Amazon’s Kindle Scribe is pen-centric hardware that pales in comparison to book-centric software

Amazon’s Kindle e-reader has been around for 15 years and has a solid focus on displaying books. read (and, to a lesser extent, audiobooks). input They were never particularly interested. These devices’ quirky processors and delayed touchscreen keyboards are perfect for making short annotations or looking up the name of a book or author. It’s also not great for taking notes or jotting down idle thoughts, rather than writing anything longer than a sentence or two.

Here are the major changes to the newest and most expensive member of the e-reader family, the Kindle Scribe. This is the first Kindle with a dedicated pen accessory and his 10.2-inch screen, which is better for typing than other Kindles’ 6- to 7-inch screens. It’s not cheap, starting at $340 and going up quickly from there.It’s more than three times the price of the Kindle Paperwhite, and it’s no cheaper than the baseline iPad and Apple Pencil combination. But it also tries to do some new things that older Kindles weren’t built for.

The problem with Scribe is that the Kindle’s software likewise focuses on the reading experience rather than the typing experience, so it doesn’t feel robust enough to live up to the pen’s promise. The actual handwriting experience is great and I hope future updates will make this device more useful. sacrifices some of the best features of

look and feel

Scribe’s design is inspired by Kindle Oasis (formerly the top-of-the-line Kindle). Its display sits flush with an asymmetrical bezel that is thicker on one side to allow more space for those holding the device with one hand. Like the Oasis, the Scribe can be used left or right handed, and the screen content flips 180 degrees depending on how you hold it.

The back of the Scribe is a large, flat slab of aluminum, and when held without a case, it’s definitely more reminiscent of an iPad than any other Kindle due to its increased size and weight. Also, because of its larger size, one-handed operation is less comfortable than the smaller Kindle. The side bezels are large enough to give you a firm grip, so it’s comfortable for short stretches, but gets tired after a few minutes.

Scribe is missing two notable Oasis features. For one, it’s waterproof, so don’t drop the Scribe in the tub, pool, or ocean. The second is the physical page-turn buttons, and the Scribe has the same touch-only navigation as most other Kindles. It’s been years since the touchscreen was the default way to interact with the Kindle, and I can’t say that the lack of buttons bothers me, but it continues to demand buttons, albeit small. A vocal contingent will be disappointed.