Amazon Kindle Scribe: In-Depth Review of Amazon's First Writing Tablet. So close, Yet So Far...

[@holyliving2000]

Voya, welcome back. Thank you for this review. You are by far THE BEST device reviewer on KZbin! 😊

[@MyDeepGuide]

Thank you so much! :))

[@shattia]

Great review, the Kindle Scribe is a good example of how hardware is nothing without software

[@5pm_Hazyblue]

FINALLY! In-depth review that i can trust!

[@5pm_Hazyblue]

totally agreed. 48:00 and on

[@crazydiamond8397]

Excellent review as always. Definitely, the Scribe will find its customer, especially among people who use mostly Kindle and Audible. For me being locked onto the Amazon ecosystem is a dealbreaker. Great to see you back, Voja! Hope your family situation is good now.

[@morgenmicha]

But audible Implementation is also bad. No Multitasking and listening in background

[@crazydiamond8397]

@@morgenmicha Well, it is a big minus for some people, I agree. I didn't mention that because it is not so critical for me personally. What I absolutely need is TTS function, when I do something around the house or drive. With Kindle I would be obliged to buy both the text and the audiobook, if it exists at all. And it is not like I want to steal a nicely recorded audiobook read by actors. Amazon is limiting me in the ways how I can use, for personal purposes, the text I have already purchased imposing another purchase on me. I can ask a person to read a book out loud for me, but not the device.

[@ryanstutzman]

Thank You, Voja. We can only hope that someone in the software department at Amazon also wants the Scribe to achieve its potential. I am going to keep my Scribe for personal, at-home, leisure and utilize my Supernote as my reliable workhorse.

[@BenHillFinest]

I echo your take on the post ad I have the Scribe and SuperNote. Gave my Remarkable 2 to my wife.

[@vernabailey3671]

I figured out 2 things. I can make the button a sticky note and then remove the dock/pen thing from screen when reading. Also, if you highlight the place/word where you want the sticky note to be, it will actually be there. You can go back and unhighlight after you make your note if you want. But that’s how to get it more precise. Good review. I always trust your reviews more than some. I’m keeping mine, though I do hope for software updates to make it a bit more functional as an e note device. But I originally wanted a larger ereader and that’s what I got. Notes were not why I purchased it, but a bonus. I wanted an 8 inch Oasis. Lol.

[@claudiourbano-ispizua5742]

You nailed it, Voja! Thank you, and it's good to have you back. Cheers!

[@naidadad9311]

The best review of Kindle Scribe on youtube! Thanks so much.

[@KitBetts-Masters]

*applause* well done Voja, you've got to the bottom of the weird pdf handling. We thank you! And you are right, they said you could write on pdfs and you can't. Thanks, great review.

[@MyDeepGuide]

Thank you! Yeah, that was a bit of a rabbit hole to dig into, but it finally all made sense when I managed to manually reproduce the weird conversion faults by exporting the converted file back into a PDF. Then it all revealed itself, and finally made sense.

[@KitBetts-Masters]

@@MyDeepGuide thanks! You're right, it is pretty disrespectful to release it with this software. I went for minimum viable product, but you are right, it's actually just at proof of concept level! It'll be a shame if we don't see great updates to this platform, but for now, they've rushed it for December buying frenzy and they probably rake in the cash from that decision!

[@idolw666]

Let’s all hope they see a lot of money from this rushed release. The higher sales the larger responsibility 😉

[@EnjoySynthSounds]

It's like advertising steak and selling mince meat. It's illegal.

[@TheSharmanova]

Brilliantly helpful review. Ppl like myself who’ve wanted to buy, excited about it’s launch, and wanted to love it… you’ve saved us hundreds of dollars and countless frustrations. Thank you.

[@JohnReynolds123]

He's back!! 1 hour! Man! Glad your back!

[@marinawakefield9103]

I almost ordered it, but then I thought that I would wait for this review. Glad I did, now I am going to see what happens next before ordering it. Thanks for this review!

[@sdpuri4126]

The most honest Kindle Scribe review out there...

[@PJ-hi1gz]

Your reviews are always the best. I will skip on this device until the software shortcomings are fixed. Thank you for saving me the money and the headaches!

[@drzulfiq7060]

I'm a new subscriber and watched all your remarkable videos to make an informed decision before purchasing it as I wanted strong notebook functionality and I've loved it since receiving it earlier this week. Returned my Scribe within 48 hours. Really appreciate the time and effort you take to create these videos - so helpful. All the best with personal issues and hope they resolve themselves soon. Regards from the UK.

