Kobo has a new white version of the Kobo Clara Colour coming out tomorrow, and Amazon is expected to release a new Kindle Scribe with a color E Ink screen soon, and possibly a 6″ color Kindle too, but what about new ereaders with black and white E Ink screens?
This year has been a down year for new ereaders and eNotes getting released in general, and almost all the new models that have come out in 2025 have color E Ink screens.
The mass transition to color E Ink is an unsettling trend if you favor the superior clarity and contrast of traditional black and white E Ink screens. If you’re thinking about “upgrading” to a new color model, you might want to think twice before getting rid of your old black and white Kindles and Kobo ereaders because there’s a chance you won’t be able to buy them again in the future.
I’m not saying that I think all black and white ereaders are going to go away, but I think there’s a good chance BW ereaders will get relegated to budget status. The cheapest models with the least amount of features will have BW E Ink screens, but the nicer “upgraded” models might only be available with color E Ink screens. Kobo has already started to do this by not releasing a BW Libra model or a new white version of the Clara BW.
It’s kind of the same thing that happened to premium 6″ ereaders. Nowadays they are a rarity when they used to be commonplace. Almost all the 6″ ereaders that are available now are budget models with cheap build quality and less features than ereaders with larger screens.
It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out with the new color Kindle Scribe that Amazon is expected to announce next week. Will they release a new BW version to go along with it? I doubt it. I bet they’ll just keep selling the current BW model as is until they run out of stock. The new color model will probably have some hardware upgrades since the current Scribe is still using hardware from 2022, so people will likely have to choose between older hardware with a BW screen or new hardware with a color screen.
Think Twice About Selling BW eReaders and eNotes
I was thinking about selling my Kindle Scribe since I rarely use it anymore (I like the larger screen but unless I’m reading PDFs a smaller Kindle is easier to use), but then I realized there’s a good chance Amazon won’t release another BW Kindle Scribe ever again, and that made me second guess that idea.
I remember when I sold my first Kindle Voyage many years ago. I assumed Amazon would release a newer version at some point, or something better eventually, but it’s been 11 years now and that still hasn’t happened.
One thing I’ve learned over the years, when it comes to ereaders you can never assume a new version is going to be better. In fact, newer models are sometimes inferior to the model they are replacing. They keep cutting costs to make things as cheap as possible, and quality control is worse than ever—getting an ereader with an even frontlight is like playing the lottery.
Five years from now all ereaders and eNotes could have color E Ink screens. A lot of people didn’t like how frontlights made E Ink screens look worse when they first started coming out, but that didn’t stop companies from phasing out non-frontlit ereaders entirely. Once something new picks up steam it’s hard to stop it, especially when that new feature is something that appeals to new buyers and is something companies can use as an excuse to charge more for, even if it doesn’t cost them substantially more to produce. The only difference with color E Ink is it has a film applied over the top of a regular BW screen, and it probably costs next to nothing to add that color film layer, but that gives companies like Amazon a reason to charge $90 more for what is essentially a Kindle Paperwhite with a color screen.
I hung on to my Voyage and 1st gen Oasis. No good reason why I did but no good reason to get rid of them either.
Although I might be persuaded to trade in my Colorsoft for whenever the second generation comes out, if I find the upgrade worth it, I’ll keep my Scribe if they do announce a Color Scribe next week. I bought it for writing but I’m using it more and more for reading around the house. I like the sharp crispness of the text, superior to the Colorsoft and my 2021 Paperwhite, which is pretty much gathering dust as a backup.
I can’t justify keeping two Scribes when I can download comics and graphic novels to my tablet, though an e-reader screen is a better way to read IMO for the majority of my comics. If technology gets better, eventually, and 300 PPI for black and color is an option, then maybe I’d buy a Color Scribe. For now, I’m clinging to my current Scribe.
I prefer Kobo but the Scribe really is just leaps and bounds above the Elipsa for large-screen reading, and I have doubts they’re ever going to do an Elipsa 3 that’s a real improvement, so I’ll still have one foot in the Kindle side I guess.
Obviously color allows for more things. Some (many) would argue that the point of an ereader is to do less things. I want my ereader to be crisp, clear, and allow me to read text for long periods. I don’t want to rely on built-in light with a grainy screen. And I still prefer my iPad for comics. I don’t care about book covers, I mean as long as they exist at all. And yet this has definitely been a major trend. It must be a viable route financially since it’s coming from multiple companies. I know many readers like color, and it must attract a new market, but man a lot of us don’t get use out of it. Sigh. At least ereaders tend to have a long lifespan. I will clutch my little ereaders for as long as I can.
