- A Redditor has revealed what is possibly Amazon’s next Kindle ereader
- It’s supposedly a smaller – and potentially cheaper – version of the Kindle Colorsoft
- The prototype, called Kindle Petit Color, is rumored to have features never before seen on any ereader
A Brazilian Redditor going by the username Successful_Bear4855 has today leaked pictures and offered personal insights into a prototype color ereader, claiming it’s Amazon‘s next Kindle release to be announced in November. The photos show an ereader with white bezels, something we’ve not seen on a Kindle in a while, and is seemingly called the Kindle Petit Color.
While that name, according to the Redditor, is not set in stone, the new device appears to be about the same dimensions as the current basic Amazon Kindle 2024, but boasts a color E Ink display alongside features I’ve not seen in any ereader – and I’ve tested dozens over the last eight years.
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According to the leaker, who is apparently testing the device, the color saturation on the Petit is superior to the Kindle Colorsoft and has a setting that will allow users to adjust the saturation for individual colors. It’s not clear exactly how that will work, but I have tested devices like the Onyx Boox Go Color 7 that offer various screen modes, such as ‘Vivid’, that increase color hues, although the adjustment is made as a whole and not “per color”.
The Petit also apparently has a feature called “progressive colors” which, as per the author of the post, will allow users to “set up your text to change color according to reading progress”. There are apparently four colors to choose from and these can change as you get through each quarter of the book. The same color will appear on the status bar as well, as per the post, and individual icons across the UI could also be displayed in user-picked hues.
Personally, I don’t see the appeal of this “progressive color” feature, but the Redditor claims Amazon just wants to “maximize the use of color, due to how poorly it has been used in the colorsoft [sic]”. While it’s not what I would call a useful addition, I am at least slightly curious to see how well it gets executed… if this Kindle even gets released.
Color me skeptical
You can color me excited if there’s truly a new Kindle in the works – particularly if we’ll see it as early as November this year – but there are details in this Reddit thread that make me question the veracity of the leak.
From what I can tell by the leaker’s mention of a 150ppi color resolution in the thread, this new Kindle will likely be using the E Ink Kaleido 3 display, which limits the amount of saturation it can sustain. In my experience, better colors on this screen technology invariably come at the cost of text sharpness. The smaller screen size on this leaked ereader should inadvertently help the text look less fuzzy compared to bigger devices, but this is something I’ll need to see for myself before I’d recommend it as one of the best Kindles.
Then there’s the removable bezels the author of the post mentions. When asked if it will be available in other colors, the Redditor says it will come in the usual black and white but, “for the first time, the bezel will be detachable”. Replacements will also be available to purchase from November apparently, in “green leaf, deep purple, chromatic gray, and a special edition called mermaid, that changes from soft pink to soft teal depending on the angle you look at it”.
Again, I’m not sure about detachable bezels – no ereader brand has tried to do something like that before… unless it’s just skins you can stick onto the chassis. I suppose time will tell.
Other reporting suggests that this Kindle could be cheaper than the Colorsoft, but if these leaks are true, I’m not sure Amazon would sell it at a lower price. The screen optimization and color features alone could justify a price hike in Amazon’s eyes. Then there’ll be the additional cost of the detachable bezels (or skins), although I’m perhaps getting ahead of myself here.
This leak is also very public and I’m left wondering why a tester would risk Amazon’s wrath by divulging so much detail. With that in mind, I’m taking this news with more than just a few grains of salt.
One potential strike against this leak’s accuracy is that Amazon isn’t known for releasing new Kindles in quick succession. It took the company three years to release a new Kindle Paperwhite, while the Kindle Scribe got an update after two years. The base Kindle also had a two-year gap. Moreover, Amazon only just expanded its Colorsoft range with new models, so I’m not sure the tech giant will put out a brand-new ereader in 2025. We can hope though.
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sharmishta.sarkar@futurenet.com (Sharmishta Sarkar)