[@RudolfInderst]

Thank you very much for your impressions and review thoughts.

[@squishylimeable]

You are my favorite reviewer! You are the most thorough and always answer my questions that other reviewers don't cover. I won't buy an Ewriter without looking up your reviews first!

[@MyDeepGuide]

Thank you so much for the confidence and the support! :)

[@kurtgodel5236]

Thanks for yet another first-class review!

[@marleengarza2023]

The issue with the PDF file that you have described so precisely at 30:00 is exactly why I will stick to my reMarkable for now. Maybe a generation 2 or later will fix that and a user will be able to "write directly on a PDF file." The other problem with the sticky note icon being randomly placed elsewhere than where I may click on.. that is annoying. These are dealbreakers for me. :-) Thanks for your thorough review!

[@afisayo]

Thank you for another excellent review. I just sent back my Supernote 5X and keeping the Scribe for my daily journaling. I stayed with Scribe because I prefer the pencil writing feel to Supernote’s pen feel, backlighting as I write in bed, I have an iPad Pro for all the other things, and I am using your RM2 guide and so no it the native Notebook functionality. The writing feel on Supernote was the deal breaker for my specific use case - journaling.

[@sandraschares]

This was such an amazing review. Thank you for putting so much work into this in depth video.

[@steverolfeca]

I needed to have and hold these devices in order to learn what works for me. Bought and returned both the Scribe and then the Boox NA3C, was surprised to find that I prefer the Scribe despite its limitations, especially as a left-handed user. I also looked seriously at Supernote and reMarkable, but was spoiled by the Scribe’s excellent automated front light and image reproduction. About to buy another Scribe with the case bundle.

[@nat4465]

I’m also a lefty that was eyeing the Air Note 3C, but with the new scribe announcement and updates. I’m excited for that one. What do you think about the palm rejection on the scribe?

[@steverolfeca]

@@nat4465 Palm rejection is OK, but there are other things to consider in Oct 2024: 1. Release info suggests that the "new" scribe is just new housing colors and firmware. If so, existing Scribes will get the new firmware too. 2. Kindle file management is still dumb as a post, despite recent firmware updates. It's organized more to push sales of new books, than to help you organize your essential notes and documents. Big fail there. 3. My Scribe has been sleeping in a drawer ever since I got my Boox Go 10.3. Particularly with the latest firmware update, it's an astonishing piece- overcomes all my objections to the NA3C, and Supernote, and reMarkable. Pricing is excellent, as well.

[@glenndoren7922]

Great review--spot on. I'll be keeping my Scribe, as the hardware is SO good and it's such a great ebook reader. But I'm "hoping" the notetaking software gets enough upgrade love n care to help it replace my SN A5X. It really would be such a missed opportunity and waste if amazon's kindle software dev team doesn't take advantage of this amazing hardware already in customers' hands. Glad to see you back, and I hope things worked out with the family situation😕

[@leeleo9615]

The official product page updated recently, with a paragraph saying: scribe will be receiving regular software update to deliver new features like new pen brushed, new note organizational options, sending word files directly to kindle scribe right within word, etc. That's good news. But we'll have to wait and see how those are implemented and if they are good at all.

[@kiretrajkov5296]

Same here, i hope the new SN will be on similar pace as the Scribe

[@blitherithicus]

@@kiretrajkov5296 SN = Supernote? Supernote is updated regularly with substantial improvements.

[@ernestintownandjackintheco1024]

@@leeleo9615 thank you for that tip! One of the great things about Supernote (and there are many) is that they have a transparent roadmap showing where they are planning to take the software, and I had lamented that I had little hope that Amazon would do anything similar. Providing a paragraph is at least something. I imagine they saw the reviews and how they were getting hammered on the notebook aspect.

[@stefanw8422]

@@ernestintownandjackintheco1024 I also like the open roadmap of SN but I wish they would also improve the hardware a little bit but it seems even the new devices are just bigger or slimmer and don´t deliver a faster cpu or other hardware improvements.

[@GetOffMyyLawn]

I was tempted to pre-order a scribe when it was announced. Glad I waited for Deep Guides review. Still rocking a Remarkable 1 which has held up well.

[@tanmay4274]

Thank you for such a detailed review.

[@majid7668]

You have the most detailed reviews on KZbin 👍

[@mohammedsaid7763]

Thank you very much you provided the review with a clear credibility as we are always used to from you.

