Kindle has proven time and time again that it is the leader in e-readers. The ability for it to be a tablet that is easy to read as if it were actual paper, as opposed to a shiny tablet screen, has been borrowed by so many others. And now, with the proliferation of devices that you can write on to take notes, Amazon has stepped up their Kindle series with the Kindle Scribe to be a device for reading and writing.
The question is, should you get one?
It’s a bigger kindle
Even if you just want to use your Kindle for reading, there is a pretty big plus on offer here. Kindles have traditionally been around 6 inches in size. The Kindle Scribe, it’s a big ol 10 inches of book reading glory.
To be fair, the 6-inch size has been really handy, as it fits in your bag easily and makes the device stupidly portable. But for people like me who are getting older, some more real estate for those books is very much welcomed. So even if you just need to be able to read better, this is a pretty damn big win.
Except now you can write!
The biggest change and main reason for all this new real estate is that you can now write on this Kindle. There is a notepad app where you can easily scribble down notes. It’s so easy to use, from creating a new file to adding pages and writing well with the included pen.
One weird thing is that because the pen is nice and bulky and the Kindle is nice and thin, it doesn’t slot inside the Kindle. The pen does attach to the side with reasonably strong magnets, but it didn’t stay attached inside my bag when knocked around. It’s kind of a weird problem to have because it is caused by the kindle being so thin and comfortable and the pen being comfortable to hold. It is worth looking at case options to store these two.
You can really easily send your notes via email, but best of all, it can do handwriting-to-text translation. My handwriting is terrible at the best of times, but the Kindle seemed to know what I was trying to write consistently. I had to intentionally write really badly for it to struggle.
Heaps of battery life
The Kindle promises 42 hours of battery life if you’re just using it for reading and 10.5 hours if you’re just writing. I don’t have the attention span to sit there writing nonstop for 10 hours, but I found the battery life to be insane. I hit a week comfortably on the battery with some handwriting and reading in the mornings and evenings, so those battery estimates seem to track.
I don’t know what black magic they used to make this thing, because when idle, it has images that look as good as printing on a paper that seemed to use next to no battery. When you first pull it out of the box, I tried to pull the sheet off the front with the instructions like most tablets, but it turns out it was the kindle putting that on the screen. It is bananas.
Worth the upgrade
The Amazon Kindle Scribe is a best in class e-reader, and damn good e-writer. If you are planning to just use it to just write and need heaps of features for that then this might not be what you need. If you want an amazing reader that you use for writing notes, then this should make you very happy. I know I am.
The Kindle Scribe is an excellent e-reader with a pretty good e-writer bundled in.
