My hand is cramping. It’s not carpal tunnel or another doubtful cause that’s inflicting the ache. It’s an analog ache that’s oddly satisfying in a nostalgic means. In the previous few days, I’ve held a pen and written extra phrases for a for much longer time than I’ve ever executed in years. As I pushed myself to handwrite giant components of this evaluate to spend extra time with the 2024 Kindle Scribe’s stylus and note-taking instruments, I began to really feel a sensation I hadn’t remembered since my teenagers.
I typically really feel the urge to jot down ideas and lists, however I by no means actually wished to spend longer than quarter-hour writing. And but, Amazon’s new AI options for the Kindle Scribe appear to cater extra to those that labor over essays or missives that they finally must share with others. The Summarize and Refine instruments to your notebooks, for instance, can shorten and neaten up your scrawl so, I assume, you possibly can ship it to a different particular person to learn. That’s it, actually. The different enhancements to the Scribe’s writing expertise are for scribbling on books, which I’ll get to in a bit.
Editor’s be aware: Due to the Thanksgiving holidays within the US, we’ve not had the time to check each factor of the Kindle Scribe 2, so we can’t be assigning a evaluate rating. With that mentioned, the product is already on sale, so we wished to present our preliminary impressions and are publishing a evaluate in progress. We will replace the story with a rating and extra impressions as soon as we’re happy that we have understood all of its strengths and weaknesses.
Amazon
So far, the Kindle Scribe 2 is an efficient ereader and competent writing pill with functioning AI-powered abstract and refinement options. But we’re undecided if its value is justified.
- Smooth studying and writing expertise
- Svelte design
$400 at Amazon
What’s modified on the brand new Kindle Scribe
As I mentioned earlier, most of what’s new on the Kindle Scribe is inside. On the surface, Amazon did tweak the bezels not in precise measurement however in colours, in order that there’s a white rectangle surrounding the display screen, inside a teal inexperienced column on the facet. If you opted for the “tungsten” model, then as a substitute of teal inexperienced you’ll see darkish grey. I like the brand new colour, but it surely’s a bit complicated and makes me assume the grippable space is narrower than earlier than when in truth, it’s about the identical. Still, this can be a small criticism, if that, and one that’s principally mitigated by how contemporary the brand new model seems to be.
The different essential change is on the Premium Pen, which now has a rubberized high for its fake eraser. I’ve all the time appreciated how straightforward this was to make use of on the unique Kindle Scribe, and I’m pleased to report that the up to date texture doesn’t get in the way in which of responsiveness. It definitely feels sufficient like erasers of my youth that now and again I discover myself subconsciously swiping away phantom mud. I’ll level out, although, that I needed to remind myself to make use of the eraser on a couple of events, since I used to be extra accustomed to easily hanging out a mistake with the pen. The new Premium Pen additionally has a customizable shortcut button so long-pressing it may activate the highlighter, pen, marker, pencil, eraser, canvas or sticky be aware.
Drawing on books on the brand new Kindle Scribe
Finally, along with the 2 AI-related instruments I already talked about, Amazon additionally up to date how one can write on ebooks. As I described in my hands-on in October, the brand new Active Canvas characteristic makes it so that when you place your pen on the web page, a field will seem to comprise your writing. Compared to the clunky implementation on the older mannequin, which required you to first go to the floating toolbar on the left of each web page, choose the sticky be aware characteristic after which write in it, this appeared an enormous enchancment.
In my testing to this point, although, this was much less spectacular. The software program was buggy in my expertise. On one event, I drew a spiral over the phrases “We had a superb yarn about outdated instances” in an Agatha Christie novel. A translucent field appeared, containing my drawing in a layer above the textual content, with a verify mark and cross on the high. You’re purported to faucet the verify, which can trigger the field to totally solidify and the remainder of the web page’s phrases will rearrange themselves to make room. However, after I hit X accidentally, the field didn’t go away, and I used to be in a position to proceed so as to add doodles everywhere in the display screen. When I flipped to a special a part of the guide and got here again, although, it disappeared, solely to reappear later after I was making an attempt to underline one thing.
That’s clearly only a bug, and when executed as supposed, Active Canvas does work. You can resize the field, and features will proceed to reflow to make room or snap again into place. The bins will keep the place you left them, as a substitute of disappearing underneath somewhat tag the way in which they did with the unique Scribe. It’s a slight enchancment, and although I can’t but think about how I’d use it in actual life, it’s good to comprehend it’s there.
