Amazon Kindle Colorsoft 16 GB (2024 model)
By Amazon · E Readers · Desk & Streaming Setup · More from Amazon
- displaysize: 7 in
- resolutionbw: 300 ppi
- resolutioncolor: 150 ppi
- storage: 16 GB
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Summary
Amazon’s first color E Ink Kindle in the standard tier: a 7-inch screen at 300 ppi black-and-white and 150 ppi color, 16 GB storage, IPX8 waterproofing, and an adjustable warm front light without auto-brightness. Check whether you actually want color E Ink before paying the premium over a monochrome Kindle.
Strengths
- Fast, smooth page turns and menu navigation in professional reviews.
- Color contrast and saturation edge out Kobo’s color readers in side-by-side tests.
- IPX8 waterproofing and a battery rated for up to 8 weeks.
- Access to the Kindle store and Kindle Unlimited library of about 15 million titles.
- Some owners reported no yellow band on their units.
Weaknesses
- Color E Ink halves resolution and degrades black-and-white text with a rainbow effect.
- High price versus monochrome Kindles and Kobo or Boox alternatives.
- 16 GB storage seen as low next to the 32 GB Signature Edition.
- No wireless charging or auto-brightness on the base model.
- No stylus and no physical page-turn buttons.
- Ecosystem lock-in: no local DRM-free downloads and no USB mass storage.
Verified specifications
| Display | 7-inch color E Ink (Kaleido 3), 300 ppi black-and-white, 150 ppi color. |
|---|---|
| Storage | 16 GB on the standard model (32 GB on the Signature Edition). |
| Waterproofing | IPX8. |
| Battery | rated for up to 8 weeks. |
| Charging | under 2.5 hours with a 9 W charger; no wireless charging on the standard model. |
| Front light | adjustable warm and cool; no auto-brightness on the standard model. |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi (2.4 and 5 GHz) and Bluetooth for audiobooks and VoiceView.- Formats: Kindle Format 8 (AZW3), Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; PDF, DOCX, DOC, HTML, EPUB, TXT, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP via conversion; Audible (AAX). |
| Color palette | up to 4,096 colors. |
| Max front-light brightness | about 94 nits. |
| Storage capacity | about 6,000 books on the 16 GB model. |
| Kindle store library | about 15 million titles. |
| Dimensions | 7.0 × 5.0 × 0.3 in per PCMag; 5.0 × 6.9 × 0.3 in per Tom’s Guide; 127.6 × 176.7 × 7.8 mm per The eBook Reader. Weight 7.6 oz on the standard model, 217 g or 219 g in other sources. |
| Housing | plastic, black only. |
| Included | USB-C charging cable; power adapter not included; cases sold separately. |
Full research notes and sources
Color and readability
Color is the reason to buy and the main compromise. Reviewers find Amazon’s customized display stack gives slightly better contrast and saturation than Kobo color readers, and page turns are fast and smooth. But color E Ink halves resolution to 150 ppi, reduces contrast for black-and-white text with a visible rainbow effect, and costs battery life: up to 8 weeks versus 12 for the Paperwhite. The device has no comics apps from Marvel or DC, so comic reading means buying titles piecemeal. Dark Mode initially inverted only reading text, not the full interface; full Dark Mode was added later.
Battery life and charging
Amazon rates the battery for up to 8 weeks. PCMag saw a 20% drop over five days at low brightness with about an hour of reading per day; Lifehacker saw 78% remaining after a week of regular use including frequent max-brightness reading and Wi-Fi. Charging takes under 2.5 hours with a 9 W charger, and the standard model has no wireless charging.
The yellow-band launch issue
Early units shipped with a yellow band at the bottom of the display. Amazon paused sales, then resumed and stated new units would not be affected. Tested units in PCMag’s review were evenly lit. Whether the defect is fully eliminated in current production units is unknown.
Software, storage and ecosystem
Color is not displayed on PDFs sideloaded over USB; Send to Kindle is needed for color PDFs. Amazon removed the Download and Transfer option and uses MTP instead of USB mass storage on newer Kindles. No local DRM-free copies of purchased Kindle books can be downloaded. No stylus support and no physical page-turn buttons. Storage is 16 GB, or about 6,000 books.
Running costs
Kindle Unlimited is $11.99 a month; 3 months free Kindle Unlimited and 1 month free Audible are included with purchase per Tom’s Guide. Fabric cases are $36.99 and leather cases $64.99 per PCMag. No subscription is required to use the device.
Is it worth it?
At about $250 or less, the base Colorsoft is defensible if the buyer specifically wants color E Ink for comics, covers or children’s books and accepts color E Ink’s compromises; at $290 or more, value weakens because monochrome Kindles cost less and Kobo or Boox offer page buttons, stylus or app support at lower prices. The $30 Signature upgrade is worth it only for buyers who want wireless charging and auto-brightness. The color screen does not justify the premium for readers of plain text. Sources list the base model from about $249 to $290 after a 2026 increase attributed to memory and storage costs, with the Signature Edition from about $280 to $320.
Which model this is
This page covers the 16 GB standard model of the 2024 Kindle Colorsoft, sold in black only. The Signature Edition is a different variant with 32 GB storage, wireless charging and an auto-adjusting front light. A second generation (2026) with an updated display and flush-front design is on preorder and is not the model covered here. The Colorsoft line launched 2024-10-30. ASIN B0CGVSKR1G.
Sources
Independent reviews:
