Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition 32GB (newest model) – With color display, auto-adjusting front light, wireless charging, and long battery life - Metallic Black

I purchased the Amazon Kindle Colorsoft so I could have color images and graphics on many textbooks in my collection, as well as the ability to highlight in different colors, a feature I used a lot on my Android Kindle app but couldn't with my 2021 Paperwhite. The book covers are nice in color, too, bringing a level of dimension to my library that I enjoy a lot. I am giving this five stars as it satisfies my main objectives: The color is good, color highlighting excellent, and the speed of page turns and library browsing is excellent (noticeably faster than my 2021 Paperwhite). The only thing missing is a satisfying "dark mode," as it only affects the book pages and not the whole interface as with the Paperwhite. Perhaps this will change in a future update, but it isn't a big issue for me and the white text on a black background is still excellent for night reading, especially with the amber glow turned to the max. Color highlighting in this mode is also excellent. I do have some caveats, however: The battery drains a lot quicker than the Paperwhite, and the 32GB storage fills up a lot quicker. Also, the "Vivid" color setting seems to switch back to "Standard" sporadically, even if it still says "Vivid" is selected (this might be happening after I select a Restart). These are not serious issues as I just need to charge more frequently and will refrain from downloading my whole library as space fills up, and a reset to "Vivid" handles the color issue until a software fix is available (assuming this isn't just my imagination). In addition, the price is very high for what it offers, so unless color is very important to someone (to view comics, highlighting in color, etc.), the new 2024 Paperwhite might be the better option. UPDATE: An unfortunate issue a lot of reviews have mentioned is a yellow band at the bottom of the screen. At first, I didn't think my Colorsoft had this issue, but now I see a very faint band at the bottom of the screen when reading with black text on a white background. To be fair, I might not have noticed this without the issue being pointed out, and it is a lot less noticeable than some photos I've seen (I have the warmth setting set to 10 normally, which might camouflage the band a little). It looks to me like an issue of the calibration of the LEDs as it doesn't appear when the backlight is off. It is also undetectable with images and using the white test on a black background. Still, it is there, and I am requesting a replacement for when the issue is resolved. I'm keeping my review 5-stars because Amazon has been very responsive regarding this yellow banding issue. Contacting customer service via a chat was a simple process and a replacement request was quickly queued up (replacements, alas, aren't available yet while the underlying issue is being investigated and resolved), and I can keep using my current Colorsoft in the meantime (while noticeable, the yellow band isn't distracting while I read). One of the reasons I keep coming to Amazon is their fantastic customer service, and this is a good example of them doing what they can for an unfortunate situation. UPDATE #2: I received my replacement Kindle Colorsoft and the yellow banding issue is resolved. Again, I feel the customer service response to this issue was excellent and it is a primary reason I continue to use Amazon. UPDATE #3: The firmware update adding system-wide Dark Mode is a game-changer and very welcome addition to the Colorsoft. I prefer reading in Dark Mode and prior to the system-wide version, going outside a book was blinding at night. That issue has been resolved and the Colorsoft system-wide Dark Mode looks beautiful.

This is my first kindle. I had seen them in the wild and always scoffed at the idea of an reader. I have always been the type to buy the book and either add it to my bookshelf or donate it when done. But recently I started reading in the Kindle app on my phone. Not sure why, maybe it was my mom retiring and using her kindle Paperwhite. But as I started reading books on my phone I decided getting a kindle was that next step. I weighed the Paperwhite against the color soft and the price difference left me leaning to the color soft. The black and white doesn't look much different than my mom's Paperwhite but the color is very soft in tone as the name implies. I was not surprised at that as there is many reviews online that show the color. So why color? Well if you like to read the occasional comic or graphic novel or just like to see some color covers or color highlights then the color soft is for you. If color is not the issue then go with the Paperwhite. As for memory, I am glad I got the 32gb model. After the Kindle pre installed software and such you are left with 25 gb. Black and White text books are only a few mega bites but a graphic novel is easily 250 megabytes. Of course you can always remove your books while still seeing them in your library. I did take Amazon up on the Kindle unlimited trial. Not sure I will renew as between work and my kids I can only read 3 or 4 books a month. Buying your books has the benefit of reading them at any time without a subscription and books are only 3 to 5 dollars. If you read several books a week then Kindle unlimited is for you. The colosoft is very sharp and clear. Text is customizable by size and font. Works good in sunlight and I like that it's waterproof. Not that I am taking it to the pool but if I split my drink I would know I am ok. I know there is a lot of reviews that mention the yellow bar but my Kindle has none of that so I assume that has been resolved. My only minor issue with the Kindle is there is a faint white halo around the border where you can kind of see the backlight shining through but is barely noticable once you start reading and is less of a defect than it is how it is designed. The screen is a nice glare free matt finish and the Kindle case is easily installed and a nice accessory. The battery life is sufficient but I feel like the way the battery life is advertised is a bit false. They say 8 weeks but apparently that's based on 30 minutes a day of reading. Who reads 30 minutes a day. I am a light reader and even I read more than 30 minutes a day. I would say you get about 24 hours of reading. Which is still pretty decent. Overall I would give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. I really like my Kindle and it feels like I am reading from a paper book.

