Is Color E-Ink Worth The Hype? An Honest Assessment

[@sprouting_lady]

Give it another generation imo. Colors are a fun perk but the tradeoffs, particularly the darkness of the screen, defeats the entire point of the technology for me. Especially when the reality is that the only major medium that drastically benefits outside of covers is western comics. Which are too big for most 7" devices to feel comfortable to read on.

[@raiusdaltar1483]

7-8 inch tablets are my favorite way to read graphic novels/comics. Landscape mode, fit to width, and you typically see 1/3 of the page at a time and scroll down twice for each page. It can actually be better than seeing the whole page, because you don't get distracted by frames farther down before you arrive to them in your reading. Believe it or not, these color readers have brilliant use cases for some. But yes, if you're just reading text, they are not worth it.

[@Kevincooper220]

Covers in color look more beautiful and these devices have annotation options on page

[@randomutubr222]

I have tons of ebooks on science, cooking, history, engineering, design, etc that have full color images. There's much more use to color than just comics.

[@raiusdaltar1483]

@@randomutubr222 Very cool. I have a pretty large collection of old gaming magazines, as well as some tabletop players' manuals that are also in color. Some people apparently think that because they can't justify a color device, you shouldn't either.

[@randomutubr222]

@@raiusdaltar1483 yep, I also have a lot of books on game development and game history with color screenshots, 3D models etc. would be very nice to see them in color on my Kindle. Obviously won’t be as color accurate as it would be reading on a computer or an iPad etc but would still be an order of magnitude better than black and white.

[@spyhardman]

Nice roundup. As a comic book reader, I'm waiting for them to get a little bigger. In that 6-8 inch range, you can still run into some uncomfortably small text, and going bigger helps mitigate some of the graininess; it's fine detail that suffers the most. Zooming and panning around is too annoying with the slow refresh of e-ink. It's nice to see how far these color displays have come.

[@ricarmig]

You have the Boox Air C series, they are great. I have a Boox Tab ultra (B&W) and I can’t go back

[@spyhardman]

@@ricarmig Oh right, I completely forgot that they have 10.3" Kaleido 3 units, duh. :)

[@leoshork]

​@@spyhardman I have a 3C, and although it's great, the colors are more desaturated compared to the new Kobo units or even other Boox devices

[@presterjohn71]

That level of colour is pretty much what all comics looked like until printing improved in the 90s. I'm guessing that bronze age books from the 70s would look just fine. When they can produce full sized screens at a reasonable price I think I will make the plunge and buy one of these.

[@Kevin_Street]

That's a good point about older comic book coloring. And I feel the same way as you about waiting for a full sized screen.

[@PepeCoinMania]

No I read on regular tablets old X-men comics and the resolution is important

[@hakonsoreide]

Printing technology was fine before the 90's with colours as potentially vibrant and rich as what you get today. Rich and truthful printed colours was possible already in the 19th Century. What you might have in mind are those comics that were cheaply printed, often on newsprint. That was never state of the art.

[@coinopanimator]

@@hakonsoreide I've got a collection of DC comics that would argue against what you've just said.

[@hakonsoreide]

@@coinopanimator Just because DC comics weren't brightly printed doesn't mean no comics were. The point I was trying to make is the technology was there even if it wasn't necessarily used by everyone.

[@maureenb7399]

I have always used the front light cranked up so the darkness of the Colour Kobo Libra was not an issue for me. I really enjoy seeing my book covers in colour. The new device seems quicker than my black and white Kobo Libra 2 as well. Thanks for your review.

[@ellensamir374]

2nd it.

[@steverolfeca]

Part of the appeal for me, is that the Libra Colour uses a capacitative stylus. Handwriting isn't quite as nice, but there's no Wacom layer, which is why the colour looks noticeably better than Boox.

[@coinopanimator]

It's crazy that Amazon hasn't come out with one yet considering their acquisition of comixology.

[@ChalidRaqami]

Amazon even bought a dutch Color E-Paper Tech company (Liquavista) many years ago and never did anything with the "electrowetting"-tech they acquired: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJeUeJ15lr6tj8k Many people (myself included) fully expected to see a Kindle Color at that time. Maybe now that the market is moving to Color E-Ink...

[@luc7976]

@@ChalidRaqami Also Panos Panay joined Amazon devices from Microsoft Surface. Rumors he was not happy with the shrinking Surface product line. Therefore you'd think they must have promised him more device projects at Amazon. No news at all at this point, but would make sense if he'd be leading some next gen project. On the other hand it's odd if Amazon would poor a lot of money into devices, given it's not expected to make a lot of money.

[@abc98114]

Amazon is working on color e-readers. They’re going to release them in December or early 2025.

[@marenhumblebee2736]

@@ChalidRaqami that's so interesting- I didnt know any of this was going on and yet I had been expecting colour e-ink for years ^^ I kept wandering why it was taking so long 😅

[@Antoniojf92]

​@@abc98114source?

[@markmoriarty7760]

After using an iPad Mini for 6 months I got tired of the brightness of the screen even when it was set to zero when I was reading at night in the dark using dark mode. I purchased the Kobo Libra colour and have noticeably found the night time reading much less straining on my eyes as I use it in dark mode so none of the screen issues of colour are a problem at all. I even have the brightness set to only 2 or 3%. I had a Kobo Libra 2 before the iPad, and the new colour one is much faster due to the new cpu.

