Amazon has stopped providing delivery dates for the Kindle Colorsoft e-reader in the United States. When customers placed orders last week, the earliest delivery date was the end of November, but now no date was given today. Why has Amazon done this with its first colour e-reader? It is likely due to bad screens in the first batch.
Customers have been up in arms about the Kindle Colorsoft. This is due to a glaring hardware bug: a yellow bar on the bottom of the screen. This bar is always present, but it is most noticeable when reading an e-book. Amazon commented, “A few customers have reported a yellow band along the bottom of the display. We take the quality of our products seriously. Customers who notice this can contact our customer service team for a replacement or refund, and we’re making the appropriate adjustments to ensure that new devices will not experience this issue moving forward.”
Well-known industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo tweeted, “According to recent reports, Kindle Colorsoft displays are showing yellow discoloration bands along their bottoms and sides—an issue traced to Amazon’s use of a different OCA (Optically Clear Adhesive) than that used in grayscale e-paper displays. This change was implemented to enhance the limited contrast capabilities of E Ink’s Kaleido colour e-paper technology. While component suppliers have developed several hardware solutions, Amazon seems to lean toward a software-based fix.”
Amazon is right about the shifting delivery dates. Customers in Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and other European markets cannot fulfill a new Colorsoft order until 6-8 weeks. The worst is that customers in the United States no longer see a ship date; in fact, Colorsoft is entirely out of stock.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
