Comic Book Readers, Don't Get Fooled By The Wrong Kindle Tablet
There are several e-readers you can pick from if you prefer to read digital books. You can even use them to read graphic novels and comic books, but if you are looking to flip through pages of your favorite superhero, you may want to consider one specific Kindle. Especially if you want to read a comic book in color, there is only one choice among Amazon's Kindle e-reader lineup. The Kindle Colorsoft, as the name suggests, includes colors instead of the Kindle's typical black and white text and backgrounds. It's an excellent pick for comic book fans who wish to view their large collection of digital comic books on Amazon in color. Each page, spread, and sheet of the comic or graphic novel is brought to life through nitride LEDs that, according to Amazon, improve color and enhance the overall brightness of the screen so each issue mirrors its physical edition.
Amazon has a few options available for the Kindle Colorsoft, all at various price points. The starting price is around $289.99 for the Kindle Colorsoft. The Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition is around $319.99, with the Kindle Colorsoft Kids being about $299.99. There's also the Amazon Kindle Scribe Colorsoft for a bit more at around $679.99. You may even be able to find a comic based on some great movies you didn't know were comic adaptations.
The benefits of the Kindle Colorsoft
The Kindle Colorsoft is designed to replicate reading a book with pictures, graphic novels, or comic books. It's an upgrade from the Kindle Paperwhite, with a bit more added to it, specifically the addition of colored pages so you can actually read comic books as they were originally intended to be read. The Colorsoft features a 7-inch glare-free color display with a 300 ppi black and white resolution and a 150 ppi color resolution. You can even store quite a bit of comic books and graphic novels on the e-reader with its 16GB of storage. You could get a larger screen at 11-inches and more storage of 32GB to 64GB as well with the Amazon Kindle Scribe Colorsoft,
Another benefit of the Kindle Colorsoft is its ability to highlight text in color, too. If you want to make a note of your place or a specific line of text, you can highlight in yellow, orange, blue, or pink, and even search for your highlights by the specific color. You'll also be able to pinch and zoom the screen to see comic panels up close for more details as well. This can be handy if you can't quite make out a scene in a story, such as an Iron Man comic book.
Are there any cons to the Kindle Colorsoft?
When it comes to reading digital comic books, it's all about getting the most vibrant range of colors imaginable on the screen. Physical comics contain pages and pages of stunning artwork all done by professional artists and colorists. However, while the Kindle Colorsoft does allow viewers to read comics in color, the actual vibrancy and pop of those colors may not be all that outstanding.
Some tech reviews found that the color on the Kindle Colorsoft may not be as full of life as physical comics or other e-readers. When compared to another tablet — specifically an iPad, which may be worth buying if you want louder colors — the color on the Kindle Colorsoft seems to be muted and dull. The color on the iPad appears to be brighter and much more vibrant. Still, you do get color on the Kindle Colorsoft for a lower price than the cost of a new iPad, which can start at around $449.
In all fairness, if you are reading a newer comic book, you will notice a lack of color when compared to older comic books. Comics such as ones printed during the silver or golden age of comics weren't as vibrant as the ones produced today, so the color on the Kindle Colorsoft for older issues may not stand out as much as recent issues. Another drawback is that the Colorsoft is heavier than that of a typical comic book.