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 manner. In the previous couple of days, I’ve held a pen and written extra phrases for a for much longer time than I’ve ever achieved in years. As I pushed myself to handwrite giant components of this evaluation 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 usually 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 features 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 opposite enhancements to the Scribe’s writing expertise are for scribbling on books, which I’ll get to in a bit.
Replace, February 11 2025: Since this evaluation was printed in December, Amazon released new software in February 2025 that brings collapsible margins to the Kindle Scribe. Now that I have been capable of consider that characteristic, in addition to spend extra time with the Scribe 2 and its rivals just like the reMarkable Paper Professional, I’m able to assign a rating, which you will see under.
For probably the most half, the brand new collapsible margins do not drastically have an effect on my expertise with the Kindle Scribe 2. As somebody who largely reads fiction and self-help books, I do not usually discover myself itching to scribble within the columns of a web page. Within the months since I printed the evaluation, the Scribe 2 has served me nicely as a basic ereader that may be a completely purposeful pocket book. I really discovered the characteristic that converts my handwriting into legible textual content extra helpful than I assumed it could be, since I incessantly write down my staff’s priorities and sending a cleaned-up model is extra skilled than passing alongside my scrawl. It additionally saves me a while as I haven’t got to retype each phrase.
I do must level out, although, that now that I’ve a reMarkable Paper Professional in for testing, it is clear the latter is the superior product for writing. reMarkable’s software program accommodates each handwritten and typed writing in the identical doc, and its app helps you to edit these notes out of your cellphone. It is every little thing I wished the Scribe to do, and performs nicely sufficient that I’m tempted to shell out the $3 a month to maintain utilizing it. After all, should you’re extra of a reader who often desires to mark up books,s ketch out some floorplans or make to-do lists, the Scribe 2 is healthier, due to Amazon’s large library of titles.
The remainder of my unique evaluation follows under.
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 skin, Amazon did tweak the bezels not in precise dimension however in colours, in order that there’s a white rectangle surrounding the display screen, inside a teal inexperienced column on the aspect. If you happen to opted for the “tungsten” model, then as a substitute of teal inexperienced you’ll see darkish grey. I like the brand new colour, nevertheless it’s a bit complicated and makes me assume the grippable space is narrower than earlier than when in reality, it’s about the identical. Nonetheless, it is a small grievance, if that, and one that’s largely mitigated by how recent the brand new model appears to be like.
The opposite important change is on the Premium Pen, which now has a rubberized high for its fake eraser. I’ve all the time appreciated how simple this was to make use of on the original Kindle Scribe, and I’m completely satisfied to report that the up to date texture doesn’t get in the way in which of responsiveness. It actually feels sufficient like erasers of my youth that every so often 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 just a few events, since I used to be extra accustomed to easily putting out a mistake with the pen. The brand new Premium Pen additionally has a customizable shortcut button so long-pressing it may possibly activate the highlighter, pen, marker, pencil, eraser, canvas or sticky observe.
Drawing on books on the brand new Kindle Scribe
Lastly, 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 Energetic Canvas characteristic makes it so that when you place your pen on the web page, a field will seem to comprise your writing. In comparison with 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 observe characteristic after which write in it, this appeared an enormous enchancment.
In my testing thus far, 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 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 test mark and cross on the high. You’re imagined to faucet the test, which is able to trigger the field to completely solidify and the remainder of the web page’s phrases will rearrange themselves to make room. Nonetheless, once I hit X accidentally, the field didn’t go away, and I used to be capable of proceed so as to add doodles everywhere in the display screen. After I flipped to a special a part of the e book and got here again, although, it disappeared, solely to reappear later once I was making an attempt to underline one thing.
That’s clearly only a bug, and when executed as supposed, Energetic Canvas does work. You possibly can resize the field, and features will proceed to reflow to make room or snap again into place. The packing containers will keep the place you left them, as a substitute of disappearing below 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 understand it’s there.
I do must level out a few caveats, although. This doesn’t work on samples — you possibly can inform whether or not the Energetic Canvas is supported by checking if the floating toolbox is current. The opposite situation, which is a much bigger one, is that Energetic Canvas can generally be triggered even whenever you’re simply making an attempt to underline one thing. Drawing strains below or on textual content will generate underlines, which might be listed by Amazon the identical manner highlights are, so you possibly can simply discover them once more in a while.
It’s fairly annoying whenever you’re making an attempt to underline some textual content and the phrases leap away to make room for a field you by no means wished to seem. It will get much more irritating when, because of the lag, you need to watch for seconds for the field to go away after you faucet the X on high of it. Worse, that bug I discussed earlier induced the spiral and different doodles I had drawn to point out up the place I used to be making an attempt to underline phrases. Fortunately, I used to be capable of delete that when it reappeared and had no extra phantom packing containers.
These little hiccups could be much less of an issue if Amazon weren’t already behind its rivals. Similar products from corporations like Kobo already supply 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 should you resize the textual content afterwards). I perceive that Amazon has to handle the resizability of its content material, to assist individuals who usually change up font sizes whereas studying. There must be a greater manner.
