Ivy Reisner
Stiff competition for the color Kobo
There are different points to consider for those Kindle users looking to add to their collection and those who are considering jumping into Kindle or eBooks in general, for the first time.For the person upgrading, the Paperwhite charging cradle works with this. Of course it also charges with the included USB-C cable.I’m not yet seeing much by way of color content for books, except of course for comics. So far, it’s largely just the covers. But once the big fish gets involved, things change. The publishing industry may have a weird love/hate relationship with Amazon, but it’s obvious they certainly can’t ignore this. I’m particularly hoping charts in more technical books will be colored.There is a yellow bar along the bottom of the screen. It’s been discussed online a lot. I’ve heard rumors that Amazon is aware of this and working to fix it, but I haven’t heard if that fix is software or hardware based. Because of that, this feels a little rushed to market to be in time for the holiday season. I mean, the QA team can’t have missed it. But this is the only issue I’ve found.For those who are considering this as their first Kindle, the main competitor to this device in the color eInk market right now is Kobo, and their closest match is the Libra. I’ve put a photo of both side by side to show the size difference.The main advantage, as I see it, of the Libra is the pencil. It’s the best of the Colorsoft and a shrunken down version of the Scribe in one, with notebooks and the ability to write on whatever book you’re reading. I’m definitely hoping Amazon puts out a color Scribe next year.At the time of this writing, the Libra is the cheaper of the two. Both are waterproof with the exact same rating. I wouldn’t take one on a kayak and let it sit in a puddle, but don’t worry if one falls in the tub. I do not understand how people can read print books in the bath. I’d destroy one just by my hands being wet. The wide variety of waterproof eReaders has finally opened that up for me.Both devices offer 32 gig of memory, which is bordering on crazy. I have 5,417 books downloaded, over which almost a thousand are comics, and I have 15 gig left. However, they differ in total addressable memory, that is memory not used by the system. For the Kindle it is 24.21 gig. The Kobo won’t tell me the total amount, but I have 24.7 gig left with a few hundred downloads.Both offer audiobooks via Bluetooth, but only the Kindle is compatible with Audible. Kobo has their own, somewhat more limited, audiobook store.The screen on the Kindle is a newer model, but newer isn’t necessarily better. See New Coke for those old enough to remember that. I find the colors comparable, but I think Kindle is a tad more vibrant and Kobo is a tad more accurate. Kindle tinges things a bit on the blue side.In terms of content, from the public library, Kobo allows you to search for books, put them on hold or check them out directly from the integrated app on the device. Kindle allows you to borrow the book on the library website, go to the website, and choose which device to send it to. The convenience winner depends entirely on your public library situation. I live in Brooklyn and work in Manhattan, which grants me access to both library systems. With Kindle, I can borrow from either one, no problem. With Kobo, I can only link one library card to the device, so only borrow from one. I have seen a handful of books that offer Send to Kindle, but not ePub download. Mostly manga. So the winner depends on your taste and library situation.For sending documents to the device, both support sideloading, but that’s a pain. For Kindle you can use the website or the email address. Easy. For Kobo, you can save your files in a set folder in a DropBox account or Google Drive and then download to the device. That’s two steps, and requiresa separate subscription, but it leaves your documents backed up and easy to access. Again, the winner depends on your situation. Kobo also supports storing documents from Pocket, but I have not gotten that to work. I think that’s more a me problem than a device problem, to be honest.For unlimited subscriptions, both offer their own, but I think Kindle Unlimited has the better selection.If you read comics, there is no contest here. Comixology is the digital king of that domain, and the only eReader that will work on is the Kindle (of course that excludes tablets like the iPad). The colors aren’t as bright, but to me they feel a bit more like a print comic. The Colorsoft does support Guided Reading, where it shows a panel at a time and guides you across the page. This would be perfect, except it does not change orientation as you turn the device. I’m not sure when Kindle lost that, and I have checked setting to see that I didn’t leave it locked. You can turn from portrait to landscape view through the font menu, but that’s a pain