[@huraibi]

There's no comparison between ipads and E-ink tablets! I have Ipad pro 12.9 inch. I tried to read on it for almost like 10 minutes and then I got eye-strain and headache! Ipads are not for reading at all! Even if you like the experience, but health is above everything!

[@ch3ckm8]

oh it's amazing how e-ink reduces eye strain. I can read my kindle in complete darkness in dark mode with warm front light for hours no problem.

[@DenStoraVargen]

It is not only about pictures. I read a lot of scientific papers and books on a color e-ink device and it's great. It was a huge pain to separate graphs from each other in gray scale or make some notes for other people in color (when missing to change the color and not knowing which notes are in the wrong color before checking it on an other device) on a black and white screen. For reading text there is no better option than an e-reader other than print every thing out or carry a lot of books and folders around.

[@TheBigBossPlancarte]

What color e-ink device do you have??

[@DenStoraVargen]

@@TheBigBossPlancarte I use two for different purposes. Tab Ultra C and Nova Air C both are from onyx boox. One is the first choose for work the other one is for small package when traveling or in the train (where I have to spend much time) as well as reading in bed.

[@realdragon]

That's one thing I didn't really consider tbh, in old books when it was just black and white print people had to think about how to make graph easily readable but nowadays they're just use different colours to make distinction between lines

[@mousegrey6747]

Not a huge deal, but a use for colour I haven’t seen mentioned is highlighting passages- for anyone that uses different colours to denote different points of interest, it comes in handy to have more than one option.

[@gnorb]

Not related to the (excellent) content, but your Star Trek background, and even the comic, are fantastic. Keep up the great work!

[@kabyzdoch]

video starts at 8:41

[@hunggenius]

thanks bro

[@levis1956]

Excellent point about the colour UI being just better to use, I didn't expect to love having my ebook library in colour, but now it would be hard to go back!

[@yensteel]

I did an experiment by setting my ipad to grayscale mode. Annotating pdfs was quite a hassle. Therefore, I decided color is worth over the dimness and the need to enable front light. I'm using the Tab Mini C and 12.9 ipad.

[@levis1956]

Yes definitely, another thing that has been great coming from an older BW Kobo has been the introduction of coloured annotations, which helps so much for visually tracking different ideas through the same book.

[@jazzpear8877]

I’m a print nerd and a UI designer and this excites me. I’ve been wanting color e-ink for awhile. I’m still waiting, but you are making me want to pick up a BW e-reader in the meantime.

[@MangoPanic]

The graininess was extremely noticeable when I first turned on my Kobo Libra Colour, but within the first hour of using the device, my eyes simply adjusted and I could no longer see it. I'd read so many people saying this, but didn't quite believe it would be possible to stop noticing it upon seeing it in person for the first time. But yeah, it legit just disappears. As for the screen darkness, it's def too dark to read on without the frontlight. It only really bothers me because it's a bit too dark to see my book covers on clearly when the device is turned off. But that's a small price to pay imo. I was in the market for a new ereader after trying a second hand one with no frontlight. Luckily it was right as these coloured ereaders were releasing. Definitely happy with my decision, but if you already have a modern ereader that you're happy with, I'd give the technology time to improve.

[@Dalimagnus]

I’m not much of a Trekkie but that Enterprise display is incredible!

[@OG_BeeRad]

Trekker

[@yanngsb]

@@OG_BeeRad Grovyler

[@ReljaTrajkovic]

Is that a TV with animated sequence, or actual illuminated wall decoration?

[@tuoyoekperigin8861]

@@ReljaTrajkovicinterested in knowing as well!

[@randomfandom53]

Me too!

[@shehuehue]

I think people who'd benefit most from the colour ereader right now are those who regularly read academic books/papers where colour is often an essential information. For those like me who just read novels and manga, whose contents are black & white anyway, bw ereader is more than enough.

[@AdrienneLouise77]

I loved your explanation! I didn’t know that much about e-ink, I just knew it was better for my eyes. Great job, thank you 👍🏻

[@mmstick]

You can improve perceived sharpness and contrast by increasing font weight slightly. I find that I can comfortably read on the Kobo Libra Colour at a lower brightness with smaller text after doing this.

[@mikewhite955]

Also, e ink devices are incredibly light, so it makes reading in the bed or everywhere where you lai down so much better. :)

[@LucaMolteni84]

are they? a book note air3 weights 430g against the iPad 477 , not that much of a difference

[@ch3ckm8]

@@LucaMolteni84 depends. But most e readers are light. My kindle scribe is heavy though lol

[@nobodyyouknow380]

I love it for reading in bed without glasses. Large print books dont have much line spacing so hard to read. I got the color Clara Kobo and have been enjoying reading Archie comics and other graphic novels. Kindle was getting expensive as it doesn't work with Overdrive in NZ.

[@riverwindbonsai]

There's actually a third e-ink technology with mentioning, DES or Display Electronic Slurry. There are no current products using it, but it is worth mentioning. I only know of two devices that used it, both one-off kickstarter tablets which don't have any second generations planned. It has better color saturation than kaleido, but seems to be more fragile; both devices had a very high rate of screen degradation - mine has a problem where the cover magnets may have broken the ability of the slurry to refresh along the bottom, making the bottom 1/2" a blurry unreadable mess. The rest of the screen still looks great after a year, but it's not an issue I have heard with the other screen types. We may see it resurge if the reliability can be solved; in addition to the better looking color and contrast, it's apparently cheaper to manufacture.

