New updates take this writing tablet from good to very good

You knew the pen was mightier than the sword. Now it’s time for the keyboard. The Kindle Scribe is Amazon’s first e-reader with a stylus, allowing you to write directly on the e-ink screen. (In your face, paper!) You can add handwritten digital “sticky notes” to books, mark up PDFs, and create all sorts of full-page documents: lists, journals, sheet music, and more.

This is a slick, premium-grade device, one that’s surprisingly pleasant to write on, but it comes with a price tag to match: The Scribe starts at $340 for the 16GB model with the Basic Pen. I tested the $390 model that comes with 32GB of storage and the Premium Pen. Here’s my Kindle Scribe review.

This is an updated version of my original review, one that reflects a number of software improvements that Amazon has made in the months since launch. Many of these address issues or limitations that I previously mentioned, resulting in a product that I can heartily recommend.

But first, let’s address the flat, rectangular elephant in the room: Why would you choose a Kindle Scribe over, say, an iPad 10.2 and Apple Pencil? Granted, the latter pair will set you back about $439, but an iPad offers significantly more capabilities than a Kindle—not to mention a color screen. And the Pencil offers not just the ability to take notes, but to create art. (Seriously, you should see what my daughter can do with the Procreate app.)

On the downside, the iPad handwriting experience isn’t quite paper-like, and battery life is a fraction of the Scribe’s (which promises up to three hours). to soften‘ worth writing, based on half an hour a day). iPads can also be quite distracting, with games and videos and the like clamoring for your attention. Just as a regular Kindle offers a distraction-free reading experience, the Scribe leaves you alone to journal.

The value side of my brain says an iPad is more bang for your buck. The creative side loves the Kindle for its elegant simplicity.

Kindle Scribe: What’s it like as an e-reader?

If you’ve used a Kindle before, there’s nothing revolutionary about this book, except its size: it’s a glorious 10.2 inches, which allows you to see far more text at once. That does come with a downside, though: because the screen is wider and taller than most printed books, I found myself enjoying reading less. My eyes had a hard time adjusting to the extra movement. Thankfully, like all Kindles, the Scribe offers line spacing and margin adjustments, which allowed me to create a more comfortable layout.

Landscape mode now supports two-column viewing, a feature I’ve long liked in the Kindle app for iPad. Oddly, you still have to go into the Display settings to switch between portrait and landscape mode; while the screen can automatically rotate 180 degrees, it doesn’t seem to be able to do 90 degrees without manual intervention.

No matter which orientation you choose, the screen delivers a sharp 300 pixels per inch (ppi), resulting in text that’s virtually indistinguishable from printed text. Like most other Kindles, it includes a “warm light” option that softens the LED backlighting to a more amber hue, making it nicer for nighttime reading.

The Scribe feels incredibly thin and light when you pick it up, despite weighing just under a pound. Coincidentally, the iPad 10.2 is just a tad thicker and heavier. An entry-level Kindle, on the other hand, weighs in at a mere 5.5 ounces, so it’s much easier to hold for extended periods of reading. While the Scribe has a generous bezel on the side that makes for a fairly comfortable grip, I found myself holding it with both hands at times.

While that makes it less than ideal as an e-reader, the Scribe could prove to be a great option for those with vision issues: you can choose a large font and still fit a lot of text onscreen. I do wish it had physical page-turning buttons, though there’s so much screen real estate that swiping is barely a bother. I’d say Amazon’s Oasis and Paperwhite Signature Edition are probably smarter choices for serious readers, but even the base Kindle is a great device, too.

Of course, the Scribe is not only intended as an e-reader; it is also a writing tablet.

Kindle Scribe: What’s it Like to Take Notes?

The Scribe’s plastic stylus requires no batteries, charging, or pairing; it just works. A strong magnet clamps it to the side of the screen when not in use, but it can easily become dislodged in a bag or backpack. I was beginning to worry about losing the Pen, especially since replacements cost $30 and $60 (for the Basic and Premium versions, respectively).

As mentioned, I tested the Premium Pen, which adds a dedicated “eraser” (which I can’t live without) and a shortcut button. I liked the girth and weight; it made scribbling on the Scribe feel cheerfully papery—and it even sounds that way. There’s no lag between pen strokes and digital ink appearing underneath; the overall experience really does mimic putting pencil to papyrus.

A small on-screen toolbar, which you can collapse when you don’t need it, lets you choose between pen, highlighter, and eraser modes, with a choice of five thicknesses for each — plenty for basic note-taking. It also has handy undo and redo buttons. A recent update added pencil, fountain pen, and highlighter options to the suite of drawing tools, and I was pleased to find that all of these tools are pressure- and angle-sensitive: lines get thicker if you press a little harder with the stylus or write at an angle.

Another welcome update: While there’s no on-device handwriting recognition to convert your notes into actual text, you can send any note via email and have it converted to text on the go. In my tests, this worked reasonably well, but I wish the converted file could be a nicely formatted Word document or something similar; your only option is raw text in a .TXT file.

Furthermore, it is still not possible to select and move a piece of handwritten notes; you can only erase and rewrite.

The tablet offers a wide variety of notebook templates, including numerous versions of lined “paper” and dot grid, graph paper, sheet music, a checklist, daily and weekly planners, and more. For anyone wondering, “Why is this better than a $3 pencil and spiral notebook?”, your answer is here: on one device, you can have 18 different types of notebooks, with enough storage space to store literally thousands of pages.

In the meantime, you can send virtually any kind of file (PDF, Word doc, image, etc.) to the Kindle via email (it has a special address) and then use the Pen to add notes. If you have a Microsoft 365 subscription, you’ll now find a “Send to Kindle” option in Word, with two formats available: one that lets you write directly on the page, and one that limits you to adding virtual sticky notes.

One lingering disappointment here is that the Scribe can’t sync with, say, a Google Drive or Evernote account. The only way to get documents on or off the device is via email; documents you create on the Scribe are sent as PDFs. And speaking of syncing, another recent update makes any notes you add to an e-book on the Scribe viewable on iOS Kindle apps. (Android support is planned for early 2024.)

Even with these updates, an iPad — and competing writing tablets like the Onyx Boox Note Air 2 and Remarkable 2 — offers a bit more flexibility. The Scribe makes creating documents fun and easy, but it still falls short in document syncing and sharing.

Kindle Scribe: Should You Buy It?

So what we have here is a large e-reader that is also a writing tablet. It is better at the latter than the former, but it is also improving with age.

If you’re someone who reads a lot and likes to add notes and highlights, the Scribe is a great tool. Just pick up the pen, highlight some text, and scribble your thoughts. It’s much better than the traditional Kindle method of highlighting with your finger and tapping on a small on-screen keyboard.

As a basic digital notepad, the Scribe has its advantages; anyone who prefers to take notes by hand rather than tap them on a keyboard will love the smooth, easy feel of the stylus and screen. And while there’s nowhere to sync those notes, you can easily send them via email.

I like the Scribe even more now than I did at launch, since Amazon seems committed to making regular improvements. But wait for a sale; Amazon devices are regularly discounted, and the Scribe has occasionally dropped well below $300.