The first Kindle from Amazon is over 15 years old. Since then, device technology has evolved remarkably with larger e-ink screens and better resolution. Although lately there have been few changes in electronic books, for which the novelties incorporated in the recent model are appreciated. Scribewhich incorporates a pencil to take notes.
The device mounts a huge screen of 10.2 inches, with a 300pp resolution, 16 gray scales and backlighting with automatic brightness. The largest Kindle, previously, was the Oasis, with ‘only’ a 7-inch panel, so the Scribe’s screen is quite a leap. However, the large size also has its drawbacks, as we will explain later.
The storage space, although it is not usually a very relevant aspect since it is very difficult to fill it with books, is 16, 32 or 64 gigabytes. The battery is similar to that of any other Kindle, up to 3 months of autonomy in reading mode onlybut go down to 3 weeks using the pencil half an hour a day.
We have been using it for almost two months daily, and we have not needed to charge it. The weight is 433 grams, more than double that of the Kindle Oasis which stands at 188 grams. The design is not surprising, in this sense it is continuous, but larger, with a single on and off button, and a USB-C socket for charging.
The Kindle Scribe is wonderful in its construction, its high quality is noted, but does not have IPX8 waterproof protection from the Oasis, so it’s best to keep it away from water. Nothing to use in the bathtub.
It is worth mentioning that, for reading, electronic ink screens are unrivaled. We see many people reading books on tablets or mobile phones, but the closest experience to reading a paper book, but in electronic format, will always be with these types of screens.
Not particularly comfortable to read
The Kindle Scribe has a single objective, to allow you to take notes by hand, in the books or documents that we are reading, as well as to make drawings with precision. If what you want is only read books, any other Kindle is a better optionfor several reasons, but the main one is that it is difficult to operate with one hand.
Any 6-inch Kindle, with half the weight and volume, is easy to use in any situation, such as in bed, where many like to read, while the Scribe does not. Sometimes more screen doesn’t mean better. There may be some exceptions, like picture books, or some comics, but for reading a normal novel, 7-inch screens are still better. The second reason is the price, the disbursement of 369 euros it may seem a bit excessive for a device that is only going to be used for reading.
On the other hand, if what you want is to take notes, the Scribe is your device, it is the perfect notepad. The stylus is held securely on the side magnetically. Typing response is immediate, latency is fantastic, and the feel is almost paper-like – pretty much the best experience we’ve had so far, even better than an iPad Pro.
The notepad application has no mystery, it has several templates, and the choice of different line widths is very simple. We probably would have liked to see a slightly more complex drawing application, but you can do wonders with notepad.
The Kindle Scribe is still a Kindle, despite the redundancy, the same operating system, the same usability and library of books as any other Amazon electronic reader. It is a great device, of very high quality, with a writing experience very close to that of paper, perfect for taking notes, reading reports or notes and underlining them. Of course, as we have explained, we must bear in mind that it is not the most manageable electronic book. Not much less. The device does not support colors either.