Kindle Scribe (2024) evaluation: nothing to write down dwelling about

My highschool English instructor drilled into my head that there was a correct option to learn a ebook: “Should you’ve learn a ebook with out taking notes, you’ve not learn it in any respect.” She had some extent — taking notes helps me have interaction with the fabric in a a lot deeper means than simply studying.

These days, I’m incapable of studying something with out writing down my ideas, and my Notes app is a cluttered catastrophe because of this. However it’s distracting to drag up a separate app each time I need to jot down a observe and laborious to seek out these notes later. The Kindle Scribe guarantees to repair that with its note-taking capabilities, making it straightforward to scribble within the margins like I do on paper.

The unique Kindle Scribe, from 2022, missed the mark for me. Right here, lastly, was a Kindle you may take notes with, but you couldn’t write instantly on e-book pages. As an alternative, you may solely annotate disappearing sticky notes — and solely on some Kindle titles. I shortly gave up on the Scribe, and for the previous 12 months or so I’ve primarily used the Kobo Elipsa 2E as an alternative.

Since then, the Kindle Scribe has come a good distance. Now with the second-generation e-reader, you’ll be able to lastly jot notes instantly onto a wider vary of Kindle e-book pages, convert handwriting to textual content, and even summarize notes in its built-in notebooks.

However the Scribe has extra and higher competitors than ever. And with a worth bump, it must nail these new options to make it price $399.99. That’s very true given the unique Kindle Scribe remains to be obtainable for $60 much less, and you’ll obtain all of those options onto it through Amazon’s newest software program replace.

The newest Kindle Scribe is nearly similar to its predecessor save for just a few beauty variations. It now arrives in an exquisite new Metallic Jade colorway, and it has even, paper-like white trim as an alternative of the uneven black bezels on the unique mannequin. 

In any other case, the Scribe remains to be very a lot a bigger model of the Kindle Paperwhite at coronary heart, and it shares most of the similar strengths and weaknesses as its smaller sibling. It’s nonetheless exceptionally straightforward to purchase and browse Kindle books and extra difficult to learn outdoors of the Amazon ecosystem. It isn’t waterproof or as snappy because the Paperwhite, but it surely’s quick sufficient with an adjustable heat gentle and the identical, crisp 300ppi show decision. That’s sharper than the $399.99 Kobo Elipsa 2E, and on par with the $379.99 Onyx Boox Go 10.3, which lacks a lightweight altogether. 

Granted, it’s not straightforward lugging round a ten.2-inch e-reader, particularly one made out of slippery aluminum, and you’ll’t maintain it comfortably with one hand. However on the flip facet, the additional display actual property makes it simpler to learn and take notes. The pill weighs barely lower than a pound, which helps with portability.

However the Kindle Scribe’s key promoting level is you can take notes on it, and in that respect, I’ve combined emotions. The overall handwriting expertise is superb. As earlier than, there’s no lag, and it actually does really feel as for those who’re instantly writing on paper. It comes bundled with Amazon’s Premium Pen, a small inexperienced stylus that comes with a brand new rubber soft-tipped eraser that jogs my memory of an precise pencil. I liked utilizing it, particularly because it doesn’t require charging and comes with a customizable shortcut button similar to its predecessor. (The Premium Pen is now normal, as an alternative of being a $30 improve possibility, which partially accounts for the value enhance from the unique Scribe.)

Whereas I loved writing with the pen, the Scribe’s new note-taking capabilities nonetheless fall in need of the competitors. With the brand new Energetic Canvas software, the corporate lastly addresses one in all my chief complaints with the Scribe: now you can write notes that stay seen instantly on e-book pages, fairly than on sticky notes that disappear into an icon within the margins (Amazon nonetheless presents the sticky notes function for those who favor these). The software program function provides a resizable textual content field round your handwritten observe, then reflows the remainder of the web page round it. It additionally works properly on different reflowable paperwork, together with PDFs and Phrase information. Amazon may even be releasing an expandable margins function in early 2025, too, permitting you to scribble notes in a facet panel you’ll be able to then conceal, although that’s not but obtainable to check. 

