I really wanted to try an e-reader with a bigger screen, and leapt at the chance to spend time with the latest Amazon Kindle Scribe with its 10.2-inch e-paper screen. However, it wasn’t what I expected, and when I started to take notes using the stylus, it highlighted something I’ve known for a while: I’m terrible at physically writing anything anymore. It then prompted me to do something about it.
Lots of writing
Almost every word I share these days is typed, and has been that way for years and years. Every message, every form, every article, and every note is created digitally. If I write a word with a pen against paper, its in a greeting card, or something mundane like writing my name or address. Even then, it’s an effort not to write only in block capitals, because my cursive text is reduced to a barely legible scribble as my speed increases.
I am not alone. I showed the Kindle Scribe to a friend who is a copious notetaker, and doesn’t like to take notes on his phone. He loved the action of the Scribe’s stylus, and admitted that his handwritten notes are made in a weird hybrid of capitals and cursive, because otherwise it’s almost unreadable. Writing using a pen and paper isn’t as important as it once was, and it seems handwriting as an art is evolving into something new through technology, just like our language.
Back to the Kindle Scribe. The paragraphs you read in these first two sections were all written by me on the Scribe using the stylus. and it would go on to be my favorite thing about the device. Long-form writing feels natural, there’s no problem resting my hand against the screen, and the reaction time may not be instant, but it’s adequate and never distractingly slow. I like the eraser tool at the opposite end of the stylus, and the various templates available. After I’d scrawled out the above paragraphs, I used the excellent share feature to convert it over to text, and the Scribe emailed it to me immediately. It didn’t need any correction either, so the feature is either very effective, or my handwriting isn’t so bad after all.
Makes note taking easy
The Scribe’s brilliant stylus and writing experience encouraged me to get back into writing. Actually writing, and it’s something I’ve really enjoyed doing on the Scribe. I love the idea of having the Scribe with me, and taking the opportunity to “practice” writing when ideas come along, which I normally just tap into the Notes app on my Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max. I don’t “take notes” as such, and usually end up writing a lot more when inspiration strikes. The Kindle Scribe’s size and screen make it ideal to do this, and if time was on my side, I’d have been happy writing this entire piece on it.
The Kindle Scribe is also superb for all note takers. In addition to the various templates mentioned above, you can scribble in the margin of your books or open up a dedicated panel to write more, underline of highlight text (where your squiggly lines are quickly converted to straight ones), and even add panels into text for in-line note taking. It’s functionality I’ll personally never use, but I really appreciate how easy all these tools are, and how neatly they’ve been built into the system.
It’s less arduous to carry around than full tablets with a stylus. It’s lighter and thinner than the Apple iPad and you get the stylus with it rather than having to spend $100 or more on an Apple Pencil. I’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE recently, which comes with a stylus in the box, but I don’t really want to read on a normal LCD or OLED screen. The Scribe is almost a happy medium, but it’s still a big device which refuses to fit in my usual everyday bag, which does happily take my iPad Pro (2020). I’d have to be really committed to writing and note-taking to carry it each day.
What about reading?
Initially I was interested in with the Kindle Scribe because I wanted to try reading on an e-paper screen bigger than the 7-inch Kindle Paperwhite, my current e-reader of choice. The note taking feature on the Scribe is arguably the main sell, but at its heart the tablet-like device is still tied to Amazon’s book store, and therefore just as much of an e-reader as the smaller Kindle models. I’ve been reading on it for a month now, and while I really like it, I’m going back to the Paperwhite very soon.
The problem is the Scribe reading experience isn’t quite as speedy as the Paperwhite. Both devices apparently have the same processor and RAM, but the screen’s responsiveness is clearly tuned for note taking, and not reading. Page turns are slightly slower, the menus take a beat longer to appear, and instead of making reading a book more enjoyable, the 10.2-inch screen makes navigation slower.
It’s also a bit big. I know I wanted to try reading on a big screen, but doing so reminded me how much of a lovely, tactile experience the Kindle Paperwhite returns. Its warm, soft-touch case is more friendly than the Scribe’s hard shell, and it requires less physical movement to hold steady and turn pages. It sounds silly, but it matters when you’re concentrating on reading a book and into the story, when these feelings matter. It’s certainly not a bad experience reading on the Scribe, but it is more sterile.
Then there’s the price
Amazon’s Kindle devices are all more expensive than ever before. The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition with its backlight control is really the sweet spot, but at $200 it’s quite an investment. The Kindle Scribe costs twice as much as the Paperwhite Signature Edition, and even though I’d love to get back into physically writing on it, buying an actual notepad and a nice pen along with Paperwhite Signature Edition would be a far cheaper way to do so.
I love the Kindle Scribe for reintroducing me to the joy of writing, the breadth of its note taking ability, and for its seamless integration with Amazon’s Kindle Bookstore. It should be the all-in-one big-screen e-reader I wanted, with the added bonus of helping improve my handwriting, but in reality the reading part isn’t as pleasing as it is on the Kindle Paperwhite, and it’s a little too cumbersome to carry around or use in bed. It’s not the big e-reader for me, but I have loved using it for a different reason.
If you’re already a pro note taker with beautiful handwriting, and reading is perhaps not as high on the list of your requirements, I think you’ll love the Kindle Scribe. I’d say it’s worth waiting for one of Amazon’s regular sales to pick it up though.