I received a notice from Amazon that my elderly Kindle Fire was no longer going to be supported. Naturally I was disappointed. I went ahead and bought a new Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition 32 Gb reader, which arrived just over a week ago. My disappointment went away very quickly. The first thing I noticed was that it is always on -- it has a sleep mode, with extremely tiny power consumption. There's no lengthy boot-up process (which was about 2 minutes with the old Kindle Fire). I made very extensive use of the reader over the past three days -- probably averaging 4 to 5 hours a day -- and that didn't include the hours spent downloading all of my Kindle books to the new reader; the battery charge is still at about 85% full. At this rate I won't need to plug it in for a recharge for another 2 weeks or so. The next nice feature is that it charges through a USB-C port, which means very fast charging. (It also can use a wireless charger, but I'll likely never get one of those.) Then there's the available cover, which cost me $31.99 and is worth every cent of that. Close the front of the cover and the reader goes to sleep. Open it and your last page read shows up immediately. The color quality isn't quite as good as that of the Kindle Fire, but it's still very good. That's part of the trade-off when you go from the Fire tablet (which needs recharging every 8 hours or so, which takes all night using its USB-A port) to the Colorsoft, which uses a lot less power and only needs charging twice (or maybe once) a month. The text quality and readability are excellent. It has an easily selected airplane mode, so you can have your whole library available on long airline trips (and its battery lasts easily long enough for that). Another advantage of the Colorsoft is that text highlighting can be done in a number of colors. That has some advantages when multiple persons are using it, i.e., the text can be color-coded by user. It could be very useful in an editorial process. I love it and recommend it.

I may be among the minority here, but I am in love with this new color Kindle. I can only assume my expectations were different. By pre-ordering this device I KNEW I was paying a premium to be an early adopter of a new technology, and new technologies ALWAYS have flaws that were not going to be discovered until there is a much larger testing pool from a full release. I expected those and knew the expensive purchase was a gamble, but to me it was a successful gamble. Despite its flaws, I think it is absolutely amazing and honestly only one of those flaws is a possible deal breaker for me and the reason I gave it 4 stars. I’m hopeful that one deal breaking flaw is fixable by software, and as soon as it’s fixed I’ll be changing this to 5 stars. This device has gorgeous color. It’s faster at pretty much everything than my Oasis and provides the experience I’m accustomed to from Kindles. Pretty much the only thing I would whine about being missing are page turn buttons (because I’m one of the people who STRONGLY prefer them to touch screen). Let me go through my experience with the flaws getting this device a bad reputation: - The yellow bar at the bottom of the screen: Yes, I DO have the yellow bar at the bottom of the screen. It does not bother me AT ALL. I doubt I’d have noticed it if I hadn’t known to look. I only notice it when I’m on the home screen and it is basically a closed in box. It is 100% gone if you put the screen on a black background. I’ve also spent hours reading regular books on a white background just to test if this would annoy me and while I know it’s there I never really noticed it. - Grainy/darker screen: Yes, they all have this and will all continue to have this. This falls under the category of understanding the technology you are early adopting and what the realistic expectations are. The color functionality is overlaid on top of the black and white e-ink screen. When you put something on top of a screen, it’s always going to have a permanent effect, it was never going to be fully transparent. I know some people dislike that they have to turn the screen up brighter than they do on their Paperwhites and some find it difficult to read through the screen door effect all color e-ink devices have with current technology. I personally don’t care if I have to set my brightness a little higher, I have it on auto-brightness anyway. And the softening screen door effect that is an issue for a lot of people, I actually find I prefer to read on. It makes it feel more like it’s on a piece of paper than a screen to me. - Shorter battery life: