Kindle Scribe Colorsoft hands-on: Bright and responsive by means of NewsFlicks

For the 3rd technology of its Kindle Scribe line of reading-and-writing pills, Amazon is giving the instrument a makeover and two new configurations. Since its advent in 2022, the Scribe hasn’t modified a lot bodily, with the sophomore type most commonly getting a brand new colour. This 12 months, Amazon is launching 3 flavors of the Scribe. On the access point is a type with a monochrome display screen and no entrance gentle. Subsequent is the Kindle Scribe 3, a model that has LED entrance lighting fixtures however with a black-and-white show. In any case, on the best of the road is the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft — Amazon’s first writing pill with a colour show.

I used to be in a position to in brief take a look at the 3 new pills forward of the corporate’s release match, and was once reasonably inspired on the responsiveness and colour saturation at the demo gadgets I noticed. Additionally, Amazon hasn’t given those units a reputation that signifies what technology they’re, merely calling them the “all-new Kindle Scribe lineup” and including the Colorsoft label to the colour type. To make issues more uncomplicated for this text, I’ll be on occasion referring to those because the Kindle Scribe 3.

The very first thing I spotted was once the Scribe 3’s form. I’m used to the somewhat thicker bezel alongside one lengthy facet of the show that, at the older Scribes, has been a at hand position to grip the instrument with out touching the display screen. However it wasn’t simply there for my thumb to carry onto. That house was once additionally the place Amazon positioned most of the Kindle’s elements just like the processor and reminiscence.

To scale back the dimensions of the bezel, Amazon’s Kindle vp Kevin Keith mentioned “we needed to engineer mainly the electronics to fold in the back of the show.” The result’s a symmetrical-looking instrument with a barely-there bezel that’s the similar dimension alongside either side of the 11-inch show (somewhat larger than its predecessor’s). It weighs 400 grams (or 0.88 kilos), which will have to show you how to cling with one hand whilst taking notes. Keith additionally mentioned that, at 5.4mm, the brand new Kindle Scribe is “thinner than the iPhone Air.” I will have to indicate that numerous pills are in a similar way swish. The 13-inch iPad Professional and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S11 Extremely each have barely-there profiles of five.1mm, whilst the 11-inch iPad Professional measures 5.3mm.

Otherwise Amazon was once in a position to make the most recent Scribe so skinny and light-weight was once by means of lowering the selection of layers within the show. It got rid of the anti-glare movie at the instrument, the use of a glare-free show as an alternative, in addition to a textured glass that mimics the friction you’d get when hanging pen to paper. The corporate additionally removed a slightly layer that was once on best of the show ahead of, because it was once in a position to make use of a display screen with built-in contact enter reinforce. Keith mentioned that Amazon additionally regarded as the dimensions of the casing across the USB port to assist in shrinking the instrument additional.

On fashions with entrance lighting fixtures (all however the entry-level configuration), Amazon had to make use of miniaturized LED entrance lighting fixtures since there was once not a corpulent bezel to include them. Along with making them smaller, the corporate additionally doubled the selection of bulbs to make sure consistency of lighting fixtures around the web page.

I couldn’t assist attaining for the brand new Kindle Scribe after I noticed it, most commonly as it appears so much other than its predecessor. I already discovered the unique Scribe satisfyingly svelte and this newest type is in a similar way sexy. I do wonder whether I would possibly pass over having one thing to grip onto that isn’t the display screen, however that may not be an issue if Amazon’s palm rejection generation is efficacious.

I did understand a slight dullness within the type with out the LED entrance lighting fixtures, however it remained as simple to learn as an older Kindle. The opposite two no doubt appeared so much brighter, with the upper distinction making onscreen textual content and drawings glance more energizing and extra colourful. I’ll get to the Colorsoft type in a little bit, however I preferred how transparent and saturated colours gave the impression on its display screen.

