Below is a video showing someone destroying a Kindle Colorsoft, and it’s one of the most interesting and informative Kindle videos I’ve ever seen.
First off, I can’t believe how much abuse the Kindle Colorsoft can take. Amazon’s engineers deserve some credit for the durable design, especially considering the fact that E Ink screens are known for being extremely fragile.
He intentionally tried cracking the screen by bending the Kindle in different directions, but the screen wouldn’t give, even though there was a good amount of flex. I don’t know how that’s possible. E Ink screens are supposed to crack when handled like that. It makes you wonder if the screen is made with a plastic substrate instead of glass like normal, but Amazon certainly would’ve mentioned a detail like that, right?
Some things aren’t so great, though, like the iffy “waterproofing” around the USB port and the plastic front layer that scratches fairly easily.
The video isn’t just about destroying a Kindle; there are some closeups of the E Ink screen using a microscope to show how the color grid layer works, and that’s pretty interesting too, especially if you’re new to color E Ink and haven’t seen how it works before.
The coolest part of the video is when he peels the color filter layer away from the front of the screen; I’ve always wanted to try that, and the results are not disappointing.
You can tell the dismantler isn’t a Kindle expert because a few details mentioned in the video aren’t entirely accurate, but it’s an informative video nonetheless.
On a side note, I don’t see the slightest hint of a yellow band at the bottom of the screen on the Colorsoft in the video. It’s a shame such a nice specimen got destroyed, but at least it was for scientific purposes.
That video was actually informative. Exposed my biggest concern with screens…scratches.
I was thinking the very same thing about having destroyed a good colorsoft rather than one with the yellowing problem. It would have been interesting to see if the yellowing was due to the color filter or not.