[@improvwithlions4173]

I'm saving money for a colour e ink tablet, specifically for a better comics experience. The graininess and faded colours are actually a plus for old dc/marvel works because their digital editions are all oversaturated on digital screens and glossy paper anyways. I just hope that they'll be equally as good for newer comics, black and white comics, and pure text. The dark appearance of the screen worries me a little. I'm looking at the boox offerings specifically because I'm an idiot who has purchases both on google play and kindle, and buying a tablet that can do both plus rented books from the library would be awesome for me. Even if I decide against colour, I'll want to go with a third party device anyways.

[@bellissimo4520]

For me the answer is "no". Because for me, color is just a nice add-on that I rarely need (I look at black-and-white content 95% of the time). Also, some testers found that color displays increase power usage a lot - because they are inherently darker, and you need to enable front lighting to get a contrast that looks similar to the black-and-white devices. And front lighting is by far the biggest power draw (much more actually than fast display refresh). For me, battery runtime is important on a device like this. I really want it to be able to run for days or even weeks without needing to charge it. Unfortunately there seems to be a color hype now... I am waiting for a nice 7" black-and-white note taking device with Google Play, but currently all Onyx devices are either larger, or have a color display. Basically I'd like to have a Tab Mini C without the "C"...

[@jbrashfx]

I'm in this exact boat. I would LOVE a Tab Mini without color.

[@blinkbingpasirin2341]

I’m searching one just like you, other alternatives just don’t seem to be just yet.

[@bellissimo4520]

@@blinkbingpasirin2341 Well I gave in and got the Tab Mini C. At least it has a powerful battery (pretty much the most powerful of all Boox devices, even all the larger ones). So I hope this will offset the additional screen power draw. I will be able to test this properly in a few weeks when I go on holiday...

[@raijin2950]

Im in an unfortunate position in that due to brain and nervous system damage i can`t use backlit screens like LCD anymore. Onyx Boox coming out with BSR changed my life. For me kaleido screens are just too dark but i really hope we will see Gallery4 or 5 being capable enough that BSR or a similar tech could be applied. I long for colour as do im sure all the other people stuck in my position.

[@dingdongyouropinioniswrong7825]

I got my eink book ultra c pro for uni as I study philosophy and AI so I go through a lot of papers and books and notes. I use a single notebook for almost each exam and I hated not being able to save my notes digitally as I use obsidian as well. I loved the onyx boox eink as it runs android and I can sync all my files cross platform with syncthing. It's been so useful, I have also realised I have read way more since I got it and my eye strain has not increased which I had the issue when I used an Ipad when I was younger. This being said, the 700 euros were very well spent and all my textbooks I can get online for free which is honestly so awesome. Anyways I really think eink tablets are so useful for students and people in academia. The only issue that I think would be a big deal breaker for some would be the slower responsiveness, which is very evident if u browse, but to be fair I think it's not that bad and you do have to consider hardware limitations.

[@florentinosanchez3969]

Best video ever. Thank you so much. Ive been days asking myself lots of questions and researching, but your video was what I needed. Very good explanations

[@By-the_Way]

Being a comic book lover, I really like the look of e-inks but the current biggest hitch for me that is stopping me to get my hands on them is the price. Color e-ink devices are still relatively expensive.

[@letterbomb211]

I work printing material every day, and nothing beats good Oil Ink and white paper, I have the na3c, the colors are muted, the screen looks gray ( colors mixed always turn to gray or black, so it's inevitable), you need to use the blacklight many of the time, but still better that a regular screen turning on and off 60 times a sec, so even so is easier on the eyes, when I need see real colors I just use a regular screen

[@luc7976]

I tried it but lack of sharpness + graininess (you show that well around 10:50) was for me dealbreaker for now. I don't have amazing vision but I can pick it still up (doesn't help I guess that I also have Kindle Voyage). I can live with muted colors, but even in b/w it always seems to have rasterization/fuzziness compared to regular B/W e-ink. Usiing regular active display 10" tablet + smaller b/w passive display e-ink is for me better combo.

[@mmstick]

You can fix that by increasing the font weight of the text. It improves perceived contrast and sharpness significantly.

[@luc7976]

@@mmstick Rasterization look though persists (I see diagonal background pattern). Likely not everyone sees this or is bothered by it, but I have seen other people noticing that too.

[@ziomalZparafii]

Whoa, was not expecting Polish books in your library ^_^ 8:59 Bajki i przypowieści 9:07 Łąka 9:09 Nad Niemnem

[@mrxyz2k]

I wish to see it on TV’s after resolving many of its limitations, especially in responding time and color grading.

[@MrFirecasters]

Great overview, thanks! I'm one of those considering if it makes sense to switch and in my case I will still wait for a year or two, I'm happy the technology is moving forward tho! Also btw, an insanely nerdy selection of content haha

[@corpsious]

Love the vibe, the technical competence, the star trek stuff everywhere, the pacing. Liked and subscribed. I know English is a pain in the ass but please try to learn how to pronounce e-ink :) 'e' and 'i' are different sounds. It sounds like you're saying 'ink' every time you say 'e-ink'. Draw out the vowel a tiny bit longer and switch sounds.

