Amazon.com Inc. today introduced the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, its first e-reader with a color screen.

The device debuted at a New York product event alongside upgrades to three existing Kindle devices. Amazon unveiled a new version of the Kindle Scribe, an e-reader optimized for taking notes, that adds a set of features powered by large language models. The company also launched enhanced editions of its entry-level e-readers. 

New electronic paper technology 

The Kindle Colorsoft’s seven-inch color screen is powered by a type of display technology called electronic paper. It’s more eye-friendly than standard monitors and consumes a small fraction of the power. The electronic paper in Amazon’s new e-reader is made by E Ink Corp., a Massachusetts-based company whose founders helped pioneer the technology in the 1990s. 

An E Ink screen renders text using black and white particles called microcapsules that are suspended in a clear liquid. Some of the particles are positively charged, while the others have a negative charge. Transistors at the edge of the display generate an electric field that brings the black particles to the top of the clear liquid and assembles them into letters.

Kindle Colorsoft uses E Ink’s relatively new Kaleido variant of electronic paper to power its display. Kaleido improves upon the standard version of the technology in several ways. Most notably, it can overlay red, blue and green light filters on an electronic paper display to turn it into a color screen. 

The Kindle Colorsoft displays books with a resolution of 330 ppi, or pixels per inch. That’s considered to be the optimal pixel density for high-resolution printed materials. Compared with earlier e-readers, the Kindle Colorsoft also offers faster page turning times as well as higher brightness, which helps improve text legibility.

The Colorsoft Signature Edition is set to start shipping later this month from $280.

Device upgrades 

At its New York product event today, Amazon also debuted new versions of three existing Kindle models. The refreshed devices are headlined by the latest edition of the Kindle Scribe, which is designed for not only reading but also writing. It has the largest display of any Kindle and includes a stylus for jotting down notes.

The new Kindle Scribe features a 10.2-inch screen with a revamped design meant to make it more akin to physical paper. The onboard software, in turn, has been extended with a feature called Active Canvas. It can reorganize the text in a book to better accommodate notes added by the user with the Kindle Scribe’s stylus. 

According to Amazon, the device’s software also integrates with large language models deployed in the cloud. Those models can reprint the user’s notes in a handwriting-inspired font to make the text more legible, as well as summarize those notes.

The Kindle Scribe debuted at today’s product event alongside new versions of two other Amazon e-readers. The first is the entry-level Kindle while the other is the Kindle Paperwhite, a slightly pricier device with more features.

The new version of the standard Kindle features a six-inch display with a 300 ppi resolution. Compared with the previous-generation model, it offers a higher contrast ratio, increased brightness and faster page turns. Amazon says the device can run for up to several weeks on a single charge. 

The Kindle Paperwhite, meanwhile, carries over the standard Kindle’s 300 ppi resolution to a larger seven-inch display. The device offers 25% faster page turns than its predecessor and a battery life of up to three months.

The Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite are available now starting at $110 and $160, respectively. The latter device is also available in a Signature Edition that adds wireless charging and more storage space for a $40 price bump.

Image: Amazon