Considered one of my favourite updates this 12 months is magnets. In particular, the magnets preserving Amazon’s stylus to the Scribe itself have got more potent. Keith mentioned “we added extra magnetic drive in order that it’s tougher to fall off,” and after I attempted pulling the pen off the pill it required noticeably extra effort than with earlier fashions. It additionally snapped again on extra simply. Making an allowance for this was once one in every of my lawsuits concerning the older Scribes, I’m very inspired to peer this development.

At Amazon’s match, I were given to spend a little bit extra time with the brand new Scribes and, on the recommendation of a rep on the demo house, picked up the Scribe Colorsoft simply by preserving onto the pen connected magnetically to it. The truth that I used to be in a position to take action with out the pill falling off turns out like a testomony now not simply to the power of the magnets in this type but additionally to the sunshine weight of the instrument.

The stylus itself has additionally been subtle, with a somewhat thicker, rounded silhouette that Keith mentioned is “just a little bit extra ergonomic.” It nonetheless has a rubberized best that works as a virtual eraser and after I used it at the new Scribe I felt the urge to sweep off eraser mud, similar to I did with the predecessors. The programmable motion button stays provide as smartly.

Throughout the new Kindle Scribes sit down a brand new customized chip and extra reminiscence. Amazon additionally added the oxide show from its Paperwhite reader, and at the side of the brand new processor, that brings a “40 p.c quicker general enjoy with web page turning,” in line with Keith. The reaction charge additionally makes a vital distinction in writing, which at the new Kindle Scribe is now right down to below 12 milliseconds. That allows a miles smoother writing enjoy with slightly noticeable extend between hanging the nib at the display screen and the virtual ink showing, and on account of the adjustments to the show, any parallax impact is “just about long gone.”

All the way through the few moments I needed to scribble at the new Kindle Scribe, I discovered it exhausting to inform if there was once a large development in fluidity or parallax results in comparison to the former fashions. It’s about as responsive as ahead of, most likely only a contact quicker at appearing what I’ve written. With out a side-by-side comparability, it’s now not one thing I will assessment at this time.

I can say that I discovered the most recent Scribe so much more uncomplicated to carry with one hand, even despite the thinner bezels. This is with the caveat, in fact, that I’ve but to spend greater than a minute writing on it. I generally have a troublesome time writing at the Scribe with no floor on which to prop it up, so I’m curious to peer if it’ll be more uncomplicated to take action with the latest type.

The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is unusually bright

I used to be in a position to get a good suggestion of the way the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft’s colour rendering compares to a few of its festival, despite the fact that. Each and every morning, I write 3 pages of free-flowing ideas by means of hand, and I these days accomplish that on the reMarkable Paper Professional. All my entries come with highlighting of the date and time, and my enjoy with the colour rendering on that instrument has been underwhelming. Technically, I will choose between yellow, inexperienced, blue, crimson, orange and grey, however truthfully I will slightly inform the variation between yellow and orange, whilst blue and grey also are very shut. So as an alternative of 5 usable highlighter sun shades, I truly handiest have 3 (grey is just a touch of a tint).

The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft now not handiest renders colours extra vividly, however hues are extra distinct from each and every different. I’d say the reMarkable Paper Professional is like studying a pale newspaper’s sketch whilst the Colorsoft appears extra like a shiny graphic novel. It’s nonetheless a little bit muted, however you’ll be able to no less than see diversifications in sun shades.

A part of what makes the Colorsoft glance great is the truth that the instrument itself is available in a pleasant purplish hue that Amazon calls “fig.” With the number of colours on its display screen, I were given an excessively autumnal vibe and was once reminded of berries, for some explanation why. (It’s additionally conceivable I used to be hungry.)

Just like the Kindle Colorsoft that Amazon introduced in 2023, the Scribe Colorsoft makes use of a colour clear out and LEDs. What’s somewhat other is a brand new rendering engine that Amazon mentioned “complements the colour and guarantees writing is rapid, fluid and completely herbal.”

