Amazon Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition 32GB (newest model) – With color display, auto-adjusting front light, wireless charging, and long battery life - Metallic Black + 3 months of Kindle Unlimited (with auto-renewal)

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.

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).

Update on 8/15/2025: As of this date, I have gone through six Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition devices and they have all had yellowing. I had kept one back in 2/2025 but the yellowing got bad enough that I contacted them and they agreed to allow me to return it to them. Now they are saying that they didn’t get the correct device and I’m not sure what the status of my refund is. The reason that they are confused is because they are expecting the original one back but I exchanged that one a long time ago. The one I returned is the last replacement. On top of that, they guaranteed me that they would put my trade in value of $28.00 back on my account and they never did. So they took my old device and did not give me the money for it. I have spent hours on chat with them and they simply do not understand what I am trying to tell them. It has been very frustrating. On top of that, there are rumors of a “new” Colorsoft Signature Edition coming out that has an upgraded motherboard and a screen without the yellow banding flaw. Theoretically these are already in other countries but the Colorsoft Signature Edition in the US is the exact same one that it has always been. I bought and returned one just a few weeks ago and it was the worst one I have seen so far. I also grabbed one from Best Buy when it was $100 off and I didn’t even bother registering it because I could see the prominent yellow banding along the bottom. Back at the end of 2024, Amazon told people who had the yellow band that they would replace them with devices that didn’t and as far as I can tell, they have not kept that promise. They took my money for my trade in and I am still waiting to see if I get a refund for the one that I sent back. Several of their customer service told me not to worry about it and it would be fine but I’ve heard that before and it has never been fine. The Amazon Colorsoft has been a disaster from the start and it doesn’t appear that they’ve done a thing to correct it. Perhaps there is another one coming or maybe it is just internet rumors. Either way, it’s a shame that I have spent almost a year trying to get a device that works correctly and I have not yet had luck with any of them. Update: When I first wrote this review, I was contacted by Amazon and given a choice - return the Colorsoft devices I have and get my money back or be “put on a replacement list”, hold on to the current one, and wait for it to be replaced with a good device. I chose to hold on to the devices and wait. For over a month, they didn’t contact me and I contacted them numerous times to ask. Each time they said that replacements were not available and then they did replace them. Amazon has replaced one Colorsoft twice and one once. Every single one of the replacements has the yellowing at the bottom of the screen and at various places on the screen. One of them had dark spots in it that look like dead pixels, even though I have been told that these don’t have dead pixels. Online, I have seen many instances of Amazon replacing defective, yellow Colorsoft devices with stock that has been inspected and many of these actually look good according to pictures people are showing of their replacement. These come with a note saying something like it has been tested and does not have the issues the original does. It also comes with a little sticker of some kind. None of the three that I have received had the note or the sticker, indicating that they were replaced with regular stock that is still defective. Yes, I was put on a list, but I had to do all the legwork and pester Amazon to replace them at all. It should not have been that way. All of the reps that I dealt with have been friendly, as they always are. But I got all sorts of different answers in the emails. Some said that I needed to call Amazon, some said that I needed to chat with them on the website, and some said that I just needed to continue to wait, with no additional information about when I could expect a replacement. This is not being handled well at all. I now have FIVE defective devices that I need to pack up and return. I have no faith at all that there are replacements coming that won’t be defective and after almost three months of this saga, I just need it to be over. Original Review: For the record, I have ordered many Kindle devices, both Fire and regular Kindle, and this is the first time that I have been disappointed in a Kindle device. I have been waiting for a color capable Kindle since they stared allowing highlighting on Kindle devices. I am a highlighter and make many highlights in books I read and I like to use color, so I was excited that I could have a Paperwhite that would allow me to do this. I bought two of them, one for my wife and one for myself and I have noticed the same issues on both. First the pros. In my opinion, the color is pretty well done. I wasn't expecting color like I see on an LCD/LED device like the Kindle Fire and I didn't get it. Compared to that type of device, the color is a bit muted. That's not a bad thing, it's just how the technology works. The page turning responds quickly and the highlighting works as expected. It's also a light device and after using the Kindle Fire Max 11 to read books I want to highlight in color, it was a delight to hold such a light device. I did buy the Kindle Leather cover for it and that adds a bit of weight. The cover is actually disappointing as well, but that's an issue for another review. The disappointing. When you look at the book list, there is a Home/Library selector at the bottom that has a yellow tint, presumably to separate it out from the rest of the page. The problem is that the yellow carries over to whatever book you are reading. So select a book and there's a faint yellow bar at the bottom of the screen that does not disappear with page turns. The result is that the bottom of the screen looks dimmer than the rest of the screen. If it weren't for that yellow bar, the screen would be pretty even. But it is very distracting to constantly have it at the bottom of the screen like that. There is no dark mode. I do not normally use dark mode on Paperwhite type devices because they are easy on the eyes but I thought I'd give it a try to see if it eliminated the yellow bar. Instead they have a Page Color feature that makes the background very dark grey. It is not dark mode because it is not black. Amazon does have a little blurb at the top of the product page stating that dark mode is "not currently available". Perhaps that indicates that it will be enabled in the future. Lastly, the text is... well, it's just different. I know it is 300 ppi but the text is a little bit grainy. I suspect that it is because of the color layer and it might just be how it is for these types of devices. I know other manufacturers have had color e-readers for a while but I haven't looked at any of them. Also, the screen shows some grain. It's not bad, but it is noticeable. Again, perhaps it is just the technology. The interesting The one interesting thing to me is that there is no page refresh switch on this device, or at least I couldn't find one. I thought that if there was, it might work to eliminate the yellow bar. That's not an option. The decision This is a tough decision for me. The yellow bar seems like something that could be fixed with a software update. If that's the case, I'm not sure how it was missed in product testing. It was the first thing I noticed when I started reading with it. There is a segment of the population that just uses products without looking at them but there are also many that actually look over the product to make sure that it works and looks right first. There are also people who don't even notice things like weird color tints and shifts, but I am not one of those people. So my decision comes down to whether I have faith in Amazon providing a patch for this issue and if it can even be fixed. My wife is happy with hers because she is reading the books with dark page color. I am also wondering if I will lose the 20% off if I return mine and keep my wife's. I suppose that is something I would fight Amazon for if they did it. More than likely, I will hang on to it until 11/30 and if there is no fix, I will return it. Perhaps I will wait until December and get a new one with the extended return period or I will just pick up a new Paperwhite and wait until the next generation of Colorsoft. Either way, I am not keeping a $279 device with a yellow bar on the bottom of the books I read.

