The Amazon Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is having an costly identification disaster

I’ve cherished e-readers and E Ink gadgets ever since I bought my first Kindle as a gift method again in 2012. I used that Kindle Keyboard to dying, earlier than shifting on to a more moderen Paperwhite. I’ve reviewed a number of generations of Kindle since, in addition to taking over Kobo as my predominant private e-reader platform of alternative when not reviewing them professionally.

E-readers are most profitable of their simplicity: every thing fades away and you’ll learn with out distraction. Despite the fact that it’s a digital system, a Kindle is a respite from the incessant 24/7 ping of your smartphone. The perfect Kindles get out of my method and let me plough by means of books.

That is all to say I used to be very excited to assessment the Amazon Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, an 11-inch pill Kindle that merges the high-end Scribe and Colorsoft strains into a brand new mannequin. I’ve beforehand used the Scribe line, which presents a big show and pen for be aware taking, in addition to the latest Colorsoft, which is a Paperwhite with a color display, a Kindle first in 2024.

Sadly, after a few weeks with the system, it seems like a number of bridges too far for many potential consumers.

First, the Scribe Colorsoft is the costliest Kindle ever, costing from an eye-watering £569.99 for 32GB storage (64GB is £629.99). That places it out of attain for all however probably the most devoted E Ink followers.

It’s additionally a tough promote for normal pill consumers when an iPad prices £329. Amazon is asking you to spend greater than £200 further on a pill that does much less.

However extra pressingly, the Scribe line has morphed absolutely to be primarily a be aware taking system, a big digital pocket book to retailer private {and professional} scribblings on, with AI instruments and cloud storage integration. This can be a response to the increase in E Ink notetaking tablets from corporations akin to reMarkable and Boox, however on a Kindle, it serves to utterly reverse the perfect a part of an e-reader, which is for it to be distraction-free.

Sure, you may learn your Kindle books on the Scribe Colorsoft. However the massive display is the least comfy to take action on in comparison with the opposite present Kindles, all of that are cheaper and way more transportable. Get a e book up on right here and there’s a lot textual content it feels such as you’re holding and studying the Declaration of Independence. Enlarge the font dimension and it appears to be like comical – it’s lose lose.

As a bit of {hardware}, the Scribe Colorsoft is great. The design is now symmetrical, not like older Scribes’ uneven borders, and the metallic unibody body feels each bit as premium as you’ll hope contemplating the value. The ‘Kindle’ branding on the entrance is refined, however not so on the again. Fortunately, the phrase ‘Amazon’ isn’t emblazoned wherever, plus there are mercifully no lockscreen adverts, not like on some variations of cheaper Kindle fashions.

The pill comes with Amazon’s Premium Pen included with some spare nibs, which it’s important to change infrequently as they naturally put on down. The pen can be utilized as a stylus for tapping concerning the software program, or as an precise pen for scrawling on e-books or writing notes. The previous is helpful when you take pleasure in writing within the margins of precise books, however the expertise isn’t seamless sufficient.

The place rival Kobo enables you to write wherever on any e-book web page on its competing pen-ready e-readers, Amazon doesn’t. As a substitute, you may faucet to come out a window that covers up textual content to put in writing within the margin. Or, you may write straight on the web page, however while you faucet the tick icon to save lots of the be aware, it turns right into a textual content field and the paragraphs of texts shift to suit round it.

Maybe it will attraction to the notetaker in you, particularly when you like issues in neat packing containers. However I would favor it if Amazon supplied the choice to attract straight onto e book pages like, you recognize, a e book. The field technique feels too clunky, and discouraged me from writing notes in books.

Possibly that’s as a result of Amazon doesn’t need to promote the Scribe Colorsoft as a Kindle within the first place, regardless of the title. In all of the advertising and marketing press photos, there are not any photographs of the Kindle getting used as an e-reader with a novel like with the Kindle Paperwhite. As a substitute, we’re met with photos of pie charts, annotated PDFs, notebooks with sketches {and professional} to-do lists.

That is an E Ink productiveness pill. When considered by means of this lens, it’s fairly a very good one, with the added bonus of it syncing your Kindle library. It additionally has wonderful battery life – after two weeks of fixed use I nonetheless had 50 p.c left.

However in comparison with the equally priced reMarkable Paper Professional, writing on the Scribe Colorsoft just isn’t as satisfying. The resistance between the pen and display feels much less like paper, and although writing on the Kindle is extra nice than utilizing an Apple Pencil on a shiny glass iPad display, I desire the texture of the reMarkable tablets, that are certainly the Scribe’s predominant competing gadgets.

The benefit of color makes extra sense on a display this dimension than on the smaller Colorsoft Kindles, particularly for comedian books and graphic novels. The truth is, these after a Kindle for studying that literature will like it, if they’ll afford the punishing preliminary value. Simply do not forget that E Ink colors are naturally extra washed out, so this isn’t a display as vibrant as an OLED or LCD.

I personally didn’t get a lot further utility out of getting a color display when utilizing the Scribe Colorsoft as my work pocket book, other than with the ability to color code with highlighters.

Extra helpful is the entrance mild, which makes be aware taking within the pitch darkness doable, if that’s your factor. The latest reMarkable Paper Pure is cheaper at £359, however the lack of any sort of display mild could possibly be a dealbreaker for some.

Amazon has additionally stuffed this Kindle’s software program with AI. That’s arduous to keep away from in 2026, and also you may discover a number of the instruments helpful, akin to with the ability to summarise whole notebooks into shorter bullet level lists. I additionally discovered the handwriting recognition for changing to textual content correct, and with the ability to hyperlink to Google Drive or Microsoft’s OneDrive or OneNote is kind of helpful for private or skilled work, whether or not utilizing the Kindle as a doc viewer or annotating PDFs and Phrase information.

The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft holds an odd place within the Kindle line up. It’s the costliest Kindle ever made, however is the Kindle I like to recommend the least to avid e book readers. Its value is right down to the present value of enormous color E Ink panels, and perhaps due to its area of interest place out there.

For those who like the thought of an E Ink pill and also you need to purchase from a well-recognized model, you’ll benefit from the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft. It’ll imply you may ditch your notebooks – and your paperbacks – and carry round one glossy system to do all of your studying and writing on. For graphic novel followers, it’s an important choose.

But it surely’s far too costly, and the big display means it’s not as transportable as far cheaper Kindles, and when you actually need a digital pocket book pill, the reMarkable Paper Pure will serve your wants for greater than £200 much less. The last-gen Kindle Scribe can also be virtually an identical for options with a monochrome display for £379.99.