Kindle Colorsoft and 2024 Updates
Amazon (Hacker News, MacRumors):
The all-new Kindle Colorsoft brings color to Kindle without compromise. It has everything customers love about Kindle today—high contrast, fast page turns, an auto-adjusting front light, and weeks of battery life. It adds color that is vibrant yet easy on the eyes. Now, you can browse covers in color in your Kindle Library or Store; see book photos and images in color; or add color highlights that you can easily search later.
It’s $279.99 with a 7-inch display (wireless charging dock extra). Color is 150 ppi vs. 300 ppi for monochrome.
The all-new Kindle Scribe combines all the benefits of Kindle with a powerful notetaking device. The display has new white borders, and the screen has a smooth, paper-like texture that makes it look and feel like you’re writing on a sheet of paper. Plus, at 300 ppi, text looks crisp and clear when you’re writing or reading. The Premium Pen is finely crafted to deliver just the right heft and balance, so it feels like holding an actual pen, and the new soft-tipped eraser feels like a pencil—you’ll think you have to brush the screen clean after erasing.
[…]
The new Kindle Scribe offers a first-of-its-kind in-book writing experience and a more powerful notetaking experience. With Active Canvas, you can write your thoughts directly in the book when inspiration strikes. Your note becomes part of the page, and the book text dynamically flows around it—if you increase the font size, change the font style, or the book layout changes, the note remains visible exactly where you want it so you never lose any meaning or context. Coming soon, you’ll also be able to write your notes in the side panel and easily hide them when you are done.
It’s $399.99 with 10.2-inch display. I guess it doesn’t work with the wireless charging dock.
Since its debut in 2012, customers have made Kindle Paperwhite our best-selling Kindle—and the all-new Kindle Paperwhite is our fastest yet. Scrolling through your Kindle Library or Store is snappy and responsive with 25% faster page turns. The display uses an oxide thin-film transistor, which gives it the highest contrast ratio of any Kindle, so text and images pop off the screen. A larger, 7-inch display is a first for Kindle Paperwhite—and yet, it is also the thinnest Kindle Paperwhite ever with up to three months of battery life.
The regular edition is $159.99, and the signature edition (double the storage, wireless charging, front light sensor) is $199.99.
Weighing in at just 158g, the new entry-level Kindle is small enough to fit in your hand or carry in your back pocket—and it’s packed with premium Kindle features. It has a 300 ppi, glare-free display, now with faster page turns, higher contrast ratio, and a front light that is 25% brighter at max setting—as bright as Kindle Paperwhite.
This is $109.99 for a 6-inch display.
Sadly, the Kindle Oasis was not updated and is, in fact, discontinued. This was my favorite design, as it had physical page-turn buttons, a more comfortable shape to hold, and the lightest weight (131g without the cover).
The writing was on the wall, but it’s still sad. Amazon has apparently decided that there’s no place in the Kindle line-up for an e-reader that still has physical page-turn buttons.
Regular readers of this site will know that I am an ardent supporter of physical page-turn buttons on e-readers, because they allow you to rest a finger on the button and turn the page with a simple squeeze, while touch-only readers require you to constantly reposition a finger, tap, and the move the finger away. Not exactly torturous, but decidedly less optimal.
See also: M.G. Siegler and Andrew Liszewski.
Previously:
- Color Kobo E-readers
- Kindle Scribe
- Kindle 2022
- Kindle Paperwhite (5th Generation)
- Kindle Oasis With Warm Light
1 Comment RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
Why does everyone making devices think less buttons is a good thing? It drives me insane.