I do should level out a few caveats, although. This doesn’t work on samples — you possibly can inform whether or not the Active Canvas is supported by checking if the floating toolbox is current. The different challenge, which is a much bigger one, is that Active Canvas can typically be triggered even if you’re simply making an attempt to underline one thing. Drawing strains underneath or on textual content will generate underlines, which might be listed by Amazon the identical means highlights are, so you possibly can simply discover them once more in a while.
It’s fairly annoying if you’re making an attempt to underline some textual content and the phrases bounce away to make room for a field you by no means wished to look. It will get much more irritating when, as a result of lag, you need to look forward to seconds for the field to go away after you faucet the X on high of it. Worse, that bug I discussed earlier brought on the spiral and different doodles I had drawn to point out up the place I used to be making an attempt to underline phrases. Thankfully, I used to be in a position to delete that when it reappeared and had no extra phantom bins.
These little hiccups could be much less of an issue if Amazon weren’t already behind its rivals. Similar merchandise from corporations like Kobo already provide higher assist for writing on books, the place you possibly can circle particular phrases and the drawing will keep in place (although that is wonky if you happen to resize the textual content afterwards). I perceive that Amazon has to handle the resizability of its content material, to assist individuals who typically change up font sizes whereas studying. There must be a greater means.
One could be coming. At the Kindle’s launch occasion, the corporate did preview a collapsible margins characteristic, which helps you to scribble within the column on both facet of each guide. Importantly, you’ll be capable of resize these columns and the area in them can scroll vertically, providing you with loads of room to cram in your musings. Sadly, this characteristic is simply going to be out there in early 2025, so I wasn’t in a position to check it out. It’s additionally price noting that the unique Kindle Scribe, which continues to retail for $340, might be getting the Active Canvas and generative AI options, in addition to the collapsible margin when that arrives.
Generative AI options on the brand new Kindle Scribe
Where issues really feel extra completed is in Notebooks, the place Amazon has needed to deal with fewer limitations. This part accommodates your lists, jotpads and artworks. Like you can on the unique, you possibly can choose from quite a lot of backgrounds like strains, a dot grid and even planner or calendar views.
It’s right here that you just’ll discover the brand new Summarize and Refine instruments, by tapping on the sparkles icon on the highest menu bar. Selecting both “Summarize” or “Refine writing” will carry up the choice to work Amazon’s magic on the web page you’re on or your complete pocket book. After you determine, the Kindle will get to work, utilizing cloud-based processing to generate both a abstract of your phrases or a tidied up model of your rooster scratch. This normally took about 10 to fifteen seconds, relying on the size of the supply materials. Once a result’s returned, you’ll additionally get the choice to customise the font and line spacing, in addition to the power so as to add it to the tip or starting of your pocket book.
I used to be stunned to see the Scribe make sense of a disorganized plan I made for opinions protection that concerned some lists with three in a row up high, two on the backside and three lining the proper facet. The Refine device precisely laid them out in sequential order, giving me a listing of lists beginning with the one I had within the high left place and ending with the tiny one titled “OSes” that I had squeezed in under “iPads” on the backside proper.
The abstract it returned for this instance was additionally first rate, and in all the opposite notes I examined I noticed largely correct outcomes. Any mistake the system made felt affordable, since I’ve horrible handwriting. It’s not likely the Scribe’s fault that it thought I wrote “Addly” when actually I simply had an especially malformed “n” and a barely legible “g” on the finish of “Adding.”
When I did make an effort to put in writing extra neatly, the Scribe was extra correct, however that just about feels prefer it defeats the aim. If I’m going to attempt to write higher for the AI so it may make my handwriting neater for others to learn, then how is that totally different from making a larger effort for people?
As competent because the generative AI options right here have been, I nonetheless stay hesitant to name them helpful. I’m not the form of individual that likes writing lengthy sufficient to wish AI summarization (to that finish, you’ll must have no less than 25 phrases on a web page to qualify for Summarize). I additionally don’t typically share my handwritten ideas with different individuals, although on the extraordinarily uncommon event that I do, I may see Refine being a superb begin.
The drawback is that Refine isn’t all the time correct, and its generated consequence isn’t editable. If I may go in and proper “Addly,” then I may not thoughts sending that doc to my crew. Or if that have been the one mistake within the refined writing, I may share the be aware and inform my pals to disregard the one error. But I’d have to put in writing a complete new appendix simply to make clear the errors, at which level I would as effectively sort up my authentic ideas.