[@teamstormy7030]

Thank you very much for your work. A lot of content. And attention to every detail. 5 stars

[@mattfromcleveland]

I was waiting for this review and it did not disappoint!

[@tuxipops]

Your videos really honor your channel name . Great content

[@pmcesh03]

Great review, and thank you for once again creating great honest content. I was waiting for this review to decide on purchasing the scribe, and based on your comments, I will wait for either a warehouse deal on returned devices or a software update.

[@johnmanley4528]

Nice job and good to have you back, Voja. I have no regrets about returning my Scribe unopened. I was just seeing too many YT reviews online indicating that this is not what I wanted.

[@gbojinov]

Thanks for the review, always a joy to watch the detail you put into these videos.

[@ahoyhere8113]

Awesome review, thank you for saving me money.

[@fcsolis]

I love the notebook experience on my Kindle Scribe because it's very basic. Thank you.

[@hudsonbond9797]

Excellent review - Thankyou.

[@ernestintownandjackintheco1024]

Good news-This morning there is an update for the Scribe (if you manually update from their webpage) that offers 1. Notebooks within notebooks 2. Some navigation within notebooks, new writing tools 3. Better pen sensitivity 4. Premium pen additions and more

[@Cheffamily]

wow, thank you for pointing out the annotation on pdf thing.

[@ricrui3]

Thank you for this amazing review. Have you thought about creating shorts of your videos? I'm pretty sure that some people find you videos intimidating for how long they are but maybe with shorts you can bring more people to this amazing channel!

[@MyDeepGuide]

Yes I have, but the type of content I make is an automatic filter of the type of viewers and followers I want to have. It's not about the numbers only for me. It's also equally important to me to maintain a healthy community of people who, for one, are capable of watching longer videos and know how to use timestamps. That leads to a healthy comments section and actually some useful information being shared there. It's really easy to pump numbers, just use clickbait titles and make tons of short videos, not really caring about quality or usability of the content that is being put out into the ether. Couple that with YT shorts and maybe a few "reaction" videos and hey presto, you got the numbers. But the quality of a channel will suffer that way. So, I'd much rather have my channel grow organically, without artificial pumping :)

[@ricrui3]

​@@MyDeepGuide Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for your amazing reviews!

[@TischTosh]

Thanks for your review despite recent issues for you/family, sir. Hope for better days ahead for you and yours. P.S. Asimov and Miller, love it!

[@MyDeepGuide]

Thank you very much, and yeah, Asimov is always a good read :) Miller, oh yeah! :)

[@GothicGame]

Tank you for your nice review, Samwise Gamgee! ;)

[@alexfekken7599]

Thanks for another excellent review. While I am not against Amazon per se (I am an enthousiastic AWS user both privately and professionally) I have always had an issue with Kindle, the eBooks in particular. Nowadays I only buy Kindle book to convert them to pdf asap and then read and annotate them as pdfs, usually on a proper Android tablet (Samsung or Boox). So I was wondering if the Scribe would be a reason to change that. Apparently not: thank you for confirming it to be a waste of otherwise impressive hardware.

[@jesusidev]

The backlight and screen is what made me keep the scribe vs keeping the super note. Hopefully software updates for note taking such as search writing and select and move. Great review like always!

[@leeleo9615]

heard some rumors that handwritting recognition is on the roadmap of software team. if this is a thing, searching handwritten notes should come as well.

[@MC-ov8dr]

@@leeleo9615 From what I've heard the Scribe dev team has a long list of items on the roadmap and some of those on the team are Remarkable users so they HAVE to know how 'bare minimum' this release is. In my opinion the Scribe is a victim of someone forcing this thing out in time for the Holiday shopping season before it's ready for prime time. Really hoping they can make some quick releases just to bring this thing up to to some measure of minimum in the next month or two.

[@leeleo9615]

@@MC-ov8dr me too. Glad that I'm not gonna be using this thing heavily as a note taking device like supernote or remarkble. I'm really enjoying reading on this thing. But I do hope they put out new features to make it easier to create and export notes from scribe, and more ways to make exported notes more useful. Anyway, it's glad to know they have a long list of features on their roadmap. so we'll only need to wait and see how this roadmap will play out

[@leeleo9615]

@@MC-ov8dr by the way, do you mind sharing the source of your information about the long list of features coming in the future? I'm really interested.

[@MC-ov8dr]

@@leeleo9615 It was a conversation with someone who helped develop the product that I met through a friend. Take it with a grain of salt since I can't prove any of it :)

[@muc365]

incredible review, and so much detail.

