Introducing Amazon Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition (32 GB) – With color display, auto-adjusting front light, wireless charging, and long battery life - Metallic Black

I purchased the Amazon Kindle Colorsoft so I could have color images and graphics on many textbooks in my collection, as well as the ability to highlight in different colors, a feature I used a lot on my Android Kindle app but couldn't with my 2021 Paperwhite. The book covers are nice in color, too, bringing a level of dimension to my library that I enjoy a lot.I am giving this five stars as it satisfies my main objectives: The color is good, color highlighting excellent, and the speed of page turns and library browsing is excellent (noticeably faster than my 2021 Paperwhite). The only thing missing is a satisfying "dark mode," as it only affects the book pages and not the whole interface as with the Paperwhite. Perhaps this will change in a future update, but it isn't a big issue for me and the white text on a black background is still excellent for night reading, especially with the amber glow turned to the max. Color highlighting in this mode is also excellent.I do have some caveats, however: The battery drains a lot quicker than the Paperwhite, and the 32GB storage fills up a lot quicker. Also, the "Vivid" color setting seems to switch back to "Standard" sporadically, even if it still says "Vivid" is selected (this might be happening after I select a Restart).These are not serious issues as I just need to charge more frequently and will refrain from downloading my whole library as space fills up, and a reset to "Vivid" handles the color issue until a software fix is available (assuming this isn't just my imagination).In addition, the price is very high for what it offers, so unless color is very important to someone (to view comics, highlighting in color, etc.), the new 2024 Paperwhite might be the better option.UPDATE: An unfortunate issue a lot of reviews have mentioned is a yellow band at the bottom of the screen. At first, I didn't think my Colorsoft had this issue, but now I see a very faint band at the bottom of the screen when reading with black text on a white background. To be fair, I might not have noticed this without the issue being pointed out, and it is a lot less noticeable than some photos I've seen (I have the warmth setting set to 10 normally, which might camouflage the band a little). It looks to me like an issue of the calibration of the LEDs as it doesn't appear when the backlight is off. It is also undetectable with images and using the white test on a black background. Still, it is there, and I am requesting a replacement for when the issue is resolved.I'm keeping my review 5-stars because Amazon has been very responsive regarding this yellow banding issue. Contacting customer service via a chat was a simple process and a replacement request was quickly queued up (replacements, alas, aren't available yet while the underlying issue is being investigated and resolved), and I can keep using my current Colorsoft in the meantime (while noticeable, the yellow band isn't distracting while I read). One of the reasons I keep coming to Amazon is their fantastic customer service, and this is a good example of them doing what they can for an unfortunate situation.UPDATE #2: I received my replacement Kindle Colorsoft and the yellow banding issue is resolved. Again, I feel the customer service response to this issue was excellent and it is a primary reason I continue to use Amazon.

Update:When I first wrote this review, I was contacted by Amazon and given a choice - return the Colorsoft devices I have and get my money back or be “put on a replacement list”, hold on to the current one, and wait for it to be replaced with a good device. I chose to hold on to the devices and wait. For over a month, they didn’t contact me and I contacted them numerous times to ask. Each time they said that replacements were not available and then they did replace them.Amazon has replaced one Colorsoft twice and one once. Every single one of the replacements has the yellowing at the bottom of the screen and at various places on the screen. One of them had dark spots in it that look like dead pixels, even though I have been told that these don’t have dead pixels.Online, I have seen many instances of Amazon replacing defective, yellow Colorsoft devices with stock that has been inspected and many of these actually look good according to pictures people are showing of their replacement. These come with a note saying something like it has been tested and does not have the issues the original does. It also comes with a little sticker of some kind. None of the three that I have received had the note or the sticker, indicating that they were replaced with regular stock that is still defective. Yes, I was put on a list, but I had to do all the legwork and pester Amazon to replace them at all. It should not have been that way. All of the reps that I dealt with have been friendly, as they always are. But I got all sorts of different answers in the emails. Some said that I needed to call Amazon, some said that I needed to chat with them on the website, and some said that I just needed to continue to wait, with no additional information about when I could expect a replacement.This is not being handled well at all. I now have FIVE defective devices that I need to pack up and return. I have no faith at all that there are replacements coming that won’t be defective and after almost three months of this saga, I just need it to be over.Original Review:For the record, I have ordered many Kindle devices, both Fire and regular Kindle, and this is the first time that I have been disappointed in a Kindle device. I have been waiting for a color capable Kindle since they stared allowing highlighting on Kindle devices. I am a highlighter and make many highlights in books I read and I like to use color, so I was excited that I could have a Paperwhite that would allow me to do this.I bought two of them, one for my wife and one for myself and I have noticed the same issues on both.First the pros.In my opinion, the color is pretty well done. I wasn't expecting color like I see on an LCD/LED device like the Kindle Fire and I didn't get it. Compared to that type of device, the color is a bit muted. That's not a bad thing, it's just how the technology works. The page turning responds quickly and the highlighting works as expected. It's also a light device and after using the Kindle Fire Max 11 to read books I want to highlight in color, it was a delight to hold such a light device. I did buy the Kindle Leather cover for it and that adds a bit of weight. The cover is actually disappointing as well, but that's an issue for another review.The disappointing.When you look at the book list, there is a Home/Library selector at the bottom that has a yellow tint, presumably to separate it out from the rest of the page. The problem is that the yellow carries over to whatever book you are reading. So select a book and there's a faint yellow bar at the bottom of the screen that does not disappear with page turns. The result is that the bottom of the screen looks dimmer than the rest of the screen. If it weren't for that yellow bar, the screen would be pretty even. But it is very distracting to constantly have it at the bottom of the screen like that.There is no dark mode. I do not normally use dark mode on Paperwhite type devices because they are easy on the eyes but I thought I'd give it a try to see if it eliminated the yellow bar. Instead they have a Page Color feature that makes the background very dark grey. It is not dark mode because it is not black. Amazon does have a little blurb at the top of the product page stating that dark mode is "not currently available". Perhaps that indicates that it will be enabled in the future.Lastly, the text is... well, it's just different. I know it is 300 ppi but the text is a little bit grainy. I suspect that it is because of the color layer and it might just be how it is for these types of devices. I know other manufacturers have had color e-readers for a while but I haven't looked at any of them. Also, the screen shows some grain. It's not bad, but it is noticeable. Again, perhaps it is just the technology.The interestingThe one interesting thing to me is that there is no page refresh switch on this device, or at least I couldn't find one. I thought that if there was, it might work to eliminate the yellow bar. That's not an option.The decisionThis is a tough decision for me. The yellow bar seems like something that could be fixed with a software update. If that's the case, I'm not sure how it was missed in product testing. It was the first thing I noticed when I started reading with it. There is a segment of the population that just uses products without looking at them but there are also many that actually look over the product to make sure that it works and looks right first. There are also people who don't even notice things like weird color tints and shifts, but I am not one of those people. So my decision comes down to whether I have faith in Amazon providing a patch for this issue and if it can even be fixed. My wife is happy with hers because she is reading the books with dark page color. I am also wondering if I will lose the 20% off if I return mine and keep my wife's. I suppose that is something I would fight Amazon for if they did it.More than likely, I will hang on to it until 11/30 and if there is no fix, I will return it. Perhaps I will wait until December and get a new one with the extended return period or I will just pick up a new Paperwhite and wait until the next generation of Colorsoft. Either way, I am not keeping a $279 device with a yellow bar on the bottom of the books I read.