The Kindle Scribe Is an Over-Achieving E-Reader But an Under-Achieving E-Note

Despite the rising recognition of e-note digital notepads over the previous few years, the Kindle Scribe is Amazon’s first E Ink machine with stylus assist for annotating paperwork and taking notes. But as an alternative of pulling forward of the competitors with an e-note machine packed filled with revolutionary options and performance, the Kindle Scribe feels extra like Amazon making a timid first step into unfamiliar territory.

Although it wasn’t the primary E Ink machine to work with a stylus, the unique reMarkable pill confirmed the world that digital paper was not solely nice for studying, but additionally a greater pen and paper alternative than an LCD pill with a shiny glass display screen. Five years later, e-note units stay a distinct segment product, with smaller corporations like Kobo, Onyx, and Bigme providing among the higher choices on this class—however there’s nonetheless no ‘must-have’ e-note machine but.

Those who’ve embraced these units, like myself, have been optimistic when the Kindle Scribe was introduced—given Amazon has all the time produced among the finest e-reader {hardware} on the market—and have been hopeful it might be the machine to lastly take e-note tablets mainstream. Despite strong {hardware} and a very wonderful writing expertise, on the software program facet, the Scribe fails to ship the next-generation expertise many have been anticipating. It’s good, however it may have been nice.

Satisfyingly Solid Hardware

Having examined greater than my fair proportion of e-note units through the years, I can confidently say the Amazon Kindle Scribe has the most effective {hardware} at present obtainable. It’s the one electronic paper machine at present obtainable with a crisp, 10.2-inch, 300 PPI display screen (the competitors makes use of barely bigger panels that high out at 277 PPI), and it will probably be for some time. That’s as a result of E Ink created the display screen particularly for this machine, and Amazon has unique rights to it for an undisclosed time frame.

It’s the identical display screen decision that many of the smaller Kindles now supply, and should you’re in search of a big-screen e-reader that’s simpler on the eyes, the Scribe will simply fill that function.

The Kindle Scribe has a smaller footprint than the reMarkable 2 and its 10.3-inch E Ink display screen, however is a little bit thicker, and a little bit heavier. However, the load distinction between the 2 isn’t noticeable in hand. Both units share a design with a thicker bezel on one facet making them simpler to carry, however the place the Kindle Scribe simply outperforms the reMarkable 2 (which we nonetheless think about to have the most effective writing expertise) is in its absolutely adjustable display screen lighting with shade temperature changes, so you possibly can preserve utilizing it nicely into the evening. There’s a purpose the reMarkable 2 doesn’t have display screen lighting, which I’ll get to later, however at this level it’s an omission that’s making that e-note really feel dated.

The Kindle Scribe features a primary stylus, however we have been despatched the model with the optionally available Premium Pen stylus that features an extra customizable shortcut button on the facet, plus a devoted eraser button on the underside. It makes use of Wacom’s drawing pill know-how, which signifies that, in contrast to the Apple Pencil, it by no means must be charged. Without a battery inside, it’s additionally lighter within the hand

I believe the Premium Pen improve is price the additional $30 for the devoted eraser button on the top, however I did discover myself pissed off with the shortcut button on the facet of the stylus. I repeatedly by accident pressed it whereas writing on the Scribe, which might activate highlighter mode, and when you can customise what this button does within the Scribe’s settings, you possibly can’t deactivate it utterly.

Amazon gives a few folio-style case choices for the Kindle Scribe (though with a lid that flips down from the highest) that can wake the machine when the lid is opened (utilizing the magic of magnets), however I are inclined to desire utilizing e-note units and not using a case more often than not, and I’ll admit I discovered the location of the Scribe’s wake/sleep button on the left facet, subsequent to the USB-C port, unintuitive. If I may transfer it to one of many high corners, I’d.

A Fantastic Writing Experience

The one function it’s best to all the time prioritize in an e-note machine is the writing expertise. It ought to really feel as responsive as an actual pen on paper, and the strokes the stylus leaves behind on-screen ought to by no means look like they’re lagging and struggling to catch as much as the stylus’ actions. Writing on the Kindle Scribe feels implausible, and it simply gives among the finest simulated pen on paper experiences I’ve tried. No matter how briskly I attempted to jot down or print and even erratically scribble, the machine all the time saved up with the stylus.

Is the writing expertise as excellent as what you’ll get from the reMarkable 2? No. Both units function a textured display screen floor which feels such as you’re writing on paper, however the inclusion of the E Ink panel’s side-lighting on the Kindle Scribe means there’s a slight hole between the place the stylus’ tip makes contact with the writing floor and the place strokes seem on the display screen beneath it. With the reMarkable 2, there’s no seen hole, identical to with an actual pen or pencil on paper. Do I believe this can be a deal breaker for the Scribe? Absolutely not. In reality, I believe the Kindle Scribe’s wonderful writing expertise is proof that the subsequent reMarkable pill actually ought to have display screen lighting: it’s a compromise, sure, however one that truly improves the machine’s usability.

