Review: Amazon Kindle Scribe

Amazon's many different Kindles are pretty identical in how they perform, with minor differences separating the base Kindle from the Paperwhite and the Oasis. That's mostly by design, and I don't mind. I don't need my ebook reader to do 20 different things—I just want to read with zero distractions. But the new Kindle Scribe changes things up and is the first Kindle in a long time to add a new twist: the ability to write or draw on the slate.

With the included stylus, you can take down digital notes like a ReMarkable 2, mark up PDFs, or doodle on your downtime. This upgrade comes at a hefty cost: The Scribe goes for $340. That's $240 more than the base Kindle and $200 more than the Paperwhite. If you've been itching to write more physical notes but don't want to resort to paper and pen, it might be worth it.

Courtesy of Medea Giordano

I've yet to try a Kindle that isn't a good e-reader. That's what they're made to do, with a simple and easy-to-navigate interface, and this rings true with the Scribe. The changeup is the 10.2-inch screen, which feels huge compared to the other Kindles. This will either be annoying or a boon—if your eyesight isn't great, this size allows you to make the font pretty big without making the page look too disjointed. You probably can't tote it in a jacket pocket though. I was still able to hold it one-handed with no problem, as it's thin and light. 

The Scribe comes with a stylus, and it's the primary reason to spend this much on a Kindle. There's a new notebook section so you can create notes, calendars, to-do lists, and sketches. There are different kinds of layouts you can choose from too, like different-sized lines, grids, and dots, plus weekly planners with blocked pages or daily pages with time stamps. Every notebook can have multiple pages, or you can create as many notebooks as you need and organize them into folders. 

If you need to view them elsewhere, you can share these notebooks via email. There's a quick-send option to send directly to your Kindle email, which I found really helpful. On your computer, you'll notice much more white space around the margins than what it looks like on the device, something that is especially obvious when using the blank page. It's a minor quibble, but you may have to do some cropping if you're sending it to other folks.

You can also mark up PDFs, something that still feels clunky on a laptop. Anyone that works with PDFs can appreciate this—learning proofreading marks was my favorite part of English class, and I've never once had to use them in real life, so I'm happy to finally do it on the Scribe. You can send PDFs using the Send to Kindle site or through the Kindle app on your phone. Amazon says that in the first half of 2023, Scribe users will be able to send Word docs directly to the Kindle too. That opens up many more possibilities for productivity.

Courtesy of Medea Giordano

The Basic Pen works well without any discernible input lag, and it feels natural to write with. It attaches to the right side of the Kindle magnetically too (very much like the ReMarkable 2 E Ink tablet). You can spend another $30 for the Premium Pen, which adds some extra features: the other end works as an eraser, reducing the need to select the eraser icon on the screen. There's also a shortcut button you can program to automatically start a sticky note or switch to the highlighter, eraser, or pen whenever you hold the button—I felt like I kept hitting it on accident, but I can see its utility when you're quickly taking notes in class.

I was hoping I could jot down notes or highlight sections of books directly, but unfortunately, you have to use sticky notes instead. You can make as many as you need, and you can see all your notes from a book in one place, which is nice. 

Photograph: Amazon

Kindle batteries seem to last forever. I can turn one on months later, and it still boots right up, unlike a regular tablet that's dead by the end of a day or two. The Scribe isn't as long-lasting as other Kindles, especially if you're taking notes for hours at a time, but you still won't have to take it to the charger every few days. Amazon claims 12 weeks of battery life for reading and three weeks for writing, but I haven't had that long to thoroughly vet those claims. So far so good, though: It's at 46 percent after a little more than a week of use (started at 60 percent out of the box). The USB-C port is on the left side instead of the bottom, as on other Kindles, but this didn't pose any issues. 

Weirdly, the Scribe isn't waterproof. It's confusing given the price—only the base Kindle and Kindle Kids ebook readers aren't waterproof (the Paperwhite Kids is). It's no deal breaker, but you'd think the most expensive Kindle would have a feature that's been the standard on other luxe Kindles for years. I do appreciate that it's constructed out of recycled aluminum and post-consumer recycled plastics. 

The Scribe has the same 300-pixels-per-inch screen as the rest of the Kindle lineup, and there are 35 LEDs to light it up, so it gets really bright and can adjust the brightness automatically to your surroundings, which is helpful if you read outside. E Ink screens are already easy on the eyes, but the Scribe includes the adjustable warm light that makes it even nicer when you're reading by the lamp before bed. There's a dark mode to turn the background black and the font white too.

There are a lot of E Ink tablets that let you doodle on the screens, like the aforementioned ReMarkable 2. I also have tried and like the Kobo Elipsa and Boox Note Air 2 Plus, both of which let you take notes, edit PDFs, and mark up books. They're all quite pricey, so the Scribe doesn't seem too out of line. The big perk here, though, is that Kindles are super reliable and have one of the largest ebook libraries. That makes it one of the better propositions out there—if you can get past Amazon's repeated failings.