New 16GB Kindle Colorsoft

[salamanderjuice]

Amazon announced a new slightly cheaper 16GB Kindle Colorsoft that also drops features like wireless charging.

https://www.theverge.com/news/712765...oft-16-gb-kids

Still more than the Kobo Libra Color somehow.

Moderator Notice
Added links:

https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Kindle...dp/B0CGVSKR1G/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Amazon-Kind...dp/B0CX8MQF7R/
https://www.amazon.ca/Amazon-Kindle-...dp/B0CX8MQF7R/

[Dr. Drib]

Sounds good.

I'll wait until a group of early adopters begin to criticize it - or not - and then, in about 2-3 years after version 2 comes out and another group of early adopters have cleared the screen as 'OK', I'll make a decision on whether or not to buy it.

Thanks for the info!

[tomsem]

It lacks these features of the SE: 16GB less storage, light sensor, wireless charging, and accelerometer (used for 'double tap to advance page' feature). I could do without any of these but would probably spend $30 more anyway if I were going to purchase one.

It's interesting that they do not have ad-supported model that sells for $20 less or whatever. Perhaps we can hope they are abandoning this 'feature'?

As it happens I got a second Colorsoft SE for about $150 with the recent Prime Day promotion plus trade in credit on a Kindle 1 I had lying around. The display is noticeably better than my first one (pre-ordered), which I found good enough, and have been happily reading books on.

If one is purchasing books from Amazon, this is arguably the best Kindle to have in order to facilitate DRM removal, since it alone downloads color images, even if you regard Kaleido 3 as 'not good enough'. It also gets PDF personal documents converted to Print Replica, so it will sync annotations with the Kindle apps and Kindle Scribe.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by tomsem

It lacks these features of the SE: 16GB less storage, light sensor, wireless charging, and accelerometer (used for 'double tap to advance page' feature). I could do without any of these but would probably spend $30 more anyway if I were going to purchase one.

It's interesting that they do not have ad-supported model that sells for $20 less or whatever. Perhaps we can hope they are abandoning this 'feature'?

As it happens I got a second Colorsoft SE for about $150 with the recent Prime Day promotion plus trade in credit on a Kindle 1 I had lying around. The display is noticeably better than my first one (pre-ordered), which I found good enough, and have been happily reading books on.

If one is purchasing books from Amazon, this is arguably the best Kindle to have in order to facilitate DRM removal, since it alone downloads color images, even if you regard Kaleido 3 as 'not good enough'. It also gets PDF personal documents converted to Print Replica, so it will sync annotations with the Kindle apps and Kindle Scribe.

And the Colorsoft has the chance to have a firmware pushed to it to allow a hardened DRM which you cannot remove.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by tomsem

If one is purchasing books from Amazon, this is arguably the best Kindle to have in order to facilitate DRM removal, since it alone downloads color images, even if you regard Kaleido 3 as 'not good enough'. It also gets PDF personal documents converted to Print Replica, so it will sync annotations with the Kindle apps and Kindle Scribe.

No, a second hand K3 to PW1 (inclusive) is better because those get colour, no firmware updates and azw3/kf8, if available (no KFX ever). Older ones might be hard to register.

Also madness specific to Amazon to have to convert PDF to print replica (no-one else needs PDF conversion for annotation) and it's far too small for most PDFs.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by tomsem

It lacks these features of the SE: 16GB less storage, light sensor, wireless charging, and accelerometer (used for 'double tap to advance page' feature). I could do without any of these but would probably spend $30 more anyway if I were going to purchase one.

It's interesting that they do not have ad-supported model that sells for $20 less or whatever. Perhaps we can hope they are abandoning this 'feature'?

As it happens I got a second Colorsoft SE for about $150 with the recent Prime Day promotion plus trade in credit on a Kindle 1 I had lying around. The display is noticeably better than my first one (pre-ordered), which I found good enough, and have been happily reading books on.

If one is purchasing books from Amazon, this is arguably the best Kindle to have in order to facilitate DRM removal, since it alone downloads color images, even if you regard Kaleido 3 as 'not good enough'. It also gets PDF personal documents converted to Print Replica, so it will sync annotations with the Kindle apps and Kindle Scribe.

I think the $30 is worth it for the 16GB of storage alone honestly. Especially if you actually want to use colour for more than highlighting and book covers.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

I think the $30 is worth it for the 16GB of storage alone honestly. Especially if you actually want to use colour for more than highlighting and book covers.

Indeed: 16GB yields less than 12GB of user storage. Only holds about 3 dozen manga/graphic novels, even if they are mostly B&W images. I have larger screens for these (Scribe, iPad) so I don't read many on Colorsoft, but many people would want to do this, and it is a pretty good experience for manga and with guided view option, for graphic novels as well.

(But it baffles me that they have not added Comixology Unlimited support to Kindles or at least Colorsoft - you cannot borrow, return, or even see which are CU titles, except maybe by launching the web browser. Why not '3 months free' offer when you register, as they do for Audible, which is not even a very good fit for Kindle consumption?)

[Quoth]

Most Kindle ebook readers (people) use an app. That's why Audible is aimed at them. Audio books are also a similar demographic to Kindle ebooks. Comixology is not. Also isn't the Colorsoft a bit small for comics?

The Fire sells far better than ink Kindles and is essentially an Android tablet. It sells well compared to actual Android tablets and the larger ones are a better size for Comixology.

[Renate]

Extra memory has always been a rip-off across the computer sector.
(Or a profit center, viewed from the other direction.)
But surely we've reached the point that a 16 GB chip is more expensive than a 32 GB.
For flash drives there is almost zero cost difference between 16 and 32 GB.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Renate

Extra memory has always been a rip-off across the computer sector.
(Or a profit center, viewed from the other direction.)
But surely we've reached the point that a 16 GB chip is more expensive than a 32 GB.
For flash drives there is almost zero cost difference between 16 and 32 GB.

Now that we can make bigger capacity chips, it is down to YIELD at the chip production level.
It costs the same to place either capacity chip.
That leaves board real estate and power consumption (bigger battery might be needed).

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

Amazon announced a new slightly cheaper 16GB Kindle Colorsoft that also drops features like wireless charging.

https://www.theverge.com/news/712765...oft-16-gb-kids

Still more than the Kobo Libra Color somehow.

This seems to be rumour rather than an Amazon announcement.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

This seems to be rumour rather than an Amazon announcement.

It's not a rumor. You can already buy it! They also extended Colorsoft availability outside the U.S and into Canada.

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/dev...indle-for-kids

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CX8MQF7R

[cgsmom]

When I go to Amazon, I can only find the new version of the Colorsoft. I can't find the Signature Edition Colorsoft unless I look in my order history. I wonder if they are planning to discontinue the 32 Gb version.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by cgsmom

When I go to Amazon, I can only find the new version of the Colorsoft. I can't find the Signature Edition Colorsoft unless I look in my order history. I wonder if they are planning to discontinue the 32 Gb version.

The Signature Edition is available now and in stock on Amazon.ca whereas previously it wasn't.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CX8YKQ2H

[John F]

Originally Posted by cgsmom

When I go to Amazon, I can only find the new version of the Colorsoft. I can't find the Signature Edition Colorsoft unless I look in my order history. I wonder if they are planning to discontinue the 32 Gb version.

I'm seeing the Sig Bundle (US) with a slight delay in shipping. If I search for colorsoft I only see the new version, if I search for "Kindle colorsoft" I also see the signature bundle version.