Kindle Colorsoft review: A color e-reader and not much else

However, I noticed that text looks a bit blurry – not only in color content, but also in black and white content. I only noticed this because I'm using the new Paperwhite, which has the highest contrast ratio of any Kindle and delivers super-sharp text. When I switched to Colorsoft, my eyes had to get used to it. It's not as noticeable in comics, but when reading standard books it took me a moment to get used to it.

When flipping through illustrations, it's harder to ignore loading time. Typically the screen will flutter once or twice while the color is being processed. The same thing happens when you zoom in. At some point I zoomed in on a frame and noticed a small black loading square appear. This hasn't happened yet, but it was a bit worrying. However, Amazon is not alone – this type of update delay also occurs with other color e-book readers.

While flashing colors are common on all color e-readers, this is an important factor to consider if you're buying one primarily for comics and graphic novels. The flashing screen can feel distracting when turning pages or zooming in, especially during long reading sessions, and can sometimes take you out of the experience or distract you from the story. For this reason, I enjoyed reading comics on the Paperwhite a little more, even if it meant no color.

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Apart from the color screen, the Kindle Colorsoft hardly differs from the Paperwhite. Battery life is up to two months, there's support for wireless charging, and the screen can automatically adjust its brightness to suit your surroundings. For a color screen, you'll spend $80 more compared to the 12th Gen Paperwhite.

Given all the claims of having completely “rebuilt” the Kindle, the $280 Colorsoft was the right opportunity to bring back the page turn buttons that we haven't seen on a Kindle since the Oasis in 2019. This model also had a similarly sized 7-inch screen and was made from a metal-infused plastic that felt very premium, not the soft-touch plastic of the Colorsoft. But I digress. Buttons! What the page turns back and forth! It's not difficult. The #Booktok community has resorted to unsightly remote controls out of sheer convenience.