[@ChalidRaqami]

Thanks, appreciate the constructive feedback :)

[@philhackbreak]

For me personally the most important aspects for an eReader is long battery life, robustness (ip68, etc.) at a low price (not too risky that it will be stolen, not too bad if it is). So from my angle: switching to color seems like not a good idea right now, as all color models (afaik) have low battery life and are expensive.

[@luc7976]

Many believe that much more energy is needed for color, but the difference is negligible in passive display tech. The difference rather comes from having to use more frontlight (and with Boox there's also more CPU/GPU for image processing). But still you can find several reviews here of color e-readers with good battery life and ip68 so I don't find that biggest concern (e.g. Pocketbook Inkpad color 3). There's some price premium, but Kobo Libra Color is showing it's not that significant and probably prices will further drop. My issue is more the current trade-offs that comes with decreased sharpness and dithering.

[@ch3ckm8]

price is definitely a big factor. These are basically just fancy books and notebooks. They should never be priced as much as fully pledged laptop computers.

[@wtcls]

Thanks a lot for your test. For comics I`m going to stay with my tablet and for the books with my black and white. I may change in a few years when the colors get beter.

[@iclonethefirst]

Don't forget annotating. It is a huge factor nowadys and also surplus for color e-ink

[@ChalidRaqami]

Very good point, thanks for bringing it up. Annotating with a color display definitely works better with the ability to color coding notes.

[@therehn]

Yes! I use colour so much for studying and note-taking on paper

[@Entertainment-is6ex]

Colour coding/annotating notes and books is the main reason I’m considering colour e-ink. I can crank up the front light to make up for the darkness. But the graininess I’m not sure of..

[@j_shelby_damnwird]

As a comics reader. That's the only real perk of devices using this tech -And only using the device under a strong direct light. (the included front light sucks big time and eats up battery fast)

[@realdragon]

They're specialized tools, that's fine. E-ink have advantages over LCD but also have so disadvantages, like everything. I don't know why people would complain so much about refresh page, that's just how this technology works and for sure it's not meant for very fast changes

[@rupenjshah]

Nice video. I also have and like colour eink, but I don't think you mentioned one huge downside issue in your video compared to BW eink, battery life.

[@omolongmo]

The battery life is not affected at all by the color. What does affect it is the use of light and the special refresh technology in the special devices from Bigme and Boox. But this is much more important to me than color

[@tparadox88]

​@@omolongmoI would expect the more complicated refresh cycles of ACeP to have some effect on the battery life, but not as much as using the light, which you're going to do more with a Kaleido display because of the darkening.

[@aprithul]

Got a Kobo Libra Color and returned it right away. Coming from a B&W kindle basic, I had the following major issues: 1. Considerably darker screen indoors with the brightness turned down/off. 2. Color content appears even darker on the screen without front light turned up. 3. Screen looks very grainy and I can see the grid pattern on the screen with naked eyes. 4. One of the page turn buttons didn't click at all. Would have considered it a rare unit specific issue if not for the deluge of complains online regarding the unresponsive buttons.

[@sprouting_lady]

Same, the darkness of the screen just defeats the entire point of E-Ink for me. Plus manga is almost unreadable due to the rainbow effect present with some shading techniques. So you're literally only benefitting if you stare at covers or read primarily comics, children's books, or...what....I guess cookbooks? Not worth it.

[@aprithul]

@@sprouting_lady I'll probably upgrade to a paperwhite soon. I love my basic Kindle, but it's an older one and the resolution is half that of the Paperwhite. I tried the scribe and it's too heavy for e-reading which I like to do one handed most of the time. I think it's still a few more years of improvements until color readers becomes somewhat descent.

[@phasmine_]

⁠​⁠@@sprouting_ladywhat does the rainbow effect and shading techniques look like? I haven’t seen this before

[@mmstick]

I also got a Libra Colour and found that increasing the font weight slightly improves perceived sharpness and contrast of text significantly. I'm typically reading content between 0-30% depending on the time of day. However, I don't understand how you could possibly see a grid, because pixels on an e-ink display aren't arranged like that. Further, black and white pixels are displayed at 300 DPI.

[@mmstick]

@@sprouting_lady I read through Umineko no Naku Koro ni and didn't encounter any issues.

[@gmano]

Weirdly enough, I now really like the grainy screen. To me, it feels more like looking at a printed book page when you have that texture as opposed to a smooth e-ink screen.

[@sadiaafrin4825]

Got era color, loved it but then send it back cause eventually I wasn't using the color features enough to justify the price, even though the b&w era is the same price with less storage. I liked Pocketbook ergonomic, loved everything but when reading comics, I had to turn the light to almost 100% and that didn't go well with me. After trying color, I found out I'm still a big fan of b&w. Wish the gallery 3 was in operation

[@AN0NYM00S]

For me the biggest problem with pocketbook is the sluggish input. Everything takes at least twice, if not three times as long as with the kindle. Also, the colors are super washed out and everything is really grainy.

