Amazon, the US-based company, refreshed its Kindle lineup in mid-October 2024. The first e-reader in the lineup to feature a color E Ink display, the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, has faced major setbacks since its official launch on October 30, 2024.
According to r/kindle, many customers who placed early orders are experiencing substantial delays, with Amazon pushing shipments back by a few weeks due to widespread display issues. The e-reader, which initially generated a lot of excitement among users, is now under serious scrutiny for screen flaws causing user frustration.
According to reports from Good e-Reader, the Kindle Colorsoft is plagued by a “yellowish bar” appearing at the bottom of the screen, along with a hazy, grainy display quality that some users say leads to headaches and eye strain while reading. The device’s Amazon listing currently shows a low rating of 2.6 stars from over 475 early reviews. As the criticisms are building, Amazon has responded by reaching out to affected customers for feedback, requesting device logs, and in some special cases offering replacement units.
Currently, Amazon has temporarily paused shipments of the Kindle Colorsoft, pushing the next U.S. delivery window to mid-November 2024 and the U.K. window to November 26. As a temporary solution, Amazon’s customer service has informed some customers that a software update is in the works and should arrive within one or two weeks to address the display issues. Furthermore, Amazon has suggested a temporary fix for the yellowish bar issue, advising users to power off the device for a few minutes before restarting it.
Further compounding user dissatisfaction, the Kindle Colorsoft currently lacks a dark mode, a feature that changes the background to black and the text to white. This can help reduce eye strain. To address this shortcoming, Amazon has updated the product page to highlight the Page Color feature, which inverts text and background colors within millions of compatible books.
Despite taking a fast and noteworthy step forward in Amazon’s e-reader lineup, the Kindle Colorsoft’s initial rollout has been marred by these technical difficulties. Now we need to observe whether Amazon will be able to efficiently resolve the problems noted by the users and restore consumer confidence.
