Amazon’s Kindle Colorsoft is the corporate’s first shade e-reader, and for me, meaning one factor: Comedian books. Whereas there’s different shade content material on the market (like kids’s books and even textbooks) as an grownup and a superhero nerd, comics can be the explanation for me to go in on Amazon’s costliest Kindle. Sadly, after spending a while with it, I’m not precisely pleased with the Colorsoft’s comics-reading expertise. There are positively enhancements over studying comics on a extra conventional pill, however for most individuals, the tradeoffs simply received’t be value it.
Why get a shade e-reader for comics?
Up to now, mainstream comedian books have had a rocky transition to digital. Not like their text-based counterparts, you possibly can’t learn them on black-and-white e-readers with out dropping their all-important shade, which often means most individuals flip to conventional LCD tablets just like the iPad to learn them as an alternative. Sadly, that may get a bit tiring after just a few hours, and the battery drain is nothing to sneeze at.
The Kindle Colorsoft, on the floor, solves these issues. It’s not the primary shade e-reader, however it’s definitely essentially the most well-known—after I reviewed it, I famous that it does have barely higher shade accuracy and fewer artifacting than the competitors. In a super world, it might be like holding a paper comedian ebook in your hand, with an easy-on-the-eyes e-ink show and a library at your fingertips. Sadly, that’s not the world we stay in.
The colours simply do not reduce it
Probably the very first thing you’ll discover when opening a comic book ebook on the Kindle Colorsoft is how a lot much less vibrant the colours are. If utilizing a black-and-white Kindle means lacking out in your comedian’s coloring, then utilizing a Kindle Colorsoft doesn’t totally clear up that. The machine can solely show a complete of 4,096 colours, and whereas that sounds spectacular on the floor, it pales compared to the billions of colours even the most cost effective LCD pill can put out. Try this Sonic the Hedgehog comedian displayed on each the Kindle Colorsoft and my historic Sixth-gen iPad. There’s a wholly completely different vibe relying on which machine you learn on!
‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ comedian on iPad (left) vs. Kindle Colorsoft (proper).
Credit score: Michelle Ehrhardt
To be honest, that’s a reasonably current title, and older comics do maintain up somewhat bit higher, because the printing strategies used to supply them again then have been additionally restricted in what number of colours they might put out. For those who learn quite a lot of retro titles, the Colorsoft might maintain up higher—Uncanny X-Males’s ’80s run seems to be fairly nice on the machine, for instance. However pay shut consideration, and also you’ll discover the subsequent compromise you’ll need to make whereas studying comics on the Colorsoft.
‘Uncanny X-Males’ on Kindle Colorsoft
Credit score: Michelle Ehrhardt
The display is just too small
Like most shade e-readers, the Kindle Colorsoft has a smaller display, at 7 inches when measured diagonally. That’s superb for novels, however for comedian books, it’s manner much less house than you is likely to be used to.
The everyday American comedian ebook is 11.75 inches diagonally, which implies content material on the Colorsoft goes to be shrunken down to suit. This has the advantage of disguising the machine’s low decision (black-and-white content material on the Colorsoft is proven at 300 ppi, however technical limitations means shade content material is 150 ppi), however may also make some textual content almost inconceivable to learn. 11.75 won’t sound a lot larger than 8, but in addition keep in mind that the Colorsoft’s display is in a barely wider side ratio than most comedian books, so that you’re additionally going to need to put up with letterboxing making the image even smaller. Try my bodily version of Batman: The Lengthy Halloween in comparison with the identical comedian on the Colorsoft.
‘Batman: The Lengthy Halloween’ in print (left) vs. Kindle Colorsoft (proper).
Credit score: Michelle Ehrhardt
I’m too previous to place up with the sort of squinting I’d have to do to learn that. Sure, you possibly can zoom in by pinching on the display, however due to e ink’s low refresh price, it’s manner too gradual to trouble with on each web page, particularly since you’ll want to attend for just a few refreshes to scroll by way of the complete zoomed picture.
Ideally, comics readers would desire a bigger shade e-ink machine—these exist, however they’re fairly expensive, and are meant extra for businesspeople to take notes on than for the common individual to learn with. There’s probably not a consumer-level reply for this but, and anybody hoping Amazon’s machine would transfer that needle will go away sorely disillusioned.