[@dazbow7573]

Looking forward to receiving my scribe tomorrow I was waiting for your video before ordering. Amazon will be doing lots of software updates. Remember when we first ordered the remarkable 1 (wow that's a long time ago) we waited for updates and got them. Amazon will definitely bring a lot of new firmware releases in 2023. I still enjoy my remarkable 1 and 2 but the kindle scribe will let me work with both side by side and the back light will be very useful. Thanks again for a fantastic video. 👍

[@MC-ov8dr]

The difference is Remarkable is literally the only product that company has to profit on (and accessories). RM is the lifeblood of the Remarkable company. Amazon is a huge company that could discontinue the Scribe tomorrow without so much as a rounding error in their budget if they don't think it's worth it (for whatever management reason they think). I hope Amazon invests in it because the hardware is SO good, but the future is extremely uncertain with a company like Amazon.

[@mollypieri]

Thank you for this review! One thing that I find interesting is how similar your wrap up sentiment is to what you gave the reMarkable 2 a few years back- both devices were deemed triumphs of hardware that were utterly betrayed by their software, with all hopes pinned on future functionality updates.

[@MyDeepGuide]

Yeah, but in all honesty, the starting point of the software on the Remarkable was light years ahead of the Scribe. So, Kindle Scribes has a mountain to climb, or miliona of dollars to spend on marketing campaigns and take another page out of the Remarkable's book. Because with enough money you can convince a lot of people that this is exactly what they want and need.

[@brotherurth1625]

Hi Voja, thank you for clarifying the PDF/KFX difference, something I wasn’t aware of, having said that I’ve had no issues with the links within the journal/scheduler I downloaded (so far). One question I have is can you lock the screen rotation? As I noticed during your demonstration your screen didn’t rotate. Was this deliberate or another flaw? Thank you for your tech knowledge and clarification of issues in user friendly terms.

[@cecicestmoi]

fantastic review and sooooo very accurate!

[@barrypewtress5762]

I love your work. I’ve decided to keep the Scribe. I was thinking about going with one of the other more elaborate devices, but the simplicity is the reason I want it. I already have a 12.9 iPad Pro that can do literally everything else I can imagine. Having the kindle to read and write, and that’s all it can do, is perfect for me to help me focus.

[@happyfeetmg2]

Welcome back!! :)

[@MyDeepGuide]

Thank you!

[@ishyandmikkischannel8811]

BRILLIANT review as always! Here is the funny thing though... We have the Boox Note Air etc and still prefer the Kinde Scribe. And I have been a note taker and stylus user on phones, tablets and laptops since 2013. And I have been annotating pdfs pretty much since then. So why? I think it has got something to do with the higher resolution, the speed of refresh, and that Scribe pen which is a pleasure to use. My teenager says he prefers Boox Note Air because of the functionality. But for me, even as just a book reader and note taker it just crosses that magic threshold which no other e-imk device has as yet. And it's better than phones and tablets etc because of the lack of glare and eye strain.

[@sarajspinc.8373]

" a series of dead ends" is a great way to put it. I had mine for a couple of days, but there's just so much it can't do. Another thing: those handwritten notes you make in a kindle book? They are only readable on the Scribe in context. That is, though they will export in the giant annotation files, if you sync to another kindle or to iOS kindle app, the handwritten notes don't sync, only the text notes and highlights. Another dead end.

[@Babak7712]

Dear my friend I mo so sorry as I didn’t listen to your previous video having trouble with your family. Hope you and your family are completely safe & peace 🙏🙏🙏🙏💐💐💐💐 Thank you for your great making decision reviews as always. Thanks 👍💐💐💐💐

[@SpaceHog78]

Thank you for this honest review. I was waiting for it, since I'm currently "in the market" for a 10 inch e-ink device. Well, I guess I was - because I just ordered the Tab Ultra. I think waiting for Amazon to fix their software is a Hail Mary.

[@GokhanCvs]

When I checked now, I saw that Amazon put disclaimer on the sale page saying PDF documents can only be written if you use send to kindle option. I wasn't remembering that was existing before so I checked with "way back machine". And yes it was not there before. And I saw that they changed the frequently asked questions part on 1st of December, that is saying only editable pdf files to with send to kindle function pdf files. And disclaimer appears between 5th and 7th of December.

[@MyDeepGuide]

What a mess...

[@shawnmihalik]

The reMarkable version of the MDO works perfectly for me on the Scribe. I used the Send to Kindle function, and all the links work and I can write on it.