However Amazon nonetheless doesn’t actually perceive how individuals naturally take notes on books or what would make these notes helpful. Whereas the outdated sticky notes and highlighted passages sync with Kindle cellular apps, you’ll be able to’t view the Energetic Canvas notes in your Kindle cellular or browser app, or export them to a different app — they’re solely seen on the Scribe. You may’t add them to your on-device pocket book, both. Plus, typically the textual content field measurement messes up the web page formatting, creating additional areas between sentences. Whilst you can resize, there’s a lag that’ll gradual you down. A couple of instances, my notes disappeared altogether, so I needed to hold adjusting the dimensions till it reappeared.

What’s extra irritating, you’ll be able to’t circle a phrase or phrase and jot down a observe proper subsequent to it. When you write a observe, the web page mechanically realigns, so a whole lot of instances the Scribe would add my observe to the flawed a part of a line or passage. Amazon doesn’t allow you to transfer the textual content containers round, and you’ll’t even draw an arrow from a line to your observe, so you’ll be able to’t manually anchor it to the right piece of textual content both. All in all, it’s a irritating, difficult expertise, particularly when rivals from Kobo and Onyx allow you to seamlessly annotate pages with easy-to-find notes simply as you’ll writing on a bodily ebook. 

Marking up PDFs is much more intuitive and freed from Energetic Canvas’ limitations, so you’ll be able to take notes naturally. You may also mark up text-searchable PDFs and export them with out shedding the power to go looking inside the textual content. Sadly, you’ll be able to’t search inside the markups. You can also’t mark up sideloaded PDFs; you need to use Amazon’s Ship to Kindle function. That stated, Amazon says your paperwork are encrypted, each whereas being despatched, within the cloud, and whereas on the system. 

Amazon additionally made some enhancements to its built-in notebooks, providing a wider choice of templates than when the primary Scribe launched. There’s 18 preloaded templates starting from lined to dotted paper you need to use as weekly planners, checklists, and extra, all of which I discovered useful. You may also obtain extra templates from Amazon, or add PDF information and deal with them as templates.

The Scribe additionally will get two new AI options for its built-in notebooks that may summarize your notes and refine your handwriting. Nevertheless, you’ll want an web connection to make use of them and you’ll’t tie notes you made within the built-in pocket book to notes inside ebooks or PDFs in any respect. The AI abstract function remains to be useful, given it does an excellent job of offering a broad overview of your notes. In the meantime, the “refine your handwriting” function for essentially the most half precisely transformed my handwriting into typed textual content, albeit slowly and onto a separate web page you’ll be able to solely add both to the entrance or again of your pocket book. You may’t convert Energetic Canvas notes into typed textual content, although, which might have been a helpful addition.

Even with these additions, the Scribe’s built-in pocket book capabilities nonetheless aren’t as wealthy as its rivals. Comparable tablets from Onyx may also summarize notes and convert handwriting to textual content, whereas additionally letting you insert hyperlinks to notes, information, web sites, and attachments, file your voice, and hop right into a split-screen function. The latter helps you to take notes utilizing all of the superior built-in pocket book instruments, whereas concurrently navigating apps downloaded from the Google Play Retailer like Kindle and Kobo but in addition the likes of The New York Occasions. The Kobo Elipsa 2E’s note-taking instruments aren’t as superior because the Boox and it could possibly’t summarize notes just like the Scribe, but it surely a minimum of helps you to shortly convert handwriting into typed textual content within the authentic pocket book doc.

The Kindle Scribe is a greater e-reader for taking notes in comparison with when it made its debut two years in the past. Having the ability to write instantly on e-book pages is a welcome enchancment, and changing handwriting to typed textual content is a useful addition. However although it’s beginning to fall extra consistent with rivals from the likes of Kobo and Onyx, the Scribe’s nonetheless not the most suitable choice for severe note-taking. It’s nonetheless too laborious to annotate ebooks, and the brand new options simply aren’t as helpful in comparison with the competitors.

Even for those who’re simply on the lookout for a big Kindle with primary note-taking capabilities, the brand new Scribe is a tricky promote when the unique mannequin remains to be obtainable for $60 much less and in addition presents Energetic Canvas and the generative AI options if you obtain the newest software program replace (or await the over-the-air replace in 2025). I’d advocate skipping the brand new Scribe and sticking with the last-gen mannequin. Each are good e-readers for studying Kindle ebooks and informal note-taking, however they’re almost indistinguishable.

Images by Sheena Vasani / The Verge