Amazon makes the Kindle Colorsoft cheaper and adds a Kids version

Amazon has launched two new Kindle models: a more affordable version of the Kindle Colorsoft and the first-ever Kindle made specifically for kids with a colour display.

The new 16GB Kindle Colorsoft is available now for $249.99 in the US and £239.99 in the UK and includes three months of Kindle Unlimited. It offers everything you’d expect from a Kindle – but in colour. That means a sharp, high-contrast display for reading books, comics, and graphic novels, fast page turns, adjustable warm light, and battery life that lasts for weeks. It even lets you highlight text in multiple colours and browse your library by colourful book covers.

If you’re after a few more extras, the $289.99 / £269.99 Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition adds wireless charging, 32GB of storage, and an auto-adjusting front light. We’re reviewed the Kindle Colorsoft, and were impressed with the excellent battery life, lightweight design, and muted colour screen, but slightly let down by the clunky software and high price – something the new model partly addresses.

But the big news here is the new Kindle Colorsoft Kids. Priced at $269.99 in the US and £259.99 in the UK, it’s the first Kindle for kids with a colour display, designed to make comics and graphic novels more engaging. Amazon says kids who read these kinds of books spend 46-percent more time reading on average than Kindle Kids users overall.

The child-friendly model comes with a bright illustrated cover (in your choice of ‘Fantasy River’ or ‘Starlight Reading’), a year’s subscription to Amazon Kids+, and a two-year worry-free guarantee. That means if it breaks, Amazon will replace it. No questions asked.

There are no ads, apps, games or messages on the device, just books. Kids can read Harry Potter, Big Nate, or The Treehouse series without distractions, and use tools like Vocabulary Builder, Word Wise, and OpenDyslexic font to help them along the way.

Bluetooth is also built in for audiobook listening with headphones.

Parents aren’t left out either. The Amazon Parent Dashboard gives you full control over what your child sees, lets you monitor reading progress, and even set a bedtime for the device.

As part of the package, Amazon Kids+ continues to expand. The service now includes thousands of books and audiobooks from series like Keeper of the Lost Cities, The Breakfast Club Adventures by Marcus Rashford, and The InvestiGators.

Amazon says Kindle reading is up this year, with customers having read more than 129 billion pages so far – more than this time last year.

So, if you’ve been holding off on buying a Kindle Colorsoft, now’s a good time, and if $269.99 in the US and £259.99 in the UK
still feels steep, it’s worth waiting for Black Friday, when prices could drop closer to $220 / £200.

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Spencer Hart Buying Guide Editor

About

As Buying Guide Editor, Spencer is responsible for all e-commerce content on Stuff, overseeing buying guides as well as covering deals and new product launches. Spencer has been writing about consumer tech for over eight years. He has worked on some of the biggest publications in the UK, where he covered everything from the emergence of smartwatches to the arrival of self-driving cars. During this time, Spencer has become a seasoned traveller, racking up air miles while travelling around the world reviewing cars, attending product launches, and covering every trade show known to man, from Baselworld and Geneva Motor Show to CES and MWC. While tech remains one of his biggest passions, Spencer also enjoys getting hands-on with the latest luxury watches, trying out new grooming kit, and road-testing all kinds of vehicles, from electric scooters to supercars.

Areas of expertise

Watches, travel, grooming, transport, tech