Amazon stops Kindle Colorsoft shipments due to major display issues

Amazon gave its Kindle lineup a long overdue refresh in mid-October. The Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition is the most interesting device in the lineup, bringing a color E Ink display to Amazon’s e-reader for the first time. Although it officially launched on October 30, if your order hasn’t arrived yet, you may have a long wait ahead. That’s because Amazon is canceling and delaying the device shipments by a few weeks due to screen issues.

The Good e-Reader reports “severe issues” with the Kindle Colorsoft’s display, one of which is a yellowish bar showing up at the screen’s bottom. Many early Kindle Colorsoft buyers are also complaining about the display’s hazy and grainy appearance, which is purportedly causing them headaches and eyestrain while reading content.

Amazon’s listing of the Kindle Colorbook is filled with negative reviews from early adopters. After 475 ratings, it currently has a rating of 2.6 stars. The situation is apparently so bad that Amazon is reaching out to affected users for feedback, asking them to send device logs, and shipping them replacement devices (via Reddit).

Due to the issues, Amazon has halted shipments of the Kindle Colorbook. In the US, the device won’t be delivered until mid-November, and in the UK, until November 26.

Update to fix the Kindle Colorsoft’s yellowish screen coming soon

Source: Android Police/Canva

Many customers who contacted Amazon’s customer service about the issues were informed that a potential software fix was in the works. It should roll out in the next 1–2 weeks. Amazon informed Good e-Reader that users can resolve the yellow bar issue by turning off their Colorbook for a few minutes and then powering it on again.

As if the display issues are not enough, the Kindle Colorsoft also lacks a dark mode, which switches to a dark background with white text. This makes reading text easier in many cases.

Amazon has updated the Kindle Colorsoft’s product listing page to reflect this. It now recommends that users “enable a similar reading experience within millions of books using the Page Color feature, which, like Dark Mode, inverts the book page color to black and the book text color to white.”

The Kindle Colorsoft is a significant release for Amazon, but it seems to have had a rocky start due to screen issues. Only time will tell if the company can resolve these problems through a software update.