Software That Does the Bare Minimum

This is the place the Kindle Scribe may have been an industry-leading e-note, significantly given how a lot of the web already depends on Amazon’s cloud infrastructure, however it feels virtually incomplete.

As a primary digital notepad, the Kindle Scribe is okay. A small assortment of templates will be utilized to digital notebooks on a page-by-page foundation—graph paper, lined paper, storyboards, and so forth.—and customers can create as many notebooks as they need. It’s a greater different to a desk coated in Moleskines or Field Notes.

The writing choices, obtainable from a pop-out menu on the facet, are primary, together with a small number of stroke, highlighter, and eraser weights. It’s enough if all you’re doing is writing, however missing for something extra elaborate, together with inventive or technical sketches.

Where note-taking feels particularly restricted is that the Kindle Scribe can’t convert hand-written paperwork to editable textual content. Your solely actual resolution is to make use of a third-party conversion app after sending a pocket book from the Scribe to a particular e mail handle, the place it’s exported as a PDF. Your notebooks are additionally obtainable via the Kindle apps on cellular units, however you possibly can’t edit or add to them there, solely view them. That’s a ache level with the reMarkable eco-system, too, however Amazon doesn’t convey a lot new to the desk with the Scribe.

You may also use the Kindle Scribe to annotate instantly on digital paperwork, however solely with recordsdata despatched to the machine utilizing the Send to Kindle resolution from the net or app—not these instantly side-loaded utilizing a USB-C cable. I used to be in a position to ship a PDF to the Scribe this manner, add a handful of on-screen annotations, after which ship it again to my pc via my e mail handle with the annotations nonetheless intact, however the course of modified the formatting of the PDF to a letter-sized doc, which added appreciable white area. But when viewing that annotated PDF via the Kindle app, all of my hand-written additions weren’t there.

It appears like there are at present simply too many hoops to leap via for these wanting to make use of the Kindle Scribe as a markup instrument for present paperwork.

The machine fares a little bit higher for annotating ebooks. You can’t write instantly on them, however a small pop-up menu on the facet permits you to create and connect a sticky word—both hand-written or typed utilizing an on-screen keyboard—to any phrase.

When viewing an book, the existence of a sticky word is indicated by a small web page icon hooked up to the nook of a phrase.

You may also select to view all of the sticky notes you’ve added to an book as an extended, scrollable checklist, however as with doc annotations, these sticky notes aren’t obtainable when viewing the identical book via the Kindle app on a cellular machine. Either the Kindle app wants a serious overhaul to correctly accommodate the added performance of the Scribe, or Amazon simply must launch a devoted Scribe app for cellular and desktop units.

Is This the E-Note For You? It’s All About the Compromises

The unlucky fact is that there actually is not any excellent e-note machine obtainable proper now. The $299 (plus the price of a stylus) reMarkable 2 should still cleared the path in the case of flawlessly simulating the pen on paper writing expertise, however that comes at the price of display screen lighting—a critical deal breaker at this level—and restricted doc syncing. The $400 Kobo Elipsa has entry to the corporate’s big book retailer and helps Dropbox for syncing paperwork, however the writing expertise is usually laggy and disappointing. And whereas units just like the $450 Onyx Boox Note Air2 or the $700 Bigme InkNote Color supply a implausible writing expertise and the pliability of Android, the software program and consumer experiences of these units will be each irritating and discouraging.

So the place does that go away the Kindle Scribe? If you solely intend to make use of the Scribe as a standalone digital notepad for jotting down random concepts or ideas for reference later—not copying and pasting them into different paperwork as editable textual content—Amazon’s first e-note does present an excellent note-taking expertise. The {hardware} is snappy and responsive, with a well-polished consumer interface that outshines the competitors. It’s additionally simply the most effective big-screen e-reader at present available on the market, given its direct entry to Amazon’s on-line retailer, however you’ll be paying a premium for that stunning display screen, and also you’ll want to remain away from swimming pools, bathtubs, and seashores, as the Scribe isn’t waterproof.

If you’re in search of greater than absolutely the primary performance that an e-note can supply, the Kindle Scribe, at the very least with its present software program choices, shouldn’t be the machine for you. Getting your individual paperwork on and off the Scribe is clunky, and interoperability with the Kindle apps is disappointingly missing. Numerous this may be mounted with software program updates, which is precisely what reMarkable has achieved to enhance its {hardware} through the years, and I’m hopeful that Amazon has much more deliberate for the Scribe, as a result of it has the potential to finally be one thing nice.