PRE-ORDER NOW: Amazon has announced the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, its first Kindle e-reader with a colorful screen. Set for release on Oct. 30 and priced at $279.99, it’s now up for preorder.
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After an unceremonious leak earlier in the morning, Amazon officially unveiled its first color Kindle on Wednesday, Oct. 16. That’s right — almost 17 years since the Kindle first dropped, a Kindle with a colorful screen can soon be yours.
The Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition is an all-new e-reader with a 7-inch color display, 32GB of storage, wireless charging, and up to eight weeks of battery life. It will launch on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at $279.99 and preorders are now live at Amazon.
The Kindle Colorsoft is one of five e-readers in Amazon’s newly refreshed Kindle lineup, joining the flagship Kindle ($109.99 with lockscreen ads), the Kindle Paperwhite ($159.99 with ads), the Kindle Paperwhite Kids ($179.99), and the Kindle Scribe (starting at $399.99 with 16GB of storage). All the other models are available for purchase immediately, save for the Kindle Scribe, which is up for preorder ahead of its Dec. 4 release date.
The release of the Kindle Colorsoft sets up some long-awaited competition for the $219.99 Kobo Libra Colour, which debuted this April as “the first color e-reader from a major brand,” per Bethany Allard, lead shopping reporter at Mashable. Allard gave it the Kobo Libra Colour a 3.8/5 rating in her review, praising its overall design and software support but noting that it’s “definitely a first-generation product with a few issues to work out.”
This story is developing.
