shipments of the device. So I was curious to know whether this issue has been resolved. And is the Kindle Colorsoft worth the upgrade if you already own the basic Kindle device?
More color for Colorsoft
In response to the yellow band issue, Amazon started delaying Kindle Colorsoft shipments to attempt to resolve the problem. In a report from The Verge, an Amazon spokesperson also stated that, "we’re making the appropriate adjustments to ensure that new devices will not experience this issue moving forward.” This was from November of last year, so what's the deal with Kindle Colorsoft displays now?
While there are recent reviews on the store page that lean in a more positive direction, Amazon has also posted a notice about the yellowing on the device's store page, which reads: "A small number of customers have reported a yellow band along the bottom of the display. We take the quality of our products seriously — customers who notice this can reach out to our customer service team for a replacement or refund, and we’ve made the appropriate adjustments to ensure that new devices will not experience this issue moving forward."
A couple of Reddit users have also shared more positive findings with their devices, with one user on r/Kindle noting their recent experiences, saying, "It looks like that Amazon has now resolved the yellow band issue that plagued earlier releases of the Colorsoft." With this in mind, it seems like the device is moving past the struggles it had at launch. And mazon seems open to replacing or refunding if things go wrong, which is nice to know.
Is Kindle Colorsoft worth the upgrade?
If you're still interested in buying the Kindle Colorsoft, it's worth knowing how it differs from other Kindle devices. In my case, it's finding the key differences between the Kindle Colorsoft and the regular Kindle. Mainly, choosing between the two depends on what you like to read. If you're a big comic book fan or someone who loves to color code and highlight your novels, there are benefits to having a colorful screen with the Kindle Colorsoft. If you're someone who simply enjoys getting lost in a story via the words on the page in black and white, then the basic Kindle gets the job done just fine.
If you're really not looking to drop a lot of cash, the basic Kindle is a great budget pick as well. Our review of the 2024 Kindle said that if "you're looking to spend about $100 on an e-reader, the Kindle will deliver quick page turns and 16GB of storage to hold thousands and thousands of books." However, if money is no issue and you're looking to have an e-reader that can show off your comics in their colorful state, the Kindle Colorsoft comes in at a higher $280 price point.
They also have slightly different sizes. As mentioned before, I enjoy the portability of the standard Kindle (as it comes to about six inches). The Colorsoft is an inch bigger at seven inches, which isn't too bad and still makes it a great device to travel with. Its display is also glare-free and features an auto-adjusting front light, so you can easily read in bright sunlight or at night just a little bit easier. The Colorsoft also boasts a longer battery life of up to eight weeks, according to Amazon, while the basic Kindle lasts up to six weeks.
At the end of the day, I'm probably not going to upgrade right now. But the allure of those colorful pages might become too great if that $280 price point comes down.
Where to buy the Kindle Colorsoft
If you're looking to buy the Kindle Colorsoft right now, it's available at Amazon for $279.99. It's worth keeping in mind that these devices usually drop in price during big sale events. Amazon usually holds another Prime Day in October and Black Friday lands at the end of November, so there's still plenty of opportunity left throughout the year to score them at a discount.
