Kindle Scribe: The most popular e-book reader becomes a notebook | Review

We have talked several times about how the reading experience through an e-book reader is polarizing by its very nature: effective and comfortable, of course, but inextricably linked to the choice, personal like few others, to abandon paper and the practice of leafing through the pages in favor of an electronic device.

A similar argument applies to writing, which although today it can be done digitally with great practicality, both via a keyboard and freehand with a stylus, is still considered by many to be an art expressed on a sheet of paper.

Kindle Scribe is therefore a device intended for a rather narrow niche of people: it allows you to read and write using e-ink technology with all the advantages of the case, but also with a series of rather obvious limitations. A very interesting product that will delight some but will be difficult for everyone else to understand.

Compared to some alternatives, for example the one proposed by Huawei with its MatePad Paper, it certainly has the advantage of being able to count on the endless library offered by Amazon and all related services.

The version that has been invited to test is the 16GB one equipped with a premium pen and, taken out of the package, the very first things that catch the eye compared to previous models are the size and weight: 433 grams and 196 x 230 x 5.8mm are much more than we are used to for an e-book reader, as are the 10.2-inch display, characterized by a density of 300ppi, like the other models , and by the presence of 35 LED lamps. The quality of the plastics and the finishes are in line with the other Kindle products: practicality has been thought of with details such as the feet that effectively fix it to the table, much less to the aesthetics since the sensation is of ahold a slightly less refined product than competitors such as the aforementioned MatePad Paper.

The very generous dimensions are certainly due to the desire to create a device capable of making us take notes comfortablyrather than giving us the opportunity to have a larger screen for reading, and it is an understandable, almost obligatory choice. However, there is no doubt that, above all because of the weight, Kindle Scribe is not the most comfortable of e-book readers to hold in the hand and the most practical use is what is done when it is placed on the legs or on a support, such as a table. Just as a reference, the Kindle 2022 weighs 158 grams while the Paperwhite reaches 205 grams, in any case less than half of the Scribe, and for portability and price they will certainly remain the most suitable choice for those who only want to access the vast Amazon library.

Taking writing into consideration, however, things change and Scribe is able to express its full potential to the fullest.

As designed by Amazon, Scribe’s handwriting functions apply in two distinct situations. They can be used to make footnotes when you are reading a book, or to create documents by choosing one of the various forms available.

In addition to the classic blank page, you can in fact open a lined sheet, with different margins and spacing, the squared one and the alternative with the dots but also to-do lists or an agenda format that shows the hours of the day divided into blocks from 30 minutes and then a handful of other layouts that can come in handy in specific situations.

Once you have chosen which virtual sheet you intend to work on, the writing experience itself impressed me positively: the response once the tip of the nib is placed on the panel is very rapid and the stroke is very precise. Writing on Kindle Scribe is a pleasant experience with some room for customization. In fact, if the pen does not recognize the pressure on the screen to change the thickness of the line, this can be changed through the settings of the menu always present on the page, choosing between five different thicknesses, from Very Thin to Very Thick. The same goes for the highlighter and the eraser, with the latter also allowing you to directly erase a selection of text or the entire page.

Amazon has chosen to implement a rather basic number of options but, after a few days of use, I have to say that there is everything you need to write and manage your documents with a certain simplicity: an advantage for a product designed for a heterogeneous user, belonging to the Kindle family. The operating system is essential and there are some ways of using it that we have become accustomed to for years of gestures on smartphones, but those who are already familiar with the Kindle world will be at ease. The company has also implemented a web browser which, however, considering the screen refresh times, is in fact a sort of extra that you are unlikely to use assiduously.

The pen, which attaches magnetically to the right edge of the device (and not to the others, which are not magnetic) is distinguished by a build quality similar to that of the Scribe, therefore devoted to essentiality, but it is really very practical: in addition to the immediate response in the writing phase, the premium version can in fact count on a couple of extra functions. The rounded end can be used as an eraser, to erase the parts of text we want to delete more quickly, while on the body it has a button that can be customized to perform one of four functions once pressed: highlight, delete, select the function pen or open a new note. Carrying out all these operations without going through the screen is undoubtedly a great convenience.

The advantages of the e-ink technology used by Amazon are also evident in the case of Scribe which offers 25 different brightness levels, optimally managed by the automatic sensor, and an equally valid choice between a range of different shades that go from white to yellow light, more restful for the eyes when we are in a dark environment. Under direct sunlight and outdoors in general, usability is the usual one, very very good, to which we have been accustomed from the combination of Amazon’s e-ink screens together with the anti-reflection treatment of the display; in short, even reading on the beach, in the summer under the sun is guaranteed to be at its best.

Overall, the ergonomics when writing are good, also thanks to the shoulder that allows you to hold it in your hand without covering the screen, whether you hold it with your left hand or, in the case of left-handed people, hold it with your right hand using automatic rotation.

The whole system of notes has been intelligently organized so that they can be sorted into folders and searched by title, making it quite easy to manage the documents created over time. Also good support for PDF, Microsoft Word documents and other popular formats (TXT, PNG, GIF, JPG, RTF, HTM, HTML, GIF, JPEG, BMP and EPUB). Still missing, however, the options that will give way to access the notes through the synchronization of the Kindle app (but it is always possible to send them via email to yourself or anyone else) and the one that allows you to send a document to the device directly from Microsoft Word: both will arrive in the course of 2023.

On the hardware front, speakers and microphones are absentavailable for example on Huawei MatePad Paper, and with them the ability to play audiobooks – which can instead be listened to through integration with Audible and a pair of bluetooth headphones, but only in some countries and not in Italy – or record voice notes .

Finally, it is a pity that there are not some features present on other high-end devices of the Kindle family, such as the option to have cellular connectivity in addition to wi-fi, IPX8 certification and wireless charging. It must also be said that, with 12 weeks of battery life declared by reading half an hour a day or 3 weeks by always writing for thirty minutes, the recharging methods are an aspect that can be overlooked without too many worries.

Kindle Scribe starts at a price of 369 euros for the 16GB version with the standard pen. For 30 euros more, at 399 euros, you can have the same model but with a premium pen: this is the tested configuration and the one I recommend, given that the writing experience is more practical and pleasant for an all-in-all modest surcharge. Choosing the 32GB version, sold for 419 euros, or the 64GB version, for 449 euros, depends a lot on the amount of books, files and documents you want to keep saved on the device but for most users the model with a little less memory.

Having said the price, it remains to be understood who this newcomer to the Kindle family is aimed at. Certainly the reading experience is very pleasant thanks to the quality of the panels mounted by Amazon’s e-book readers and, in this specific case, the generous size of the screen, but the size and weight make it decidedly less comfortable than for example to the new Paperwhite or Kindle 2022. The advice is therefore to take it into consideration if you need to write a lot and you want to do it with a product that certainly stands out for the quality of the touch response of the pen and the software useful for sorting the notes.

There are still some defects of youth and in general the Kindle line does not stand out for its design solutions and refined materials, but everything that is needed has been inserted and the presence of a series of complementary services, such as Amazon Prime Reading and Kindle Unlimited, they definitely add value to the product proposition.