The Kindle Colorsoft is just not nice for studying

Amazon hardly ever undercuts its personal merchandise, however when the corporate quietly slipped a caveat into the FAQ for its new Colorsoft Kindle, it made one factor abundantly clear: in the event you care about crisp, black-and-white studying, purchase one thing else. As somebody who nonetheless acts like they’ll earn a pizza social gathering in the event that they learn sufficient books, I spend a whole lot of time with my Kindle. Amazon’s trustworthy take doesn’t shock me (and gained’t shock anybody who’s learn on each forms of e-reader), nevertheless it’s a uncommon day I discover myself agreeing with the corporate about something.

Amazon’s disclaimer candidly admits that the Colorsoft’s show sacrifices sharpness and distinction in comparison with the model’s conventional e-readers. It really suggests readers who need “a barely crisper black-and-white expertise” keep on with the common Kindle Paperwhite or Kindle Scribe. That’s corporate-speak for issues could look fuzzy on the product you’re presently buying, however maintain buying from our lineup. Kudos to the PR staff for drafting that one up.

The reality is, colour E-Ink has all the time been a compromise. The E-Ink Kaleido 3 show brings versatility to photographs and content material, however tops out at 150 ppi, or half the decision of Amazon’s finest monochrome panels. Add a colour filter layer to a wonderfully legible monochrome panel and also you’ll get softer textual content, muddier blacks, and the nagging sense that your ebook’s been printed on damp paper. It merely dilutes what makes E-Ink nice within the first place: excessive distinction, low eye pressure, and paper-like readability. It even slows web page turns by roughly a 3rd in comparison with the Paperwhite, one thing I discover instantly when flipping or annotating.

In brief, colour e-readers are a downgrade if all you wish to do is devour your summer time studying checklist. I’ve learn on the whole lot from Kaleido 3 to Carta 1300 panels, and the sample by no means adjustments: when you add colour, you lose distinction. In the meantime, my normal grayscale Kindle delivers all the enjoyment of an old-school ebook with out the paper cuts. For pure, uninhibited studying, conventional black-and-white e-readers are crisp, environment friendly, and satisfyingly acquainted. Till colour E-Ink can match the legibility and pace of grayscale panels, it belongs as a distinct segment function, not as customers’ go-to flagship possibility.

In fact, some content material genuinely shines on a colour e-reader in a approach that falls flat in black-and-white. That’s why the tech was invented. Comics, textbooks, kids’s books, and magazines all profit from character that grayscale can’t seize, and for these, the decision trade-off will be value it. If a tool has stylus help, I’ll all the time swoon for the colour mannequin. Who doesn’t love organizing their margin notes by hue? My handwriting will nonetheless be illegible, however at the least it’ll be color-coded chaos.

So no, color-justifying use instances aren’t area of interest. For each Kindle person parked beneath a seashore umbrella with a novel, tons of customers load up their units with graphic books, data-heavy PDFs, cookbooks, or quilting patterns. There are numerous methods colour earns its maintain, and loads of readers who merely need a break from their glowing OLED tablets. Whether or not a Colorsoft Kindle, Kobo Libra Color, or another hued e-reader suits your way of life relies upon completely on what you learn.

I simply don’t devour sufficient visually fascinating content material to justify sacrificing readability. I’m not resistant to the draw; I really like seeing colour on my homescreen and ebook covers, however I really like my conventional expertise much more. If, like me, you’re principally getting misplaced in Stephen King, Rebecca Yarros, or the most recent New York Occasions best-selling memoir, keep on with a black-and-white mannequin. You may all the time Google the duvet artwork to your 5 seconds of appreciation.

In a market hooked on function bloat, Amazon’s transparency issues. As a substitute of pretending that colour E-Ink has lastly arrived, the corporate acknowledges that rainbow studying continues to be experimental. That admission preserves the Kindle’s core id. Buyers who want it will possibly discover colour, and for everybody else, the Paperwhite and Oasis strains stay sacred for readers chasing the purest, distraction-free expertise.

So sure, Amazon simply admitted its Colorsoft Kindle isn’t nice for studying. Honesty could not assist it promote extra coloured Kindles, however I’ll fortunately maintain staying up too late on my black-and-white mannequin, even when I’m now not incomes prizes from the general public library.