No comedian ebook apps
I can settle for that the Kindle Colorsoft was at all times going to return with some compromises. Amazon can’t magically make e-ink screens extra vibrant, or make massive shade e-ink units extra reasonably priced. Even with these points, a shade e-reader is likely to be a enjoyable approach to get pleasure from a comic book every so often, perhaps when your eyes are feeling strained or while you’re touring. I wouldn’t use it as my predominant comics studying machine, but when I might simply load up my library on it, it may very well be a pleasant different to have in my bag.
It’s a disgrace, then, that accessing comics on the Kindle Colorsoft is a ache. Like all Kindles, Amazon’s shade e-reader is locked to its ecosystem, and meaning comedian availability is scattershot.
What do you assume up to now?
Proper now, I learn most of my Western comics by way of the DC Universe Infinite and Marvel Limitless apps. Certain, paying about $10 a month for every isn’t ideally suited, however I’ve slowly come round on these providers, because of their all-you-can-read fashions and their large libraries. You’ll find most titles from every writer going way back to the Nineteen Thirties on these platforms, and shopping for a month or two of membership time while you get an itch to learn a particular sequence is less expensive than shopping for every situation piecemeal. Plus, newer comics get added to those providers as they’re launched, and whereas your entry to them will rely in your particular subscription tier, availability is often a bit extra dependable on these apps than on different digital providers.
Credit score: Jason Cohen through PCMag
Which is why my greatest situation with the Kindle Colorsoft is that you could’t use both of those apps with it. As an alternative, you’ll want to purchase every comedian situation you wish to learn straight from the Amazon retailer, which may get expensive quick, even for those who’re subscribed to Amazon Prime or Kindle Limitless.
The primary quantity of Superb Spider-Man, as an illustration, is on the market by way of Prime, and the second is on Kindle Limitless, however the remaining price $6 a pop, and solely include 10 points a bit. For such a long-running sequence, that’s rather a lot to pay if you wish to learn all the things, particularly in comparison with what you’d get with the Marvel app, which gives the complete comedian going again to the Nineteen Sixties in its month-to-month worth, alongside most all the things else the corporate has ever revealed.
And that’s speaking about collected points. For comics which might be solely obtainable as single points, often newer ones, you’ll need to pay $5 for every. Whereas that’s not so unhealthy in comparison with shopping for bodily copies, in comparison with different digital choices, two points can be all you’d have to purchase earlier than subscribing to an app would offer you higher worth. Since I can fairly simply get by way of a single situation in a half hour, I can already really feel the ache that may placed on my pockets.
The Kindle retailer is nice for indie comics that aren’t simply obtainable elsewhere, and I’ll admit that there’s a sure satisfaction in shopping for to personal, even digitally. However a critical machine for studying digital comics nonetheless must at the least give readers the choice to subscribe to essentially the most distinguished platforms from the 2 greatest comedian publishers. With out that, you’ll in all probability need to pay greater than you would possibly in any other case, and that’s not even mentioning that Amazon’s retailer won’t have all the things you wish to purchase.
If not for comics, why purchase a Kindle Colorsoft?
Perhaps I’m being nitpicky. For an off-the-cuff person, the Kindle Colorsoft may very well be value it only for the odd scenario the place you may want shade. It might show your novel covers in shade, and I’m positive youngsters would discover image books extra participating with it. However even a extra relaxed person will run into issues right here—due to the colour filter baked into the Colorsoft’s display, even black-and-white content material will come throughout as shimmery, which may damage distinction or put distracting splotches of rainbow in your show. If that seems like it might trouble you, I’d recommend the cheaper Kindle Paperwhite as an alternative—you received’t simply get monetary savings, however will get a greater expertise.
Which signifies that an excellent portion of the Colorsoft’s viewers goes to be adults, and significantly hardcore customers at that. In that case, I simply can’t consider any medium that’s acquired as a lot shade content material for them as comedian books, which implies the Kindle Colorsoft wants to have the ability to sustain in opposition to different units for studying them. And whereas e-ink is straightforward on the eyes, there are nonetheless too many compromises for me to say it’s value it but. I’m positive some folks could make it work, particularly in the event that they solely learn a particular sequence or are OK with getting their content material elsewhere after which manually transferring PDFs to their Kindle, however most individuals will nonetheless be higher served with an iPad.
