Amazon’s Kindle Scribe makes minor improvements but it’s not enough

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I see you, annotators — the readers with color-coded highlighting systems and tabs sticking out of every book. Going digital with an e-reader might not seem like it’s for you, but with all the advancements in the market, things are changing. I’ve seen it all, from the most basic Kindle to a color e-reader and now the Kindle Scribe.

Launched in late 2024, Amazon debuted the next generation of the Kindle Scribe. It’s the largest in the brand’s lineup and the only model that comes with a pen and the ability to write. I’d spent time with the previous generation of Scribe, so I wanted to see how Amazon improved the device. Unfortunately… it wasn’t much.

Here’s what I think about the Kindle Scribe and if it’s worth it.

Kindle Scribe price and specs

The 2024 Kindle Scribe is the same size as the previous generation but features a redesigned screen with even borders surrounding the screen.

These are the full specs for the 2024 Kindle Scribe:

• 10.2-inch display, up to 94 nits brightness, and 300 ppi resolution

• USB-C charging port with up to 12 weeks of battery life

• Starts at 16GB of storage, with 32GB and 64GB options available

• Premium pen included

• Comes in tungsten (dark gray) and metallic jade

• Not waterproof

All the perks of a Kindle e-reader, plus annotation

Jotting down my thoughts on the Kindle Scribe… on the Kindle Scribe.
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

Kindles are great e-readers — our favorite, in fact. So, it’s no surprise that the Kindle Scribe has the same possibilities. You can access books through the Kindle Store or Libby. Like all Kindles, there’s seamless Libby integration to make it easy to read your library books.

But it has something other Kindles don’t, the ability to annotate. With an included stylus (called the “premium pen”), you can write using the notebook feature as a digital notebook. Plus, this latest generation of Kindle Scribe allows you to annotate within the margins of books. I used it to annotate long PDFs, write notes in the margins, and handwrite line edits. Once I was done, I could send the annotated document from the Kindle to my email so I could easily send it back to my colleague.

When not in use, the premium pen magnetically attaches to the Kindle Scribe, keeping it within reach.

It’s the slowest e-reader in the line-up

While it offers the same ability as other Kindles to read through a vast array of books, it is noticeably slower than other models in Amazon’s line-up. When Amazon announced the new generation of Kindles in late 2024, the Kindle, Paperwhite, and Paperwhite Signature Edition were all touted as the brand’s fastest devices, which they certainly are.

While the Kindle Scribe’s displays have been redesigned, its processor has not been updated. The Scribe often lags when starting to wake up or switching between journals and books. I also noticed some pauses when turning pages, something I never experience on other Kindles. This is especially disappointing considering the price, which is more than double that of the Paperwhite.

It’s nice to write on, but the displays will ghost you

After switching to the notebook section of the Kindle, you can still see book covers from my library bleeding through the screen.
Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

When it comes to annotating and writing on a Kindle Scribe, I love the tactile feel. The anti-glare screen and premium pen of the Kindle Scribe have a texture that emulates the feeling of writing with pen and paper. It’s much different and preferential to the slippery texture of writing on an iPad with an Apple Pencil.

However, while the display has a nice feel, it suffers from a ghosting issue. The back end of the premium pen works as an eraser, so you can flip it over when you want to erase some notes. However, a shadow of your erased writing really lingers. When I exited the notebook I had erased, the shadow lingered even as I opened a new book and tried to read.

It’s more expensive than an iPad

The Kindle Scribe is not a tablet. It’s an e-reader with the ability to write. Why am I noting this? Because it’s certainly priced like a tablet. The Kindle Scribe starts at $399.99 for the 16GB model and tops out at $449.99 for the 64GB model. Considering the recently launched 11th generation iPad with 128GB of storage starts at $349.99, the Kindle Scribe is a terrible value.

A tablet, like an iPad, has so many capabilities, like browsing social media and the web, streaming video, gaming, drawing, and even reading, with access to the Kindle app, Apple Books, and even Libby on there. Meanwhile, you’re limited to just reading or writing on a Scribe — no streaming, gaming, or more. If you’re looking for a distraction-free reader, maybe that’s a draw. But otherwise, it’s just too expensive.

Is the Kindle Scribe worth it?

Kindles are usually great e-readers, but the Scribe doesn’t live up to the rest of the line-up.
Credit: Samantha Mangino

There’s only one specific circumstance I imagine the Kindle Scribe is worth. If you’re an avid annotator and want a distraction-free e-reader, the Kindle Scribe is great. It allows you to write notes in the margins of e-books or annotate PDFs, which you can then view on your computer.

But otherwise, if you’re excited by the idea of an e-reader you can annotate on, look elsewhere. For $399.99, the Kindle Scribe isn’t worth it with its meager performance and screen ghosting issues.

If you want an e-reader that you can annotate with, check out the Kobo Libra Colour, which costs $229.99. The Libra Colour is $170 less than the base model Kindle Scribe and comes with twice the storage. Or, if you want to spend your money on something that can do more than just read and write, swing for the iPad 11th generation, which is $349.99 — still $50 cheaper than the Scribe.