Amazon’s First Color Kindle Is Having a Rocky Launch

Amazon’s first color Kindle started making its way to customers just last Wednesday, and already, the company appears to be canceling or delaying shipments. Despite promises that the new Kindle’s custom design work and materials would give it enhanced colors compared to the competition, it’s sitting at a 2.7 star rating on Amazon at the time of writing, with users complaining about grainy text and a yellow strip that seems stuck to the bottom of the display. 

In photos, the strip appears to be at the very bottom of the device, showing up like a sort of stain. It appears while displaying both color and black-and-white content, although according to The Verge, it can appear more pronounced in photos than in person. Curiously, some commenters say they only started to see the strip after a software update, while others are only noticing it when using edge lighting.

An Amazon spokesperson told Lifehacker sister site PCMag that the company is “aware of a small number of reports from customers who see a yellow band along the bottom of the display,” although Good e-Reader reports that Amazon told them the issue might be fixed by physically powering the device down and waiting a few minutes before turning it back on.

That doesn’t seem to be enough for some buyers, who are taking to exchanges and returns. Other customers report that Amazon has reached out to them to offer an exchange.

Amazon has yet to make a comprehensive statement about the situation, although a number of solutions appear to be in progress. A few customers have reported that Amazon is working on a software update to address the issue, while multiple others are saying that their shipments have been pushed back to mid-November at the earliest. I’ve reached out to Amazon for confirmation and will update this post when I hear back.

Because color e-readers work by placing color filters in between your content and you, it’s not uncommon for them to have some degree of grain or discoloration (even in black-and-white content), as I noted in my review of the Kobo Libra Colour. However, a persistent yellow strip showing up at all times is far from the experience Amazon promised when it announced the Colorsoft. I’m currently waiting on my own review unit to arrive, and will update this post if I also notice a yellow strip on my device.