For years, reading digital comics has been all about compromise. It's been easy to do, but it meant making a choice. You could read a comic in glorious color on a big, heavy tablet, like an iPad. Or you could use a Kindle, avoiding the need to hold a huge slab of glass while making do with black-and-white artwork.
I've always been in the former camp, choosing fidelity over comfort. But I never really liked how my 11-inch iPad Pro felt in my hand, and my inattentive ADHD brain found it all too easy to switch to another app entirely. In truth, I could never really enjoy a black-and-white comic, so the Kindle approach was out of the question. Until I decided to treat myself when I spotted an Amazon-refurbished Kindle Colorsoft for a great price.
I replaced both my tablet and e-reader with this one device
Two separate devices, merged into one.
Finding the perfect balance
Colorful yet easy on the eyes
While there's no doubt that my 2018 iPad Pro has a brighter, more colorful display, I still very much prefer the Kindle Colorsoft when it's time to read. It may be limited to just 4,096 colors compared to the millions on an iPad, but sometimes fidelity isn't the most important thing. That's the case here.
When reading, the iPad Pro's display is simply too harsh on the eyes. Yes, I can turn the brightness down, but that just makes everything harder to see. You get the worst of both worlds: it's fatiguing to the eyes and offers a worse reading experience.
Counter to that, the Kindle Colorsoft feels like reading a book. It's no secret how good an e-ink display can be in terms of the reading experience, and adding color just ratchets everything up. The display's limitations even give comics a book-like feel, mimicking ink printed onto paper.
Key to the Kindle Colorsoft's reading experience is the front-lit display, which offers bright viewing without the glare typically associated with LCD or OLED displays. If you've ever used a Kindle, you'll know what to expect from the Colorsoft.
Amazon Kindle Colorsoft Essentials Bundle
- Resolution
- 300 ppi (B&W), 150 ppi (Color)
- Storage
- 16 GB
- Battery
- Up to 8 weeks on a single charge
- Connectivity
- Dual-band Wi-Fi & Bluetooth
The Amazon Kindle Colorsoft Essentials Bundle features the first Kindle with a high-contrast color display, allowing you to enjoy book covers, illustrations, and highlights in vivid detail. This comprehensive package includes the Kindle Colorsoft (16 GB), a protective Plant-Based Leather Cover, and a Power Adapter, offering a premium, glare-free reading experience that lasts for weeks.
The perfect, distraction-free form factor
A lightweight comic reader and nothing more
While the Kindle Colorsoft ups the ante by bringing color to the familiar Kindle experience, it maintains what made the Kindle such a compelling reading device in the first place. It's an e-reader, not a tablet. And that's a very good thing indeed.
The iPad Pro that I'd previously been using to read comics was the 11-inch model, but it was still a cumbersome device. It was too heavy to read for any length of time, and so I didn't. It both offered a way to read more, yet conversely, it actively made me not want to read because of its shortfalls.
The Kindle Colorsoft is a breath of fresh air in that regard. At just 220 grams, it weighs almost nothing, and certainly less than most books. It's perfect for throwing in a bag or lounging on the sofa. And the thing is almost indestructible to boot.
It's also a lesson in the merits of a single-use device. The fact that all I can do is read books and comics makes it the perfect device to do just that. The iPad Pro is full of apps and has a great web browser, just waiting to take my attention away from what I came to do — read. As someone diagnosed with inattentive ADHD, you'd be surprised how often I pick up my iPad Pro to read, only to wind up down a YouTube rabbit hole. There's none of that with the Kindle Colorsoft, and it's all the better for it.
Time to retire the tablet
It's got other things it should be doing
It's true that the Kindle Colorsoft isn't perfect. If you enjoy reading comics on a tablet, you'll find this e-reader to be a subpar alternative. The Colorsoft's display isn't as bright, colorful, or pin-sharp as something like an iPad.
But the Kindle Colorsoft is the closest thing to reading a printed comic, or indeed any book, that I've used. It's thin and light, and its battery lasts for so long that I can't remember when I last charged this thing. It doesn't hurt my arm or wrist during long reading sessions, and I don't have to hold it just so to avoid glare on its display.
But above all, I think the fact that I can only read on it is what makes the Kindle Colorsoft the best option for me. Sure, it has a built-in web browser, but it's best ignored. After all, if I want to browse the web, I can use my iPad instead.
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My comic-reading savior
I've never read so much
After years of trying and failing to get into reading comics, it's finally stuck. And I've never read so many as I am right now. It's all thanks to the Kindle Colorsoft.
The Colorsoft is a great way to read just about anything, not just comics. Even normal books that have artwork or photos in them will look better on a Kindle Colorsoft. And it's just the beginning.
First-gen products like the Colorsoft are always replaced by something newer and better. I can't wait to see what Amazon can do with the second-gen model. I'm crossing my fingers for more vibrant colors. But for now, I'm more than happy.