when you’re trying to read a comic. This makes some panels, say those that would stretch fully across the page, a bit hard to read, where turning the page and having it go widthwise across the longer edge would have made it easy.For highlighting, the Kobo only highlights in yellow. You can change the color of the pen, but not the highlighter. For Kindle, the default is the exact same shade of yellow, but you can choose between that, pink, blue, and orange just by tapping on it.If you like physical page turn buttons, Kobo has that and Kindle doesn’t, though I will say Kindle put the power button on the side, which seems more intuitive, or at least more of the common practice. Kobo put it in the back, and I keep forgetting it’s there.It will be interesting to see if Nook jumps into this game next.It’s close between the two. I’d say if you want notetaking, go Kobo. If you want comics, go Kindle. If you want the better reading experience with black and white text books, I think the Kindle is a bit crisper and faster to refresh, so that would be my favorite.If the question is one of do you want to jump to ebooks at all, there are a few points to keep in mind.One, there is some research that says ebook readers retain a bit less than print counterparts, not in terms of comprehension but in terms of chronology. So if a character goes home and stops off at the hardware store, the grocery store, and the post office, a print reader will be able to recall the order more precisely. An ebook reader will only recall that the character went to the three places so long as there is no plot concern around which came first (the person at the hardware store sent regard to the postal clerk for example). I will point out this has only been done with people new to eReaders, using tightly timed experiments, and the eBook readers use part of that limited time to go through how to use the devices. So if it’s 25 minutes, print readers get 25 minutes to read, eBook readers get 10 minutes to learn to use the device and 15 minutes to read. It’s not as bad a methodology as when they were using iPads only with notifications turn on, but it’s still not a pure apples to apples comparison in my book. I suspect this is what also leads to the conclusion that ebook readers read faster. I would love to see the results of equal time and then check the participants’ memories a week later.Two, retrieving information is much faster on an eBook. You can’t text search print. Having made the switch it drives me crazy when a character repeats something someone said offhandedly a hundred or so pages ago and I can’t find it again. In ebooks, that takes seconds. For nonfiction, this is especially important.Three, unlimited libraries are great. A few years back I helped an old lady move into assisted living and she lost almost her entire library. There just wasn’t room for it. Most of mine fits in my purse.Four, the ecological impact of eReaders is shrinking. If you go by the product listing, Kindle creates roughly 42 kg of CO2 in its lifecycle. A single print book creates 7.46 kg in manufacture and transport. This does not include the impact of cutting down trees for paper. So, if you read a minimum of 6 different books on the device though its lifetime that you would otherwise purchase in print, you will have a smaller footprint with this.Here, to me the decision is easy. I’ve gone eBook and I’m not going back.
Aunchient Pistol
A must for Kindle Afficionados
Alright grab a cup of coffee or a cocktail and settle back as I spin my yarn.So, I’m a big fan of kindles. Since 2010 when we had this technology explosion, smartphones and tablets came on the scene and e-paper became an alternative to reading on LCD and OLED, I have been a “Kindle Aficionado.”. I have gotten many, many kindles and sometimes paid more for them than I would have preferred, like 350-400 bucks. I usually can recoup about 100 bucks of that by selling them on later after I’m done as I take care of my devices.I got the first generation Paperwhite with the ever-so-slight visible backlight “issue” that people overeacted to. I remember when that got improved and the processor speed went up making it more usable. I remember when we got warm mode for the first time. I remember the first kindle with Auto Brightness. I remember “whispersync” when we could actually download things off wifi for free via 3G networks. I remember Kindle Voyage’s glass screen and coffin-shaped back. I remember the original Oasis with the detachable and expensive “leatherette” cover. I remember the waterproof second generation Oasis. All of them were wonderful and all had pretty much steady improvements. All still usable, Still have a Voyage to this day because of it’s glass screen quality, despite it not having enough space.Unlike phones, kindle devices last a long time, well past their internal technology sell by date. The kindle I replaced was relatively