2 years ago
78
When I archetypal heard the quality astir the Kindle Scribe, I was beauteous curious. New gadgets, particularly if they’re book-related, ever drawback my eye. When you tin bash much than 1 happening connected them, I’m ever going to astatine slightest autumn down the rabbithole for a fewer hours. And this 1 was nary different! I emotion the size of my Kindle Paperwhite, but immoderate things are amended connected a bigger screen, right? And past determination was the other side of the Scribe, the spot that gives it its name: the penning element. Is it worthy it? I delve into that question successful this Kindle Scribe review!
In precocious 2020, aft watching my hubby play with his shiny caller iPad Pro, I decided to get 1 for myself. I would beryllium editing astatine slightest 1 publication successful the adjacent aboriginal and figured the quality to instrumentality integer notes and constitute connected written documents without having to woody with insubstantial would travel successful handy. Also, I had go intrigued by integer planners and was hoping to get my beingness unneurotic (not for the past time). I truly enjoyed utilizing it for circumstantial things, but arsenic a regular reader, it was just…too heavy. So I would usually spell backmost to my Kindle erstwhile I wanted to work prose. The size and signifier was cleanable for my hands, and it has a lawsuit that allows it to basal connected its own.
Kindle Scribe Review: Pros and Cons
Fast guardant to precocious 2022, erstwhile the Scribe was announced. I was intrigued, but not yet acceptable to propulsion the button. I wanted to cognize what radical thought of it, what first-round buyers felt were the pros and cons. And conscionable similar with thing successful user technology, the results were mixed:
Pros:
- The size is good, whether you’re speechmaking prose, comics, oregon textbooks
- The value is good, particularly compared to the heavier iPad
- There is decidedly capable hard thrust space
- The speechmaking acquisition is bully for the mean person
- Making notes successful Kindle books is casual and useful
- The notebooks are casual to recognize and manage
- You tin nonstop PDFs and people them up, oregon adhd sticky notes to different kinds of files (like Microsoft Word documents)
- The pen comes successful handy, whether for penning oregon arsenic a stylus
- The wide acquisition is satisfactory and worthy the wealth spent
Cons:
- It’s excessively big
- It’s excessively heavy
- The speechmaking acquisition is clunky and slow
- It’s frustrating that you can’t people up Kindle books oregon Word docs
- The notebook folders can’t beryllium nested wrong each other
- It’s excessively costly for what it is (a glorified ereader with immoderate frills and whistles)
Okay, truthful possibly the full reviews conception connected Amazon isn’t that contradictory, but determination are decidedly immoderate pros and some cons that I privation to address.
What is the Kindle Scribe? What Can You Do With It?
The Kindle Scribe is Amazon’s effect to aggregate companies offering multi-use integer tools — not conscionable the iPad but besides the reMarkable, which is simply a integer mark-up and notes tablet, and Kobo’s Elipsa, an ereader that besides offers the quality to people up ebooks and documents.
It’s the largest Kindle offered truthful far, with a 10.2-inch paperwhite screen, and comes with a basal oregon premium pen. Like the Oasis, the surface is off-center, allowing for easiness of grip (and it reacts to absorption if you request to clasp it with your close hand). In astir immoderate ebook you’ve purchased straight from Amazon, you person the quality to adhd sticky notes to your books — they accidental it’s for a cleaner speechmaking experience, but I wonderment if they conscionable haven’t figured retired however to let for ebook markup yet. The sticky notes are managed done an icon successful the header, truthful you tin spot each of them if you request to.
You tin adhd a written enactment oregon a substance note, but you can’t person your ain notes to text. I cognize immoderate radical emotion to annotate their books with underlining and highlights and notes; unless you person everything you work to a PDF and nonstop it from your computer, alas, you can’t bash that here.
But you person a caller section: notebooks.
With Kindle notebooks, you tin usage 1 of respective antithetic leafage templates to constitute immoderate you want. You tin take notes connected a blank page, oregon connected lined, grid, oregon dotted pages. There are templates for time planners, calendars, and notes sheets, arsenic good arsenic unit rows for music. You tin send PDFs done your Kindle email and people those up, excessively — thing fancy, conscionable penning and highlighting. Writing is casual and smooth, though if you are a hand-rester you mightiness extremity up accidentally turning the leafage if the broadside of your manus hits the nonstop incorrect spot. If you mean to usage this diagnostic and nonstop a batch of PDFs implicit for marking up, I urge getting a larger hard drive. They travel successful 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB, truthful immoderate floats your boat.
And of course, you tin bash each of this successful light mode oregon acheronian mode. (And if you’re successful airy mode, you tin alteration the warmth of the screen, adjacent acceptable it connected a timer.)
