The Kindle Scribe is nice for taking notes, nevertheless it must be extra transportable

Amazon has been gradual to meaningfully change the Kindle, largely as a result of it does not should. Should you can learn your books and, maybe extra importantly, buy them for a less expensive worth than they’d value from a bookstore, you are in all probability pleased with the corporate’s e-reader because it exists. The most important change the corporate made to the Kindle final 12 months was the addition of the Kindle Colorsoft to the lineup, the primary of Amazon’s e-readers that has a colour display screen.

Shade E Ink existed for years earlier than Amazon adopted it and by including it, the corporate was acknowledging a pattern. This is not the primary time Amazon has tried to maintain up with the competitors. The Kindle Scribe, the corporate’s main addition to the lineup earlier than the Colorsoft, was an try and do the identical factor.

The Kindle Scribe is an e-reader crossed with a note-taking machine, with assist for a stylus, and a display screen large enough to show paperwork correctly. Word-taking tablets just like the reMarkable 2 or Boox Note Air 3 have happy these wants beforehand, however Amazon’s benefit is that your library of books and audiobooks are on the Scribe, too, without having to obtain a separate app or side-load EPUB recordsdata.

Whereas note-taking appeared like a little bit of an afterthought when the machine debuted, Amazon has continued to assist the Scribe with new options, even updating its design alongside the Colorsoft. It is a strong possibility if studying and writing matter to you equally, nevertheless it’s additionally restricted in a single apparent means: its dimension. You compromise on portability utilizing the Scribe and Amazon ought to take into account making a smaller machine that may do the identical factor.

The Kindle Scribe makes books document-sized

A giant display screen is good for notes, however not for pockets

Regular-sized Kindles can learn PDFs and different paperwork for those who’re keen to ship them out of your pc to your e-reader. The benefit of the Kindle Scribe over a Paperwhite or a Colorsoft is that you may view these paperwork at one thing near the dimensions of an actual web page, and write on them as naturally as a print-out you’d obtain at work or faculty. Compared to Amazon’s different Kindles, which have anyplace between 6- and 7-inch screens, the Scribe has a ten.2-inch E Ink Carta show, packed into a comparatively gentle 15.3 oz aluminum physique.

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Amazon has made it simpler to purchase Kindle e-books on iOS.

The Scribe is straightforward to carry and feels good to write down on. Amazon provides you ample house to take notes and has give you clever software workarounds to allow you to write immediately on books with out obscuring the textual content (a collection of options the corporate calls “Energetic Canvas”). The dimensions of the Kindle Scribe solely feels bizarre when you begin studying. I like massive fonts as a lot as the following particular person, however nothing concerning the expertise of studying on the Scribe looks like studying a e-book. If something, essentially the most snug and best approach to truly learn on the machine is sitting, propping up the Scribe on one knee.

This has much less to do with weight or thickness, as a result of the e-reader itself is just 0.22-inches thick, and extra to do with how its display screen dimension makes it awkward to carry in a single hand, and a bit more durable to accommodate in a backpack or bag. It takes up extra space than a Kindle in a carry-on and while you have a look at the competitors, it is simply greater than it must be to supply all of the options that make it nice.

A extra compact note-taking machine

Boox and Kobo do not restrict their styluses to the large display screen

After I take into consideration the sorts of notebooks I loved writing in earlier than I began testing out note-taking tablets from Amazon, Ratta, and reMarkable, they have been all so much smaller. The best Moleskine pocket book is pocketable, one thing you’ll be able to slip right into a again pocket or inside a coat jacket with out pondering twice. That is a a lot smaller dimension than a ten.2-inch Kindle Scribe. The best type issue for one in every of these note-taking tablets or e-readers is one thing smaller, much less like a college-ruled pocket book and extra like a Moleskine.

Opponents to Amazon supply a number of gadgets which can be across the identical dimension as a Kindle, however assist handwritten notes just like the Scribe. If you would like a colour display screen, you might get one thing just like the Boox Go Shade 7 Gen II or Kobo Libra Colour, for instance. Or for those who’re fantastic with conventional E Ink, you might do the Ratta Supernote Nomad or Kobo Sage. All of those gadgets supply the portability of a standard e-reader, round a 7-inch display screen, and assist for stylus enter. They match the Kindle Scribe by way of options, and in some circumstances, even transcend what Amazon’s keen to supply (Boox’s gadgets run Android, for instance).

Clearly, there is a marketplace for this dimension of machine. Amazon’s simply chosen to not deal with it but. In addition to portability, studying on a Kobo Libra Color simply feels higher, too. You get precise buttons to show pages, and the machine is sufficiently small to carry in a single hand and use, one thing not as simply mentioned concerning the Kindle Scribe.

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This $1,900 monitor is like using a giant Kindle Colorsoft

Boox has unveiled its new Mira Professional Shade E Ink monitor.

There’s extra work to do on the Kindle lineup

Amazon should not relaxation on its laurels

Previous to the Kindle Scribe’s authentic launch in 2022, I by no means would have anticipated Amazon to enterprise out of the “meat and potatoes” of e-readers that may play audiobooks. Someplace inside the corporate there was a want to attempt one thing new, although, and I hope that the identical motivation exists to think about a smaller Kindle Scribe.

Within the meantime, for those who’re keen to do your studying in a Kindle app, it could be value contemplating the Boox Go 7 Shade. I discovered so much to love once I went hands-on with the machine. For one thing much more targeted on studying, the Kobo Libra Color is a superb possibility, too.