I tested Kindle Scribe for two weeks, and its best features weren’t what I expected

Key points of ZDNET

• Amazon’s new Kindle Scribe is available now starting at $400.
• It combines the familiar features of the Kindle e-reader with a bright screen and an advanced set of note-taking features.
• The aforementioned features take some getting used to, and the price of the higher memory models isn’t cheap.

More purchasing options

New product from Amazon Kindle note taker can be considered a 2-in-1 device, as it is both a note-taking tablet and a dedicated e-reader. It does both well and stands out from the crowd because of the way it combines the two features.

The Scribe’s physical form is sleek and lightweight, with a thick grip that allows you to easily hold it in your right or left hand when flipping it upside down to rearrange perspective.

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However, the standout feature of Kindle Scribe is “Active Canvas”, which allows you to take notes and scribble your thoughts directly onto the book’s pages – which personally impresses me as a book reader. a note-taking enthusiast.

The new Scribe comes with a pen that allows you to change the size and shape of your brush from a scribble pen in the margins to a highlighter pen if you want to emphasize certain parts of the text. The interesting design element here is that the notes you draw with the pan exist on another “layer” beyond the book text, allowing you to edit what you write without messing up the text in the book.

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In fact, the active canvas appears as a space in the middle of the text where you can record your thoughts. I can see this function being useful for certain texts, but it can be distracting for others. I actually find that I prefer using the sticky notes function, which drops a small icon over the text that when tapped opens a floating window containing your notes, which you can then can close.

However, the pen is one of Scribe’s best features. It delivers a smooth and lag-free writing experience on par with premium tablet/stylus devices such as ReMarkable Pro Paperone of my all time favorites.

The tip is soft and textured, providing a smooth, quiet writing experience, just like a “real” pencil. It’s heavy, has a premium feel, and attaches to the side of the device with a magnetic snap, although you have to align it just right to get it to stick.

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The most elegant unskilled note-takers can easily translate their handwriting into text, then further edit the font and size. This is a great way to clean up and organize hastily jotted notes that you can save for further reference, especially if your writing leaves something to be desired.

The built-in AI is very good at parsing even the most illegible chicken scratches, although it will be a bit confusing if your handwriting is nearly illegible.

The display screen on Kindle Scribe is quite nice, quite similar to other Kindle models. It has 300 pixels per inch, delivering nice and sharp text, even with the smallest fonts. The screen can also be quite bright, making it easy to see outdoors. You can also adjust the warmth of the display, switching to a more sepia-toned image at one end or a cool white at the other.

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In terms of battery life, Amazon advertises up to 12 weeks of battery life on a single charge if you read about 30 minutes a day, but that number starts to decrease if you use Scribe for writing and note-taking a lot. In my testing over several weeks, I only bothered to charge the device a few times, and with intermittent, average use, you’ll probably get weeks of use on a single charge.

The device itself comes with 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of on-device storage, which is plenty of space for an e-book. In fact, this is enough space to hold thousands of books, enough for a real digital library.

However, this device is designed to store more than just e-books. If you’re using Scribe, you probably take a lot of notes. You organize them by writing them in notebooks, which, like notebooks, are books with many pages.

The notebook will then be further organized into folders that you can name and categorize, allowing you to keep your content organized. Even better are the countless “paper” options you can choose from to write your notes on, including checklists, daily and weekly planners, trackers, and even storyboard templates.

This allows the device to be a note-taking tablet in its own right, with just enough creation tools to allow for a robust feature set without the bells and whistles. of other high-end tablets. In other words, there may be a limited number of brushes and markup functions, but they work smoothly, with no lag or erroneous inputs.

Of course, Kindle Scribe also has some AI functionality. On-device AI can summarize up to 15 pages in a notebook, extracting key takeaways from text into a neat summary that, in my testing, is nearly on par with other AI services. commonly used on other platforms. In other words, it’s generally accurate, although complex information can produce results that sound generic.

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In addition to your note collection, Kindle keeps everything you’ve highlighted across multiple texts in a “Snippets” folder, which can be extremely useful for automatically seeing key information at a glance.

Of course, Kindle Scribe is designed to make purchasing e-books as seamless as possible, with Amazon’s Kindle Store easily accessible on the device and many ways to search for what you want to read. Depending on how much you plan to use the device, you can buy the ebooks individually or as a bundle Unlimited Kindle membership, which gives you unlimited access to (most) titles for a subscription of $11.99 per month.

Currently, Amazon is offering a free 30-day trial of Kindle Unlimited, so it’s worth checking out to see if you’re taking full advantage of the feature. If you’re a slower reader, you may want to choose to buy them individually.

ZDNET Buying Tips

Overall, Kindle note taker is an e-reader designed for readers who like to interact with their text, who scribble, take notes and make lists, who like to “just write it down”. At $399 for the 16GB version, the Scribe is competitively priced as a functional tablet, and unless you really need a larger device, I think it’s definitely one of the best options. is available, taking into account its full feature set.

However, keep in mind that upgrading to the 32GB version will increase the price to $420, and if you want 64GB, you’ll have to pay $450. This makes the price suitable ReMarkable Pro Paperan extremely high-end device that has more note-taking features (color display, endless brush options, etc.) but less features like easily accessible e-books.

If you’re not someone who needs to scribble on pages or mark up what you’re reading, the Scribe is still a top e-reader with an easy-to-hold, flip-open form factor, bright display, and great battery. great.