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Kindle Scribe Review - Best Kindle?

2023-02-17 · Tech review, setup or bag tour · Ali · recording, 12:03 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Tools, apps and tech · mode: Review and recommendation

In a Tech Club review, Ali finds the Kindle Scribe does not live up to the hype: reading on it is good but it is too big for one hand, writing is pleasant but notes cannot go in the margin or reach his computer, so he recommends an iPad or a computer for reading with notes and the basic Kindle Paperwhite as the Kindle for most people.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Intro: the Kindle as life-changing tech; a Tech Club review of the Kindle Scribe

  • ★★ Ali has used the Amazon Kindle every day since 2008 and calls it one of the very few pieces of tech that genuinely changed his life: thanks to it he has read hundreds more books than he would have. — 00:00:00 · Kindle, Amazon
  • ★ This episode of Tech Club, Ali's ongoing series reviewing apps and tech that can help people be more productive, reviews Amazon's new Kindle Scribe, a Kindle you can take notes on. — 00:00:00 · Kindle, Amazon

  • ★★★ Ali's upfront verdict: the Kindle Scribe does not live up to the hype; he would recommend it only to Kindle lovers with loads of money to burn, or to the few who want an e-ink device for reading and pen notes at a desk rather than an iPad. — 00:00:29 · Kindle, iPad, iPad Pro

    “unfortunately it does not live up to the hype”

00:00:32 — Upfront conclusion: it does not live up to the hype

  • ★★ Setting up the Kindle Scribe through the Kindle app on his iPhone was one of the best setup experiences of any device Ali has used; only Apple products come close to that seamlessness. — 00:00:58 · Kindle, iPhone, Apple
  • ★ The Kindle Scribe comes with a stylus that needs no batteries and is slightly lighter than an Apple Pencil; the premium stylus Ali chose has an eraser at the top. — 00:00:58 · Kindle, Apple Pencil

00:01:10 — Unboxing and setup

00:02:09 — Design and features

  • ★ Ali uses the Kindle Scribe in its official case, propped at a 20 to 30 degree angle on his desk, which he finds a nice angle for reading and taking notes. — 00:02:42 · Kindle
  • ★★ Reading on the Kindle Scribe is as good as, if not slightly better than, on the Kindle Paperwhite or Oasis, Ali says, with a bigger, sharp e-ink screen of around 300 pixels per inch that does not strain the eyes. (hedged) — 00:02:42 · Kindle

00:03:08 — The reading experience

  • ★★ People who say they prefer reading on paper, Ali finds, get it once they are given a Kindle: its screen does not actually look like a screen. — 00:03:26 · Kindle
  • ★★ Ali prefers the Kindle Scribe's faster page flipping to his Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition: it makes books very skimmable, while the Paperwhite's slower page turns make skim reading harder. — 00:03:26 · Kindle
  • ★★★ For reading on the Kindle Scribe, Ali says, ask whether you want such a big device: a Kindle Paperwhite fits in one hand in bed or on the London Underground, while the Scribe does not work in one hand and needs two. — 00:03:56 · Kindle

00:04:51 — The writing experience

  • ★★ Writing in the Kindle Scribe's notebooks is pretty solid, Ali says, though not quite as nice as an iPad Pro with a paper-like screen protector and the Apple Pencil, which costs about three times as much. — 00:04:54 · Kindle, iPad Pro, Paperlike, Apple Pencil
  • ★★ Ali finds writing on the Kindle Scribe very slightly nicer than on an iPad or iPad Air, which lack the 120 Hz ProMotion refresh rate, and close to the feeling of pen and paper. — 00:05:23 · Kindle, iPad, iPad Pro
  • ★★ For the last week or so Ali has been taking a lot of notes on the Kindle Scribe and enjoying it; he even sketched this review on it with spider diagrams. — 00:05:23 · Kindle
  • ★★ Ali calls writing on the Kindle Scribe pretty basic but functional and quite nice to use, with pen settings from fine to heavy (he prefers medium) and slight pressure sensitivity. — 00:05:52 · Kindle
  • ★★ One reason Ali likes physical notebooks less, though he uses them quite a lot, is that you then have to do something with the notes to get them into software. — 00:05:52
  • ★★★ The Kindle Scribe has no integrations yet with Google Drive, Dropbox, Evernote, Notion or APIs; the only way to get notebook notes out is to email them to yourself, which gives a PDF. — 00:06:22 · Kindle, Google Drive, Evernote, Notion

