Amazon has just released its first ever colour screen Kindle, the Kindle Colorsoft, but some early customers have already taken to the internet to complain that the e-reader could have a serious screen flaw. There are several online reports that some Colorsoft units have a discoloration at the bottom of their screens, appearing as a yellowish band.
One early buyer of the Colorsoft, which was released on 30 October, posted a review on the device’s Amazon listing page, saying, “I was disappointed to see that there was a yellow hue at the bottom of the screen. It’s very noticeable and once you see it you can’t unsee it.
“I did return the kindle as I didn’t want to pay so much for a device that has a faulty screen. I use my kindle a lot so want it to be perfect. Once Amazon have fixed the problem I’ll definitely buy one again.”
“We’re aware of a small number of reports from customers who see a yellow band along the bottom of the display,” an Amazon spokesperson told Express.co.uk.”We take the quality of our products seriously and are looking into it. If customers notice this on their device, they can reach out to our customer service team.”
“As soon as I turned it on for the first time, the big flaw showed itself very clearly,” another early buyer posted in a customer review.
“The bottom of the screen, along where the bottom tabs sit on the home screen, is very yellow in comparison to the rest of the screen, no matter what warmth setting is used. It’s very very distracting and ugly, and for a device of this price, not really acceptable.”
Tech site The Verge first reported this apparent widespread issue with Amazon’s flagship new e-reader, which costs £269.99. There are also reports on Reddit of this apparent issue. For what it’s worth, Express.co.uk has reviewed the Kindle Colorsoft and cannot see this issue on our review sample.
“Amazon’s first colour Kindle gets a lot right but most people probably don’t need to spend this much to get a colour screen they will rarely benefit from,” we said in our review, where the Colorsoft was awarded 3.5 stars out of five. It’s a lovely device, but if you mostly read books with no illustrations, you might not need the colour screen and could spend less on an alternative e-reader.
Then again, seeing your book covers in colour is a treat, and it makes shopping for books in the Kindle store a nicer experience.
We’ll have to wait and see if the Colorsoft units with alleged screen flaws can be fixed via a software update or if it could be an innate issue with the new display technology. Amazon will be hoping it is the former.
