The best color E Ink reader I've tested is not made by Boox or Kobo

To avid readers, the Kindle has been a mainstay since its inception in 2007. Each new Kindle model gives readers more advanced features and faster performance. But now, with the new Kindle Colorsoft, readers get a vivid color display to enjoy their books in a new way.

Also: The best Kindles you can buy

The Kindle Colorsoft is the latest iteration in the Kindle lineup. It features the same 300 ppi display that’s standard for e-readers, except it also has a 150 ppi display for color images, along with 120 nits of brightness to really make your pages pop.  Depending on your color preferences, you can customize the color settings to standard or vivid. 

Amazon dubs the device as “color without compromise”, and as someone who’s tested many e-readers this year alone, I was impressed by the Kindle Colorsoft as a welcome addition to the color e-reader world.

Fresh out of the box, the Colorsoft proudly displays its color capabilities, since even when turned off, the display dims to one of Kindle’s built-in backgrounds. Alternatively, you can choose to display your book’s cover in standby mode so you can see the art how it was meant to be seen.

After turning on the device and setting it up (super easy to do, especially if you’ve owned a Kindle before), the first thing I really noticed was the performance: it’s fast. Compared to my base model Kindle (2022 version) it zips through the Kindle library when choosing a book, and pages in your book turn fast without any annoying lag effects. 

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Like the Kindle Paperwhite, the Colorsoft is super bright and can be read in direct sunlight without drowning out the color on the screen. To test how the Colorsoft’s 120-nit brightness held up in direct sunlight to competitors, I placed it outside on its highest brightness next to two other color e-readers at their highest brightness: a Kobo Libra Colour and a Boox Note Air C 3. The Colorsoft’s color display and brightness outperformed the Kobo Libra Colour in direct sunlight, and it had less lag when moving between titles.

Compared to the Colorsoft, the Boox Note Air C 3 had the same high brightness and was as speedy as the Kindle when moving through pages, especially when reading a color magazine. However, upon seeing the Boox and the Kindle side by side, you can definitely notice the pixelization on the Boox’s color display, as opposed to the smooth color that the Kindle provides.

The Colorsoft’s color features don’t stop there: you can also highlight passages in your books in different colors and organize them into categories (i.e., quotes in yellow, facts in blue, characters to remember in purple, etc.).  

While I’m not a fan of reading comics, Keeley Boehmer, Principal Product Manager for Kindle, told me that the Colorsoft provides panel-by-panel reading for comics, making it easy to see the elements the author intended for each panel. In addition, a pinch-and-zoom feature allows you to really see the color images in detail.

Another impressive feature of the Colorsoft is that it’s water resistant (rated IPX8), so you can read it by the beach, pool, or in the bath. Plus, it has wireless charging, a feature previously only available in the Kindle Paperwhite.

Also: The best e-readers you can buy

I have virtually no complaints with this Kindle except perhaps its small size. The size itself is easy and comfortable to hold, but reading color books or magazines, a bigger size like that of the Boox Note Air C 3’s 10.3-inch display makes a greater impact, and you can really see and appreciate the color images better when seeing the entire page.

ZDNET’s buying advice

In the world of color e-readers, the Kindle Colorsoft is a top competitor thanks to its customizable color display, fast performance in downloading books and page-turning, and wireless charging. The color display isn’t pixelated like some other color e-readers, and its highlight feature enables new ways to read books.

If you’re someone who reads a lot of books or comics with color, the Colorsoft is definitely worth it. However, if you read primarily in black and white, you can save $120 and opt for the new Kindle Paperwhite, which has just as fast performance.