[@MyDeepGuide]

Even the week link in the Daily Planner page?

[@shawnmihalik]

@@MyDeepGuide ah, no, you’re right. It looks like that link isn’t working.

[@MyDeepGuide]

Thank you for checking :)

[@teddysmama333]

So glad to see you back! Wishing you well and hope all is soon well again in the family. Been anxiously awaiting your review of the Scribe. Agreeing with pretty much everything you’ve said about the device. Luckily for myself, my purchase was for the bigger Kindle primarily, and the note-taking as a happy addition. On the note-taking, the Scribe falls desperately short of the Elipsa (haven’t used any of the others), but I was frustrated with how my side-loaded documents would disappear with each sync. Too time consuming to have to reload them every time I wanted to use it. I have hopes for a software update at a later time that will improve the notebook performance. Make sure to check out the “premium” (leather?) cover. Mine went back in the box after one use and is happily on its way back to Amazon. Translate “leather” to “cardboard”, with sharp edging that is almost painful to hold.

[@ChasingForever]

My Kindle Scribe arrived yesterday. Based on your reviews, as well as some others', I didn't even open the shipping box. It will be returned. Breaks my heart, as I love the reading experience of my Paperwhite Kindle, and was expecting so much more. However I need serious note taking and PDF functionality. Boox Note Air 2 Plus is now my primary choice. I value your videos very much. I can count on you to give an honest review.

[@annvoy7698]

Thank you, Voja, for the best and most honest review on the Scribe that I've seen so far!! I am extremely happy to have found my Note Air 1 as my first e-note device with the help of your Deep Guides two years ago; it is still going strong. The RM2 I tried out of a deep curiosity but returned it due to its limited software. The Kindle Scribe I had been waiting for as a concept for a long time, but I didn't order it, as I expected a very closed platform. Kindles (incl the Fires) have always been very limited, but from a reading device I never really needed more. Like you I very much doubt that there will be any developmental interest by Amazon to make its software usable, you just need to look at Kindle Fires. They are entertainment devices, nothing more. The only thing why I don't immediately forget about the Scribe is the hope that someone will hack it according to my needs as a student or professional. Such a shame! What would be great is another pen video after you've gained more experience: does the erase button work on Boox, SN, RM? Which EMR nibs do indeed work with the Scribe pens, how are the Amazon nibs on other devices/screen protectors? Thank you as always for all your hard work. Please don't cut out too many of your ohs and ums!!! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your loved ones!

[@marc18hro]

Thank you Voja for the great review. I guess that the software is still an enhanced or adapted version of the standard Kindle software, so it's an e-book reader with some extended functionalities.

[@hardasanut]

I've been on the Kindle train every couple generations since the original, and one of the earliest things I wanted was more flexible library organization on the device. Amazon did not deliver (but they didn't really promise that either), but for a while there was hope with third party hacked software. Eventually that got shot down with more locked down firmware, and I moved on to just using the Kindle as a dumb screen that I feed with Calibre, and I look at my pretty cover shelves and the crunchy metadata on a more flexible OS. Amazon uses its device lineup to sell content, and it's probably the biggest reason its devices manage to have some notably strong specific features (consumption and purchase related) while lacking in others but at a compelling price. That's obvious from the ads, recommendation feed, and the inclusion of 3g in earlier models to ease access to the store. Amazon giving this Scribe a beefier content *creation* and organization setup? Yeah, I seriously doubt that one. Even if they did give good functionality on the Scribe, I suspect they'd lock down your notes, Software as a Service style. Probably take some cues from Evernote and Apple to bug you to upgrade your cloud storage or else become unable to upload more notes (and PDFs). If they really wanted to give this Scribe legs they'd bundle that notes storage into an Amazon Prime subscription too. Marked up PDFs can add up in storage.

[@Belgarathe]

Here been my experience. I was trying your 2021 organizer and was unable to write on them using send to kindle option. Also for some odd reason when I import pdf w send to pdf it seems to add margins when I had removed them using Adobe acrobat pro. Lastly some pdf I import that is heavy with images will have imcomplete images with a bands of missing lines. I think all the above stems from a weird conversion that Amazon is using. It is like when using google slides file in PowerPoint and some format error occurred. It is frustrating and I am still working down to why - Bryant

[@HolgerNestmann]

All the best to you and your family ❤ I was curious about the scribe and specifically for your review. It is unfortunate the software doesn‘t stack up. Lets see if Onyx can make something out of this screen

[@travelers6043]

I'm hoping to see your review of the Onyx Tab X soon. Best to you, and thanks for the many reviews. They've helped a lot.

