The Kindle Colorsoft got off to a rocky start with all the negative reviews about the uneven frontlight and the various drawbacks with color E Ink screens in general, but a surprising number of people are still interested in Amazon’s first color Kindle ereader.
In fact, the Kindle Colorsoft is currently outselling Amazon’s Fire Max 11 tablet by a good margin (8k vs 5k units sold over the past month), despite costing $50 more and offering far fewer features and having lower-end specs across the board. How is that possible? Have we entered the twilight zone and nobody told us?
The battle between ereaders and tablets started over a decade ago, but now that color E Ink screens are starting to become more mainstream, there’s more of a crossover between the two different types of devices now than ever.
You can make the argument that black and white E Ink screens are superior to LCD screens when it comes to displaying basic text. But you can’t make the argument that color E Ink screens are better than LCD screens when it comes to displaying various forms of color content.
Color E Ink still can’t come close to matching the color quality of LCD screens. Color E Ink also has a fuzzier appearance because of the color filter layer, and the refresh rate is much slower than LCD and afterimage effects are common, and yet some people are totally fine with that. Some are even willing to pay more for a color ereader than a fairly nice tablet.
Amazon’s lower end Fire tablets are pretty weak, but the Fire Max 11 is their nicest and most expensive model, and the 64GB version is $50 cheaper than the Kindle Colorsoft.
The price difference makes even less sense when you compare the overall specs and features. The Fire Max 11 has a larger screen with higher resolution for color content (not to mention much better color quality), it has double the storage space, it adds a memory card slot, it has dual speakers and mics, there are front and rear cameras, it adds a fingerprint sensor, it supports newer WiFi and Bluetooth standards, it adds stylus support, and it supports more accessibility features, among other things.
The Kindle Colorsoft only has a few advantages, including longer battery life, waterproofing, wireless charging, and outdoor readability thanks to the E Ink screen. Yet it costs $50 more.
E Ink screens have always been the main reason why ereaders cost so much, and apparently that’s never going to change as long as E Ink continues to run unopposed in the epaper market.
It’s crazy how these two devices are competing against each other, and how the overall specs and features are so wildly in favor of the Fire Max 11, and yet more people are buying the Colorsoft instead.
Kindle Colorsoft – Key Specs
- 7″ Kaleido 3 Color E Ink screen.
- 150 ppi color; 300 ppi BW.
- Frontlight.
- 32GB internal storage.
- Wireless charging (charger sold separately).
- Auto-brightness sensor.
- Waterproof: IPX8 rated.
- WiFi: Supports 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz networks.
- Bluetooth for audiobooks and VoiceView screen reader.
- USB-C port.
- Battery Life Estimate: up to 8 weeks.
- Weight: 219 grams.
- Price: $279 at Amazon
Fire Max 11 – Key Specs
- 11″ TÜV Rheinland LCD screen.
- 213 ppi.
- Octa-core CPU.
- 4GB RAM.
- 64GB internal storage.
- MicroSD card slot for cards up to 1TB.
- Dual speakers and dual microphones.
- Fingerprint sensor.
- Rotation sensor.
- Light sensor.
- 8MP front and rear cameras.
- WiFi 6 support.
- Bluetooth 5.3.
- USB-C port.
- Includes wall charger, unlike Kindles.
- Battery Life Estimate: up to 14 hours.
- Print documents via WiFi.
- USI 2.0 stylus support.
- Weight: 490 grams.
- Price: $229 at Amazon
