The lacking hyperlink in Amazon’s ereader lineup

Finally, how a lot heat or cool mild you like whereas studying is as much as private style. My preferences would lead me to regulate the heat on the Kindle to be a bit increased than zero, mimicking that of the Kobo. In an unscientific ballot of the Engadget workers, each in particular person and with system pictures, everyone most popular the display on the Kobo. I feel the slight added heat in Kobo’s display makes colours seem a bit extra saturated and extra inviting general. It additionally will get near mimicking the look of precise bodily pages (as a lot as one in every of these units might, at the very least), and that’s the expertise I’m going for once I learn just about something. However I might perceive why some hardcore comedian followers would wish to begin off with probably the most color-accurate baseline as doable, after which modify from there to suit their preferences.

Along with adjusting the nice and cozy mild, the Kindle Colorsoft has vivid mode, which “enhances coloration in much less saturated photographs.” For the sake of efficacy, most of my time was spent in customary mode when testing the Colorsoft. However in making an attempt out vivid mode, I seen that its enhanced saturation was most noticeable in warm-toned photographs: reds appeared ever-so-slightly extra putting, whereas oranges and yellows had a extra bronze impact and the like. However I needed to flip vivid mode on and off a couple of occasions to clock the impact as a result of it’s fairly refined.

Then there’s the query of truly studying phrases on the Colorsoft. Even the Kindle workforce consultant I spoke with acknowledged that, because of the further bodily layer within the display that permits coloration, one may discover a bit much less sharpness and distinction in black-and-white textual content on the Colorsoft’s display. That’s not distinctive to this explicit Kindle — each coloration ereader can have this problem to some extent.

When evaluating the text-only expertise of the Kindle Colorsoft to that of the Kobo Libra Color, I discovered each to be fairly good and comparable to at least one one other. The place there’s a much bigger risk for discrepancies is in a comparability of the Colorsoft to, say, the brand new Kindle Paperwhite. I didn’t have the latter system to check to, however I did have my private, previous-generation Paperwhite, and the distinction was ever so slight, with the usual Paperwhite having the (small) higher hand within the distinction and sharpness departments.

Studying expertise

The colour display is probably the most consequential factor concerning the Kindle Colorsoft, and likelihood is in case you’ve had a Kindle up to now, the studying expertise on this new system will really feel fairly acquainted. The Kindle UI hasn’t modified a lot, nonetheless dividing the primary display into House and Library choices. The previous is principally an area for Amazon to serve you personalised ebook suggestions and promote new Kindle releases, whereas the latter reveals your whole digital library together with books, paperwork, Audible audiobooks and library loans. The Library web page is putting in coloration and there’s something undeniably satisfying about seeing your entire title covers in full-color glory.

Whereas studying a ebook, you may nonetheless customise and save completely different themes with fonts, font sizes and web page layouts that finest fit your preferences. You continue to have the choice to rapidly navigate inside a title by web page, location, chapter and even widespread highlights. Web page turns are speedy and can seemingly be an enchancment for anybody coming from an older Kindle or different ereader.

Annotations and your personal highlights are collected in the identical place for straightforward reference, and with the latter, you may filter by spotlight coloration as effectively. You could have 4 colours to select from on the Colorsoft — orange, yellow, blue and pink — so in case you use the yellow highlighter to mark favourite quotes, you may then filter by simply that coloration. Word that each one highlighting and note-taking have to be executed together with your fingers as a result of, not like the Kindle Scribe, the Colorsoft has no stylus help.

The pinch-to-zoom characteristic on the Colorsoft is nice for individuals who learn plenty of graphic novels and comics. Amazon developed a customized algorithm to make this movement as easy as doable, and it’s a reasonably good expertise, albeit not a novel one. You can too pinch to zoom on the Kobo Libra Color, which principally helps get in nearer to comedian panels to learn small textual content or higher see minute particulars.

On each units, there are full-screen refreshes once you pinch to zoom on coloration photographs and the velocity of completion is roughly the identical. I additionally discovered picture high quality to be fairly related as effectively, and it’s price noting that artwork model can skew your impression of a picture’s high quality. A comic book that employs clear, distinct strains in comparison with one which’s extra grungy and watercolor-like will at all times come off extra crisp.

The Colorsoft, just like the common Kindle Paperwhite Signature Version, additionally has an auto-adjusting entrance mild that guarantees to light up the show good relying on in case you’re studying outdoors on a sunny day, in the dead of night cabin of an airplane or wherever else. It’s a pleasant {hardware} perk to have and, with the characteristic turned on, removes a lot of handbook fiddling that some may discover annoying to do once they take their Kindle into completely different environments.

The competitors

Whereas we already went by means of the display comparisons for the $280 Kindle Colorsoft and the $220 Kobo Libra Colour, there are many different variations between the 2 that you need to take into account when selecting your subsequent ereader. I’ve added a spec listing under to interrupt down the fundamentals, and probably the most consequential to me are the truth that the Kobo has page-turn buttons and stylus help.

The previous can be a matter of choice — you both love bodily buttons otherwise you discover no use for them — however the latter is pure added worth even in case you do should buy the $70 Kobo stylus individually. It basically lets you flip the Libra Color right into a makeshift Kobo Sage or Kindle Scribe, which could possibly be helpful for anybody in academia (college students and educators alike) or anybody who simply loves the sensation of placing pen to “paper.” In the meantime, the Kindle has the higher hand in its wi-fi charging capabilities and its barely cleaner flush-front design.