00:06:45 — Taking notes while you're reading

  • ★★ On the Kindle Scribe you cannot write notes in a book's margin, as Ali had expected: you create a highlight or a sticky note and write a handwritten or typed note within it. — 00:06:51 · Kindle
  • ★ Typing a note on the Kindle Scribe's keyboard is slightly nicer than on the Kindle Paperwhite but still, Ali says, a pretty crap keyboard experience. — 00:06:51 · Kindle
  • ★★ Handwritten notes on the Kindle Scribe appear alongside your highlights, which Ali finds handy if, like him, you revisit your book highlights: they give context on why you took a note. — 00:07:20 · Kindle
  • ★★★ In the Kindle app on his Mac, which Ali uses a lot for research and writing, his highlights and typed notes from the Kindle Scribe appear but his handwritten notes do not. — 00:08:19 · Kindle
  • ★★ Ali suspects the Kindle Scribe's handwritten notes not reaching the computer is just a software issue that will be fixed at some point. (hedged) — 00:08:19 · Kindle
  • ★★ Handwritten notes not reaching the computer are one thing that would stop Ali from wholeheartedly recommending the Kindle Scribe to people into research, reading and writing. — 00:08:48 · Kindle
  • ★ The Kindle Scribe has a backlight with about 25 settings between warm and cold, and an automatic schedule that switches it to warm light at sunset. — 00:08:48 · Kindle

00:08:56 — Extra features

00:09:33 — Who is the device for?

  • ★★★ An iPad is just better than the Kindle Scribe because it does way more, Ali says, and since a basic iPad costs literally the same, it is really hard to recommend the Scribe over one. — 00:09:38 · iPad, Kindle, iPad Pro
  • ★★ For someone who specifically wants an e-ink tablet to read, write and take notes on, Ali says he honestly does not know whether the Kindle Scribe is worth getting. (unsure) — 00:09:38 · Kindle
  • ★★ Ali has had and used the reMarkable 2 but found it inferior to an iPad, so he went back to the iPad. — 00:10:00 · iPad, iPad Pro
  • ★★ Ali got the Kindle Scribe because he has hundreds of books on his Kindle, 640 of them, but its limitations mean he uses it as a glorified piece of paper. — 00:10:00 · Kindle
  • ★★ Researching his book, Ali finds it much easier to flick through a textbook in the Kindle app on his Mac and type notes than to use the Kindle Scribe, whose notes he cannot write in the margin or easily get onto his computer. — 00:10:30 · Kindle, Feel-Good Productivity (book)

00:10:55 — Best Kindle to buy in 2023; outro

  • ★★★ Ali recommends the basic Kindle Paperwhite for the vast majority of people; he has the Paperwhite Signature Edition, but its wireless charging is not a game-changing feature. — 00:10:59 · Kindle
  • ★★★ Ali calls the Kindle one of the most life-changing pieces of tech you can use: everyone he has recommended or gifted one to says they are reading many more books. — 00:10:59 · Kindle
  • ★★★ If you are looking for something to read and take notes on, Ali says, just do it on your computer or get an iPad, both far more full-featured than the Kindle Scribe. — 00:11:28 · Kindle, iPad, iPad Pro

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: iPad · Kindle

Also: Projects: Tech Club

Works: Feel-Good Productivity (book)

Organizations: Amazon · Apple

Concepts: spider diagram

Places: London Underground

Products: Apple Pencil · Dropbox · Evernote · Google Drive · iPad Air · iPad Pro · iPhone · Notion · Paperlike · ProMotion · reMarkable 2 · Zoom

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