I have a black and white and a color e reader. Yes the color is grainier, but the blacks aren’t. You still get ultra sharp text. The color screen is a little grayer than the black and white. That may bother some, but it doesn’t bother me. I mainly use my color for the occasion map and such. Not a game changer, but they’re also not as bad as everyone says
I wish color e-ink screens were never invented. They don’t add much, but they take away a lot. If color e-readers will be the only option, I use my existing BW readers until I can. These are low power, slow devices so they shouldn’t wear out quickly, worst case scenario we just have to replace the battery every couple of years. If we lucky we can use them for decades.
If they eventually break and I can’t get a BW reader, I’ll just go back to paper books and forget that kobo and amazon ever existed.
Amen!
I would think that there is more to the colorsoft than just gluing a plastic sheet over the current screen to add color to it. I would think there is a completely different set of chip sets to manage the color. and also the added programing to manage to color screen. I also recall that they claimed that they use different LEDs to light up the screen, which probably cost a little bit more than the regular LEDs. I would suppose the price increase to some degree is justifiable.
Have there been any reports – or even speculation, really – about how US tariffs are affecting or will affect the availability and cost of Kindle components?
I know people on the BigMe subreddit complained about tariffs when ordering their new e reader.
I have no desire for the color screens. Who really needs color for reading anyway.
Reading comics and there are some books, especially textbooks, that have color. Those who love to highlight will also benefit from color as you can highlight in color. Just because you don’t have a use for it don’t project that thinking on others. It is good that there is an option of getting a color device for those who want color. I guess the concern that Nathan has is that at some point in the future we won’t have that option. Which is concerning.
Some books have colour photos to illustrate the text. Not all books are fiction.
I may be in the minority here, but I’ve always wished that Kobo would just fix the Forma and re-release it. I have both the Libra and Libra 2 as well as the Sage, but the Forma was just so comfortable to hold for longer reading sessions especially late at night in bed. I also have most of the Kindle versions. No color screens for me, though. I much prefer better contrast and clarity.
Totally agree. Forma is the best ereader ever made: nice screen, light, comfortable to hold, good looking. Big advantage of the Forma is the Mobius screen which hasn’t been used in other devices ever again. Many were complaining about its frontlight, so here we are.
The ereader experience with a Mobius screen could be so much better if we didn’t have to worry about what happens when it gets dropped or something.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Kobo makes the mistake of going large in color without a matching black and white model.
My guess is E ink will go color filter free, with Gallery technology or something like it, Sooner than Later…within the next 2 years. And then, yes black and white may deminish at the upper end e reader market. High contrast may be lost.
Amazon may put out a tempting Scribe Color…but I will pass….for reasons Nathan discussed in his last post…locking in,locking down and locking out…I have a ton of Amazon purchases but…
Have you considered Gallery 3 ereaders? Remarkable Move has good contrast if you compare with other color ereaders and you barely need inbuilt light for reading.
Gallery screens are too slow and they don’t have black ink so I don’t think they’re a good fit for ereaders, at least not in their current form. Black is more like dark blue since it’s a mixture of colors. If all you do is read regular text color screens just aren’t worth the drawbacks.
They are not so slow if it’s only for reading and for me their contrast is enough.
Sadly, they are still too expensive and breakable
My guess is that manufacturers are guessing that more people will buy a novelty screen technology that they don’t have, color(Kaleido), than an incremental step up device. They may be right. Sooner or later color, be it Gallery or something else will probably dominate. I am fully aware that Gallery isn’t true black or high contrast, but color seems to be the way the train is rolling.
Lou Sevens here- good to be back. What I have learned over time is if something isn’t broken, don’t break it.
I have 2 Scribes I use as well as one of my 6 inch Paperwhites (I traded another one in to get the disconut on the 2nd scribe).
I read books mostly, and don’t know what I would do with color anyway. In the rare instance that I have a book that contains color pictures= I simply use my IPAD.
Colour screens don’t interest me. Long battery life does. I read on a Kindle Paperwhite and on my Samsung phone. I actually prefer the phone app because I can scroll vertically through a book instead of turning pages.
My guess is that manufacturers are guessing that more people will buy a novelty screen technology that they don’t have, color(Kaleido), than an incremental step up device. They may be right. Sooner or later color, be it Gallery or something else will probably dominate. I am fully aware that Gallery isn’t true black or high contrast, but color seems to be the way the train is rolling.