It’s a giant week in Kindle land. Together with refreshes to the bottom Kindle, Paperwhite, and Scribe, the corporate is introducing one thing many people by no means anticipated in a loyal e-reader: colour.
Earlier this yr, Amazon’s chief e-reader competitor, Kobo, launched the $220 Libra Color, which leverages colour E Ink. The know-how has to this point acquired blended opinions. The brand new Kindle Colorsoft, then again, takes a complete completely different strategy.
Slightly than counting on the E Ink know-how that powers the Kobo, Amazon opted to construct the complete stack in-house. The corporate tells TechCrunch that colour has been probably the most requested options for its e-readers, however the firm needed to strike a steadiness earlier than adopting it. Numerous components come into play right here, together with battery life, distinction ratio, and picture ghosting.
Coloration is created with an E Ink Kaleido colour filter utilized to the show itself, mixed with the entrance gentle. It’s a change from the usual form of backlighting we see in tablets, which is each successful to battery and might impression sleep patterns when studying instantly earlier than mattress.
As with monochrome E Ink, the know-how successfully creates a picture that continues to be static till the web page is refreshed. Amazon says the objective was to create colours which can be tender on the eyes, akin to print. Battery life does take successful right here, however that’s countered to some extent by the brand new oxide again pane, together with a bigger battery than the one discovered on the Paperwhite. The oxide tech — additionally discovered on the brand new Paperwhite — helps enhance page-turn pace.
When not using colour for issues like comics and web page highlights, the web page retains the identical monochromatic design discovered on different Kindles.
As with the brand new Kindle Paperwhite Signature Version, the Kindle Colorsoft is waterproof, whereas that includes wi-fi charging. In accordance with Amazon, it’s best to stand up to eight weeks on a cost, which continues to be handily beat by the Paperwhite’s said three months.
The colour Kindle doesn’t come low-cost. The system begins at $280, a $90 premium over the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Version and a full $170 greater than the brand new base-level Kindle. That mentioned, it’s nonetheless $120 cheaper than the brand new Kindle Scribe, which I suppose places issues into perspective.
The brand new Kindle Colorsoft Signature Version is obtainable for preorder beginning Wednesday. It would begin delivery on October 30.