One of the best e-ink tablets for writing
The new Kindle Scribe fixes some of the biggest complaints we had with the original, both in terms of hardware and software, but there's still more work to be done with the latter.
Pros
- One of the best digital writing experiences around
- Exceptional battery life
- Fantastic big-screen reading experience
Cons
- Handwriting recognition and transcription could be more in-depth
- No wireless charging like cheaper Kindles
- Stylus can easily become detached from the Scribe
Key Features
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Pen-and-paper-like writing experience With an improved texture on the screen and a lighter, more balanced stylus design, the Kindle Scribe offers one of the best digital note-taking experiences around.
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Note-taking in books Unlike the first-gen Kindle Scribe, you can now take notes in eBooks.
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Access to a massive library of books Being a Kindle, the Kindle Scribe has the same access to the frankly massive Kindle Store packed full of books of every genre.
Introduction
Amazon’s first-gen Kindle Scribe looked to fill a growing niche, offering a handy blend of on-the-go reading and note-taking – but it wasn’t perfect, garnering 3.5 stars in our review.
However, the updated Kindle Scribe (2024) fixed most of the big complaints that we had with the original, including a more ergonomic stylus, improved software smarts, and more – but does it do enough to knock the hugely popular Remarkable 2 from its throne?
After spending close to two months using the Kindle Scribe as my main reading and note-taking device, here are my final thoughts.
Design
- Very similar design to its predecessor
- No IP rating or physical buttons
- Thin and light, but still big
When it comes to the core design of the Kindle Scribe (2024), there’s not much to report on, looking extremely similar to its predecessor – for better and for worse.

There are subtle changes, like slightly thinner bezels on three of the four sides of the screen and a new white bezel that helps it look more like a notebook than a traditional e-reader.
However, aside from that, it’s very much business as usual; it’s a premium e-ink tablet with a 100% recycled aluminium frame that feels cool to the touch, and sports a slightly thicker bezel on one side that makes it easier to hold without accidentally tapping the screen.
The small rubber feet on the back of the totally flat rear also make a return, adding some extra grip when the device is placed on a table while also ensuring it doesn’t get scratched.

However, it doesn’t fix any of the big complaints we had with the previous device; it still lacks the physical button to change pages quickly that were found on the Kindle Oasis, and there’s still no kind of IP rating for water and dust protection despite this being present on others in Amazon’s 2024 Kindle range.
The device’s footprint is also not to be understated; while it’s thin (5.7mm) and light (433g) enough to slip into a bag, I have noticed the sheer size of the device in use, especially when reading one-handed. It’s something I find myself resting on my leg or a table, rather than holding it upright like with my regular Kindle.
It also means it’s not quite as portable or convenient for reading on the go as a regular Kindle. I tried it several times on my morning commute to the office, and while I enjoyed the big-screen reading experience, it just felt a bit unwieldy on a busy train. I also felt a little awkward, as I caught people glancing at me with my ridiculously sized e-reader.
That said, it’s very much something you’ll either use at home or in the office – so don’t ditch that regular Kindle just yet.
Screen and Pen
- 10.2-inch glare-free e-ink screen
- Improved writing experience
- Premium Pen feels great to use
When it comes to the display, there’s no huge change here; it’s still a 10.2-inch e-ink screen with a glare-reducing screen cover, but there are subtle differences. Amazon has tweaked the texture of the screen to better simulate that pen and paper experience with slight feedback when writing, and the colour temperature has been tweaked ever so slightly.
The latter isn’t that noticeable in real-world use, but the former certainly is, making the already excellent writing experience even better this time around – an important upgrade for a product that’s pretty much exclusively marketed around its note-taking capabilities.

