E Ink announces Kaleido 4 with improved color and brightness for ereaders

E Ink has announced the next generation of its color ereader screens Dubbed Kaleido 4, this technology promises improved clarity, less graininess, and double the colors So far, it's only been announced for a single ereader, but it's sure to come to others Hot take: I don’t think color ereaders are v

<![CDATA[ <article> <ul><li><strong>E Ink has announced the next generation of its color ereader screens</strong></li><li><strong>Dubbed Kaleido 4, this technology promises improved clarity, less graininess, and double the colors</strong></li><li><strong>So far, it's only been announced for a single ereader, but it's sure to come to others</strong></li></ul><p>Hot take: I don’t think color ereaders are very good in general. The colors themselves are muted, and typically — such as with E Ink’s Kaleido 3 tech — they make the screen darker and grainier even when just viewing text. They generally cost a premium, too. As such, I’d always pick a black-and-white ereader for standard books, and a tablet (or actual paper) for anything heavy on color.</p><p>But E Ink might soon win me over to color ereaders, as it <a href="https://www.eink.com/news/detail/EInk-Launches-Latest-Version-of-Color-ePaper-Platform-E-Ink-Kaleido-4" target="_blank">just announced a new Kaleido 4 display</a> that it claims is brighter than Kaleido 3 and delivers “greater clarity, while reducing the perception of screen graininess.”</p><p>If that's true, normal text might actually look up to the standards it does on black-and-white e-readers.</p><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:1576px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.28%;"><img id="9oDQBMGLwQfrHxVyceYHvT" name="E Ink Kaleido 4" alt="An E Ink Kaleido 4 display" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/9oDQBMGLwQfrHxVyceYHvT-1920-80.jpg" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="1576" height="887" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="caption-text">An E Ink Kaleido 4 display </span><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: E Ink)</span></figcaption></figure><h2 id="double-the-colors">Double the colors</h2><p>Of course, the color element has also been improved here, with E Ink claiming its Kaleido 4 display can produce over 40,000 colors, which is double what the previous generation can manage.</p><p>It also has a higher refresh rate, increases white reflectance by 15%, and improves contrast by 50%, while videos can be played at 18fps — though I’d question why anyone would regularly be watching videos on an E Ink screen.</p><p>Still, this sounds like a comprehensive upgrade, and one that might make the next generation of Kindle Colorsoft and other color ereaders substantially better. Though since <a href="https://www.techradar.com/tablets/ereaders/amazon-new-kindles-for-2026">a new Kindle Colorsoft</a> model has only just launched, it might be a while before we see this tech used by Amazon’s ereaders.</p><p>For now, Kaleido 4 is only available on Hanvon Technology's M10 C II — a China-only E Ink tablet. But hopefully, some global brands such as Kobo, Boox, and ViWoods will embrace this tech soon.</p><div data-widget-type="multimodelreview" data-widget-title="Today's best ereader deals" data-model-name="Amazon Kindle 2026,Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2026,Amazon Kindle Colorsoft 2026,Kobo Libra Colour,Kobo Clara BW,Viwoods AiPaper,Onyx Boox Palma 2 Pro,Onyx Boox Go Color 7 Gen II"></div> </article> ]]>