The Kindle Colorsoft takes too many shortcuts that diminish its quality as an e-reader

My impression of Amazon’s Kindle launch last October was that the product lineup felt rushed. With reports that the Colorsoft had yellow banding at the bottom of the screen, my impression was validated. When I reviewed the new Kindle Paperwhite (2024), I noticed that it also had the yellow banding on the bottom portion of the screen.

After digging through Amazon’s customer reviews, I found I wasn’t the only one who noticed similar defects affecting multiple Kindle devices, despite the Paperwhite and Colorsoft using two different screens. The Colorsoft’s banding isn’t as bad as the Paperwhite’s, perhaps thanks to the fixes Amazon claims it made “using a combination of software and display adjustments” to address the Colorsoft’s banding issue.

My Colorosoft has a slightly blurry yellowish area at the bottom of its screen that impedes my enjoyment of reading digital novels and manga. Now let’s dig into this review.

Price, availability, and specs

The Kindle Colorsoft retails for $280, which is a hefty chunk of change compared to the base Kindle and Paperwhite. However, you get a color screen in something close to a Paperwhite’s body, offering a familiar feel and look. Since Amazon started shipping the unit, it has remained in stock, so there appears to be no shortage, which is good news if you need a replacement.

Sales have been frequent since release, likely due to the known banding issue and a high number of one-star reviews. If you have an old Kindle to trade in, you can save 20% on the price, which brings down the price if you trade in during a deep discount.

What’s good about the Kindle Colorsoft

Color content for the win

If you get a device that doesn’t have the banding issue or has minimal banding, there is much to like about it. This is Amazon’s first color Kindle, but Amazon waited until the tech was somewhat mature to bring a color device to market, and this shows with its clear and clean-looking colors. While the color screen is only half the ppi of the black and white screen’s 300ppi (it’s a Kaleido 3 screen with minimal tweaks, which means a color and B&W layer), colors look sharp with defined lines that don’t blur.

While Kaleido 3 screens are often criticized for their screen door effect, I don’t see the issue on my device when looking at color or B&W content. Reading manga is a joy, even at 7 inches (some text can be small at this screen size), with art that looks as good as the real thing. The colors may be dull when compared to the book or an LCD/OLED tablet, but this is more of a shortcoming of E Ink than an issue with the device. Plus, an optional color style offers more vivid colors to liven things up.

The only color E Ink screen that looks better than a Kaleido 3 device is a Gallery 3 device like the Remarkable Paper Pro, which is a great note-taking device. However, refresh times are better on the Kindle Colorsoft’s Kaleido 3 screen, which is what you want when the goal of the device is reading instead of note-taking.

Beyond the screen, the Kindle Colorosft looks like a Kindle Paperwhite. If you’ve used one, think of one with a color screen, and that’s the Colorosft. It suits Amazon’s Kindle lineup, and even though color is a bit of a novelty, it is nice to see all my Kindle e-book covers in glorious color on an E Ink screen.

I also like that the Colorsoft’s performance is snappy, even turning color pages is quick, with minimal ghosting. Plus, every Kindle offers the option to refresh the screen on every page turn, which ensures as little ghosting as possible at the expense of flashing the screen on every turn, which is also a little slower. Having a choice is welcome, and I tend to use both modes, depending on what I’m reading.

The 32GB storage capacity is also nice, though I would love to see an SD card option. I know that’s unlikely, since Amazon is cutting down the ways to pirate e-books, and storing purchased e-books on an SD card would end up as an avenue for piracy, which would not be something Amazon is interested in. Still, I’d love to see it. 32GB runs out quickly if you listen to a lot of audiobooks over Bluetooth.

What’s bad about the Kindle Colorsoft

A little too much, in my opinion

There is the luck of the draw aspect, thanks to the banding issue, and I can’t say playing the lottery is something I look for when purchasing electronic devices. Amazon says it will replace or refund the device, but who wants to spend $280 for that kind of trouble?

I’m also not a fan of Amazon’s caginess about the issue, as I can’t get an answer about what was done to fix the banding when it doesn’t appear to be fixed, judging by current reviews and my device. Since the Paperwhite has similar banding, I question if quality control is being skipped. I’m not alone in noticing this lack of polish and QC. Even Amazon’s CPO has stated publicly that the company will stop cutting corners. I hope it starts with the Kindle line.

Another issue with the screen is that its edges are too close to the bezel. When you hold the Colorsoft at an angle (which is often the natural position to hold an e-reader), you can see the edges of the LED-lit frontlight layer, which are incredibly bright. You see a bright edge of the screen under the bezel at the top of the screen and on both sides. Only the bottom bezel properly hides the brightly lit screen edge.

Seeing a bright line at the edge of the screen stands out if you have the black Page Color in the drop-down settings (dark mode), as a bright white edge on a black screen stands out. This ruins the dark mode for me. The bright edge also stands out at night, no matter your screen color. It seems Amazon stuffed the color screen in a Paperwhite body, and this is the result: the bezels don’t correctly cover the screen’s edges.

Should you buy it?

That’s going to be a no from me. Any device whose company has to go out of its way to promise replacements because of known defects that aren’t being fixed acceptably in bulk sounds like the company could be banking on users not returning what may be defective devices. Amazon has been cagey about the ordeal and still has yet to detail what it did to improve the banding I’m seeing across multiple Kindle devices.

I’m not saying Amazon is up to no good. It promises Colorosoft replacements for anyone who receives a unit with banding, so it is standing by its product in a way. However, I wonder if this is a dog-and-pony show to avoid what should have been a recall.

After all, 23% of Colorsoft’s user reviews are one-star, and many of them mention banding and the light edges not properly covered by the bezels. Many of these reviews are new, which tells me that Amazon did the minimum to address the banding that still plagues new Colorsoft devices.

If you’re an avid E Ink user, you know that E Ink screens are rarely perfect, especially when they are frontlit. This can lead to uneven lighting, so there was already an expectation (for enthusiasts, at least) that swapping devices multiple times until you get a good screen could be in the cards. It seems to be the case with the Colorsoft, and if you don’t mind returning the device until you’re happy with it, the Colorsoft’s banding may not affect your decision to buy one.

For everyone else, the casual readers, those who don’t buy new E Ink devices every year, the Colorsoft isn’t polished enough to warrant the $280 price. The screen is color, and some of those colors look good (if the banding doesn’t get in the way), but when the screen is only 7 inches, larger color media like magazines and comic books are a pain to read that require zooming, which means the color screen is something of a novelty you’ll only really see when looking at book covers. So get a Paperwhite, and save $130.