Last year, Amazon finally released its first-ever color Kindle, and while the Kindle Colorsoft was an impressive first attempt, the high initial price probably put it out of reach for many people. Well, we have some good news. Amazon has added a slightly cheaper Colorsoft to its lineup. At $250, it’s still very expensive, but $30 cheaper than the original model, albeit with some sacrifices.
The cheaper 16 GB Kindle Colorsoft model has half the storage space of the more expensive version, but considering that most ebooks rarely ask for more than 2 MB of space in your library, this may be more than enough. If you have a lot of digital graphic novels and comics (i.e. media that makes really good use of the color display), you can expect them to take up more space, but you’ll still need a very large library to start approaching the 16GB limit.
The cheaper model also lacks the automatic front light and wireless charging that the Signature Edition has, but otherwise it’s the same book reader. Like its more expensive counterpart, the new Kindle Colorsoft has a 7-inch E Ink color display that lasts up to eight weeks on a single charge, a convenient zoom function, and adjustable warm backlight. Amazon has also fixed the yellow banding issue that plagued some early models, including our first model we reviewed.
Amazon also offers the Kindle Colorsoft Kids, which comes with an illustrated cover, one year of Amazon Kids+, and a two-year warranty. It also has special features for children, such as Vocabulary Builder and Word Wise, which help children learn new words as they read, as well as support for OpenDyslexic font and Bluetooth for audiobooks. Two covers are available – Fantasy River and Starlight Reading, and parents can use the Amazon Parent Dashboard to manage and monitor what their child is reading.
The Kindle Colorsoft with 16 GB of storage costs $250 and includes three months of Kindle Unlimited, while the Kindle Colorsoft Kids costs $270. Both models are available today, while the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition remains priced at $280.
