Now that Amazon has lastly launched a Kindle with a colour E Ink display, let’s evaluate it to the preferred Kindle mannequin, the Kindle Paperwhite, to see how the 2 units stack up in opposition to one another and assist decide if the colour display is value the additional price or not.
First off, the Kindle Colorsoft is mainly a Kindle Paperwhite Signature Version with a colour E Ink display. It consists of all of the upgrades of the SE mannequin—wi-fi charging, auto brightness, double the cupboard space, no adverts—and it has all the identical options because the Paperwhite.
See right here for the complete assessment of the Kindle Paperwhite 6. I’ll add a hyperlink to the Colorsoft assessment when it will get completed.
Design
The general design of each fashions is precisely the identical; the measurements are similar and the identical covers match each fashions.
One distinction with the Colorsoft is it’s presently solely out there in black, whereas each variations of the Paperwhite can be found in inexperienced (jade) and pink (raspberry) along with black.
The bottom Paperwhite has a rubbery coating on the again and sides. The SE and Colorsoft variations have a metallic end that has a slicker really feel. The rubbery coating has extra grip, however the metallic coating seems nicer because it doesn’t present smudges and marks as simply.
Evaluating Screens
Each fashions have 7″ E Ink screens with 300 ppi, however the Colorsoft has a colour Kaleido 3 display with 150 ppi for colour.
As is the case with all Kaleido 3 screens, there are some drawbacks. There’s a colour filter layer over a daily black and white display, and the added layer makes the display look darker, particularly when the frontlight is off. You may also see the colour grid layer if you happen to look carefully. It makes the display look just a bit bit much less clear.
Textual content distinction is healthier on the Paperwhite’s display, with darker blacks and a lighter background. The distinction could be very apparent with the frontlights off, however its much less noticeable with them on.
Frontlights
The frontlights look fully totally different on the 2 items I’ve. The Paperwhite’s frontlight has a yellower tone to it, whereas the frontlight on the Colorsoft has a bluer tone with the cool gentle and the amber gentle is darker. There’s additionally a yellow band on the Colorsoft’s display that hopefully Amazon will repair on future items.
Frontlights are infamous for being inconsistant among the many similar mannequin so it’s arduous to place a lot inventory in a comparability. However I desire the Paperwhite’s gentle as a result of it’s extra delicate and it has a extra pure look to it than the blue tone on the Colorsoft.
Darkish Mode
One key distinction, the Colorsoft lacks full Darkish Mode. It solely inverts the textual content inside ebooks (and generally the borders with comics), however it doesn’t invert the menus and full interface like Darkish Mode on the Paperwhite.
Efficiency
The general velocity and response of the 2 units appears to be the identical for many issues. Web page flip speeds are the identical for ebooks, besides when there’s colour content material on the display. Every time there’s colour on the web page, even when it’s only a spotlight or a hyperlink, web page refresh is slower on the Colorsoft’s display, so stuff like comics is at all times is bit slower to show pages.
Battery Life
Amazon offers totally different estimates for battery life on each fashions. They are saying the Colorsoft can last as long as 8 weeks on a single cost and the Paperwhite can last as long as 12 weeks.
It’s too quickly so as to add something to the dialog about battery life, and I’ve to modify between totally different fashions so typically for evaluations it’s arduous to inform anyway. Let’s simply assume the Paperwhite has an edge in that regard.
Worth
Amazon is charging a a lot larger premium for colour than different firms. Most colour fashions are solely $20-$30 costlier than their equivelent black and white fashions, however Amazon is charging $80 extra for the Colorsoft than the equivelent Signature Version Paperwhite, and it’s $120 greater than the bottom Kindle Paperwhite.
The Kindle Colorsoft has a retail worth of $279 within the US. The Kindle Paperwhite begins at $159 for the ad-supported 16GB mannequin, and the upgraded Signature Version sells for $199.
Kindle Colorsoft vs Paperwhite Comparability Video