[@claudiourbano-ispizua5742]

I had to give a presentation on Christmas Eve, had prepared a PDF (turned into a kfx) with annotations and some quotes. Also a reference in an e-book which was a bit bulky but it didn't seem to bring trouble. It was a first with the Scribe! In the middle of my presentation the K-Scribe would not turn on, it went from pale color screen to the hibernation page and back: classic 'frozen' scenario. The kind of surprises that made me switch from Windows to Apple, and I bought Kindle because it looked 'more like Apple', but maybe I was wrong?

[@MyDeepGuide]

Sorry to hear about that, but it is an early platform, obviously rushed to the market, so one should always avoid using untested tech in situations where you have to depend on them.

[@claudiourbano-ispizua5742]

@@MyDeepGuide Thank you!

[@narekmk.7726]

Hi Voja! Thank you for the review! Could you please check if the white colour on the Kindle scribe is noticeably darker than on the Paperwhite due to Wacom layer? I think you had a device for checking that being used in Onyx Boox Nova air C review. Looking for an e-reader for manga and trying to find best image quality for that.

[@margeretheath597]

Brilliant review! Thank you V! You have nailed the PDF issue right on the money, and it would have been a big issue for me not being able to write on PDFs. (And my data would not be mine). I could have made a big mistake purchasing this Kindle. The mis-advertising is distressing. It ought to be illegal.

[@GothicGame]

Tank you!

[@tycozify]

The fury and indignation is refreshing!!!

[@assistivetek]

Great review! If you use the Send to Kindle from the Web to upload your PDF’s then you can annotate right on the file. Yes some strange behavior depending on how you import PDF’s. Happy Holidays!

[@billneoorg]

So my kindle Scribe has two patches where the digitizer is broken in a weird way. You can draw on them but only if you start drawing out side the blank patches. Also a major flaw in the notes section of the kindle app on android and iPhone is you can only read notes when the devices are online. As soon as you turn on airplane mode the apps kick you out of the note you are reading even if you have viewed and downloaded every page locally. Also the kindle app does not allow any sharing or export of any part of a note file. To test your screen rapidly draw diagonal lines for the top left to the bottom right you may find there are bald patches. Amazon support is not being helpful either. The software needs major upgrading. The hardware in general is great.

[@johnmedany9294]

at the moment i'm carring both my Scribe and my reMarkable2. I'm also using the pen for both. Its a start from a writer but is the Kindle reader I've wanted from the start, but I suspect we will have to wait and see as far as the notetaking is concerned. As long as I'm in lit conditions i'll stick with the RM (my KS free sub still going strong) fro real note taking - but for sitting reading in the pub and casual note taking the Scribe will do. I hope we will see some evolution of the PDF annotation but without handwriting recognition (which we wont see this generation of scribe) it not going to replace the RM2 - I suspect how much development they do depends on sales - a lot of reviews miss the point of an e ink writer (nothing new there). Time will tell. Great review as ever.

[@horseman1956]

I've long used the Samsung S7 for my note-taking and reading needs. The included Samsung "Notes" app is one of the best I've seen on any device. I was an early adopter of the Kindle Scribe and was very excited to see what it could deliver on an e-ink device. To be honest and at this point.... I wish I had my money back. I bought the upgraded version (more memory), the upgraded stylus and the Kindle cover, so have nearly five hundred invested. Not a good investment unless Kindle quickly releases a software update to address the problems you've described in your review. I'm at least somewhat confident that Amazon will release an update, but it may be a very long time before we see the improvements. Meanwhile, I'm watching the release of the Lenova Paper e-ink device and hoping to see a more successful rollout of that product.

[@billjohnston4106]

I have taken to highlighting sections and adding a note as part of the highlight. They are easier to find that way.

[@gracecar5820]

Great review. Hopefully the software will catch up

[@4205228]

One of the users scratched the screen while note-taking with the kindle pen. I don't have a scribe. Just wanted to know, if the screen is self-healing.

[@brysonwest93]

Wow. I just listened to the discussion of the import, where importing breaks the hyperlinks. I hope they fix this soon. I think they will if they are listening to My Deep Guide and Voja's deep analysis!

[@rtetech]

Excellent review as usual. I too ordered the Scribe and was disappointed with the features. For a device with so much potential, it was baffling regarding the lack of handwriting tools out of the gate. For now, I'm sticking with my Supernote.

[@suyashsahu6505]

18:38 When will this kindle scribe be available in Hindustan?

