Now that Kobo is releasing a couple of new ereaders with color E Ink screens, Amazon is the only major ereader company that still hasn’t released any color ereaders at all.
Last month there was a rumor going around about Amazon releasing a color Kindle in 2025, but that rumor suggests Amazon will use E Ink’s ACeP screens with actual colored pixels instead of the Kaleido screens that all current color ereaders are using, which have a color filter layer over a regular black and white screen.
It could be a matter of Amazon not wanting to compromise on screen quality and they’re waiting for the ACeP screens to fully mature, but the only problem with that theory is Amazon is never the first to do anything. They’re more of a follower than a leader in the ereader industry. It took them a long time to jump on the eNote bandwagon with the Kindle Scribe after other companies had been releasing eNotes for over 5 years.
Color ereaders started coming out in 2020 so it’s about time for Amazon to start following suit, and since all of them use E Ink’s Kaleido screens, I find it hard to believe that Amazon would be the first to use ACeP screens instead.
I think it would make more sense for Amazon to release a color Kindle with a Kaleido 3 screen first like everyone else is doing. Price it low, gauge the market, get people accustomed to color E Ink, and then if superior ACeP screens get released in a year or two it’ll give people a good reason to upgrade.
Since Amazon didn’t release any new Kindles at all in 2023, I think it’s all but guaranteed they’ll release something new in 2024, but with Amazon being so slow to evolve it’s hard to predict if they’ll release a Kindle with a color E Ink screen this year or not.
Color E Ink comes with some compromises because the color filter layer makes the screen look darker than regular black and white screens, so they can’t fully replace regular E Ink screens. But there’s no denying color E Ink looks better for things like comics, PDFs, and educational material.
I think color E Ink has gotten to the point where it’s good enough to go mainstream, and it’s certainly better for color content than black and white screens, but will Amazon think there’s a big enough market for a color Kindle?
I think a lot of people would be interested in trying a color Kindle, but the high price and average color quality might not go over well with some customers, especially considering how cheap Amazon’s Fire tablets are, and how much more capable they are than E Ink Kindles. Color E Ink has some advantages but it’s never going to be able to compete with phones and tablets, so maybe Amazon just doesn’t think a color Kindle is worth the time.
Nobody outside of Amazon really knows anything about future Kindle plans, but I think it would be bad business to completely ignore color E Ink when competing brands sell color ereaders. Given that, I think there’s about a 50% chance of a color Kindle getting released in 2024. What do you think?
The first part is exactly what I said before.
I didn’t believe that rumour.
Either the rumour is based on a misunderstanding, and the screen technology that will be used is Kaleido 3, or the rumour is simply intended to have people wait until Amazon releases a Colour Kindle, as they perfectly knew that Kobo was going to launch a colour model this year.
Today, on Goodereader’s site they posted that Bigme, the only one to bring out a Gallery 3 device, is no longer making them, and that the technology now looks basically dead.
How ironic, after telling people we would be getting a Colour Kindle based on the very same technology.
I would guess that Amazon will wait for the better screen. I base this on that although they took longer to put out the scribe, it was the first to use a 300 ppi screen for an 10 inch screen. They may be slow but it seems to be for a significant reason. As I recall, when Kobo came out with their Elipsa, it had a lot of problems and was missing a lot of features. It took a while for it to mature. At least when the Scribe came out it was fairly stable and now it is slowly maturing with new features.
I agree that Amazon will probably wait for a better screen, but I also think they would rather people use their Fire tablets.
E-ink color plain sucks!
Why would I want color in an e-book reader.? It’s for reading books. If I have a book with lots of images that I want to see in color, I’d buy the actual, physical book because the images on a Kolor Kindle will suck! In addition, what’s the price difference of B&W versus color?
Just because you don’t want it doesn’t mean it’s pointless. It would be nice to see my library with coloured book covers, screen cover in colour, to see photos in some books in colour etc. And also to be able to read comic books in colour. It’s a logical evolution of e-reading. Only problem is the typical 6” or 7” screen size.
For some of us that suffer from migraines e ink color is a wonderful option as it doesn’t strain the eyes. I can’t read on my iPad due to the fact the light … even with special glasses that block it out… causes my migraine to get worse. I can only use it for short amount of time. And I do own an e ink table from Boox and love it for that reason. It is as good as the iPad nope but it is a lot better than seeing color images in black and white.
I just heard a new rumor. Amazon will reduce its line of Kindles to one model. The new Amazon effort will be called, “Kolor Kindle Oasis Voyage!” The KKOV BL-ink screen has 600 dpi resolution. The KKOV will have 32mb of ram and 1gb of storage. It looks like one of the Paperwhites but with a couple of interesting wrinkles. It will come with auxiliary backs! One back has buttons on one side, another has buttons on both sides and a third one has buttons on both sides and a keyboard making it look just like Kindle Keyboard!
The really good news is the price will be $49.95!
Anyone lookin’ to buy a bridge? Got one in Brooklyn…
Oh, c’mon, you know this site doesn’t report baseless rumors.
That’s another hack site we all know’s job.
WHAT FOR YOU NEED COLORED READER?? IF SO, BUY IPAD AND YOU WILL HAVE EVERYTHIGN, INCLUDING MAGIC COLORS, NOTES, EVEN AMAZON READER. I HAVE MY OASIS AND WILL BE HAPPY WITH TILL TIME WHEN BATTERY OVER. ONLY ONE REASON TO USE OASIS IS NOBODY DISTURB YOU WHEN YOU READING. RELAX GUYS, AND USE NICE B&W NICE QUALITY SCREEN.
I don’t want to buy 2 different expensive devices for reading graphic novels and text.