[@sadiaafrin4825]

@@AN0NYM00S For just book reading, I actually didn't notice much. I experienced much lag on kobo libra color than the era color (May be I had the defect libra, not sure as everyone says kobo is snappy). I still do love kindle for many reasons, but then again I sideload most books and everytime opening a laptop to convert in a format which kindle supports is a hassle. Also some of my books in epub never went through send to kindle. Another thing I liked most on Pocketbook is the buttons, and all the customization options it gives me with those. If kindle ui could be installed on Pocketbook device with all those button support, that would've an ideal device for me

[@MasticinaAkicta]

It is that I already bought a SAGE last year, Kobo Sage, and that thing is good enough. But I am happy to see Kobo move into the realm of colors. Color can add things after all, reading comics and manga for instance. Or actually seeing a beautifully made cover, maps in books in colors, and so on.

[@bricenoh]

I love my Boox reader...my only complain on most eReaders are closed ecosystems...I wish they all ran (and could be updated) to the latest android.

I suppose the next big step in e-ink technology will be to fill those ink capsules with ink that can emmit light when power is applied. If something like this is possible, the screen could reproduce a lot more colors. There could be multiple power plans for the display. Just black and white, colored, with and without light. Or a dynamic mode that will use an algorithm to only let parts glow that are supposed to pop, like some colors in a comic, or some parts of the dtext when there is little ambient light.

[@corrxent]

isn't the point to have e-ink is to not have a page that emitting light to the reader? like a normal book, it's reflecting instead of emitting light. It's easier for the eyes. If you want a pixel that emitting light just get an ipad.

​@@corrxent An Ipad is not the same. You can't get much better colors with an e-ink display than the current colored e-ink displays. The color you percieve is only determined by the light that gets reflected from it. Just like with every other clolor. Problem is that you can't just mix the colored "pixels" of an e-ink display like regular color particles to get the same granularity. Either you completely change the display technology, make e-ink "pixels / dots" that are several orders of magnitude smaller or you make ink that can emmit light. Conventional e-ink displays like we have them now are approaching a dead end for color representation with the current technology. This problem is not unsolvable, but it will very likely not be done within the next 20 years. Ink that can emmit light would solve multiple problems. It would allow for displays that can be used completely passive like current e-inks but also active so you could read in a dark enviroment without an annoying external light. It would allow to mix self emmited light together with the reflected light to get a much better contrast and color reproduction. Readers would benefit from a hiugher flexibility. And at least in theory, it would be a much easier and cost effective approach to improve e-ink displays, as much of the groundwork for that technology already exists.

[@whizzardno1]

LED?

@@whizzardno1 LEDs do not allow you to set the brightness to zero. LED displays are a fundamentally different technology than e-ink.

[@scimbrelo]

When you compare the screens 11 min in and point out the colors all showing, it reminded me of sitting too close to an old television

[@wholeheartedme]

I loved the big picture summary and all the techy info is so great - nice review 👍🏻

[@martalovesmilkaoreo]

I bought Boox Mini C and I'm disappointed I can't take it with me for a longer reading in the sun. According to short paper instruction, it's not allowed 🤷‍♀️

[@mumeena3647]

I sold tab mini c last month because it's darker screen than b&w. My books has only text so the color screen's not necessary for me.

[@swordssolitude3861]

Just got a Kindle and I honestly like the jank factor (slow refresh rate / bad menus) - It feels like using a piece of tech both from the future and the 90's, where the main event - just reading - is pretty much perfect

[@MarkoTopchii]

Been excited about the Mirasol a decade ago, and now there are so many emerging, fingers crossed for many more, better and better. Still own my Sony digital paper and would definitely change for the same A4, but in color.

[@AvengerDK]

The one thing I don't get is that reviewers aren't saying this flat out: You can't use a color e-ink without the backlight. It's too dark. WAY to dark. Thinking about returning my Kobo Libra Colour, but I'm sad because I got $100 off, because the Libra 2 is discontinued in Denmark. It works great with comics... It's just that might only be 1/4 of what I'm going to use it for.

[@xxxx-rx7co]

so if i almost exclusively read coloured comics, do you think it'd be worth it?

[@Entertainment-is6ex]

@@icipher12almost every KZbinr has good lighting or a ring light these days

[@timbeard8457]

I recall a few years back that someone wanted to build a technology inspired by the chromatophores that octopuses, squid and cuttlefish have. That works have given much more vivid colours and behaved the need for the filter layer. Wonder what happened to that.

[@davedsilva]

Love the Enterprise behind you! What’s the story? Where can I get one??

[@ChalidRaqami]

Check out mewho.com (not made by me). The Titan app has a couple of settings to play around with :)

[@Lauriciu]

For me, colour has been a big improvement and I certainly won't go back to BW ereaders. I got the Boox TUC and I use it as much as I can as a tablet, not just an ereader: annotating colour pdf courses, browsing the internet and even some light games. Not to mention the general delight that is seeing colours and not just shades of grey.

[@skipper63400]

Same here all my reading and Internet browsing is done only TUC and my eyes are thankful

[@jojosbizarretransgenderism]

Is the TUC worth it? Considering picking one up myself.

[@skipper63400]

@@jojosbizarretransgenderism well it is among the most expensive e-ink devices and when I bought it, it was the only one in colour. Now you can also choose between the TUC Pro and the Note Air 3 Color. I don't think the original TUC is still available, but it has bigger battery than the previous versions

[@Lauriciu]

@@jojosbizarretransgenderism if you use it as much as you can, with everything it offers, then yes it's worth it. But if you want some simpler, lighter or smaller devices check out more from boox, pocketbook, kobo etc

[@lilivinnik4944]

Does the color e-ink technology reduce the battery life or response speed? I would like to see a comparison of Era Color and Libra Colour: which has a better-looking display and is more comfortable for reading, the longest battery life, etc.