Honestly I’ve yet to come even close to running low on battery so I don’t think this is a problem for me. It still holds a charge FAR longer than my beloved Oasis. - No true dark mode: I understand where the anger on this is coming from, as someone who reads exclusively in dark mode. It does feel a little weird how much of the lighting on the sides and underneath comes through when the page is black compared to dark mode on my other Kindles. And it’s not ideal that the menus are still in white. I’m hoping this will be fixed with a software update because I DO strongly prefer the traditional dark mode, but the black screen background on this device isn’t bad enough that I can’t use it and I still prefer it to the white background. - Ghosting: Now THIS is an issue that may be a deal breaker for me. For me I’ve only had it happen when I’m using the black page and have been reading on it for an hour or so straight. As I strongly prefer to read with a black background this is an issue I keep coming up against. It goes away if I exit the book or turn the device off and back on again, but it is VERY disruptive to my reading. Hopefully they can fix this with software or with a replacement device that has it addressed in the hardware available to those of us who early adopted. Honestly it would probably be fixed if I could turn on the page refresh toggle, but while I can do that in comics I don’t seem to be able to do it in regular books with the black background. Overall I’ve spent many hours using this device and enjoying it. While I’m still likely to lean towards my Oasis for marathon reading sessions of regular black and white books because of the dark mode, I’ve really enjoyed reading graphic novels on the Colorsoft and will likely also enjoy cookbooks and knitting pattern books on there in the future as well. I’m hoping they can fix the ghosting issue, either with software or a hardware fix for a future replacement, but I’m definitely not ready to give up on this device yet as it’s still bringing me joy.

The colorsoft seems to be getting a lot of hate, and although I hate writing reviews, I wanted to share my thoughts. I have read the unfortunate reports of issues from other reviewers and I hate they are dealing with issues! However, I've been super happy with mine so far. Sure, there is a faint yellowish tinge at the bottom of the screen if the warmth is on, but it wasn't noticeable until I saw reports and went to check my screen. I'd kept my expectations low when it came to how saturated the colors would be based on other e-ink color screens, but the Colorsoft exceeded my hopes. The colors are lovely, even with the light off. I know many color e-inks are compared to reading a newspaper in color, but I find the Colorsoft to be more pigmented and the graphics are smoother (not grainy). I'm a visual learner and I remember information better if it is color coded or the graphics are in color, so having color for my non-fiction books makes a massive difference for me. And I can finally enjoy cookbooks and how-to art books on my Kindle! I'm sure I'll run into some hiccups since the Colorsoft is a new device, but they will be worth it just for the color quality alone! Also, I was very frustrated with the lag in my Paperwhite Signature. I'm a speed reader and waiting for it to respond to page turns and highlighting would take me out of my relaxed reading "state". The Colorsoft is lightning fast by comparison and that alone was worth the upgrade... At least for me! E-ink devices aren't tablets or ipads. They are often a little clunky and lack the sharpness or rich hues we are accustomed to on those screens. But they serve their purpose well, allowing us to step away from the notifications of our other devices, reduce eye strain/headaches (at least for me), and we can read outside in the sun. The colorsoft may not be for everyone, and there are things Amazon will need to address as with any new device, but I certainly don't regret my purchase! It serves the purpose I hoped it would. My neurodivergent brain is so pleased with the pops of color on my screen and it's so much easier finding books in my library thanks to the ability to view the covers in color. I'm so happy Amazon listened to all the requests for color... Now if we could just get a Scribe in color! *hint hint Amazon team!* I've attached pictures, but please note that if the words in the screen are blurry it's due to my camera, not the device. They are sharper than my PW signature in person. The mouse on the stack of books and the floral/succulent screensavers are both with the device powered off (so no light).

