Kindle Scribe Colorsoft hands-on: Vivid and responsive

For the third technology of its Kindle Scribe line of reading-and-writing tablets, Amazon is giving the machine a makeover and two new configurations. Since its introduction in 2022, the Scribe hasn’t modified a lot bodily, with the sophomore model principally getting a brand new shade. This 12 months, Amazon is launching three flavors of the Scribe. On the entry stage is a mannequin with a monochrome display screen and no entrance mild. Subsequent is the Kindle Scribe 3, a model that has LED entrance lights however with a black-and-white show. Lastly, on the prime of the road is the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft — Amazon’s first writing pill with a shade show.

I used to be capable of briefly try the three new tablets forward of the corporate’s launch occasion, and was fairly impressed on the responsiveness and shade saturation on the demo models I noticed. Additionally, Amazon hasn’t given these gadgets 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 mannequin. To make issues simpler for this text, I’ll be sometimes referring to those because the Kindle Scribe 3.

The very first thing I seen was the Scribe 3’s form. I’m used to the marginally thicker bezel alongside one lengthy facet of the show that, on the older Scribes, has been a helpful place to grip the machine with out touching the display screen. However it wasn’t simply there for my thumb to carry onto. That space was additionally the place Amazon positioned most of the Kindle’s parts just like the processor and reminiscence.

To cut back the dimensions of the bezel, Amazon’s Kindle vice chairman Kevin Keith mentioned “we needed to engineer principally the electronics to fold behind the show.” The result’s a symmetrical-looking machine with a barely-there bezel that’s the identical dimension alongside all sides of the 11-inch show (barely larger than its predecessor’s). It weighs 400 grams (or 0.88 kilos), which ought to make it simpler to carry with one hand whereas taking notes. Keith additionally mentioned that, at 5.4mm, the brand new Kindle Scribe is “thinner than the iPhone Air.” I ought to level out that quite a lot of tablets are equally glossy. The 13-inch iPad Professional and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S11 Extremely each have barely-there profiles of 5.1mm, whereas the 11-inch iPad Professional measures 5.3mm.

One other manner Amazon was capable of make the newest Scribe so skinny and lightweight was by decreasing the variety of layers within the show. It eliminated the anti-glare movie on the machine, utilizing a glare-free show as an alternative, in addition to a textured glass that mimics the friction you’d get when placing pen to paper. The corporate additionally removed a contact layer that was on prime of the show earlier than, because it was in a position to make use of a display screen with built-in contact enter help. Keith mentioned that Amazon additionally thought-about the dimensions of the casing across the USB port to assist in shrinking the machine additional.

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

I couldn’t assist reaching for the brand new Kindle Scribe after I noticed it, principally as a result of it seems to be quite a bit totally different than its predecessor. I already discovered the unique Scribe satisfyingly svelte and this newest mannequin is equally enticing. I do marvel if I would miss having one thing to grip onto that isn’t the display screen, however which may not be an issue if Amazon’s palm rejection know-how is efficient.

I did discover a slight dullness within the mannequin with out the LED entrance lights, but it surely remained as straightforward to learn as an older Kindle. The opposite two definitely seemed quite a bit brighter, with the upper distinction making onscreen textual content and drawings look brisker and extra vibrant. I’ll get to the Colorsoft mannequin in a bit, however I appreciated how clear and saturated colours appeared on its display screen.

Considered one of my favourite updates this 12 months is magnets. Particularly, the magnets holding Amazon’s stylus to the Scribe itself have gotten stronger. Keith mentioned “we added extra magnetic pressure in order that it’s more durable to fall off,” and after I tried pulling the pen off the pill it required noticeably extra effort than with earlier fashions. It additionally snapped again on extra simply. Contemplating this was one among my complaints in regards to the older Scribes, I’m very inspired to see this enchancment.

At Amazon’s occasion, I received to spend a bit extra time with the brand new Scribes and, on the suggestion of a rep on the demo space, picked up the Scribe Colorsoft simply by holding 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 looks like a testomony not simply to the power of the magnets on this mannequin but in addition to the sunshine weight of the machine.

The stylus itself has additionally been refined, with a barely thicker, rounded silhouette that Keith mentioned is “a little bit bit extra ergonomic.” It nonetheless has a rubberized prime that works as a digital eraser and after I used it on the brand new Scribe I felt the urge to brush off eraser mud, similar to I did with the predecessors. The programmable motion button stays current as nicely.

Inside the brand new Kindle Scribes sit a brand new customized chip and extra reminiscence. Amazon additionally added the oxide show from its Paperwhite reader, and along with the brand new processor, that brings a “40 p.c sooner total expertise with web page turning,” in keeping with Keith. The response fee additionally makes a major distinction in writing, which on the brand new Kindle Scribe is now right down to underneath 12 milliseconds. That allows a a lot smoother writing expertise with barely noticeable delay between placing the nib on the display screen and the digital ink showing, and due to the adjustments to the show, any parallax impact is “nearly gone.”

Throughout the few moments I needed to scribble on the brand new Kindle Scribe, I discovered it onerous to inform if there was an enormous enchancment in fluidity or parallax results in comparison with the earlier fashions. It’s about as responsive as earlier than, maybe only a contact sooner at exhibiting what I’ve written. With out a side-by-side comparability, it’s not one thing I can consider proper now.

