E Ink Kaleido 4
Shares rank 19 of 29 e-readers by recommenders
People who read articles and papers find its color E Ink screen useful and easy on the eyes in sunlight, though critics say its contrast and color quality lag behind black-and-white e-readers.
People who read articles and papers find its color E Ink screen useful and easy on the eyes in sunlight, though critics say its contrast and color quality lag behind black-and-white e-readers.
19 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 10
- approval share
- 47%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Contrast worse than black-and-white readers
“For pure reading of text it provides minimal benefit (color highlighting and cover art, mostly) while costing contrast ratio and dollars.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “E Ink Kaleido 4” “50% contrast improvement is significant, but it's from a base of only around 1:10, so will still be fairly low in absolute terms”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “E Ink Kaleido 4” “even with 50% improvement the contrast is still significantly worse than on the BW readers”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “E Ink Kaleido 4” - Comment from 17 Oct 2026 in “E Ink Kaleido 4”
Color adds little for pure text
“For pure reading of text it provides minimal benefit (color highlighting and cover art, mostly) while costing contrast ratio and dollars.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “E Ink Kaleido 4” “Not really if you want to read color content. If your usecase is pure B/W, it's better.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “E Ink Kaleido 4” “I don't think the color (at lower resolution) is worth it for me.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “E Ink Kaleido 4” Dark screen with low resolution
“Personally I find the lower resolution and contrast to be unacceptable.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “E Ink Kaleido 4” “All Kaleido color displays are really really dark, even outdoors”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “E Ink Kaleido 4” “the screen swallows two thirds of the incoming light”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “E Ink Kaleido 4” Colors muted and slow to refresh
“Quite muted colours in the past and it only really works well with a front light”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “E Ink Kaleido 4” “the color isn't great, the screens are slow to refresh in an annoying way”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “E Ink Kaleido 4” “Colors are as vibrant as late 90s cheap laptops.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “E Ink Kaleido 4”
Other e-readers people recommend
The four most recommended other e-readers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Kindle | 222 | 255 | 47% | 12 | 12 yrs37 owners | — |
| Xteink X4 | 178 | 47 | 79% | 10 | 2 mo31 owners | Approved |
| Kobo e-reader | 154 | 53 | 74% | 12 | 7 yrs14 owners | Approved |
| reMarkable 2 | 93 | 45 | 67% | 12 | 5 yrs13 owners | Approved |
| E Ink Kaleido 4This page | 9 | 10 | 47% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
All 23 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the new colour screens have way worse contrast even in B/W mode”
“Personally I find the lower resolution and contrast to be unacceptable.”
“I find the papery colors to be way more pleasant than the OLED saturated light blasted in my face”
“I have it and i'd still say it is pretty terrible. Doesn't mean it's not useful”
“even with 50% improvement the contrast is still significantly worse than on the BW readers”
“Its great to be able to read in direct sunlight without having to strain my eyes.”
“All Kaleido color displays are really really dark, even outdoors”
“Not really if you want to read color content. If your usecase is pure B/W, it's better.”
“Which is not cause to say that a useful, functional technology is "fundamentally flawed".”
“the screen swallows two thirds of the incoming light”
“For pure reading of text it provides minimal benefit (color highlighting and cover art, mostly) while costing contrast ratio and dollars.”
“Colors are as vibrant as late 90s cheap laptops.”
“In fact, the very issue that you're talking about is something that is improving from Kaleido 3 to Kaleido 4.”
“It comes with a massive loss of contrast so it's a bit of a gimmick”
“the color isn't great, the screens are slow to refresh in an annoying way”
“I don't think the color (at lower resolution) is worth it for me.”
“I actually find it very useful reading articles, news and academic work.”
“I barely use the colors, but the whites aren't as white as on a monochrome one.”
“50% contrast improvement is significant, but it's from a base of only around 1:10, so will still be fairly low in absolute terms”
“the experience is too frustrating to rely on, and I would rather use a tablet”
“Previous Kaleido products are fundamentally flawed.”
“Quite muted colours in the past and it only really works well with a front light”
“Color (Kaleido) eInk screens can't show pure white, because the color filter is in the way.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.