2nd UPDATE (March 12, 2025): The 2024 Kindle Paperwhite that I purchased to replace my yellowed Kindle Colorsoft in November arrived with EVEN WORSE YELLOWING. I could NOT believe it. So instead, I sent THAT Kindle back, and requested Amazon send a replacement Kindle Colorsoft instead. The replacement Colorsoft arrived in December and I sent back my original, yellowed Colorsoft. Then over the past three months, that replacement Colorsoft BEGAN YELLOWING TOO. It's ABSOLUTELY clear Amazon did not change their production process. No matter what 2024 Kindle device you buy, its display will eventually turn yellow due to the faulty display adhesive they switched to in 2024. DON'T BOTHER. Just DON'T BOTHER. If I could give my Kindle Colorsoft--for which I'll never get my money back--ZERO STARS, I would. Same with the 2024 Paperwhite. I just use my iPad now to read Kindle books. But I will NEVER, EVER buy another Kindle device. Neither should you. ____ UPDATE: After 10 days of owning my new Kindle ColorSoft, I changed my 5-star review to a 1-star review. My original review is below, and all of it still stands. But the weird, prominent yellow bar across the bottom of the display--almost like someone wrote across the display with a yellow hi-liter, is a real thing. The only way not to see it, or be distracted by it, is to pump your display warmth up so that the yellow from the warmth blends in with the bottom stripe. It's ridiculous that Amazon went to market with this display flaw. Were they hoping no one would notice? Now reviewers are saying there won't even be a hardware fix--there may instead be a "software fix". Which means either making your whole display yellow or putting a black bar across the bottom of the screen. Either way, hard nope. If you request a call from Amazon Product Services, you have options to return or exchange your dingy Colorsoft. If you return it, you'll wait 2 to 4 weeks for your funds to be processed back to you. If you exchange it, you can only do so for a new, hopefully corrected Colorsoft, and they're not shipping for "3 to 5 weeks". Until then, you get to keep on using your faulty one. If you want to exchange for a different new Kindle model, Amazon will NOT process that for you in one transaction. Instead, you have to initiate a return--triggering that 2 to 4 week wait for your refund--and purchase a different new Kindle SEPARATELY. Which means, until your refund arrives, you're essentially lending Amazon your money for a month for free. Making things EVEN MORE complicated, if you used your old Kindle for trade-in value, Amazon WILL NOT give you that value back, giving you zero options for a clean return. The Product Services representative will, however, give you a 20% discount code to purchase a new Kindle. But you still have to do the return and new purchase separately. (And wait that month for Amazon to give you back your original purchase price.) All in all, the handling of this complete launch misfire has been unacceptably customer-unfriendly. Amazon could make it SO MUCH EASIER for the people who placed advanced orders, traded in their old Kindles, and early adopted the Colorsoft to get their money back and get new devices. You would think they'd want to do that after all the hard promotion the Kindle management team did with tech media and influencers in mid-October. Instead, the nearly complete lack of proactive customer service for what is Amazon's 100% own goal and no one else's fault has turned their product ambassadors into naysayers. That's a lot of marketing money thrown in the toilet. I decided to return my Colorsoft, and use the 20% discount code to order a new Paperwhite. Amazon charged me A DOLLAR to send me a shipping label, and I have to BUY MY OWN BOX at UPS. (At this point, are you surprised? Whatever you do, DO NOT BUY THIS DEVICE. This launch has been an unmitigated disaster. If I want color book covers, I'll use the Kindle app on my iPad. You should, too. ____ ORIGINAL REVIEW: Like reading a newspaper with full-color photos. Not tablet-like photos, not meant to be. Absolutely joyful. A breath of fresh air to be able to easily browse the covers in your library, your wish list, and the Kindle Store. The Vivid mode makes the colors pop better. Auto-brightness and scheduled warmth make the device less fiddly. The alleged fuzzy look of reading B&W text due to the color layer is a nothing burger—the layer is barely noticeable at all. The layer allegedly making things darker is also mildly ridiculous. That’s what your brightness control is for—including when auto-brightness is on. Just choose your preferences once and you’re all set. And does anyone really care the battery now lasts for two MONTHS instead of three? Unless you were an Oasis owner, this will be the best Kindle you’ve ever owned. Take advantage of current generous trade-in offers and treat yourself.