[@JoesStyle]

Excellent review! Yes, sad that you can't mark up PDF's and lack of writing tools ATM. I was already considering purchasing at the outset, however that level of writing capability is unacceptable. If I wanted the excellent screen resolution and speed I would get it just as a reader not a note taking device. I still prefer my reMarkable 2 even over my NoteAir2 for notetaking as it is more like a real paper tablet and has better implementation of adding pages and now the digital scrolling and gestures even though it took them a while to start listening to users.

[@slydog7131]

Amazon doesn't seem to make hardware to make money from it, but rather to sell other products. Given that, how will adding more functionality increase the likelihood that users will buy other stuff? I don't see it. They could easily expand the usefulness of the writing experience, but no one would buy other stuff on Amazon because of that. So I doubt that this will go anywhere. But it does demonstrate where e-ink is headed.

[@marinawakefield9103]

Great Comment! I totally agree.

[@TischTosh]

They could sell me on that premium pen....I know that's not what you mean. Possibly subscription service eventually like remarkable (or themselves... isn't their media by subscription? Scribe Prime...)?

[@slydog7131]

@@TischTosh I'm not sure what "Scribe Prime" would be. Maybe external storage backup? IDK. The reader side can certainly sell more written material, but how does Amazon monetize the writing component?

[@LouisGiliberto]

I suspect Amazon will implement markup on Kindle books, but that Kindle markup will only work on the Scribe. That pulls people deeper into the Kindle quicksan... er ecosystem ;-) If you have a Scribe in your hands and want to buy a book, that's coming from Amazon and nowhere else.

[@slydog7131]

@@GaryLangEngr Not really sure who you are responding to. I'm sure it is true that no product is allowed to be unprofitable, as we saw with the Amazon phone (gone) and I've recently read that Amazon's home automation products are performing disappointingly and that division has been trimmed, though I'm not totally privy to what is going on there. Cleary Amazon can produce the hardware at a lower cost than most other companies, but that doesn't mean that Amazon's focus is generating revenue from hardware sales rather than generating collateral revenue from selling other products through the Amazon store. I've never heard that the Kindle hardware is, by itself, a big money maker. So, I'm not convinced that Amazon has embraced great hardware for that sake alone as Microsoft has done with their Surface products. The Surface products are great by themselves, Amazons hardware products are only useful within the limited Amazon ecosystem, which is where they want to keep people. The Scribe will never be as useful as a Boox simply because the Scribe is in a closed system. Prove me wrong by adding in the Google Playstore and allowing any Android app of choice. Of course, that will never happen. The Scribe will have a place if Amazon gets its act together and makes the note-taking great. It will be crippled if it stays firmly locked to only the Amazon ecosystem and the note taking continues in its current rudimentary form. I'm sure the small e-ink companies are breathing a sigh of relief right now.

[@FireFr0ggy]

Thank you for the review. If Amazon only bothered to build an entirely new software to introduce the Scribe with. It would have shaken up the e-note market. I still will get it when it goes on sale simply for being a 10" Kindle. Which will be great for reading manga and graphic novels.

[@DarthSida]

Hi, excellent review like always. Can I bother you with a question? When you side load PDF, do you know what is the maximum size of the PDF? I use Android Ereader and Android maximum size can handle is around 2GB. To me is quite important because I have a lot of PDF with 1.8 o even 2GB. Thanks in advance 😉

[@joh001ols]

👍🏻 Thank you for this review. will wait for this purchase! What I'm thinking, will Apple take part in this market soon?

[@dkhcando]

Thanks for this detailed review, useful while I am considering getting one. There are clearly limitations on the note taking and organization features, I guess time will tell how much improvement they will add with their announced software updates this year. Regarding the issue you highlight that PDF files uploaded via cable cant be written on, it seems to me that since Amazon doesnt advertise this method indicates that they really do recommend the other four ways of loading the files, so I have a hard time understanding this as false advertising. I wouldnt see the Scribe as a tool for keeping sensitive business documents etc, so personally I dont worry about having to use their server to upload my PDFs.

[@eddiemercury5106]

Hi Voja ! Thnx on a great review. Could you please try out a pinching function (on the sideloaded Pdf) to zoom the page in & out (in order to remove the margins in portraite & landscape) and then see if the zoom level remains for the next page, and do we have to first zoom out of the page completely in order to move to the next pdf page. Also, is there maybe a double-tap option to remove the margins on an ocr-ed (selectable text) pdf page.