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.

This ended up being my very first e-reader so I cannot compare it to anything. I spent most of my summer wishing I had a book in my hand while I was at the pool and when a family trip to the local water park was planned around the same time the Amazon Prime Day special was about to launch, I decided to pull the trigger on buying an e-reader. My Colorsoft arrived the day before an outing to Cedar Point Shores, the waterpark attached to Cedar Point. I put my Colorsoft through the works the day we went to the waterpark. I spent several hours in their version of a lazy river that had an unavoidable waterfall. I took it into the wavepool a couple of times. It was never dropped into the water, but it was drenched many many times. I'd like to say that I thoroughly put my kindle colorsoft through the water works and it came out working perfectly fine. I specifically went with a Colorsoft because I occasionally like to read graphic novels, comics, and mangas. The quality is okay. The colors are more pronounced when I have the brightness all the way up, but I find that I'm still able to enjoy the colors on the lower brightness settings. I typically keep my brightness setting in the lower single digits, with 7 or 8 being the sweet spot unless I'm in full sunlight. I will say that even though I made my purchase with those things in mind, I haven't used it very many times for said reads. I tried to capture the faint yellowing at the bottom of my screen. I don't know if this is a defect or has something to do with the screen lighting placement. The faint yellowing at the bottom of my screen is only noticeable when I have the brightness set all the way up and I cannot seem to capture it in photo the way other people have been able to. I have zero intentions of exchanging it in hopes of getting one that doesn't have the faint yellowing because it seems like people who do usually end up with one that has it worse off than before. It isn't enough to dock it down to 4 stars for me because most of the time I don't even realize it's there. I only notice that it's there when I'm looking for it. Definitely an improvement from reading books on my tablet :) Photos are of what I typically keep my brightness at, to the brightest setting. I don't have a colorful comic to use as an example, so my digital copy of The Sandman Vol 1 will have to do.

