Amazon’s Kindle Colorsoft is now the corporate’s most costly e-reader (except the Kindle Scribe, though that’s extra of an e-note than an e-reader), however that doesn’t robotically make it one of the best Kindle cash should buy. Let’s say you may have the money to burn and wish one of the best studying expertise Amazon provides: In the event you solely learn novels, and even black-and-white comics like manga, you may really be higher off saving your cash and getting the Kindle Paperwhite as a substitute. Shelling out additional received’t provide you with an upgraded expertise—it may actively make your books worse.
What’s a colour e-reader?
At its core, the Kindle Colorsoft is basically a Kindle Paperwhite, however with one key distinction. It’s received the identical lighting choices, weighs nearly the identical, seems precisely like a Paperwhite, and has the identical measurement display screen. The defining issue is that the Colorsoft has a colour filter in its show, which permits content material that passes via it to supply as much as 4,096 colours.
Credit score: Michelle Ehrhardt
It might probably nonetheless show black-and-white content material, however once you learn one thing like a comic book ebook on it, it cuts the decision in half from 300 ppi to 150 ppi, then cleverly arranges the pixels in order that they shine via the precise proper spots to supply the wanted colours.
There’s a bit extra to it than that—Amazon additionally has some proprietary supplies in play that permits it to attain higher colour accuracy and fewer artifacts than competing gadgets—however that’s the gist. It’s fairly intelligent, even when the core idea isn’t distinctive to the Kindle Colorsoft. It doesn’t simply work on comics, both, but additionally on issues like ebook covers or color-collated highlighting.
Sounds fairly cool. Even when you don’t use it on a regular basis, it’s a pleasant bonus, proper? You may get colour once you want it, at the price of some decision, however you may also show black-and-white works on the similar decision because the Kindle Paperwhite. Sadly, the truth’s not so reduce and dry.
The rainbow impact
Whereas the Kindle’s software program can acknowledge when it’s displaying you black-and-white content material and when it’s displaying colour, the {hardware} can’t. Even in one thing like a novel, the bodily colour filter continues to be there. And whereas its particular person colour dots are too small to make out, your eyes can nonetheless discover the colour layer as entire.
Enter the rainbow impact. At its greatest, it’ll put a light-weight shimmer in your display screen, giving it a considerably grainy texture that may decrease the distinction. At its worst, it’ll present full on spectrums of colour on content material that ought to be monochrome.
Take this web page from Dune, which exhibits a reasonably gentle rainbow impact.
“Dune” on the Kindle Colorsoft (left) vs. Kindle Paperwhite (proper).
Credit score: Michelle Ehrhardt
And this web page from Berserk, which exhibits a extra aggressive rainbow sample.
“Berserk” proven on the Kindle Colorsoft (left) vs. Kindle Paperwhite (proper).
Credit score: Michelle Ehrhardt
It’s unavoidable. It doesn’t matter what you learn on the machine, it’ll present up to a point. The query is the way you’ll react to it.
Are you able to repair the rainbow impact?
As a result of the rainbow impact is a {hardware} challenge, there’s no approach to eliminate it utterly. The competitors has slight fixes for it, with probably the most notable being Kobo’s “scale back rainbow impact” toggle, which barely blurs the picture to attempt to line it up in a method that the colour filter isn’t as noticeable. Amazon, sadly, has not opted to incorporate such an answer on its machine.
What do you assume to this point?
That mentioned, the Kindle Colorsoft does ship with two colour modes, commonplace and vivid. These received’t have an effect on black-and-white content material, but it surely’s price noting that the way in which the colour filter works within the Colorsoft can typically trigger artifacting in colour content material as effectively. In the event you discover this, altering colour modes may make it easier to out. The Kindle is much less susceptible to artifacting than I’ve seen on different gadgets, however its Vivid mode doesn’t use the total vary of 4,096 colours, as a substitute compressing it to spice up saturation. A lot of the fellow Colorsoft customers I’ve spoken with want to swap over to Vivid and depart it on for every little thing, however the decrease vary of colours could cause pixelation, so when you discover that, it’s price making an attempt out Normal mode once more. Certain, this isn’t precisely the identical because the rainbow impact, but it surely’s the same sufficient challenge, and factors out that even colour customers aren’t free from issues on this machine.
Is coping with the rainbow impact price it?
How a lot the rainbow impact will hassle you depends upon what you learn and the way pristine you want your pages to look. To my husband, who reads all of his black-and-white books on a colour e-reader, it doesn’t hassle him a lot. He really form of likes the shimmering, saying it form of seems just like the grain you may get on actual paper.
However to me, I can’t stand it. It’s vivid and distracting, and when you spend most of your time in your Kindle studying conventional books, shopping for a Colorsoft will imply you’ll be paying additional simply to must take care of that. I suppose that may be price it if you wish to see your ebook covers in colour when scrolling via your library, or when you spotlight rather a lot. It does look good, for the few seconds covers or highlights are in your display screen. However for many of your time really studying, you’re not going to be utilizing the colour, and you’ll be seeing the rainbow impact.
The information solely will get worse when you learn black-and-white illustrated works, like manga. To comply with together with a ebook, all you must do is make out the phrases— however with manga, the paintings will likely be actively worsened. Traces may look fuzzier, or facial expressions may give off a wholly completely different vibe beneath all of the shimmering. However worst of all, you may get these unintended splotches of colour, like I received in Berserk. To me, that’s not price it.
The Kindle Colorsoft is just for individuals who learn colour content material
It would sound apparent, however the Kindle Colorsoft is just for individuals who learn colour content material repeatedly, like comedian books—and even then, I do not suggest it.
This isn’t just like the ‘90s, when the Recreation Boy Coloration may play sure video games in colour, however may additionally play black-and-white video games the identical as an authentic Recreation Boy. The Kindle Colorsoft isn’t just a daily Kindle with elective colour that readers with deep pockets can rely on as an occasional added bonus, however as one thing they’ll in any other case ignore. As an alternative, utilizing it’s a wholly completely different expertise.
