Amazon's Kindle Colorsoft Gets A Cheaper 16GB Model & A Kids Version
It's been a little over nine months since Amazon introduced its first Kindle e-reader with a color display, the Kindle Colorsoft, and now potential buyers have a couple of new versions to consider. One is a more affordable Kindle Colorsoft with less storage than the introductory model, and the other is a Kindle Colorsoft Kids model with some additional perks.
According to Amazon, the new SKUs arrive at a time when e-reader customers are buying and reading more than ever.
"It’s been an amazing year for Kindle—Prime Day sales for Kindle devices were up by nearly 40% year-over-year. Our customers aren’t just buying more Kindle devices, they’re reading more—they’ve read more than 129 billion pages this year already, which is billions more pages than this time last year," Amazon states.
To keep the good times rolling, Amazon now offers a Kindle Colorsoft with 16GB of storage for $249.99. That's a $30 savings over the original 32GB Kindle Colorosoft ($279.99).
In addition to cutting the onboard storage in half, the cheaper variant also ditches wireless charging. Otherwise, everything else remains the same. The 16GB model features the same 7-inch color display and supports USB-C charging, it has a waterproof design (IPX8), and it offers up to eight weeks of battery life (based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless turned off and the light setting at 13).
Meanwhile, the Kindle Colorsoft Kids costs $269.99 is the first Kindle in color for kids, and it also comes with 16GB of internal storage. Part of what distinguishes it from the main Kindle Colorsoft is the inclusion of an illustrated cover—either Fantasy River (linked above) or Starlight Reading.
It also features parental controls, one year of Amazon's Kids+ that includes unlimited access to thousands of age-appropriate books (designed for kids aged 3-12 years old), and a two-year "worry-free" warranty, which is twice as long as the warranty on the regular Kindle Colorsoft.
One other thing to note is that every version of the Kindle Colorsoft offer an ads-free experience without an additional up-charge. Meaning, you don't have to pay extra to get rid of lockscreen ads (nor do you get a price break for tolerating them).
"With these new additions, Amazon aims to bring the joy of reading in color to more customers on Kindle—bringing graphic novels, book covers, illustrations, and more to life," Amazon says.
One thing to note is that some early Kindle Colorsoft adopters complained about a display issue that caused a strip of yellow tint to appear on the lower quadrant of the screen. At the time, Amazon said it was aware of "small number of reports" regarding the issue and promised to fix it by way of a software update.
The new Kindle Colorsoft 16GB and Kids edition are both available now.
