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$320 is a lot to pay for a well-balanced device in an aluminum case with pogo pins. Cherlynn Low for Engadget RATING : 8.5 / 10 Pros Solid aluminum housing and smooth design Nice Fig color Cons No wireless charging Signature Edition doesn’t offer enough to justify the extra cost We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. I'll be honest.
I don't have much to say about the new Kindle Colorsoft. It doesn't feel like that long ago that Amazon introduced its first-ever color ereader , but that was in October 2024. At the time, the product was novel for the company, as it presented a technical challenge.
How was Amazon going to offer a paper–like color reading experience while preserving the quality of a black-and-white ereader? The company used nitride LEDs and custom algorithms to finetune how lights were beamed through individual pixels to maintain contrast levels, and also made sure that pages turned faster than previous devices. The original Colorsoft only came in one color, which felt like a staid container for its relatively vibrant contents.
Cut to October 2026 and Amazon has a new Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition for the world. It's a bit thinner than before, with edge-to-edge color and a new color option: Fig. With this variant, the Colorsoft's front bezels also match the rest of the case, so you won't see unsightly white or black bars like on previous models.
This Kindle Colorsoft generation starts at $290, but if you pay $30 more, you can get the Signature Edition, which is what I'm reviewing here. What's new (or not so new) in the Kindle Colorsoft 2026? Everything else about the Kindle Colorsoft is basically the same as its predecessor.
You're still getting a screen with 300 pixels per inch (ppi) for black-and-white reading, or 150 ppi for color. Nothing has changed about the color representation here – you still get the "vibrant" mode in addition to the standard rendering to get a bit more saturation out of your pages. I'm not a huge graphic novel reader, and most of the pops of color in my Kindle Colorsoft experience are in the book covers in my Library or when I highlight particular sentences or passages.
They were pleasant little touches, but for me, the novelty of paperlike color E Ink displays has largely worn off. If I'm not reading something where the colors are actually integral to the storytelling, I don't need an ereader to deliver a broad spectrum of shades. All that is to say – the reading experience on the Kindle Colorsoft this year is largely the same as last year, minus the early troubles our reviewer (and some other people online ) encountered with yellow bands on their devices.
Since Amazon resolved to fix the issue , it should not impact current and new Colorsoft models, and I did not notice this during my testing. I didn't experience any obvious issues when reading on the Colorsoft either. Cherlynn Low for Engadget Pricing is a bit confusing to compare, so bear with me.
At launch in 2024 , Amazon only made a "Signature Edition" of the Colorsoft available, and it started at $280. This year, the Colorsoft starts at $290 for the base configuration with 16GB of RAM and goes up to $320. That additional spend will get you the Signature Edition's aluminum case, pogo pins on the back, twice the storage and the choice of black or maroon.
So you can say the Colorsoft costs between $10 and $40 more than before, and for that money you're mostly getting a slightly more refined flush-front design and thinner chassis. In real life, much as I appreciated the aesthetic tweak, it didn't have a huge impact on my reading experience. I never struggled to hold the previous Colorsoft (or many other recent Kindles) so the thinner body, while nice, wasn't a huge change.
The new Fig finish was a nearly identical match for my Burgundy iPhone 18 Pro, though, so if you love matching your gadgets to each other, this might be worth considering. More importantly, I liked the sturdiness and premium vibe of the aluminum housing. My Kindles live in my cluttered purses, and their ability to withstand scratches is crucial.
In my two weeks with the new Kindle Colorsoft, I've thrown it in my backpack with no regard for its safety, and it's still managed to remain pristine. I did decide to put a case on it midway through my testing so as not to tempt the review Gods, though, to ensure I could get a good photo of it before my recklessness marred it forever. Cherlynn Low Charging and battery life I haven't had a chance to connect the Colorsoft to any new accessory that's compatible with its new pogo pins in the real world yet.
But I can at least say that based on a short demo ahead of Amazon's launch, I enjoyed how easy it was to snap the Signature Edition Colorsoft onto a magnetic case and use page turning buttons on a cover that connected via the pogo pins. I'll need more time to judge the responsiveness, consistency and ease of use, but for now, color me intrigued. I do wish Amazon hadn't removed the ability to wirelessly charge the Colorsoft.
It's so handy to just drop the tablet onto a charging stand, and those who have already bought those accessories might be miffed at the omission. That said, I never worried about charging the Kindle Colorsoft, because like most other Kindles, its battery lasts forever. I mean quite genuinely, because every time I pick up one of the many abandoned Kindles lying around in my house, they always still have juice left.
I was slightly concerned when, after a day or two of focused reading, the Colorsoft's battery dipped by 10 percent to 90 percent. But then I remembered I had the same experience with the larger, more energy intensive Kindle Scribe Colorsoft. And that thing remains alive on my couch without me even thinking about plugging it in.
I won't say that I've had enough time to properly evaluate the Kindle Colorsoft's battery performance, but suffice it to say that nothing in my two weeks with it has been a real cause for concern so far. The competition Cherlynn Low for Engadget Like I said, I don't read a lot of stuff that's better in color. But I can tell you that the Kindle Colorsoft is not your only option out there – Signature Edition or no Signature Edition.
Our favorite ereader overall is the Kobo Clara Colour, which costs just $150. It has a slightly smaller 6-inch screen, so if that's too small and you have more money to spare, the Kobo Libra Colour is also a solid offering. It has a 7-inch screen that's a respectable color E Ink display, and costs $260 on Kobo's website.
As a bonus, it has physical page-turn buttons onboard so you won't have to spend even more money on a case for that feature. However, it does only come in black or white options. At that price, the Kobo Libra Colour comes in at $30 under the Kindle Colorsoft's starting fee, and still manages to offer 32GB of storage and stylus support.
The thing is, Kobo's interface and library simply can't hold a candle to Amazon's, which isn't just vast, but is easy to use across various platforms. You can browse for books through the Amazon store on your Kindle, and for anyone that's already amassed a library in one place or subscribed to Kindle Unlimited, then leaving presents a lot of friction. I also like how I can read on my phone, tablet or Kindle and my progress is synced anywhere I leave off and wherever I decide to pick back up.
Wrap-up The Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition feels like an unnecessary splurge for me. But for anyone who regularly reads color ebooks, the Colorsoft might be a treat. Plus, if you are also a fan of the Fig color option, are locked into the Amazon ecosystem and might want to use your Kindle Colorsoft with the page-turn cover one day, the Signature Edition is a capable ereader that won't disappoint.
Source: Engadget
