Amazon's First Color Kindle Is Here

Like Kleenex and tissues, Amazon’s Kindle brand has become synonymous with e-readers as a whole. That's why it’s surprising that, up until now, Kindle has been missing one big feature: color. Companies like Rakuten’s Kobo have been offering color for months now, but with today’s announcement of the Kindle Colorsoft, Amazon is finally catching up. Don’t care about color? The company’s also adding AI to the Kindle Scribe, plus making its other models a bit faster.

Overall, this is a relaunch of the whole Kindle lineup, with new additions across four devices. But the Colorsoft is easily the most interesting one. Shipping on Oct. 30 for $279 (and available for pre-order now), this is the third color e-ink release from a major brand, following in the wake of Rakuten and Remarkable. It’s got a seven-inch adjustable frontlit display, and while Amazon hasn’t been clear about exactly how many shades it can display, it’s built on E Ink’s Kaleido technology but with “custom formulated coatings between the display layers to enhance the color.”

Credit: Amazon

In a hands-on test with the Colorsoft, Lifehacker sister publication PCMag wrote that the “color is pretty muted,” so it’s definitely still not going to be for everyone. It’s also not certain that Amazon’s custom additions do much for fidelity, with PCMag saying, “color seems to be on par with other e-readers we’ve tested.” Still, there might be something here for enthusiasts—maybe those who use a lot of color highlights or want more natural looking comic books (at the cost of vibrancy). Amazon promises that the Colorsoft doesn’t just enhance colors, but also has faster page turns thanks to an oxide backplane. PCMag says the screen is “very fast,” only “maybe a hair slower than the new Paperwhite.” That could make the Colorsoft a better experience than other color e-readers.

Credit: Amazon

I’ll get to that new Paperwhite—but first, the new Kindle Scribe. This is Amazon’s second crack at an e-note, with the same 10.2-inch screen as the previous model, but now with a white bezel and a texture that’s supposed to feel more like paper. Inside, it’s also got some generative AI tricks, plus a new “Active Canvas” feature that’s supposed to make it easier to put notes in your text.

Active Canvas seems to be a way to make up for the inability to directly write on most documents, which bafflingly still isn’t here on the new Scribe. It lets you write on the screen, after which your writing will get pushed into a little box and your document’s text will align around it. You can also expand margins to anchor your notes to text without realigning it, and Amazon promises you’ll eventually also be able to write notes in the side panel and quickly hide them.

It’s a bit odd that the most obvious use case for an e-note—letting you write directly on your books—still isn’t here, especially since this is Amazon’s only Kindle with a stylus. Instead, you’ve got two new generative AI additions, including one that summarizes your handwritten notes and one that aims to make your handwriting a bit more readable. PCMag didn’t get a chance to test these, so keep an eye out for the Scribe’s Dec. 4 release date for more info. The e-note will be priced at $399, and pre-orders are available now.

Finally, there’s a couple of small updates for Amazon’s more basic e-readers. The 12th generation Paperwhite is largely the same, but with a slightly larger seven-inch display, a slightly thinner body, and what Amazon says is “25% faster page turns.” The standard Kindle, meanwhile, has a new “Matcha” light green color and is slightly brighter and faster. Both the 12th gen Paperwhite and the updated standard Kindle are available now, with the Paperwhite starting at $159 and the base Kindle costing $109.