[@ThePianist51]

Not significantly. Actually there is almost to difference to b/w readers. Though when turning on the LED-Illumination, it does reduce battery life since you have to use it more than the lighter b/w readers. ^^

[@ChalidRaqami]

About the speed & battery life: Yes and no. The Kaleido-approach with the color filter seems to need more performance. I suspect it's because the device needs to take the RGB-filter into account when rendering the content, which is more demanding than just rendering an image normally. So using the exact same chipset, a B&W ereader would be faster. But most (I think all) current color ereaders use faster CPUs compared to the B&W counterparts (Era Color vs. Era; Libra Color vs. Libra 2; Verse Pro Color vs. Verse Pro) because of that. So in the end performance is typically very similar and battery life for color ereaders (not E-Ink tablets) is also not too far off, because they usually also have slightly larger batteries to compensate for the faster chipset.

[@lilivinnik4944]

@ChalidRaqami Thanks for such a detailed answer. I am looking forward to new videos, especially the Verse Pro Color review

[@dancingdoormanable]

I think picking the right device for the job is essential. Using one device for all may get you by, but if you have a specific use case that happens often like reading e-books or reading graphic novels/magazines warrants a specific device in my book. The point that a color e-reader gets better when reading outside is interesting, but it's a use case that doesn't happen often for me. For reading graphic novels and magazines I switched to a 4K Yoga tablet/laptop combination. The brightness makes the visuals much more impactful and the ability to zoom very fast also makes a difference. I'm trying to read more e-book's, so for that use case I have an old e-reader. The slow reaction of the screen is a bit irritating at first, but something one gets used to quickly. Having the fronts of books in color would probably be better, but only for a few seconds. It's the pages of the book that count and those are just better to read on an e-reader. Illustrations in a e-book are similar to a graphic novel, but are often not enough to warrant moving to a tablet.

[@SkepticalCaveman]

Kaleido will be obsolete soon. Gallery is the better color E-ink technology and hopefully Gallery 4 will be fast enough.

[@ChalidRaqami]

I suspect we'll see Gallery 3 Plus (or whatever they call it) in 2024 and I also hope it's faster (and can generate the color green better).

[@martinrwolfe]

Nice review. The colour einks knd of remind me of the early colour TVs in that the effects of the colour mask were clearly noticeable. So probably in a couple of generations of colour e-ink it will be worrthwile to make the switch so that the colour images in texbooks and other non-fiction documents will be able to convey their full information on an e-reader. However for comics it looks like it is already good enough.

[@darrenmc168]

Hey buddy where do you get the star trek screen saver behind you from ?

[@ChalidRaqami]

Check out mewho.com (not made by me) and select the Titan-app. That's the one I'm using for the TV in the background.

[@AWriterWandering]

ironically, the gray tint reminds me of the first gen eInk displays like the ones Sony put out back in the day

[@aamirkhan6692]

It still sounds great for displays in shops, where you can have a coloured digital display with need of much power and can change it every now and then if needed.

[@alimfuzzy]

For me, yes, I have to use a tablet because my reports have graphs in colour. I'd much prefer to use an ebook, especially a kindle.

[@MeroCallys]

am I the only one who actually enjoys the graininess of the Kaleido 3? There's something about it that reminds me of reading a colorful newspaper, and I kind of like that vibe. 😂

[@AndriesTom]

Still waiting for a 13,3 inch color Eink... For me, 10 inch feels too cramped to take notes during a meeting or workshop. I have a 13.3 inch b/w eInk nod, but miss true colour's to highlight text for study, while the eInk does make it much softer on the eyes to read a long time.

[@TK-mj9rd]

Excellent review, can you please review how the new Kindle Softcolor that was just announced compares to what's on the market now?

[@ChalidRaqami]

Yes, it's high on my list ... :)

[@TransCanadaPhil]

To me the main draw is one day I want to be able to mount a large electronic poster on my wall that I can just change at any time and looks like a poster, not lit up!

[@idealcrashes1979]

Super professional, congrats for your channel

[@szniok]

I got the Kobo Libra 2 for the same reason as why I got a MacBook Pro 2019 in 2022. The older tech had iterations upon iterations to be perfected and made reliable. I’m really happy with my Libra 2 and while the colors do seem nice, I don’t see many practical uses, it’s a gimmick. I’ve also never had an e-reader before so I really wanted that staple B&W experience:)

[@ChalidRaqami]

Definitely a great choice. The Libra 2 is still one of the best B&W ereaders.

[@darkally1235]

The after-image ghosting seems to be significant with the Kaleido screens whereas the Bigme Galy has a very slow update as it seems to need to do a full refresh for each color.

[@ChalidRaqami]

Yes, Gallery 3 on the Galy is quite slow. There's a faster mode available, but that's producing less vibrant colors and also more ghosting. But according to the last E Ink Holdings investors report, a new Gallery 3 generation is on the way and should be released or announced in 2024. So hopefully somethings comes from that.