Let's get one thing out of the way from the beginning: if the question is "which Kindle should somebody get," the answer most of the time is probably the Kindle Paperwhite. If, however, your pre-existing Kindle is almost a decade old or you're somebody who loves the latest and greatest thing, the Kindle Colorsoft might be for you. If that's you, my experience is that you won't regret diving into a more colorful world. I've been using the Kindle Oasis since 2017. In that time, the gradual degradation of hardware becomes noticeable: the ghostly appearance of text from pages past, the leisurely page turn speed, slow navigation, etc. None of these personal details matter to you, the person reading this review, but I share them because it should help provide some context so you can take my comments about the Colorsoft with a grain of salt if you would like to do so. With that said, I am genuinely impressed with what I've experienced so far. The text is crisp, and page turns are lightning quick. The star of the show, of course, is the introduction of color. I was initially skeptical of how much the color would add to the Kindle experience, especially given the existence of smaller tablets with LCD screens. After about a week with the Colorsoft, I must say I am surprised by how impactful the inclusion of color has been. Seeing the color versions of the book covers in my library is delightful, though I'm not sure why it resonates so much with me. Of course, the colors will be more vivid on an iPad but that misses the point. I enjoy reading on Kindles because they strain my eyes so much less than tablets do. The colors on the Colorsoft may be more muted (though you may be able to goose them a bit if you fiddle in settings), but they still look good, and the trade-off is worth it if you're prioritizing your eyes or if you tend to do a lot of reading in bed. I've seen some comment in reviews that the page turn speed is a bit slower when you go from a color page to a color page, but it hasn't been terribly noticeable for me. If you've gotten this far, you might be wondering about the yellow discoloration that some have noticed at the bottom of the Colorsoft's screen. While I understand that many people had this issue with their devices, I haven't noticed it with mine. Maybe it would show up if I took a photograph of my screen, but if I can't detect the issue with my naked eye, I'm not going to worry about it. With that said, I completely understand if the discoloration would be a dealbreaker. At $279.99, the Colorsoft is priced as a premium device. A premium device should deliver premium performance. Thankfully, it appears Amazon has already taken steps to address this problem for those affected by the discoloration issue. In my experience, though, the screen has been excellent. To sum it all up: the Kindle Colorsoft is really enjoyable to use, and you might be surprised by how much color adds to the experience. However, the price point does make the Colorsoft a bit of a tough sell if you're using a more recent Kindle or don't have issues using a tablet for reading.