For reference, I have the Kindle Colorsoft, 11th generation Paperwhite, and a competitor color e-reader. I have seen so many negative reviews for this new Kindle and I completely disagree. 1) People have issues with a “yellow band” at the bottom of the screen. To be fair, I use the warm settings so it might go unnoticed. But I don’t see this band. 2) Complaints on grainy text. It’s not as crisp as my 11th gen Paperwhite, but it’s still very very good. I have read for hours with no eye strain. The quality in my opinion is better than the competitor color e-reader. The other company’s color e-reader I couldn’t read more than maybe two hours because my eyes hurt. It didn’t matter how I adjusted the brightness, warmth, font, or font size. Again, the Colorsoft I have read for hours and hours. 3) Battery life: I agree, the battery life is not as good as the Paperwhite. HOWEVER, it is SIGNIFICANTLY better than the Kindle Oasis. A family member has the Oasis and the battery is the biggest con of that device. Battery would last a couple days or barely a full day depending on how long a reading session is. Absolutely terrible. The Kindle Colorsoft battery again is very very good in comparison. 4) I have seen people complain about the ColorSoft not having dark mode. There is an option in the settings for dark mode. I have used it. It’s there. I DID notice that it’s in the book as you’re reading, but it doesn’t appear dark on the main menu. But there’s dark mode when you are in a book. The competitor ereader I have does the same exact thing and I haven’t seen any complaints on this. 5) There are complaints that the color is not vivid enough. There is a setting on the device that’s “standard” and “vivid”. The Kindle ColorSoft is the name. It’s colorSOFT. I think the color is phenomenal for e-ink technology. To me it is more book-like, natural, and easy on the eyes than the competitor. It is e-ink. Not LED. If you want heavy saturation of colors then maybe an iPad or Kindle Fire is the better choice for you. But LED tablets come with more eye strain, glare, and bad battery life. The Kindle ColorSoft has screen savers that are so cute, it’s fun seeing my covers in color when my Kindle is sleeping or on the main menu browsing. The highlighter color options are so vibrant. Overall this Kindle is wonderful. It is essentially the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition but in color. I read comfortably for hours. The only request I have for a future color device is pen compatibility and page turn buttons. If they revamp and relaunch the Oasis in color I know people will jump on that opportunity, myself included. But for someone that has the Paperwhite and then got the ColorSoft, this is a seamless and happy experience.

Update: Amazon customer service contacted me less than 24 hours after leaving this review to "talk about my experience. After a lengthy 30-minute phone call, the CS rep assured me that Amazon is working on fixing the issue, and I would be put on the list to get a replacement as soon as the screen issue was resolved. Fast forward to 11/22/24. Jill from Amazon CS (a different CS rep than before) called me and asked if I still wanted a replacement for my Colorsoft. Of course, I said yes. While I had her on the phone, I asked repeatedly if they had fixed the yellow bar issue, and she told me that, without a doubt, they had. She also told me that Amazon would send my replacement Colorsoft via UPS Express, and she made sure to point out that my replacement device would not come in an Amazon box, "so don't be alarmed." I got off the phone feeling cautiously optimistic that I would have a yellow-bar-less Colorsoft in a few days. I got the replacement on 11/26/24. It came via UPS Express, as Jill said, and inside the box was a brand new sealed Colorsoft, two Kindle stickers, and a handwritten note with heartfelt apologies and assurance that this new device had been thoroughly checked out and was perfect. Spoiler alert: It was not. The yellow band at the bottom of the screen was still very much there and borderline worse than my original. The whole screen was yellow/green tinted, and the text wasn’t as crisp. There was also horrible ghosting, even when the “refresh every page turn” option was turned on. I immediately replied to the email I received with the tracking information for my replacement device, but I have gotten no response, so I contacted Customer Service again today. The first rep I spoke to via chat didn't even acknowledge my issue. They thanked me for being an Amazon customer and closed the chat session. I then contacted phone support, and after fighting with an automated assistant trying to get me to return my Colorsoft, I got a human on the phone. Today's CS phone rep, Dainty, told me that the yellow screen issue is "still emerging," and no replacements will be issued until the yellow screen issue has been fixed. This ensures that defective devices do not continue to reach customers. She assured me that I would receive a replacement as soon as the issue was resolved but could not give me a timeframe for when that might be. This is getting ridiculous. It's fixed, or it's not fixed. People are getting replacements, or no replacements can