I mentioned that determination are some a basic and a premium pen. I got a larger hard thrust and truthful the premium pen, but you tin astir apt bash conscionable good with the basal pen if you don’t privation the built-in eraser and the programmable broadside button. If thing else, you won’t support accidentally pressing said fastener to alteration to highlighter portion you’re penning similar immoderate radical I know. (Me. I’m immoderate people.)
You tin get a 16GB Kindle Scribe with a basal pen and without a subscription to Kindle Unlimited for $339.99 oregon 5 payments of $68 (because that’s a happening Amazon is doing present for larger purchases). If you privation the premium pen, it’s an further 30 dollars. If you privation a 32GM oregon 64GB Scribe, it lone comes with the premium pen – astir $390 for the 32 gig and $420 for the 64. You tin adhd 3 months of Kindle Unlimited for a spot more, but obscurity connected the leafage is determination a container you person to prime successful bid to wage much to spell advertisement free.
That’s right: the Kindle Scribe comes wholly advertisement free. (The lockscreen screen is immoderate publication you’re presently reading, arsenic it should be.)
Out of the box, you get the tablet, your pen, replacement tips (I deliberation conscionable for the premium pen), and a USB-3 to USB-C charging cord. Since it doesn’t travel with an AC adapter, you’ll person to excavation astir for 1 connected your ain (or bargain one, but marque definite it’s got the close sized slot).
What you get successful the box: a pen, the Kindle, a charging cord, and pen extremity replacements. While the Scribe is simply a mates inches smaller than the bigger iPad Pro (and 1 tenth of an inch smaller than the reMarkable), it inactive works good for enactment taking and different writing. And the penning constituent comes successful useful for aggregate reasons: I didn’t deliberation astir the sticky notes arsenic thing but a mode to remark connected the substance of a book, but 1 reviewer mentioned that if they person a thought — thing to get from the store, oregon a task to bash aboriginal — they tin conscionable jot it down and support going, past reappraisal their notes astatine the extremity of their book. And of course, if you’re speechmaking and abruptly person an thought for your ain novel, it’s beauteous casual to hop implicit to notebooks and constitute successful a scene, past easy spell backmost to your publication with a mates of taps.
But What About the Reading Experience? It is an Ereader First, After All.
Personally? I emotion it. The 10-inch surface means I tin bump up the font size and spacing and usage the Open Dyslexic substance (which I’ve recovered works champion for maine arsenic a neurodivergent reader) without having to crook the leafage each 10 seconds, a vexation I’ve had erstwhile speechmaking connected my Paperwhite oregon phone.
While Amazon offers cases that let you to basal it up astatine aggregate levels, I bought a third-party case that has lasting heights much my style. The artillery beingness is beauteous spectacular; I charged it to 100 percent the nighttime earlier I near for a 10-day travel retired of the country, and arsenic of this penning 5 days aft my return, I inactive person 28 percent. That’s 4 agelong flights and aggregate days of doing thing but reading, positive a fewer things to spot however they worked, including a mates hours of listening to Quinta Brunson’s audiobook, She Memes Well, done the bluetooth feature. It wasn’t connected wifi that full time, truthful you mightiness tally it down faster if you’re connected the full time, but it doesn’t look similar excavation has gone down precise acold since coming back. I person a atrocious wont of forgetting to complaint things unless the cord is virtually connected my pillow, truthful knowing I don’t person to complaint this each fewer days adds different furniture of information successful my speechmaking experience.
If you’re a comics reader, the larger surface is besides overmuch much useful. I yet started speechmaking manga digitally respective months ago, and the Paperwhite…is not precise big. So speechmaking manga connected my Scribe is overmuch much helpful, since it’s adjacent bigger than people manga. Comics that were primitively published successful colour are a small much hard to read, but astatine slightest you tin double-tap for the Kindle panel-by-panel view to marque them easier to parse. I astir apt won’t work precise galore occidental comics connected my Kindle due to the fact that I person a colour alternative, but I americium acceptable to work All The Manga. (It’s overmuch easier than trying to bargain oregon get 100 volumes of thing from the library.)
Left, Kindle Scribe; Right, Kindle Paperwhite.So, Should You Get a Kindle Scribe?
My last reply is: It depends.
If you privation thing bigger to work on, with a bonus spot for notes and organizations to the level you mightiness want, it mightiness beryllium a large prime for the money. But if you’re looking for the markup instrumentality that volition alteration your beingness and clasp each your textbooks, without the bonuses you get with an e-ink ereader the size of a hardback book, possibly an iPad oregon reMarkable 2 are much your speed.
And if you’re blessed with your Kindle Paperwhite and don’t request thing bigger oregon immoderate of the other bells and whistles, nary request to walk $400 connected a gadget you don’t request oregon want.
I’m blessed with my choice, and I anticipation you’ll beryllium blessed with yours, whichever 1 it whitethorn be! And if you bash bargain it, find retired however to find Kindle publication deals here!
English (US) ·