Amazon has just unveiled its latest Kindle collection which includes the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft.
The first-of-its kind Kindle Scribe Colorsoft promises to offer a “colour writing experience that’s fast, fluid, and easy on the eyes” but how does it compare to the Kindle Colorsoft which received a measly three-star rating?
Keep reading to not only learn the differences between the e-readers but also to determine whether you think the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft looks set to make it onto our best Kindles list.
Otherwise, we’ve put together a list of all the products announced at Amazon’s hardware launch event in September.
Price and Availability
At the time of writing, Amazon has yet to reveal the exact launch date for the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft in either the US or Europe. In fact, all Amazon has said is that the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft will be available “later this year” in the US and “early next year” in the UK and Germany.
In the meantime, Amazon has confirmed the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft will have a starting RRP of £569.99/$629.99.
The Kindle Colorsoft, on the other hand, is readily available to buy and has a starting price of £239.99/$249.99 or £269.99/$279.99 for the Signature Edition. We’ve put together a guide on what separates the two iterations in Kindle Colorsoft vs Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition.
Both have colour display
As their respective titles give away, both the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft and Kindle Colorsoft are equipped with a colour display, enabling users to both read and highlight passages in colour.
The Kindle Colorsoft was the first Kindle to sport a colour display, however it’s worth noting that we did struggle with the device during our review period. We found that the colour layer of the Colorsoft “adds a fuzzy finish” and although its Kaleido E ink technology can display 4096 colours, the picture “lacks the punch” and has an almost watercolour appearance.
Amazon explains that the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft uses its custom-build Colorsoft display technology which enhances colour “without washing out the details”, which hopefully should mean an improvement from the Colorsoft.
The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft also enables users to write, draw and annotate in one of ten pen colours, or highlight in one of five highlighter colours too. This is a slight improvement from the Colorsoft, which only enabled users to highlight in four shades.
Kindle Scribe Colorsoft doubles as a digital notebook
One key way that separates the Scribe Colorsoft from the Colorsoft is its ability to annotate and jot notes down with the included premium pen. In fact, the entire new Kindle Scribe collection offers an AI-powered notebook experience which enables users to search your notes, receive AI summaries and even ask follow-up questions too.
In addition, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft supports Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive and allows you to share your notes as converted text or as an embedded image to OneNote too.
The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft also enables you to create smooth gradients and subtle tones with the new shader tool, which Amazon promises will give artists and creators “more control over the depth and richness” of their art.
Otherwise, while the Kindle Colorsoft does allow you to highlight passages in books, it isn’t possible to handwrite notes or within the device.
Kindle Scribe Colorsoft has a larger display
Like the rest of the recently launched Kindle Scribe collection, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft boasts an 11-inch display. Although it’s considerably larger than the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition’s seven-inch or Kindle Colorsoft’s 10.2-inch display, Amazon promises the Scribe Colorsoft is ultra-thin at 5.4mm and ultra-light at just 400g too.
Amazon also promises the Scribe Colorsoft’s glare-free display “mirrors the proportions of a piece of paper”. As we’re yet to review the device, we’ll have to wait and see whether we can attest these claims.
Kindle Scribe Colorsoft has a new rendering engine
Although Amazon is yet to provide specific details, it promises the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft will run on a new rendering engine which “enhances the colour and ensures writing is fast, fluid, and totally natural”.
In addition, its new quad-core chip promises to make “everything feel snappier”, alongside more memory and an Oxide display.
Although we are yet to know the ins and outs of the new engine and chip, we hope it’ll make the Kindle feel even more paper-like than before.
Kindle Scribe Colorsoft sports redesigned Kindle software
Following on from the above, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft will see some software redesigns from the Colorsoft. These include an all-new home page which offers new tools such as Quick Notes and a recently opened tab, and an organised Workspaces to access your documents easier.
Considering we praised the Kindle Colorsoft’s software experience as “pleasing”, especially thanks to the welcome colour injection, we have high hopes for the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft.
Early Verdict
With a three-star rating, it’s fair to say we were left disappointed by the Kindle Colorsoft. Sure the colour display is welcome in some instances, the device felt very much more like a prototype rather than a fully-finished e-reader.
With this in mind, we hope the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft will see welcome improvements. The inclusion of note-taking and the premium pen is certainly a promising update, but we’ll have to wait and see how it performs in everyday use.
