The Kindle Scribe Is One of the Best E-Readers You Can Buy

Despite all of Amazon’s bad practices, the company makes some fantastic e-readers, especially when it comes to the Kindle Paperwhite. However, if the Paperwhite is a little too small for you, or you want something that can take notes, too, the larger, more expensive Kindle Scribe might be worth looking into. It may be more expensive than the Paperwhite, but that price tag is worth it, especially if you like to read comics, manga, or write.

A Kindle by any other name

If you put the Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Scribe side-by-side, you’re going to see a lot of similarities. The two devices are almost identical, in fact, aside from the larger size of the Scribe’s display. Both devices offer a fantastic e-ink display, which makes reading in any brightness exceptionally easy and enjoyable. 

So, what makes the Kindle Scribe so special? If you’re looking for something to read normal books with, then the Paperwhite is everything you need to do that, at an exceptional price. However, the Scribe is there for people like me, who want to read things like comics—something that will be appreciated by many once Amazon completes the merging of the Kindle Store and Comixology app. 

The 10.2-inch display is great at rendering both the e-ink of the books, as well as the pages of various comics and manga. While the Scribe might be a bit more unwieldy compared to the smaller Paperwhite, the extra size makes it feel more like a book to me. It also allows me to have more text on-screen, without having to move the font down to something almost illegible.

Add in a stylus and everything is better

The Scribe takes some pointers from other big-screen e-readers like the ReMarkable 2 by adding in a stylus or “pen” that you can use with it. When you're done reading, you can create Notebooks, which you can then write in. 

It’s perfect for easily jotting down anything that comes to mind, such as notes about a story you’re working on, or things you want to remember from specific books. You can also draw using the notebook system, though it isn’t nearly as good as an actual drawing tablet, so I wouldn’t recommend buying it just for that purpose.

The “pen,” as Amazon calls it, is just a stylus with replaceable tips, but the company offers both a Basic and a Premium option—the latter of which comes with a clickable button to trigger certain actions. I wasn’t really expecting a lot from the pen, to be honest, but I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to write with it. It made taking notes on the Scribe exceptionally easy and enjoyable, and it’s quickly helped the device become my main note-taking option, saving me money on paper and sticky notes.

The system also allows some more advanced tools beyond just writing and jotting things down, though. You can also convert any handwritten notes to text, and then easily share them via email to various contacts. There’s also a lasso tool, which allows you to resize, move, and copy or paste the notes from the notebook or books you’re working in. You can make notes within the various notebooks, or if you want to jot something important down while reading a book, you can create notes within your books at any point, and revisit them later. You can also easily organize all of your notes into folders and subfolders for future reference.

When you reading in landscape mode, you can see two pages of a book side by side, creating the illusion that the Scribe is a real book. It’s a nice feature that makes my reading time each day feel even more immersive, and I’m happy with the decision to move from the smaller Paperwhite to the Scribe.

An expensive upgrade

But all of these pros don’t change the fact that the Kindle Scribe is a very expensive upgrade, especially if you already have a Kindle Paperwhite from the past few years. Not only are the newer Paperwhites cheaper, but they also have something going for them that the Scribe doesn't: They’re waterproof. As such, it’s hard to recommend the Scribe over the Paperwhite for every individual.

Still, that doesn’t change that the Scribe is a fantastic way to read, and easily one of the best Kindle revisions that Amazon has released thus far. There is a lot going for the device that justifies the baseline $339.99 price point (for the cheapest 16GB option), and you can often find it on sale. In fact, it's on sale right now: Amazon has it 29% off for Black Friday, making it just $239.99 for the 16GB Kindle Scribe.

If you’re looking for a great e-reader with more screen real estate, while offering the same readability and access to Amazon’s Kindle store to the Paperwhite, then the Scribe is an option well worth checking out.