[@willkenway]

Thank you for your analysis Chalid. I was wondering whether to upgrade to the next Kindle if it's colour, but my 11th generation is great, and at this point in the technology I don't think it's worth the trade-offs for me. I'll wait and see the reviews of the next Kindle, but this helped me decide. Thank you. 🙏

[@d.r.martin6301]

I wish that Amazon would bring back something like the original Fire e-reader, which was only minimally a tablet. A simple e-reader with a color LCD screen--without all the tablet apps and crap.

[@JMaxwell1000]

Wonderful review and comparison. And I love the Swiss-German accent. Bravo!

[@DazRSmith]

I havent seen any of your videos before, but you got a subscribe from this one! What colour e-ink devices would you recommend? Personally, I'd be going for the biggest screen possible to make the small details in comics stand out, and not need to worry about zooming - especially with the slow refresh rate.

[@raiusdaltar1483]

The way to do comics is use landscape mode and fit to width. Then you see 1/3 of the page at a time, which is perfect for comics considering how the frames are normally laid out.

[@matkom2]

@@raiusdaltar1483 , при экране 7.8 дюймов...

[@icipher12]

Having tested the boox go color I would seriously advise against getting one for comic books. Just use a tablet. These screens don't do the art justice and you'll be sacrificing the experience on regular ebooks for it. I really want color ebooks to be a thing, but the technology as it is now just isn't worth it yet.

[@Ultrajamz]

What would you recommend if I would like to be able to read and make notes on pdfs - I am leaning to color e-ink for battery life, outside viewing, ability to see color diagrams… but I don’t know if I can edit/mark-up pdfs and use note taking apps as easily as on a tablet…

[@klaus-udokloppstedt6257]

Onyx Boox. my only complains are: a) their marker pen sucks. it partially alters the text color too, instead only the background. thus it is possible to completely cancel out the text or graphic by applying the highlighter pen multiple times. I hope this gets fixed in future system updates. b) sometimes the undo function gets confused when annotating PDFs. (very annoying) big advantage: Boox e-ink devices are not locked-in devices. they are just android tablets, so you can install any app you like. they only have a boox-launcher UI, instead of the classic Android homescreen (and even that is possible to change). so you can use your preferred app for PDF reading and editing, if you don't like Boox's own PDF-Reader. my almost exclusive use case for my Boox Nova Air II is note taking, not working on PDFs. so take that into account regarding this answer/recommendation.

[@plc3653]

kaleido 3 is so dark that you have to turn on the front light most of the time even with ambient lighting. If the front light is on all the dang time, where is the benefit of the so called "glare free" display?

[@paradiseb5950]

Exactly. Untill these screens look exactly like printed paper i won’t be investing. My eyes hurt like hell when trying to read on kindle basic.

[@VilhelmEdgren]

The difference is still huge between reflected and backlit screens. The e-reader lights hit the front of the screen and bounce back to your eyes just like any other external light source would. The key differentiator is the quality of light.

[@plc3653]

@@VilhelmEdgren better by how much? 1% better than backlit?

[@VilhelmEdgren]

@@plc3653 I'd say 100% difference. Like the difference between a tv screen and a printed poster. A tv screen is backlit and a printed poster is front lit. A tv screen or an oled screen creates its images using light, every pixel is a light source, while print and e-ink is a difference in reflected light on a surface. 100% different.

[@anthonykoller4459]

I am still waiting for the Colour Paperwhite e-reader

[@jaredf6205]

I think we are going to get a scribe mini color and b&w.

[@elektroqtus]

The Star Trek behind you got my subscription

[@KrisRogos]

The darkness of the display and effective 1/4 of the resolution are a big problem. I briefly owned the Boox Pro C, but because it was so dark and low res I was actually straining my eyes more than with an LCD. I really hope they can make CYMK work or reduce the cell size drastically in future generations before I try a colour e-ink again.

[@AlexYorim]

I wonder if they're gonna use CMYK e-ink, much like in real life ink?

[@davefink2326]

Happy to see you point this out. I am wondering if CMYK is what they're using anyway, and just calling it red-green-blue because that makes it easier non technical explanation?

[@RelakS__]

I have an Onyx Boox Note Air 3C. My problems with it: Until someone does not find out how to reflect almost all the light when it should be white, it will be dark grey. LCD display can get away with a backlight 3 times as bright as it should be, but it is not an option of a reflective display. So, even though colours come in handy, the experience is very dull. I don't know if Onyx did something wrong, or the ebook file formats are plain garbage, but the 2 out of the 3 books I have needs some tuning to be nicely readable (originally the lines are too close to each other, the letters are too big), and 1 is just useless (Scorn art book. I did not find any ebook software which could render it correctly), pictures are missing, text is garbled to itself, etc.

[@karlmunford7000]

I've been thinking about purchasing a colour e-ink device lately, as playing Solitaire on my monochrome Note Air 2+ is such a pain! 😛 But seriously, the biggest issue for me regarding coloured e-ink, is that it annuls the fantastic battery life that has always been associated with it, and until users can replace the battery with ease, the longevity of the device is dramatically diminished by the increased battery cycles as the unit race towards the inevitable... dead battery. Out of interest, have you ever attempted to replace the battery on any of your considerable collection?