be issued. Some people have gotten a perfect replacement, and others, like me, have gotten a worse device than the original. I'm happy to be patient and wait for Amazon to fix this problem correctly. The Colorsoft is an awesome device, but for $300, it should be perfect. And it's absolutely not. However, honest communication would be much appreciated instead of excuse after excuse and futile attempts to appease unhappy customers in hopes they will quiet down and accept less than perfection. I have added updated pictures comparing my "fixed" replacement with the original. My Original is on the Left (or the top in one photo), and the Replacement is on the right (bottom). I will update this review as things progress. ------------------------------------ I’ve owned every iteration of Kindle since the very first generation, and I was thrilled to hear that Amazon was finally releasing a color Kindle! I’ve wanted to browse my e-books in color for years, but e-ink technology has only recently advanced to the point where a color e-ink display is both affordable and of good enough quality for use. When Kobo released the Libra Color earlier this year, I seriously considered switching. But I am so deeply ingrained in the Kindle ecosystem that I decided to wait patiently for Kindle to make my perfect e-reader. Amazon got SO CLOSE to perfection but ultimately they missed the mark. First, let’s talk about the positives: 1. The Colorsoft is light and perfectly sized, and page turns are lightning-fast. 2. The color e-ink screen displays some of the most vibrant colors I've seen on a color e-ink device. However, if you expect the vividness of an OLED or LCD tablet screen, you may be disappointed. But in terms of color e-ink, the colors on the Kindle Colorsoft look fantastic. 3. The color e-ink “grain” on the Colorsoft is superb compared to other color e-ink devices, but it’s still noticeable. All color e-ink screens have a slight graininess due to the film layer that transforms black and white gradients into the colors you see. While this slightly grainy appearance may bother some users, the Colorsoft’s screen is one of the best I’ve seen in terms of grain. In fact, I think it resembles text printed on paper in a book more than the typical black-and-white e-ink screen. If you prefer super crisp text on a buttery smooth background, you should consider either of the new Paperwhite models. 4. The holographic Amazon logo on the back of the Colorsoft. That was a cute touch. Now for the negatives: 1. At the bottom of the screen, there is a large muted yellow strip that gradually fades about an inch into the page. It almost looks like an old paperback that has yellowed with age. I've tried to ignore it, but the more I read, the more distracting it becomes. A color e-ink screen is naturally darker than a regular e-ink screen, so you have to increase the intensity of the backlight. Unfortunately, as the screen on the Colorsoft gets brighter, the yellow strip becomes more pronounced. While it’s easy to overlook when reading full-color publications like comics or manga, it stands out significantly when reading regular books on a white background. The yellow strip will disappear when you switch to the new "inverted color" option, which makes sense because the page turns black and that overpowers the yellow. 2. The beloved system-wide dark mode is no longer available. Each book now has an option in the theme settings that allows you to invert the screen. When using the new inverted color setting, the page turns black and the text turns white, just like dark mode, but the Kindle menus and the background of some images remain white. While this isn't a major issue, it could blind you with brightness if you're reading in the dark and accidentally access a menu. 3. There are no page-turn buttons. We haven't had them since the Oasis, so I don't really understand the complaints. Every picture clearly shows that the Colorsoft doesn’t have page-turn buttons. The Colorsoft is identical to the Kindle Paperwhite, but with a color e-ink screen. While I miss having physical buttons, I have adapted to tapping the screen to turn the page. 4. The power button is located on the bottom of the device. While it is possible for your finger to accidentally hit it if you hold the Kindle in a certain way, this issue is easily avoided by using a protective case. Personally, I have never experienced any problems with the power button being positioned at the bottom of the device. While issues 2-4 may be concerns for some users, they are relatively minor compared to the yellow tint at the bottom of the screen. Slight adjustments to the user interface and some design flaws can easily be overlooked. However, a screen that appears as though it has been dipped in yellow food coloring is a much bigger problem. Without that annoying yellow tint at the bottom of the screen, the Kindle Colorsoft could have been the perfect color e-ink e-reader. At nearly $300, it should indeed be flawless, but unfortunately, it isn't. This is incredibly disappointing. I hope Amazon can address the screen issues and resolve them soon because, without that yellow tint, the Kindle Colorsoft would be the color e-reader I've always dreamed of.