new for Kindles, but ancient in tech terms (2019, 6 years ago. Technology uses dog years so about 50 years old, lol). Still works flawlessly. Couple issues, one is no color and the other is no USB C (or wireless charging). So it’s time, I traded one of my 2nd gen Oases in for this device and Although it’s not a premium build as Kindles go, it’s a color paperwhite – And probably the first of many color e-ink displays – it’s features were an ABSOLUTE MUST for me. Color, wireless charging and USB C so I can start getting rid of all micro USB keyed cables in my house. These are all big deals. I skipped the scribe, it’s cool but I’ll wait for the eventual color version, color is that big of a deal.Now you’re probably reading some of the pearl clutching reviews people have posted complaining about those things like yellow bottom border, lower resolution and less white “paper” – it’s now more of a greyish color and it’s a slight step back I will admit. But the fact I can see all my books in color – pretty decent color mind you – that alone is worth the cost of admission.I read comics and “graphic novels”. and I’m reading the X-men series from the 80s on up atm and am loving it. Been doing it on an ipad pro, brand new and extremely expensive and fragile device also not worth what is charged for it (1100 bucks). I basically use it to browse the web occasionally and read comics.Now I can read them on my kindle colorsoft signature edition along with my books instead of not being able to. Also, books with 2 color printing like the Illustrated Silmarillion now have their colored titles show up which is refreshing and something I love about the print editions. These also have their color illustrations in color instead of a greyscale mess where before you’d try to work out what it was. It’s a game changer. SImply put. For those who read books with “plates” (as long as the kindle edition supports it I assume) you now get them in color. Comics are almost like reading old yellowed comic books. It has a charm that makes it worthwhile. Now, is it as vibrant as an Ipad, no, it’s not and there might be some use cases for still using your ipad first for art heavy books, but being able to see them in color with only an e-ink device is still huge, as before you wouldn’t even be able to appreciate or make sense of them. You’d never open them, it was print only and no color in the print ever breaking up the monotony. The fact this is a thing of the past now ? That’s fantastic and worth the tradeoffs.The trade offs – let’s talk about them. They’re only issues if you had bad expectations, wanted a tablet, or are OCD. That’s my feelilng anyway. You get a greyer, “dirtier” background and a lower resolution of 150 DPI when images are on the screen. Sure, this is kind of noticable but not deal breakers by any means unless you’re “pixel peeping” and letting your OCD get the best of you. If you are using warm mode the bottom of the screen can geta bit yellowish (I mean it’s warm mode, the whole screen is getting more yellow) but it can be slightly un-uniform and I guess this freaks some folks out that want something perfect. I’m not one of them, but that’s probably the reason for the returns and 3 stars I guess. It is what it is… those people will miss out on color e-ink.Also I’m sure they’ll improve these very minor limitations over time. Similar thing happened with the OG paperwhite and itnever stopped me reading on it, I eventually replaced it and got a better display and more speed.Let’s face it. Your average kindle you could expect to keep for 2 or 3 years until a new model comes out and then sell it for a few bob on ebay, provided you didn’t lose it or damage it in that time. Or you could keep it for 10 years until it was totally obsolete and nobody wanted it and have to toss it as it fails as all electronics do these days as nobody repairs em anymore.I know what I’ve been doing with mine, flipping them back and getting the latest and greatest.Technology will always improve and I look forward to future kindles with improvements, but know this much… I’m not going back to black and white only. Even if it’s a little cleaner and whiter. Also I have some older kindles still so If I want that experience I can have it.Some people may not be able to make this trade off and that’s fine – you can keep to your paperwhite.The speed of this device is also quite good, yes it has to do page refresh more often on color but old kindles had that issue too and had worse “dirt” that accumulated, I think people today are a bit spoiled. One area I would like to see is 64 GB, with color file sizes are more, and 32 GB is not a lot. 64 GB and 128 GB ought to be the norm, come on, it’s 2025, and NAND flash is cheaper than ever and getting cheaper constantly. I remember when kindles had 2 GB on them. 2 GB ! lol.All in all, I’m all in. And i’m excited where the future of color e-ink is going.