I’ll say that I discovered the newest Scribe quite a bit simpler to carry with one hand, even regardless of the thinner bezels. That’s with the caveat, after all, that I’ve but to spend greater than a minute writing on it. I often have a tough time writing on the Scribe and not using a floor on which to prop it up, so I’m curious to see if it’ll be simpler to take action with the most recent mannequin.

The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is surprisingly vivid

I used to be capable of get a good suggestion of how the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft’s shade rendering compares to a few of its competitors, although. Each morning, I write three pages of free-flowing ideas by hand, and I at present achieve this on the reMarkable Paper Pro. All my entries embody highlighting of the date and time, and my expertise with the colour rendering on that machine has been underwhelming. Technically, I can select from yellow, inexperienced, blue, pink, orange and grey, however actually I can barely inform the distinction between yellow and orange, whereas blue and grey are additionally very shut. So as an alternative of 5 usable highlighter shades, I actually solely have three (grey is barely a touch of a tint).

The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft not solely renders colours extra vividly, however hues are extra distinct from one another. I’d say the reMarkable Paper Professional is like studying a pale newspaper’s caricature whereas the Colorsoft seems to be extra like a shiny graphic novel. It’s nonetheless a bit muted, however you may not less than see variations in shades.

A part of what makes the Colorsoft look good is the truth that the machine itself is available in a pleasant purplish hue that Amazon calls “fig.” With the choice of colours on its display screen, I received a really autumnal vibe and was reminded of berries, for some purpose. (It’s additionally doable I used to be hungry.)

Just like the Kindle Colorsoft that Amazon introduced in 2023, the Scribe Colorsoft makes use of a shade filter and LEDs. What’s barely totally different is a brand new rendering engine that Amazon mentioned “enhances the colour and ensures writing is quick, fluid and completely pure.”

Whereas the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft has the identical dimensions and weight as its monochrome counterpart, it has a barely slower response fee of 14ms. I’ve solely written on the Colorsoft to this point, and can wait until I can spend extra time with each tablets to see if this totally different latency makes an enormous distinction.

Along with the brand new {hardware}, Amazon additionally up to date the Scribe’s software program. All Kindles will likely be getting a redesigned house web page that higher surfaces your just lately added and edited content material. Based mostly on what I noticed, as an alternative of getting rows of covers on the principle display screen, there may be now a Search bar on the very prime, adopted by an space on the left half under that for “fast notes.” That is principally a notepad so that you can constantly replace everytime you want it, so that you gained’t must create a brand new pocket book each time you need to jot down a thought. To the correct of this prime half is the “Bounce again into” part, which can present belongings you have been just lately engaged on.

Beneath these two parts is a row of titles referred to as “Not too long ago added,” the place belongings you simply downloaded into your library will seem. So when you’ve got been studying, say, The Physique Retains the Rating and simply purchased Katabasis, you’ll discover the primary one on the prime proper and the latter within the “Not too long ago added” part.

The search bar on the prime is now powered by AI, as a result of there is no such thing as a escaping that. Fortunately, Amazon has been pretty cautious about its strategy, which is especially vital for a product just like the Kindle Scribe the place individuals go to learn and produce authentic content material. The brand new AI characteristic here’s a smarter search that not solely indexes all of your handwritten notes, however understands and teams widespread subjects so you may seek for one thing like “What have I advised Panos Panay earlier than?” The Scribe will scan your notebooks, discover all of your related scribblings and current all the things you’ve written down throughout all of your recordsdata and summarize its findings for you.

I didn’t have time to do that out however I’m intrigued on the potential right here. I make so many various to-do lists for Engadget’s occasions protection that it could be good to have the ability to ask “What are the duties I must do by the top of October” and presumably get a neatly organized listing. The usefulness of this characteristic relies upon nearly fully on how clever the AI is, so I’ll have to attend until I can overview it extra completely to say something extra evaluative.

Amazon can be bringing help for Google Drive and OneDrive, so you may create a folder in both service, add paperwork to them and the system will obtain them onto your Kindle Scribe. That is simply a neater solution to get recordsdata onto your Kindle, along with sending an e mail to the related handle or discovering a manner so as to add them to your Amazon account. OneNote help is coming as nicely, and it’ll permit you to export your notes as an embedded picture or as a transformed textual content doc.

A “Ship to Alexa+” characteristic is coming early subsequent 12 months, so you may share your notes or paperwork from the Kindle Scribe to the assistant. Will probably be capable of pull data out of your pages and bear in mind or seek advice from them in your conversations, so you may ask it about what’s subsequent in your to-do listing or what gadgets are already in your buying observe.

Yet one more replace on the redesigned house web page: As an alternative of the prevailing “Notebooks” tab, Amazon is rolling out the “Workspace” part. Keith described this as “primarily like a brand new folder system.” Functionally, it didn’t seem too totally different from the Notebooks setup, apart from making it simpler to group your associated paperwork so you may entry, say, all of the lists you’ve written up in your marriage ceremony planning or writing initiatives.

The redesigned house web page will likely be launching later this 12 months, and older Kindle gadgets will have the ability to replace to the brand new software program. The newest technology of Kindle Scribe will likely be obtainable later this 12 months, with the entry-level mannequin going for $429, the model with the entrance mild costing $499 and the Scribe Colorsoft beginning at $629.

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