Neither Refine nor Summarize are groundbreaking new options in generative AI and even note-taking, both. Apple gives a model of Refine on the brand new iPadOS, whereas Summarize is one thing we’ve seen throughout merchandise from Google, Apple, OpenAI, Samsung and extra. While I respect that Amazon has largely prevented chasing hype with its adoption of generative AI on the Kindle Scribe, I want extra time and testing to raised perceive how helpful it could be in the long term.
What I like in regards to the Kindle Scribe 2 to this point
As I did with the unique, I do just like the Scribe quite a bit. It gives a easy, handy writing expertise in a svelte, comparatively gentle bundle that’s simply 0.22 inches thick and weighs 433 grams (0.95 kilos). None of these dimensions have modified within the second-gen mannequin, although the ten.2-inch display screen one way or the other appeared sharper to me, regardless of having the identical brightness and pixel density.
Reading on such a roomy canvas is a pleasure, though I favor to take the Paperwhite on the go because it’s quite a bit simpler on my wrist. That expanse might be useful for these with visible impairments that may want a a lot bigger font, for instance.
I’ve additionally preferred doodling on PDFs and “write-on books.” The latter is a class of titles within the Kindle retailer which can be formatted so you possibly can doodle straight on them. I borrowed a few these by my Kindle Unlimited subscription, and had a blast fixing cryptography and Sudoku puzzles. I did see some promising books on this class, like interactive or hyperlinked planners, however the buyer opinions for these put me off.
There is quite a lot of potential in that area, although, that would make the Kindle Scribe much more helpful. I simply want Amazon would make investments extra within the format and make a pocket book you possibly can write on that will additionally work together with your telephone’s calendar or reminders app and seamlessly combine what you write in your planner into your digital universe.
What I don’t like in regards to the Kindle Scribe 2
Alas, that’s not a actuality. And the truth is that there are numerous issues Amazon may stand to enhance. While I can perceive that discovering a approach to preserve a free stylus hooked up to a pill is difficult, the magnetic edge that the Premium Pen can latch onto is only a precarious strategy. I used to be strolling into my condo with the Kindle Scribe in my hand and jostled the door accidentally. Two seconds later, I used to be questioning the place the stylus had gone. It was on the ground, and after I picked it up, I observed the nib was slanted.
I didn’t know if I had broken it, and although it nonetheless labored effectively, I finally noticed some scratches on the Scribe’s display screen that I think may not have been there had the pen not dropped because of a lightweight knock towards a doorframe. The firm does embrace some alternative nibs within the field, so fixing that is pretty straightforward.
I additionally actually want Amazon’s Notebooks have been extra versatile. They’re higher than they have been with the unique Scribe, however you continue to can’t edit them within the cellular Kindle app. You can view your Notebooks there, which is sweet, but it surely’s barely annoying that they’re listed in alphabetical order as a substitute of primarily based on what’s lately been opened like they’re on the Kindle.
Amazon charges the brand new and authentic Scribes as having the identical battery life — that’s, as much as three weeks if you happen to write for about half an hour a day, and as much as 12 weeks if you happen to learn for that very same period of time. In my evaluate of the older mannequin, I noticed battery numbers drop 35 % in a couple of week with a lot of writing and testing. With the brand new Kindle Scribe, the facility degree is presently at 21 % after popping out of the field at 50 % simply a few days in the past. I’ve been testing its AI, writing and annotating options fairly relentlessly in that point, and normally see the share fall one or two factors each time I generate an AI abstract or refinement, too.
I’ll want far more time to get a greater sense of how the brand new Kindle Scribe’s battery holds up underneath extra normalized use, but when it behaves like its predecessor, I shouldn’t must cost it greater than as soon as each couple of months.
Wrap-up
Amazon’s new Kindle Scribe has quite a lot of competitors from corporations like Kobo, Boox and reMarkable. And with a value of $399, the brand new Scribe is a whopping $60 costlier than its predecessor, which may also get quite a lot of the brand new software program updates. To be truthful, the brand new Scribe comes with a Premium Pen for the worth, whereas the cheaper mannequin solely features a Basic Pen, so that you’re partially paying extra for a greater stylus.
While I do like the brand new colour choice and barely improved annotation capabilities, I’m undecided Amazon has executed sufficient to justify the extra value right here. I’d a lot slightly see the corporate focus its efforts on bettering its Notebook syncing and cellular enhancing software program, in addition to investing in innovating on the write-on guide format, than chase the generative AI development. No matter how a lot restraint it’s exercised in doing so.
