Its almost a year with the Amazon Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition and I thought I would do a quick review of how I have found it so far. I say almost a year as it has been 9/10 months since I received my Colorsoft just after Christmas. Prior to the Colorsoft I was using the original Paperwhite Signature Edition.
Compared to last year my reading output has increased, I wouldn’t say it was helped by the Colorsoft but I have read only using the Colorsoft. I do notice compared to the Paperwhite the Colorsoft lacks clairty in some aspects but it is not detremiental to the reading experience, I am not a picky person but I know some are. The difference is the screen and how the nature of Coloured e-ink screens means there is an extra layer to the screen that affects the crispness.
I was very lucky that my Colorsoft was one of the first of the non-yellow band batch, I do notice something but I have concluded its the LEDs at the base. There is no sign of yellow and being a frequent visitor of Kindle forums it is a paranoia you can’t shake off.
The images above show the device as I see it, I did include a screenshot from another book. The Kabuki book had stylised pages which didn’t make it seem fair for comparison. I also included an in-kindle screenshot.
Does Colour or lack of change the Kindle experience? Im my opinion it hasn’t made it any better or worse. It is wonderful to see covers and images in colour, along with notations but 99% of the time you are reading and text is in black and white. Depending on what you’re reading some of the pictures may be published without colour so there is no difference at all. I was excited to read a Manga on the Colorsfot but then realised only the cover was coloured and the content black and white. It really shone through with comics and I had read a series called Gun Honey and that really popped.
I do think colour is the future and for the first iteration of coloured e-ink Kindles, this is a fine entry and better it will get. Already there are a 16GB model Colorsoft and a Kids version and recently announced Colorsoft Scribe. I am happy with mine and it will do me for many years, perhaps if there is a big jump in quality and features down the line I would get another.
Perhaps they will add features like change of font colour, or page background colours. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here. A slight disappointment for me is the lock screen, I know for longevity and battery it is limited in brightness, but it would be nice if it was backlit a little to be more vibrant at the expensise of battery.
All in all colour or no colour it makes little difference but it is nice to have the choice to enjoy the option of colour. Is it a necessity no, but it is a pleasure and great to have the choice. Though the question with Amazon getting more restrictive is to try a new e-reader or stick. Kobo, Boox, Pocketbook all provide alternatives to Kindle. I would be interested to see the next colour offerings from Kobo and see how they update the Libre Color, that would be what I would go for next, if they make improvements to the device and build quality.
