EXCLUSIVE: The colour Kindle is now official.

 The rumours that Amazon's Kindle eReader - still the market leader in eInk devices - will finally be turning colour, seem to be official. There are already full colour eInk devices out there and the Kobo Libra colour has been garnering rave reviews and even tempting some avid digital readers to switch from the Amazon eco-system, so it seems that Amazon either have to take the jump to color or risk becoming old hat in an ever developing market.

Ever since tech analyst,   Ming-Chi Kuo of Tianfeng International Securities        made a prediction that Amazon would release the new colour devices in 2025, fans have been eager to get official news of the new versions of the legendary Kindle. Ming-Chi Kuo is usually correct with his predictions and is much respected in the Tech world. He predicted that Amazon would release a 6 inch device as well as a 10 inch model which would use the new eInk ACep technology. This is a far more advanced system of colour eInk than that found on other eReaders. 

The global market for colour readers is expected to hit 15 - 20 million units annually by 2025 so Amazon really can't afford to lose market share.

Still we've been promised colour eReaders from amazon before and as far back as 2021 it was expected that the Kindle would finally take the leap but it hasn't happened yet. I myself have been using Kindle for many years - I got my first kindle in 2011, the one with a physical keyboard  and used that happily until the Paperwhite was released and for several years now my main device has been the Kindle Oasis. You only have to check this blog's Archives to see The Tainted Archive has always championed eBooks and eReaders, and the Kindle especially.

 But lately I've been considering moving away from Amazon after seeing so many glowing reports of the Kobo Libra colour. Today, I was about to take the plunge but I knew I'd miss the ease of the Kindle eBook store, and so I started a chat on the Amazon helpline and I told them I was thinking of switching to Kobo unless, Amazon could ensure me we would see a colour Kindle soon. The reply I got from the helpdesk, likely a chat-bot, was:

Amazon have yet to make an official announcement - so, has the chat-bot  given me an exclusive on their colour device plans?

The reply is kind of confusing - the line (all that is about to change in 2025) seems a factual statement that colour devices are on the way, and yet the line - (still in the planning stages of a colour revolution) doesn't sound like a definite release, but ABOUT TO CHANGE IN 2025 is an exciting statement.

The Kindle has done more than any other device to popularise the use of eReaders and a colour device is the next natural step. I do hope the new devices have physical buttons like the Oasis. I do like those buttons.

New eReaders to launch in 2018

Those good people over at Good eReader have compiled a useful list of all the new eReaders hitting the market in 2018 - check out the article HERE

Turn any eBook into an Audiobook with new Smartphone App

Good e-Reader have released their first major app for Android smartphones/tablets -  From the Good e-Reader website -

It is called Audio Reader and it turns any ebook into an audiobook. It reads aloud all of your sideloaded content using Amazon Polly, which is what Alexa is built on. We support 28 different languages and 12 different voices for English users.
We are the first Android app to employ Amazon Polly, which sounds way more natural for reading ebooks than Cortana, Google Voice Assistant or SIRI. Polly is the perfect narration tool for readers who want their books read aloud and don’t want the standard robotic voice that most TTS systems use.

There is a little over 36,000 audiobooks produced globally every year and most publishers want to focus on their front-list titles, most of the back-list is less of a priority. The average professionally narrated audiobook ranges from $15 to $49, which can get expensive. Audio Reader will narrate any EPUB/MOBI/PRC sideloaded books aloud with a natural sounding voice, for free!

Key Features
• Turn any eBook into an audiobook
• Immersion Reading: Text is highlighted when the audiobook is playing.
• Audio Narration available in over 28 different languages.
• Select a male or a female voice
• Collection Management: Add books to your own personal collections.
• Dynamic Home Screen: Keeps track of all of your ebooks.
• Built in file manager to import in your favorite eBooks.
• You can import eBooks from your phones internal storage, SD or Google Drive
• Supported eBook formats: EPUB, MOBI, PRC, FB2, PDF
• Bright and Vibrant eBook cover art.
• Change fonts, text size, margins and much more.
• Change the background of the book you are reading or adjust the brightness.
• PDF User Guide will teach you how to use the app
• You can forgo the Polly System and just read with our advanced parser and rendering engine.

I downloaded the ap to my Galaxy S8 and it took me some fiddling to get it to work - firstly it wouldn't work with any of the kindle books already on my device, and I had to sideload a book to the phone. I did this and it worked fine - I went through all the available voices until I found one I liked.

I was also impressed in the amount of languages it will read in. For instance I listened to the book, written in English, translated to both German and French - that's a clever touch. Eventually I settled on the Geraint voice which read English with  Welsh accent.

Find the App HERE