Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Yes, I get the whole built for purpose screen.. great battery and minimal distractions, but the reality is that I'd rather just use my iPad Pro (11)
I binge read and I find e-ink screens are superior for long book reading sessions. I get a headache after a few chapters on my iPads, while I can read half a GOT book without a headache on my kindle oasis.
 
Kindle was first launched in 2007. First Kindle with colour display - 2024. That's 17 years.
Compare to Apple's iPod, launched in 2001. First iPod with colour display - 2004. 3 years.

Apple always innovates faster. Kindle should've had R&D on this years ago.
Different type of tech. Not to mention eReaders are a niche product that doesn't earn a ton of R&D money. But don't try and compare these display technologies.

Sharp color lcd TV 1988. iPod with color 2004. 16 years. Again, different display tech for an eReader. Don't think Apple is blazing technology trails before others for everything, or anything?. They could have done the Newton in color after all.
 
Last edited:
I’d be extremely curious how these compare to the ReMarkable, the newest of which has a color display AND the note-taking in a single device, which Amazon isn’t offering here.

This has been such a long time coming. It’s exciting to see color e-ink finally becoming good enough for mainstream products. As this matures further, it’ll be really interesting to see if Apple takes advantage of it. These displays would completely change the game in terms of battery life.
I think the huge hurdle for e-ink making its way into the mainstream devices is refresh rate. It'd be awesome if they figure it out, but it might be a long while. Perhaps in the meantime devices could do some sort of hybrid LCD/e-ink. I don't know how that would work either though.
 
*Totally* different type of tech. Not to mention eReaders are a niche product that doesn't earn a ton of R&D money. But don't try and compare these display technologies.

1988 - Sharp introduces color lcd TV. iPod with color 2004. 16 years. But again, different tech. But don't think Apple blazes technology trails.
 
Oasis shouldn't have been cancelled. It was a unique device in the range, was slicker in both look and feel than standard models. A colour model of that would be nice, or quite frankly just a renewed b+w one TBH.

Such a shame Amazon didn't see the Oasis's lasting potential and following amongst its community of users.

Comparisons:
 
Last edited:
None of the current Kindles have page turn buttons.
You can bet a new Oasis will come in a year at a markup with them. They know their customer base and are omitting them on purpose for this launch. Probably a 300ppi color Oasis within 12-24 months priced $100+ higher.

We’ll see, this isn’t the first time Amazon held off on them on purpose, the situation was the same prior to the first Oasis with a year+ gap.
 
Kindle isn’t advertising the exact screen tech its using, but based on the DPI drop b/w B&W and color content, this appears to be Kaleido 3 based - which is a shame as wink appears to have solved a lot of the early issues with Gallery 3, which which is significantly better than Kaleido 3 at reproducing accurate and vibrant colors.

It should also be noted that the Remarkable Pro uses Gallery 3, so I doubt the Kindle Colorsoft will look as good as the Remarkable Pro.
 
Liquid ink displays (including color) have to much more latency and lower refresh rates but the display remains static between refreshes. For book readers there is no issue and many reader find the experience to be superior to other displays. From any other application, especially were video like update is required, the experience is inferior. As a result they are a bit of a niche product.

Adding color only help is some to subset of eReader community without really expanding the utility for other applications. Books with many illustrations (books for young children, comic, illustrated novels, some non-fiction books) color liquid ink is a true enhancement. If you use eReader for plain text, your lose (some contrast, battery life) probably more than you gain. So color liquid ink eReader is just a niche for an already niche application. But if it is a niche that is relevant to you, then you might find it a significant upgrade.

And this Kindle implementation looks pretty slick. No increase in size. Same size display. Just a small increase weight (about 1/4 of an ounce). And still days of battery life (but not as good as a monochrome unit). Might be an interesting product if color is an important element of your reading. And while it is primary a single use product, it is much less expensive that an iPad.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: brucemr
Are we not counting the 7" Amazon Fire from 2011?

Sure, it was a bit of a separate device category, but it was still called a Kindle. More accurate article title would have been "Amazon Launches First E-Reader With Color Display".
 
  • Like
Reactions: _Mitchan1999
Kindle was first launched in 2007. First Kindle with colour display - 2024. That's 17 years.
Compare to Apple's iPod, launched in 2001. First iPod with colour display - 2004. 3 years.

Apple always innovates faster. Kindle should've had R&D on this years ago.
You do know apple didn't invent nor manufacture nor assemble colour displays
 
I've never used a color e-ink screen. Is the experience that much worse for book reading?
Well, you know the drill, to create color you need at least three colors. It’s going to be exactly three times ”worse”. I guess the most notable where this distinction is used would be monochrom camera sensors.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bluespark
Perhaps good to read supermarket or mass market fiction (which I don’t consume) but not big enough to consume many academic texts (which I do consume). I’d rather pay a bit more for an iPad. I guess I’m not the intended audience.

--//--

Update: I did not edit the words above other than bold existing text. Some folks have been criticising this comment as if I were attacking e-Ink. Nope. Read again. I'm talking about the SIZE of the screen, not e-Ink. I used to own an e-Ink device, a Sony Reader long time ago.
 
Last edited:
Perhaps good to read supermarket or mass market fiction (which I don’t consume) but not big enough to consume many academic texts (which I do consume). I’d rather pay a bit more for an iPad. I guess I’m not the intended audience.

No need to insult different users. eInk is not for supermarket or mass market fiction. Jeez, the hubris. Oh wait, you're an academic.....sorry. But you are correct, use what you prefer, just not outside.
 
Key use case for me is highlighting text in multiple colors, so I've already ordered a Colorsoft. Even if the highlighting is at 150 ppi, I can still read text as before on 300 ppi.

I love my current Kindle signature and read in the bath, highlighting as I need to. Now I will be able to highlight in color; a dream come true. And I do have an iPad mini and Pro and they don't go near my bath or pool. LOL
 
Kindle was first launched in 2007. First Kindle with colour display - 2024. That's 17 years.
Compare to Apple's iPod, launched in 2001. First iPod with colour display - 2004. 3 years.

Apple always innovates faster. Kindle should've had R&D on this years ago.
Tell me you don’t understand the difficulties in adding color to an eink display without telling me you don’t understand the difficulties in adding color to an eink display.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.