New Kindles announced (2024-10-16)

[NNolan]

The good news: The Post Office actually did deliver it today, even though this morning they were estimating that I wouldn't see it until Monday.

The bad news: it's quite stubbornly refusing to connect to my WiFi. And you can't get off the WiFi set up screen and just use it with side loaded books. Looks like I'll be sending it back on Monday.

[LDB]

Restart them both at the same instant and be sure no matter what else you hold your tongue right. If you are within 37 milliseconds of concurrent the restart will cure it.

[Hollow Man]

Mine wouldn't connect trying to use the "easy" setup, where it uses Bluetooth to connect to the Kindle app on your phone. Then I tried wifi, and that didn't work the first time either. But it did work the second time through wifi.

[NNolan]

I've tried restarting it 5 times now. No joy. I've tried the "easy setup" using blue tooth and my Android phone. No help there either. I've tried every security option on the wifi menu, including "None". Doesn't work. I've started a return, because threatening the recalcitrant electronic object with banishment back to its maker sometimes works too. Not this time.

I guess I received one of the bad ones right out of the box. Back it goes. I wasn't offered the option of a replacement, just a refund. I'm not impressed with what they're doing with the new Kindle software.

ETA: instead of packing it up I've wasted another 2 hours with rebooting my router/modem combo, setting up a mobile hot spot on my phone, etc. The little b@stard just won't connect. "Simple set up" my @$$. I'm not really that impressed with the color rendering anyway so maybe this is the Universe telling me to look at Kobo and stop buying new Kindles. If their quality control and/or software testing is that bad they don't deserve my cash anyway.

ETA 2: After another run at the mobile hot spot solution I finally got it to connect, so right now I'm killing time waiting for the initial software download to finish. The problem with the combo router/modem seems to be that it's looking for the default password that's on the bottom of the router and I don't feel like messing with that on a Friday night and potentially breaking stuff that's working right now. (not true with mine after further attempts). I mostly just side load but if I have to break out a mobile hot spot every once in awhile I can do that. Hey, Amazon, "simple set up" should NOT take 4 hours.

[tomsem]

If your router/modem has WPS setup, you might try that.

[NNolan]

Originally Posted by tomsem

If your router/modem has WPS setup, you might try that.

I did try it...didn't work. I also just tried using the default password on the bottom of my router/modem. That didn't work either. The only way this thing connects is through a hot spot on my phone. The only thing I haven't tried is taking a bunch of my devices offline from my WiFi, and that's not worth the effort. Now that I've poked around in it a bit I'm underwhelmed by the latest software, so I won't be upgrading any of my existing Kindles if they try to push this version down. I'd like to think this is the last Kindle I'll ever buy, but my track record isn't great on resisting the urge to try something new.

ETA: I do like having the cover of the current book on the lock screen. And side loading from Calibre gives me color covers, even in the thumbnails.

ETA 2: for grins and giggles I rebooted my router one more time, but left it off for about 10 minutes before plugging it back in. Then I tried the WPS button once again, and that worked for connecting the Kindle without using the mobile hot spot on my phone. Whew! I upgraded my review to 3 stars because I can see the yellow tint on the bottom of the screen.
And I actually got a phone call from somebody in Kindle Support without asking for one. That's never happened to me before.

[Hollow Man]

Here are a few comments on the Colorsoft, which I've had since Thursday night. The only other readers I own are the Kindle Keyboard and original Oasis (although my wife has owned a couple of the original Paperwhites that don't have a flush screen).

The "screen door" effect that is on the competitions' readers is there, but for me it isn't an issue; it's simply a different texture. The text is slightly less sharp than my Oasis. Neither of these things are noticeable when I read at a standard distance. If I take my eyeglasses off, I have to read with it closer to my face, and then I can see these things, but neither bother me.

The slider to adjust the warmth of the lighting has a wide range. At the lowest setting, with my room's warm lighting on, the screen is very blue. At the high end, it's extremely orange. Somewhere between 5 and 10 gives a nice balance of warmth that looks more like book paper than the Oasis can do (the Oasis is more akin to white computer paper). All of this varies on your room lighting, plus how much natural light is also hitting the screen.

Using the light is essential, because the screen without it is very dark (I'd say slightly worse contrast than my Kindle Keyboard). This means that when inside you'll always want to use the light, and when outdoors, while acceptable, isn't nearly as nice an experience as my Oasis. This also means that if you set the "screensaver" to show a book cover, even though it's now in color, it doesn't pop the way I'd hoped.

It is absurdly quick compared to my Oasis. Page turns are instantaneous, and going through the menus and their options is much speedier. All the color covers make scrolling though your library a more pleasurable experience.