One may be coming. On the Kindle’s launch occasion, the corporate did preview a collapsible margins characteristic, which helps you to scribble within the column on both aspect of each e book. Importantly, you’ll be capable to 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 barely going to be obtainable in early 2025, so I wasn’t capable of check it out. It’s additionally price noting that the unique Kindle Scribe, which continues to retail for $340, might be getting the Energetic Canvas and generative AI options, in addition to the collapsible margin when that arrives.
Generative AI options on the brand new Kindle Scribe
The place issues really feel extra completed is in Notebooks, the place Amazon has needed to take care of fewer limitations. This part incorporates your lists, jotpads and artworks. Like you possibly can on the unique, you possibly can choose from a wide range 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. Choosing both “Summarize” or “Refine writing” will carry up the choice to work Amazon’s magic on the web page you’re on or the 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 often took about 10 to fifteen seconds, relying on the size of the supply materials. As soon as 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 top 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 precise aspect. The Refine instrument precisely laid them out in sequential order, giving me an inventory 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 respectable, and in all the opposite notes I examined I noticed largely correct outcomes. Any mistake the system made felt cheap, since I’ve horrible handwriting. It’s probably not 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 “Including.”
After I did make an effort to jot down 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 possibly make my handwriting neater for others to learn, then how is that completely different from making a better 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 type of individual that likes writing lengthy sufficient to want AI summarization (to that finish, you’ll must have not less than 25 phrases on a web page to qualify for Summarize). I additionally don’t typically share my handwritten ideas with different folks, although on the extraordinarily uncommon event that I do, I may see Refine being begin.
The issue 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 staff. Or if that have been the one mistake within the refined writing, I may share the observe and inform my buddies to disregard the one error. However I’d have to jot down an entire new appendix simply to make clear the errors, at which level I’d as nicely kind up my unique ideas.
Neither Refine nor Summarize are groundbreaking new options in generative AI and even note-taking, both. Apple presents a version of Refine on the new iPadOS, whereas Summarize is one thing we’ve seen throughout merchandise from Google, Apple, OpenAI, Samsung and extra. Whereas 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 higher perceive how helpful it may be in the long term.
What I like concerning the Kindle Scribe 2 thus far
As I did with the unique, I do just like the Scribe rather a lot. It presents a clean, handy writing expertise in a svelte, comparatively gentle package deal 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 in some way appeared sharper to me, regardless of having the identical brightness and pixel density.
Studying on such a roomy canvas is a pleasure, though I want to take the Paperwhite on the go because it’s rather a lot 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 are formatted so you possibly can doodle immediately on them. I borrowed a few these by my Kindle Limitless 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’s quite a lot of potential in that area, although, that might 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 along with your cellphone’s calendar or reminders app and seamlessly combine what you write in your planner into your digital universe.
What I don’t like concerning the Kindle Scribe 2
Alas, that’s not a actuality. And the truth is that there are numerous issues Amazon may stand to enhance. Whereas I can perceive that discovering a strategy to maintain a free stylus hooked up to a pill is difficult, the magnetic edge that the Premium Pen can latch onto is only a precarious method. 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 once I picked it up, I seen the nib was slanted.
I didn’t know if I had broken it, and although it nonetheless labored nicely, I ultimately noticed some scratches on the Scribe’s display screen that I think may not have been there had the pen not dropped on account of a light-weight knock towards a doorframe. The corporate does embody some alternative nibs within the field, so fixing that is pretty simple.
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 cell Kindle app. You possibly can view your Notebooks there, which is sweet, nevertheless it’s barely annoying that they’re listed in alphabetical order as a substitute of primarily based on what’s not too long ago been opened like they’re on the Kindle.
Amazon charges the brand new and unique Scribes as having the identical battery life — that’s, as much as three weeks should you write for about half an hour a day, and as much as 12 weeks should you learn for that very same period of time. In my evaluation of the older mannequin, I noticed battery numbers drop 35 p.c in a couple of week with plenty of writing and testing. With the brand new Kindle Scribe, the ability stage is at the moment at 21 p.c after popping out of the field at 50 p.c simply a few days in the past. I’ve been testing its AI, writing and annotating options fairly relentlessly in that point, and often see the share fall one or two factors every 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 below 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 will even 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 value, whereas the cheaper mannequin solely features a Primary Pen, so that you’re partially paying extra for a greater stylus.
Whereas I do like the brand new colour choice and barely improved annotation capabilities, I’m unsure Amazon has achieved sufficient to justify the extra price right here. I’d a lot quite see the corporate focus its efforts on enhancing its Pocket book syncing and cell modifying software program, in addition to investing in innovating on the write-on e book format, than chase the generative AI pattern. Regardless of how a lot restraint it’s exercised in doing so. Nonetheless, Kindles, the Scribe 2 included, stay a few of the best ereaders around, and are just about the obvious selection for anybody already invested in Amazon’s ecosystem.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cell/tablets/kindle-scribe-2-review-in-progress-is-slightly-useful-ai-worth-the-extra-cash-140018638.html?src=rss
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