[@ChalidRaqami]

Yeah, battery life has been an issue on many devices for a while now and I actually have a video planned on that topic, because it bothers me as well. Luckily not all are equal(ly bad). Some still offer good battery life and also have colors. But in general - yes, it got worse for many E-Ink devices over the last few years. Yes, I have tried to replace the battery of my very first Sony PRS-505. The battery swap was not an issue, but I couldn't get everything back into the unibody aluminum case in one piece, because you needed to slide everything in, which I just couldn't do :D I ended up buying a new one. I have opened up many ereaders since, to see how they are set up and a battery swap should be easy on most. The only issue on some is the coating for the water protection, that's sealing the connectors. I haven't opened up a Boox Note or Tab device though, so can't say anything about them.

[@karlmunford7000]

@@ChalidRaqami As you are no doubt aware, the EU has written legislation regarding access by the user to change batteries which is great news, though I am not an EU fan _[Brexiteer]._ I look forward to your video focussed on the batteries of e-ink devices, it should be interesting.

[@goose-lw6js]

My main use case for a color e-reader would be newspapers and magazines but i guess for now i stay with a regular tablet paired with a BW e-reader.

[@peter_3435]

Having color is the number one factor is selecting a reader. The second most important is being 10.3ish inches. As long as I can load documents, all the rest is extra.

[@acev3521]

One step closer to videos in catalogues like in cyberpunk

[@davidknightx]

They will never release a serious e-ink comic tablet. And even if the did, none of you would buy it. The reason for the first? Scanners exist. I got a Cannon scanner that's over 15yrs old and scanned countless comic pages with it. Still works perfectly (though needed to be taken apart and cleaned). It scans up to 600dpi. I could print a movie sized poster of a comic panel at that resolution (could even do a roadside billboard with the right RIP software) The reason none of you would buy a comic tablet? Because the only way you get around scanners is a system like Netflix or GamePass. And good luck convincing people to pay for comics they could lose if the servers go down (temporarily) or the company goes under (permanently). All comics creators should be crowdfunding. The real money has never been in the sales. It's in the RIGHTS. You think Stan Lee died a billionaire?

[@antoniosvlachodimos8450]

Why ever change though if I just read ebooks and I’m not into comics, graphic novels etc? Just for the covers?

[@MyLifeInTheDesert]

Annotating and taking notes. And trust me seeing your covers in color is amazing

[@maxziebell4013]

I had some of the first e-inks from Amazon. They often broke with strange permanent screen patterns. This has been fixed in the Paperwhite and beyond.

[@gabrieldias3479]

That extra layer isn't basically a Bayern Filter used on CCD and CMOS sensors for digital cameras? If so, then the solution for colored e-ink is much simpler than we thought.

[@scottmariner]

für mich wäre farbe gut zum verarbeiten von Text. dafür würde ich mir eine version der geräte zum schreiben kaufen. von der darstellung müssen die nicht mehr als comocs anzeigen können, wer fotos betrachten möchte ist mit einem tablett besser bedient. im generellen kan man sagen das es für ein papeirloses leben ohnehin beide geräte braucht und bessere software auf beiden geräten

Currently I am using an E ink tablet and even bought a Bigme E ink phone to see if it is meeting my requirements. Due my busy life I feel the need to rewind and E ink is very helpful for that. E ink tablet for note taking let me focus on the task. Now I am checking if I can replace my phone with an E ink phone. I understand there are several limitations but I am still having work phone and a tablet in case I am missing something.

[@Kevin_Street]

Thank you for this video! It really did help me, as I'm very interested in color E-ink displays. And for the same reason you mention in the video: reading comics. The pastel colors are a bit of a downside, though.

[@darkarma609]

Reading pure text on color produces more eyestrain. Sunken bezels are one way to mitigate, but still, having the luxury to only see the cover page, and a few pictures within the text, tradeoffs being a darker screen, less contrast, and fuzzy script is not worth it. I have been having ereaders from the Kindle Voyage to ViWoods, I still think the Voyage is the best of them all.

[@oxfordborg1400]

Keep these videos coming!

[@TG-Maverick22]

This video is incredible. Love your assessment. 5/5!

[@PeterVanHoof-n3y]

love your background Startrek

[@firestara4830]

I have several BW eink device but I am waiting for a higher PPI before I switch to colour eink

[@matkom2]

ага, 300 PPI бы нам...

[@camp0017]

"Nad Niemnem" in your e-library? Do you also read Polish ebooks?

[@ChalidRaqami]

Good catch, but sorry to disappoint - that's one of the preloaded books. :-) PocketBook ereaders have a couple of public domain ebooks pre-loaded in many different languages.

[@PaulMDavidson]

It's weird that the pixels are RGB instead of CMYK. I noticed in the side-by-side comparison that yellow is basically nonexistent on the Kaleido 3.

[@BrianHartman]

I think that if you're into comics and other color content, a color e-reader makes sense. I'm not very into comics, though, and the washed-out look of current color e-readers bothers me. If I want color content, I have a Kindle Fire or iPad for that. The thing I really want is a decent writing/drawing tablet. I wish that would come down in price. The Kobo Libra Color is tempting, because it's smaller than the Kindle Scribe and not priced unreasonably. But the color would just be a bonus.

[@himotara]

what tablet are you using in the begining of the video ?

[@ewanconnor1403]

There are only two reasons I use an e reader, one is I can load books using an sad card and two, I can read in bright sunlight . I love my iPad mini much and it kicks these colour ink readers into touch . Only the kindle oasis keeps me using ink readers and the lack of updating it with a better battery is a shame .