The biggest issue, by far, is the dreaded "yellow hue" at the bottom of the screen you've likely read about on Reddit. To elaborate, it manifests itself as an overall unevenness in lighting (it is not present when the light is off) over the whole screen. This will change slightly depending on the warmth chosen, but overall, it manifests itself as being slightly cooler/pink in the upper-left, and warmer/amber in the lower right. The shift from left to right is very hard to notice, and most people also don't notice the top shift.

I am convinced this issue is on all Colorsofts (multiple people say they've exchanged it and the replacements also have the issue), and seems to also affect the new Paperwhites. Some people don't notice it; it will vary depending on the lighting conditions in the room, how much brightness and warmth you've dialed in, and one's overall sensitivity to it.

Amazon has told some people that engineers are working on a software fix. This seems like a hardware problem, but maybe they can do something via software, depending on how much control they have over each individual light, to minimize it.

I'm going to hang onto it. With luck they'll tweak the lighting issue, and for days I want to read outside, if I find I want the best contrast I can get, I'll go back to my Oasis those days. Considering it also has some unevenness in the lighting (but you have to be really particular to see it!), and Amazon never made another reader with a rechargeable cover (I'm still dealing with the issues that has created over the years), let's just say I'm used to their lack of being able to get things right the first time.

[JoeC]

I've been playing with the Colorsoft and agree with most of your comments. I don't see the "screen door" effect and there is slight yellowing at the bottom of the screen. I've been able to twiddle with the lighting and find the screen really nice - comparable to the Oasis, better than the PW 11 in terms of contrast.

The book covers are a novelty that I really like, using the "vivid" setting makes a difference. I sure wish it had buttons.

[Hollow Man]

Originally Posted by JoeC

The book covers are a novelty that I really like, using the "vivid" setting makes a difference. I sure wish it had buttons.

I also use vivid, and I really notice the lack of buttons in places I didn't expect to notice it. For example, if I search, I can't use buttons to page through the results. Swiping to different pages of results means I can accidentally select a result I didn't mean to.

This also happens when I scroll through my list of books. I used to be able to do that with the buttons, but now, if I try to flick through the list, I sometimes open a book I didn't mean to.

I still miss how small and light (the aluminum!) the original Oasis is, but I'll get over it. But I really hope that they release an anniversary edition of the Oasis...

[LDB]

Originally Posted by Hollow Man

I also use vivid, and I really notice the lack of buttons in places I didn't expect to notice it. For example, if I search, I can't use buttons to page through the results. Swiping to different pages of results means I can accidentally select a result I didn't mean to.

This also happens when I scroll through my list of books. I used to be able to do that with the buttons, but now, if I try to flick through the list, I sometimes open a book I didn't mean to.

I still miss how small and light (the aluminum!) the original Oasis is, but I'll get over it. But I really hope that they release an anniversary edition of the Oasis...

A major reason to have buttons, to avoid selecting/opening things when you just want to scroll up/down a page. Major annoyance with these stupid buttonless devices. Major. Stupid design. Stupid.

[hondabf]

Can someone with a colorsoft confirm about sideloaded PDFs not showing colors? I have read a couple of comments on Reddit and Tiktok claiming that a few sideloaded PDFs do show color and some others do not.

I would link those comments here but I have lost the threads because the subreddit is (rightfully) being swarmed by the screen yellowing issue.

[Hollow Man]

Originally Posted by LDB

A major reason to have buttons, to avoid selecting/opening things when you just want to scroll up/down a page. Major annoyance with these stupid buttonless devices. Major. Stupid design. Stupid.

Agreed, and honestly, I can't find a good way to page left and right when searching on text from within a book. Swiping left and right directly on a result is just a recipe for disaster.

Amazon clearly feels it's no longer worth the investment and has instead decided to leave that market to its competitors.

If they're smart they'll bring back the Oasis as a limited anniversary edition and charge more money for it.

[Hollow Man]

Originally Posted by hondabf

Can someone with a colorsoft confirm about sideloaded PDFs not showing colors? I have read a couple of comments on Reddit and Tiktok that a few sideloaded PDFs do show color and some others do not.

I've seen people mention this, but don't read pdfs on Kindles for me to try out. But it seems like the sort of thing, given enough time, one will figure out what the criteria needs to be (or Amazon will issue a fix) to get those working in color.

[JoeC]

Originally Posted by hondabf

Can someone with a colorsoft confirm about sideloaded PDFs not showing colors? I have read a couple of comments on Reddit and Tiktok that a few sideloaded PDFs do show color and some others do not.

I would link those comments here but I have lost the threads because the subreddit is (rightfully) being swarmed by the screen yellowing issue.

I just sideloaded today's WSJ pdf (which has color) via Calibre and the colors do not show (it's in B&W on the Colorsoft).

[odamizu]

Can someone with Colorsoft confirm whether your Colorsoft is listed as a target device for Download and transfer via USB?

I'm guessing not, but I wanted to confirm before updating the first post on the Dealing with Kindle ebooks in calibre thread.