I’ve been a stranger to Kindle devices for as long as they have been available. To be fair, I added e-readers to my Amazon basket several times, but I never pulled the trigger to own one. As an avid reader of physical books, this has been my act of resistance: not readying digitally but owning physical copies and creating a personal library.
I tried using several iPad models as e-readers, and I even bought the first Game of Thrones book on Apple Books just to see how I would like it. But no, even this magnificent piece of literature couldn’t convince me to justify moving away from my passion for physical books. I love the color of the cover, the feel of the paper in my hands, and everything else you, book lovers, also know about.
Let me digress a little more. Even though I have been a tech journalist for most of my career, I’ve been slowly trying to move away from the need to have everything online. I’m trying to be less active on social media, have started reading a physical copy of the newspaper, and have been using House of Marley’s Stir it Up turntable to listen to some of my favorite songs more often.
That said, Amazon might finally convince me to own a Kindle because they announced a product that caught my eye—and, to be fair is more convenient than carrying ridiculously large books around: the new Amazon Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition.
First spotted by The Verge, Amazon has accidentally unveiled four different Kindles ahead of time (which have now been properly announced): a reimagined Scribe model, its fastest Paperwhite model, a new entry-level version in a Matcha color, and the first color Kindle.
According to the company’s press release, the Kindle Colorsoft brings “color to Kindle without compromise. It has everything customers love about Kindle: high contrast, fast page turns, auto-adjusting front light, and weeks of battery life. It adds a vibrant yet pleasing color. Now, you can search for color covers in your Library or Kindle Store, view photos and images of books in color, or highlight text that you can easily search for later.”
Amazon says this e-reader’s display features a new light guide with nitride LEDs that, combined with our custom algorithms, enhances color and increases brightness without losing detail. The Kindle Colorsoft comes with wireless charging, up to eight weeks of battery life, and is waterproof, so you can take it to the bathtub or beach without worry.
Amazon says this device will cost $279.99 and ship on October 30th.
Wrap up
While I still have to see how reviewers like this product, I might finally give a Kindle a chance. Maybe this new Colorsoft edition was everything I needed. However, it feels like it will only make me buy books twice: digitally and physically.
