Amazon’s Kindle Colorsoft is now the corporate’s most costly e-reader (apart from the Kindle Scribe, though that’s extra of an e-note than an e-reader), however that doesn’t mechanically make it the most effective Kindle cash should buy. Let’s say you’ve got the money to burn and need the most effective studying expertise Amazon presents: If you happen to 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 further received’t offer you an upgraded expertise—it may actively make your books worse.
What’s a colour e-reader?
At its core, the Kindle Colorsoft is actually a Kindle Paperwhite, however with one key distinction. It’s obtained the identical lighting choices, weighs nearly the identical, seems precisely like a Paperwhite, and has the identical measurement display. The defining issue is that the Colorsoft has a colour filter in its show, which permits content material that passes by way of it to supply as much as 4,096 colours.
Credit score: Michelle Ehrhardt
It could nonetheless show black-and-white content material, however once you learn one thing like a comic book on it, it cuts the decision in half from 300 ppi to 150 ppi, then cleverly arranges the pixels so that they shine by way of 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 better color accuracy and fewer artifacts than competing devices—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 in addition on issues like ebook covers or color-collated highlighting.
Sounds fairly cool. Even for those who don’t use it on a regular basis, it’s a pleasant bonus, proper? You will get colour once you want it, at the price of some decision, however you can too show black-and-white works on the identical decision because the Kindle Paperwhite. Sadly, the truth’s not so lower 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 remains 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 complete.
Enter the rainbow impact. At its finest, it’ll put a lightweight shimmer in your display, 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 reveals 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 reveals 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 system, 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 method to do away with it utterly. The competitors has slight fixes for it, with probably the most notable being Kobo’s “cut back rainbow impact” toggle, which barely blurs the picture to attempt to line it up in a means that the colour filter isn’t as noticeable. Amazon, sadly, has not opted to incorporate such an answer on its system.
What do you suppose thus far?
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, however it’s price noting that the way in which the colour filter works within the Colorsoft can typically trigger artifacting in colour content material as nicely. If you happen to discover this, altering colour modes may allow you to out. The Kindle is much less vulnerable 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 desire to swap over to Vivid and depart it on for all the things, however the decrease vary of colours could cause pixelation, so for those who discover that, it’s price making an attempt out Commonplace mode once more. Positive, this isn’t precisely the identical because the rainbow impact, however it’s an identical sufficient challenge, and factors out that even colour customers aren’t free from issues on this system.
Is coping with the rainbow impact price it?
How a lot the rainbow impact will trouble you relies on 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 trouble him a lot. He really type of likes the shimmering, saying it type of seems just like the grain you may get on actual paper.
However to me, I can’t stand it. It’s brilliant and distracting, and for those who spend most of your time in your Kindle studying conventional books, shopping for a Colorsoft will imply you’ll be paying further simply to need to cope with that. I suppose that is likely to be price it if you wish to see your ebook covers in colour when scrolling by way of your library, or for those who spotlight loads. It does look good, for the few seconds covers or highlights are in your display. However for many of your time really studying, you’re not going to be utilizing the colour, and you can be seeing the rainbow impact.
The information solely will get worse for those who learn black-and-white illustrated works, like manga. To observe together with a ebook, all you must do is make out the phrases— however with manga, the paintings will probably be actively worsened. Strains may look fuzzier, or facial expressions may give off a completely completely different vibe beneath all of the shimmering. However worst of all, you may get these unintended splotches of colour, like I obtained 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 often, like comedian books—and even then, I don’t recommend it.
This isn’t just like the ‘90s, when the Sport Boy Shade may play sure video games in colour, however may additionally play black-and-white video games the identical as an unique Sport Boy. The Kindle Colorsoft isn’t just an everyday Kindle with elective colour that readers with deep pockets can depend on as an occasional added bonus, however as one thing they’ll in any other case ignore. As an alternative, utilizing it’s a completely completely different expertise.
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