Tag: e-books

Amazon’s Colorsoft Launch Has Left Some Customers Without a Kindle at All

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Customers who decided to take advantage of the program sent in their older Kindles under the assumption that the Colorsoft would replace their current e-reader. The unexpected display issues meant this didn’t go according to plan. They’ve taken their complaints to Reddit and reviews on the Colorsoft product page on Amazon, which has a 2.5/5 star rating.

It’s worth noting that not everyone has run into the display issue—I didn’t notice it in my Colorsoft review unit—but if you do, you should reach out to Amazon’s customer service team for a refund or replacement. But this is where things get sticky. If you choose a refund and had used the discount, you’ll only get back the exact amount that you paid. Since the 20 percent off coupon is no longer valid, you’ll now have to pay full price for the Colorsoft, whenever Amazon starts shipping it again. If you choose to wait for a replacement, you’ll have to wait an estimated three to five weeks to receive the replacement model.

Waiting until mid-December might be fine for some, but those who traded in their previous e-readers are left without devices. Even if customers decide to use the refund to buy a new Paperwhite or basic Kindle, they can’t take advantage of the trade-in promotions because they no longer have devices to send in. Instead, they’ll have to pay full price. According to multiple reviews on the Colorsoft product page on Amazon, customer service representatives have told customers the original discount cannot be transferred to another Kindle. (It doesn’t help that Amazon’s new lineup of e-readers are more expensive than their predecessors.)

Screenshot courtesy of Brenda Stolyar

Some customers have had better luck. Depending on the trade-in, Amazon will sometimes deposit the gift card to your account instantly as long as you send the device in within 30 days. Some held on to their original Kindles until they received the new one, while one customer managed to secure an extension on their return. The instant payments seem to only apply in the US—on multiple Reddit threads, folks in the UK say Amazon needs to appraise their devices before receiving trade-in credit.

I didn’t experience the yellow bar or the discoloration on my review unit, but I did have a few other reservations about the Colorsoft. The color screen is impressive, but the constant refreshing to render colors and load times is a little jarring (this is a problem on most color e-readers). It’s also just too expensive, costing $80 more than the Paperwhite Signature, which has many of the same features except for the color screen. The Colorsoft doesn’t have page-turn buttons or stylus support, which also makes it feel not a good value.

We’ve reached out to Amazon about these complaints but the company had not commented by press time.

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November 14, 2024
Kindle Colorsoft Review: A Color E-Reader and Not Much Else

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However, I did notice that text looks a little fuzzy—not just with color content but black-and-white too. I only spotted this because I came from using the new Paperwhite, which has the highest contrast ratio of any Kindle and delivers super-sharp text. When I switched to the Colorsoft, my eyes had to adjust a bit. It’s not as noticeable with comics, but it took me a moment to get used to while reading standard books.

It’s tougher to ignore the loading time when turning pages on illustrations. The screen will typically flutter once or twice while processing the color. The same thing happens when zooming in too. At one point, I was zooming in on a frame and noticed a small black loading square appear. This has yet to happen again, but it was slightly concerning. Amazon isn’t alone with this though—this kind of refresh lag exists on other color ebook readers too.

Even if the flashing colors are commonplace on all color e-readers, it’s an important factor to consider if you’re largely buying one for comic books and graphic novels. The blinking screen might feel jarring while turning pages or zooming in, particularly during long reading sessions, and it can sometimes break you out of the experience or distract you from the story. I enjoyed reading comics on the Paperwhite a little more for this reason, even if it meant no color.

Looking for More

Setting aside the color screen, the Kindle Colorsoft doesn’t feel too different from the Paperwhite. It has up to two months of battery life, there’s wireless charging support, and the screen can automatically adjust its brightness based on your environment. You’re spending an extra $80 over the 12th-gen Paperwhite for a color screen.

With all the claims to have completely “rebuilt” the Kindle, the $280 Colorsoft was the right opportunity to bring back page-turn buttons, which we haven’t seen on a Kindle since the Oasis in 2019. That model also had a similarly large 7-inch screen and was made of a metal-infused plastic that felt super-premium, not the soft-touch plastic in the Colorsoft. But I digress. Buttons! Which turn the page forward and back! It’s not hard. The #Booktok community has resorted to using unsightly remotes for sheer convenience.

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October 30, 2024
Kindle Paperwhite Review (2024): The E-Reader to Get

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I don’t have many regrets, but buying the basic Kindle a few years ago is one of them. Ironically, I hadn’t done much research before purchasing it. I wanted to get back into reading and didn’t want to spend much—I was struggling to finish hard copies and thought an ebook reader would solve the problem. I marched onto Amazon and bought myself the basic Kindle from 2019.

Between the low screen resolution, slow performance, and short battery life, the frustrating experience kept me from using it as much as I wanted to. I should’ve bought the Kindle Paperwhite instead, even if it was marginally more expensive—buy once, cry once, right? I was convinced that the higher-quality screen and fancy lighting features would make it more enjoyable. Alas, I worried a Paperwhite would stay dead and dusty in a drawer, just like my Kindle, so I didn’t buy it.

And yet, a Paperwhite ended up in my lap a few years later. Amazon just announced a new version—the Paperwhite and the Paperwhite Signature Edition—which are thinner and faster and have longer battery life. I tested the latter, which has a few extra perks such as wireless charging and 32 gigabytes of storage (for an extra cost). After weeks of use, it’s easy to understand why this is Amazon’s most beloved Kindle—it’s Paperwhite or bust.

