Amazon's diversified the Kindle lineup in recent years, in an attempt to woo more people than just simple readers, and the Scribe is perhaps the most obvious symbol of this change. It's unlike anything else in the Kindle range, and has the huge unique selling point of letting you handwrite notes while you read.
That, combined with the biggest display on a Kindle, makes it stand out from the crowd. But should you actually buy it, though? Well, that depends very much on how you imagine using a Kindle, as I can confirm from a couple of weeks with the 2024 Kindle Scribe on review here...
Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024) review: Price & Availability
The 2024 version of the Kindle Scribe is out now through Amazon and a fair few other sellers, after taking a few extra weeks to release compared to the new Kindle Colorsoft and 2024 Paperwhite and Kindle. It comes in at a pretty premium price, starting from £379.99 / $399.99 / AU$649 for the 16GB version – which comes with a Premium Pen included.
Spend more and you can get it with 64GB of storage in a new Metallic Jade colour, at £429.99 / $449.99 / AU$729. That's not a huge uplift for the extra storage, although most people probably won't find themselves butting up against the border of that baseline 16GB.
Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024) review: Design & Features
The Scribe is aimed squarely at those who want to hand-write notes, whether in the form of addendums to whatever gripping page they happen to be reading at a given moment, or as standalone documents. That means it sports a large 10.2-inch display that works flawlessly with the supplied stylus, both to control the interface (UI) and to actually write.
You can do that writing whenever you like, too – you can be organised and open up a new note in your carefully curated folders of topics, but you can just as easily take the pen out and start writing right on top of a page if you prefer. That makes the Scribe great for those who like to jot their thoughts as they read, especially since it can keep track of your notes for you and make it easy to catalogue them and search through them later.
This is partly thanks to beefed-up handwriting recognition, which Amazon says is now using artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance its ability to read your writing. That's ideal for those who don't want to manually process their own notes later, and it works pretty impressively. It's labelled as the 'refine' tool and can easily and reliably convert pages of handwritten notes into text. You can also then use a 'summary' tool to get a quick write-up of what's contained in even long notes that you've written – which could come in handy.
All of that skips us past what the tablet looks like, of course, which is a familiar sight compared to the last generation. Once again you get a sort of spine to the left of that 10.2-inch display, which becomes your primary way to grip the tablet without holding a corner of its display by accident. That side of the tablet also houses a power button and the USB-C charging port, while the opposite edge is magnetised to keep hold of your stylus.
This works nicely, although even more than a normal Kindle or Paperwhite, I suspect that people who go for the Scribe will want to pair it with a folio case for some added protection. It's a very thin device, at just 5.7mm (without a case), and is impressively slinky – but I would worry about it being loose in a backpack.
From a battery point of view, you're looking at the same battery life you'd get from the Kindle Paperwhite 2024 (meaning 12 weeks) if you use the Scribe exclusively for reading. The moment you start to use its writing features, that total will tick down a little (although getting an exact read on that impact is quite a challenge). The tablet can recharge from empty in just under three hours or so, too.
Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024) review: Performance
If all of the above describes how the Scribe looks and feels, and what Amazon says you can get from it, the real proof is in the reading and writing. Using the Kindle Scribe is an interesting experience, one that doesn't truthfully align with how I like to read all that much.
To be a bit clearer, I think that it's uncontroversial to suggest this is a pretty unwieldy tablet for pure reading. That size will be a boon to some people who really just like a bigger surface in their hands, but in most cases it's a little clumsy to hold, especially when compared to the Paperwhite.
The whole point here is the writing features, of course, and they do work great if you're keen on them. I was really impressed by the Scribe's note-taking from a few angles. Firstly, it's quick and easy to get a new note started, and to move around within one. You can easily write really tight and small notes if you like, but drawing larger ones is easy, too. There are pen tips to choose from in the box, but also plenty of settings to tweak in the software, too.
The matte display feels excellent under your stylus tip, with tactility and feedback that is impressively close to the feeling of real paper, and I've rarely seen my handwriting come across so accurately in a digital medium. However, it's also worth admitting that some of the tweaks to the tablet's UI are a little muddled. Small menu items have moved around to accommodate your collection of notes, and the fact that even something like the Settings menu is now slightly more complicated to access compared to a standard Kindle makes things feel a tad over-complicated.
Thankfully, the fact that it has a 10.2-inch display doesn't diminish the quality or sharpness of your text. So while you're reading you'll enjoy the same 300ppi pixel density that makes the other Kindle models so effortlessly readable. Performance in terms of speed is fine, although trying to move around your notes can occasionally showcase the fact that this isn't an iPad, even though it might pretend to be a lite version at times. It's slower, basically, and you'll never forget that an E Ink display has limitations.
However, Amazon's years of development give that display a nice set of advantages compared to some other note-taking devices – like those in the ReMarkable lineup. It's really bright, at higher settings, and also has warmth options to stop it from being a blue-white beacon. This makes it really easy to set up your display settings to look natural but still extremely readable.
Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024) review: Verdict
The Kindle Scribe 2024 does everything it sets out to – it improves subtly but noticeably on the previous-generation's design, while adding some welcome handwriting recognition smarts. It's got a great display, feels great to write on, and is clearly unique in the Kindle lineup.
That said, I'm not convinced it makes sense for many people at a premium price. You could save yourself a good chunk of change by getting a Paperwhite for your reading, then use a pen and paper if you want to take notes.
But if you're certain that the Scribe's note-taking addition will add significant value to your routine, then there's nothing else like it in the line-up – and that makes it a niche yet ideal purchase among Amazon's Kindle range.
Also consider
As I've mentioned a few times, I think people should do some soul-searching about how much they'll actually use the note-taking that the Scribe offers. If it's anything other than constant, then the larger size and higher weight will become a burden compared to a much smaller and easier-to-hold Paperwhite, which I think is the best Kindle for most people.
If you want an alternative option when it comes to smart notetaking, then ReMarkable has to be the name to check out. Its ReMarkable Paper Pro is probably the most impressive model. It's got a colour display, impressively, but also a chunky price tag.