Whilst the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft has the similar dimensions and weight as its monochrome counterpart, it has a somewhat slower reaction charge of 14ms. I’ve handiest written at the Colorsoft up to now, and can wait until I will spend extra time with each pills to peer if this other latency makes a large distinction.

Along with the brand new {hardware}, Amazon additionally up to date the Scribe’s instrument. All Kindles will probably be getting a redesigned house web page that higher surfaces your lately added and edited content material. In accordance with what I noticed, as an alternative of getting rows of covers at the primary display screen, there’s now a Seek bar on the very best, adopted by means of a space at the left part underneath that for “fast notes.” That is mainly a notepad so that you can frequently replace on every occasion you want it, so that you received’t want to create a brand new pocket book each and every time you need to write down a idea. To the appropriate of this best part is the “Bounce again into” phase, which can display belongings you have been lately running on.

Underneath the ones two parts is a row of titles known as “Lately added,” the place belongings you simply downloaded into your library will seem. So when you have been studying, say, The Frame Assists in keeping the Ranking and simply purchased Katabasis, you’ll in finding the primary one on the best proper and the latter within the “Lately added” phase.

The quest bar on the best is now powered by means of AI, as a result of there’s no escaping that. Fortunately, Amazon has been reasonably wary about its method, which is especially essential for a product just like the Kindle Scribe the place folks cross to learn and bring authentic content material. The brand new AI characteristic here’s a smarter seek that now not handiest indexes your entire handwritten notes, however understands and teams not unusual subjects so you’ll be able to seek for one thing like “What have I instructed Panos Panay ahead of?” The Scribe will scan your notebooks, in finding your entire related scribblings and provide the whole lot you’ve written down throughout your entire recordsdata and summarize its findings for you.

I didn’t have time to take a look at this out however I’m intrigued on the doable right here. I make such a lot of other to-do lists for Engadget’s occasions protection that it could be great so that you can ask “What are the duties I want to do by means of the tip of October” and most likely get a smartly arranged record. The usefulness of this option is dependent nearly completely on how clever the AI is, so I’ll have to attend until I will evaluation it extra totally to mention anything else extra evaluative.

Amazon could also be bringing reinforce for Google Pressure and OneDrive, so you’ll be able to create a folder in both provider, upload paperwork to them and the machine will obtain them onto your Kindle Scribe. That is simply an more uncomplicated option to get recordsdata onto your Kindle, along with sending an e mail to the related cope with or discovering some way so as to add them on your Amazon account. OneNote reinforce is coming as smartly, and it’ll can help you export your notes as an embedded symbol or as a transformed textual content report.

A “Ship to Alexa+” characteristic is coming early subsequent 12 months, so you’ll be able to percentage your notes or paperwork from the Kindle Scribe to the assistant. It’s going to have the ability to pull data out of your pages and bear in mind or check with them for your conversations, so you’ll be able to ask it about what’s subsequent to your to-do record or what pieces are already to your buying groceries notice.

Yet another replace at the redesigned house web page: As an alternative of the present “Notebooks” tab, Amazon is rolling out the “Workspace” phase. Keith described this as “necessarily like a brand new folder machine.” Functionally, it didn’t seem too other from the Notebooks setup, rather then making it more uncomplicated to staff your similar paperwork so you’ll be able to get right of entry to, say, the entire lists you’ve written up in your wedding ceremony making plans or writing tasks.

The redesigned house web page will probably be launching later this 12 months, and older Kindle units will have the ability to replace to the brand new instrument. The newest technology of Kindle Scribe will probably be to be had later this 12 months, with the entry-level type going for $429, the model with the entrance gentle costing $499 and the Scribe Colorsoft beginning at $629.

Replace, October 2 2025, 10:30AM ET: This tale has been up to date to incorporate extra impressions of the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft’s larger magnetic drive in addition to photos from Amazon’s match this week.