[@ernestintownandjackintheco1024]

Sadly, it doesn't. You have to resize it. Every. Time. Double tap does nothing. It really is rudimentary.

[@eddiemercury5106]

It seems that jailbreaking & KOReader is the only hope now for making this a great pdf/djvu reader in the foreseeable future, because they are IMO deliberately repeating their Kindle DXG sad story of a great hardware with a poor software..

[@thaliarcus]

@MyDeepGuide Thank for the review: luckily I'm not actually interested in the note-taking side: if I get the Scribe it will be for reading books which cannot easily be converted from PDF. From your experience, can you tell me if the text contrast of *sideloaded* PDFs can be adjusted from the usual anaemic grey to something comfortably readable? I get that the text may be small due to the wide margins which you can fix a permanent zoom on for subsequent pages. It seems like the Onyx Boox has a great PDF reader which will do both of these.

[@Bruceneuman]

Complete edit of my previous comment. It is now mid-February 2023 and we still await an Amazon update of the Scribe software. So, I will limit my comment to personal use since I have received the device at the end of November. The device itself is excellent. It is fast and the front lit screen is pleasing to use in all sorts of lighting conditions. I use the device for general note taking at work as well as for personal note taking. There is a basic notebook and folder structure to separate the notes. Notes can then be emailed as pdf files. The notebooks also appear on the Kindle IOS App as pdfs, although cannot be edited from there. For editing on an iPad, I email the notebook to myself and then open it in Apple Notes. It can be edited as a pdf file there. As for the sticky notes you may make in Kindle books on the Scribe, they can only be viewed and edited on the Scribe. Again, you can email them as pdf files. So, the Scribe is an excellent note taker but the software has yet to make the most of this device. Amazon has promised software updates, but so far we continue to wait. Let’s hope they do not waste the potential here. Also, a smaller Scribe would be most useful as a more portable note taker.

[@donham512]

iam a fan of the kindle and bought the scribe ... hope they update software ... their handling of pdf is not good and annoying .... commenting on ebooks is not what i expected ... our observations are spot on .... my rm1 has its faults but has more functionality than the scribe ... thanks for the review ... i hope amazon sees your review

[@bilaltahir9978]

Has your view changed about the scribe since the recent updates?

[@DanielKravetz]

Per usual, an in-depth, accurate description of the device. As a software developer, I can't possibly agree more on the fact that sending a file to someone's server(s) to maybe get a file back is... Shady. If that's an extra method to do so, for convince sake, sure, but that USB port is there for a reason. Which device(s) do you use daily?

[@MyDeepGuide]

Thank you :) It was my Note Air 1 for a litte over 2 years. Now I have upgraded to Tab Ultra.

[@michaelc4917]

In terms of writing experience, how far off is Note Air 2 plus compared to Kindle scribe? If Kindle is a 5, would Note Air be 3?

[@marianaavendano2184]

Great video! But what about the Meebook p10 pro model? Isn`t it very similar to this model, but with Android, which gives you more functionality?

[@darkblueturbo]

Looking at the Notebook Functionality section: Even more distraction free than the reMarkable! Maybe that's what they're going for. A little bit tooooo limited though.

[@Carrotstick787]

What is the surface to screen distance on the Scribe?

[@MyDeepGuide]

Same as on any frontlit device, 1mm

[@bilaltahir9978]

Will a 10 inch 300 dpi screen come to other manufacturers such as Onyx?

[@cyell4947]

I'm very confused about the latest software update (5.16.1.2): The Kindle Scribe now seems to be able to read both pressure levels and pen tilt. You can now hatch with a pencil. (I hope hatch is the right word...) And you can choose different pens. Removed the watermark from the PDF export. Unfortunately, it is still not a vector graphic in the PDF, but only a pixel image. I am optimistic. Amazon ist much faster than Remarkable with these features.

[@stlredbird]

I’ll stick with my much loved Remarkable 2.

[@yacovbihari5674]

Thanks for the outstanding review of the scribe. Will the scribe pen will work on remarkable 2 (including the eraser)?

[@MyDeepGuide]

Yes, it works, the button doesn't work and the alignment of magnets is such that the pen has to be placed slightly lower than the RM pen on the device, but then it hold well to the device.

[@meringue3288]

should I buy it if I don't care about the pen stuff and just want a bigger screen? (for some very specific reasons that are hard to explain)

[@PeteLewton]

Good review! And where do you get those cool shirts?

[@MyDeepGuide]

Thanks! In a local store here in Norway called Dressmann.