I've been a long time Kindle customer, ever since the 1st generation... and over the years have probably had close to 10 different Kindles. You could say I'm a bit of a Kindle fanboy. Over the years I have seen the good, bad, and the ugly. It's mostly been good (or amazing), but there have been a few mixed experiences over the years, for instance, when the Paperwhite first came out... it was a revolutionary experience for the Kindle, no going back, but the lighting was uneven and distracting. It got fixed later. When it comes to black & white Kindles, I feel like the technology has been pretty well perfected for a while now, with the Oasis and Scribe being pretty much perfect. So enough about black & white Kindles, this review is about the Colorsoft. For as long as Kindle ereaders have been around, I've wanted to get one in color, and it's finally here. Knowing full well that introducing a new technology like this is bound to have some quirks, I was still excited to give it a shot. I actually got 2 Colorsoft readers today (1 for a family member, 1 for me), which puts me in a unique position to have seen and worked with 2 of these side-by-side, so my review is actually based on having seen and used 2 of these. I was expecting the color to be soft (as in, the name Colorsoft), muted, and just overall not very impressive, but was actually very pleased with it. When the frontlight comes on, it really comes to life, and the color is perfectly acceptable and better than I expected. I also was expecting the 7" screen to be too small for comics, and while I would prefer it to be bigger, it's actually serviceable. The colors look reminiscent of what you'd see in a newspaper. I quite like it actually and am very happy with the color for a gen 1. What I am not crazy about though, is the warm light and uneven color of the screen. The bottom 5-10% of the screen is slightly yellowish, while the rest of the screen looks even and consistent. As a reminder, I have 2 Colorsoft devices, and both are exactly the same. The issue becomes more pronounced if the warm light is on at a low/medium setting. It just reminds me of some of the early Paperwhites, how uneven the lighting could be (for old-timers, remember seeing "cones" of light at the edge of the screen?). The yellow strip across the bottom just looks off. It just reminds me of some of the early frontlit kindles having strange uneven lighting and makes me disappointed to see it on a premium priced device in the year 2024. I do think this issue is not super distracting under every possible scenario or lighting setting on the device, but still, it shouldn't be there. The other issue is there is a "film" over the display inside the device to make the color work, and it makes the screen have a slightly "hazy" appearance to it. This is more noticeable with a brighter light. I don't find this that big of a deal, but worth noting. Some other comments on this - it's a fast device, flipping through pages is quick. Color looks better than expected. Not everyone may be sensitive to the uneven screen, and it isn't horrible in every lighting scenario. I guess the thing about it that is disappointing is how it feels like a few steps forward (color that actually looks good) and a step back at the same time (uneven screen, lack of physical page turn buttons). I will be watching with great interest to see how this is improved upon in a version 2, and also to see what others experience is with the yellow strip across the bottom of the screen as I've seen on both of the ones I have here.

UPDATE, added a star: A few months after returning the unit I bought on the first day, I bought a new one when it just went on sale, and after they apparently have fixed the yellowing problem. Yes, the yellowing is noticeably better, but not better enough. I returned it again. Maybe 2nd gen will get it right, if there is one. I added a new picture to show what the slightly improved screen looked like. Should be the last picture with the review. My original review: I’ve been a big Kindle fan since gen 2, and I’ve wanted this device basically since then. The color looks as good as I could expect for e-ink. But B&W quality is not very good. I attached pics and a video to show what looks good and what doesn’t. Here’s why I like it: - I REALLY like browsing through the covers in color in my library and the store. - Illustrations and photos look nice, so if I keep it (I don’t think I will), I won’t feel like I’m missing out when books have them. - Comics look great! Not as vibrant as a phone or tablet, but really good. I’m impressed by the detail in the colors. - I may not have much occasion to use this feature, but I like that I can highlight in different colors. Downsides: - Plain white text is at least a couple steps backward for Kindle. It is not as sharp and clean as other Kindles. The screen is also yellowish, especially at the bottom (even with no warmth on and brightness all the way up—as I have it in my pics and video). Kind of looks like an aged paperback. So far I don’t think it’s a worthwhile trade-off. - Comics that don’t have the panel view (not sure if that’s what they call it—where it zooms in and shows you one panel at a time as you turn pages) are unwieldy to zoom in and look around at. It constantly refreshes as you move. I attached a quick video to show this. I don’t think I’d want to read one of these books on here. But really, these kinds of ebooks are really only great on a larger tablet anyway. - Of course, cost is another consideration, but that’s a completely personal judgement. Some might just rather buy a Fire tablet for a better color experience for less money, or just be happy with a sharper black and white screen on a cheaper Kindle. So I’m strongly leaning toward returning it. I don’t think I will be happy getting used to the uneven yellowish tint. I miss the clean look of my Kindle Oasis that I sold in order to buy this (not to mention that I loved the page-turn buttons!)