Photograph: Brenda Stolyar

Better, Faster, Stronger

Coming from a smaller Kindle, I was worried that the Paperwhite would feel too unwieldy, especially now that it’s slightly thinner than its predecessor (7.8 mm versus 8.1 mm) but heavier. It’s still easy to hold one-handed, but I sometimes feel my arm cramp during longer reading seasons—I quickly understand why so many people attach a PopSocket to their Paperwhite.

The display is now 7 inches (up from 6.8) thanks to slimmer bezels around the screen. It also has the highest contrast ratio of any Kindle, which more or less allows text and images to look sharper on the screen. While both changes are nice, these differences are incremental over the 2021 Paperwhite (8/10, WIRED Recommends), and no, you do not need to upgrade if you have that model.

Photograph: Brenda Stolyar

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October 29, 2024
Is the Kindle Colorsoft Too Late? Amazon Reveals What Took So Damn Long to Catch Up

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“Right now, we’re seeing the highest sales of Kindle in over a decade—20 billion pages are currently read every month,” claims Panay. “And it turns out the majority of this new cohort are millennials and Gen Z, this is the fastest growing segment.”

Kevin Keith goes further, explaining that while social media used to be a distraction from books, it’s now a driving force for selling Kindles to new, younger readers. The “BookTok” phenomenon, he says, has a lot to do with that, and the hashtag, which includes people sharing book reviews and recommendations on TikTok, has amassed almost 39 million videos and over 200 billion views.

“There’s definitely a bit of a TikTok/BookTok effect right now, and this has also transcended into Reels, into Instagram, into Facebook,” Keith says. “So you see across the board in terms of the social media impact that used to be a headwind, that used to be pulling people away from reading—now it’s actually driving people to read.”

“It’s been over two years now that we’ve seen this growth rate,” he adds. “When we say sales are at their highest in a decade, this is after multiple years of double-digit growth.”

There is data to suggest this might be the start of a wider trend, with the ereader market expected to start growing again between now and 2029. Keeping the emotional connection between readers and their books is important in this, insists Panay, and cites this as a reason why people will swallow the $120 hike over the best-selling Paperwhite.

“Value is not in the look and feel of a device,” he says, without hesitation. “Value is in the emotion you’ll be able to pull out of having a color screen. At this point it’s a choice, and that’s what’s beautiful. If you want color, it’s now there for you.”

Whether better late than never works out for Kindle remains to be seen, but Panay is banking on that emotional connection playing its part. In an overly connected world, he says that for its users, Kindle is a sanctuary—a device with no distractions, no notifications. Of course, books have been doing that for centuries.

“That sanctuary is very real,” says Panay. “You pick up a book [on your Kindle] and you start reading … multitasking doesn’t exist because you disappear into that moment. We need some of that right now, more than ever.”

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October 24, 2024
Reading Has Hurt Me for Years. With a Tablet Holder, It Doesn’t

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I went with the clamp since I knew it would be easy to hook onto my thin wooden side table or metal bed frame, and neither had a paint or finish that would be damaged by the clamp. Some folks also attach it to a headboard.

It was perfect for reading in bed or on the side of my couch. The Lamicall isn’t so long that I needed to add a loop to make it sit far enough away from my eye for comfortable reading, and usually I felt like I had just enough slack to perfectly place it within my preferred reading range. I could keep my Kindle’s text size tiny and put it right next to my face, or push it back farther if I wanted. It floated nicely above or near my head, whether I was lying in bed or sitting up on the couch while my son played nearby.

The base clamp is made of light plastic you secure with a screw top sitting on top of the clamp, which I liked instead of one that pinches on its own–especially since there are tiny grabby hands in my home. The clasp for the Kindle itself is also made of a light plastic, but was still stable and secure. Plus, you can rotate that upper clamp to get the perfect angle.

The neck of the arm is the most resistant part of it: It does take a little effort to move and angle the arm, but that strength and resistance are what keeps it from falling forward or out of place while you read. Even with the resistance, this Kindle holder is still plenty adjustable and goes in any direction you like.

To store it, I usually just push it out of the way toward the wall from wherever it’s clamped. It isn’t foldable, nor does it break down, so if you want it out of sight when you aren’t using it you’ll need a closet or long enough space to store its 3-foot form. It was a little weird to see it floating alone in the living room, but I didn’t find it obtrusive when I used it as a bed stand and simply pushed it against the wall when I was done using it.

It’s designed to be a universal tablet holder, so it’s big enough to hold tablets up to the 11-inch iPad Pro. It can hold a Nintendo Switch, too, along with other popular e-readers. (If only I had this in 2020!) It’s not the right dimensions to hold a bulky Steam Deck by itself, but I still used it to help me prop up a Steam Deck and take weight off my hands and wrists, though it’s not stable enough to float like a Kindle or iPad. It’s able to hold up smartphones, too, and it was similarly comfortable to read with either a Kindle or my iPhone on the Lamicall stand.

Not Quite Hands-Free

Photograph: Nena Farrell

While it won’t fall out of place, the stand is easy to jostle, and I wouldn’t call it hands-free reading—at least not on its own.

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May 12, 2024