Amazon Kindle Colorsoft teardown video shows scratch-prone color display under microscope
The new Amazon Kindle Colorsoft (currently $279 on Amazon) offers a waterproof chassis, a battery life of up to eight weeks as well as a 7-inch e-ink display, which can even display colors and not just gray scales like all previous Kindle e-readers. Now, the popular YouTuber JerryRigEverything has taken a closer look at the latest Kindle device in the teardown video, which can be found embedded below. For instance, the red, green and blue subpixels can be seen under a microscope.
These subpixels look like squares instead of strips, which is more common with LCDs. The colored e-ink panels utilizes a color filter that applies a specific color to each subpixel. As a result, the pixel density effectively drops from 300 PPI to 150 PPI when colored content is displayed. The microscope also shows that the display surface of the Kindle Colorsoft is noticeably rougher than that of the Apple iPad Pro with nano-texture glass, which effectively reduces reflections.
However, the display surface is made of plastic rather than glass, which means that it scratches when it comes into contact with an object that has a 3 on Mohs hardness scale. Therefore, a screen protector is recommended. The rest of the case is also made of plastic and is not particularly scratch-resistant. On the other hand, the Kindle Colorsoft performs well in JRE’s bend test. The inside of the Kindle Colorsoft reveals a lot of empty space — a larger battery could easily have been fitted in here, but the e-reader still offers a battery life of eight weeks with normal usage.
The end of the video is also fascinating, as JerryRigEverything separates the color filter from the black and white e-ink panel and demonstrates how the colors are created by the additional panel layer. Apparently, certain repairs are also relatively easy, as the back is attached with clips and can be removed from the housing in order to replace the battery, for example.
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