In the case of precise content material out there on Kindle and Kobo units, the libraries you should buy from on each are huge: each have ebooks and audiobooks out there, and each the Colorsoft and Libra Color help Bluetooth, so you may hearken to audiobooks immediately from the system together with your wi-fi headphones. On the time of penning this assessment, the entire top five New York Times bestseller titles have been out there on each platforms on the identical costs, with the one discrepancies being one which was on sale as a Kindle book and one which was out there to learn totally free for Kindle Unlimited and Kobo Plus subscribers. Each of these month-to-month subscriptions provide you with limitless studying entry to 1000’s of titles, however I might give the benefit to Amazon on this one since Kindle Limitless has been round for for much longer. Amazon additionally has Prime Reading and Kids+ subscriptions that work with Kindle units and supply much more content material to paying subscribers.

So far as borrowing ebooks out of your native library goes, it is likely to be a draw. Kobo integrates elegantly with Overdrive, making it practically seamless to get borrowed books in your ereader. Merely join your Overdrive account and library card within the settings menu and you’ll then both browse your library’s choices immediately on system, or use the Libby cellular app to borrow titles and people will seem robotically in your Kobo. My solely gripe with this method is that it really works finest when you have only one library card, since you may solely join one by one. I’m a novel case the place I’ve at the very least three library playing cards and I swap amongst them in Libby relying on which has the title I’m in search of.

These like me may favor the “ship to Kindle” choice in Libby, which simply takes a pair extra clicks to get any ebook from any library community to your Kindle system. The largest draw back right here is that my Colorsoft assessment unit didn’t present all of my library ebook covers in full-color glory on the lock display. After troubleshooting with a consultant from Amazon, it was decided to be a title-specific problem. In accordance with Amazon: “For library books, the lock display is taken from the designated advertising and marketing cowl for the ebook utilized by the library, which might not be the identical because the precise ebook cowl.” So simply know that in case you get most of your studying materials out of your native library, there’s an opportunity among the covers might not show correctly on the Colorsoft.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the $250 Boox Go Color 7, which earned a spot in our best ereaders information after my colleague Amy Skorheim examined it. First, it’s crucial to know that Boox units require a bit extra tech-savvy than a Kindle or a Kobo, in addition to a willingness to experiment. They’re full-blown Android tablets in spite of everything, and that is likely to be precisely what you’re in search of in case you get your studying materials from many alternative sources, because it provides entry to the Google Play Retailer and all of its apps. As for specs, the Go Colour 7 has a seven-inch Kaleido 3 show with 300 ppi in black and white and 150 ppi in coloration (just like the Colorsoft), together with a heat mild, page-turn buttons, a splash-resistant design and 64GB of storage (and a microSD card slot for more room!). It’s much more just like the Kobo Libra Color in characteristic set and worth, so it’s an alternative choice for anybody prepared to suppose a bit outdoors the usual ereader field.

The choice between Kindle, Kobo and Boox is infinitely extra difficult than selecting between the Colorsoft or the usual Kindle Paperwhite — and that’s exactly due to the stark worth distinction. The Colorsoft is $120 greater than the common Kindle Paperwhite ($100 extra in case you pay to take away the lock display adverts from the Paperwhite, and $80 greater than the Signature Version) and apart from the colour panel, it solely provides wi-fi charging, the auto-adjusting entrance mild sensor and doubles the storage. Take away coloration from the equation, and arguably probably the most helpful of all of these is the additional storage however, make no mistake, 16GB of area on the Kindle Paperwhite is nothing to scoff at and might be simply wonderful for most individuals. Until you’re 100-percent sure that coloration will make an enormous distinction in your day-to-day studying expertise, the usual Paperwhite is the higher worth.

Wrap-up

Whereas it’s very late to the colour E Ink occasion, the Kindle Colorsoft is a strong premium ereader that gives a wonderful expertise each in coloration and black and white. I centered so much on comparisons on this assessment as a result of most individuals won’t have the chance to have the Colorsoft and any of its contemporaries aspect by aspect (except you’re my dad, who buys virtually each ereader and small pill underneath the solar). However to be clear, the Colorsoft is an effective Kindle, and in some ways, Amazon did pull an Apple right here. When you’re already closely entrenched within the Kindle ecosystem and have been holding out for a coloration ereader, that is the system to get — simply be ready to pay a premium for it.

Additionally, like Apple and its numerous working methods, there’s one thing to be stated concerning the comfort and ubiquity of the Kindle ecosystem. The library is seemingly limitless (with reductions galore), supplemented by Prime Studying and Kindle Limitless, so it’s simple to get sucked in once you’re already buying on Amazon for family items and vacation items. However in terms of worth on your cash (and a pure spec breakdown), you will get extra from Kobo and Boox units. Kindle isn’t the one identify on the town anymore for ereaders, and it hasn’t been for a very long time, and that appears to be a extra pronounced reality now with the introduction of the Colorsoft. If nothing else, Amazon has lastly stuffed a obvious gap in its ereader lineup with this system.

Amazon Kindle Colorsoft vs. the competitors