The backlit screen automatically adjusts depending on your environment, though I wish it’d do the same with colour temperature, adding an orange tinge when in an environment with warm light and a blue/white tinge in cool environments – one for the next-gen Scribe, maybe.
Still, the 35 LED lights lighting the screen are a massive help when writing and reading in low-light conditions, and unlike cheaper e-readers, provide a consistent lighting experience with no notably bright or dark spots across its 10.2-inch canvas.
I’ve also noticed just how responsive the e-ink screen feels in comparison to other e-readers, earlier Kindles included. It’s not as responsive as a regular tablet screen, of course, but there’s much less of a lag when tapping the screen to change pages when reading, and indeed, there’s no noticeable latency between writing and digital ink appearing on the screen.

Speaking of, the bundled premium pen is an absolute treat to take notes with. The overall weight and footprint have been reduced to bring it closer to the feeling of a regular pen while still managing to be smart, featuring a button on the side that lets you temporarily toggle a different style of pen for writing.
The soft-tipped eraser at the other end is another nice touch, feeling so lifelike in use that I’ve had to resist the temptation to wipe rubbings off the screen like I would when erasing pencil marks on paper.
Combined with the matte finish screen, I think the Kindle Scribe has one of the best writing experiences around, possibly save for the absolutely fantastic Remarkable 2. It’s way more responsive than competing big-screen options like the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra, with a more ergonomic stylus design that makes all the difference in everyday use.

The only real weakness of the Scribe and its accompanying stylus is storage.
As with both Apple’s iPad collection and the OnePlus Pad 2, the stylus snaps onto the side of the Scribe when not in active use, though like the competition, this easily separates in bags and rucksacks. I’ve spent more time than I’d like searching through my packed-out backpack for the relatively slimline black stylus over the past couple of months.
There is no clear solution here either; you could integrate it into the body, but doing so would result in either a thicker Kindle or thinner, less ergonomic stylus, or you could offer a case that holds the stylus tight like you get with Samsung’s book-style Z Fold 6 while sacrificing the lightweight design of the e-reader. Neither is ideal, really.
Software and features
- New Active Canvas system
- AI handwriting smarts
- Great for note-taking
While the Kindle Scribe hardware has always been relatively top-notch, the same can’t be said for the software. As my colleague Max put it in his review of the 2022 model, “for a device designed as a note-taking tool, the lack of deep features in this area makes the Scribe hard to recommend.”
Well, Amazon has taken some genuinely useful steps in the right direction with the latest version of the note-taking e-ink tablet. Firstly, it now allows for the long-awaited ability to take notes and write directly onto eBooks, not just PDF files, as part of Amazon’s new Active Canvas system.

It goes a step beyond simply letting you take notes in the margins too; as you write your notes, the text will automatically wrap around the handwritten note to make it fit better. The note stays anchored to text nearby, even if you change the font or size of the text later on down the line.
And, if you want a cleaner reading experience, the tap of a button will place all handwritten notes in a hidden side panel, recalled at will.
This is a big improvement on what was a very basic implementation in the Scribe (2022) that essentially allowed you to add sticky notes only visible via tapping an icon at the side of the eBook text. This is way more natural, offering a nice blend of old-school note-taking in the margins and new-school text anchoring.
An option to turn off the automatic reformatting would’ve been nice though, as the way that text reorganises itself on the page can be a little chaotic at times. Remember adding an image to a Word document and having the page freak out? It’s similar to that, albeit slightly less egregious.
There are also new AI smarts because, of course there is – it’s 2025, the year of AI in absolutely everything, after all.

To Amazon’s credit, it hasn’t tried to shoehorn random AI features in for the sake of it; instead, it’s pretty tame, limited to translating your handwritten scrawl into text for sharing via email – and surprisingly, it even worked with my (admittedly terrible) handwriting without a single error.
However, it still doesn’t offer full OCR (optical character recognition) support, one of the big complaints about the previous-gen device compared to the likes of Remarkable which lets you search through your notes for specific words or phrases.
There’s no easy way to translate your handwritten notes into regular text either, limited to conversion when sharing notes via email. I would’ve liked the option to transcribe on-device without needing to send it via email, just to tidy up my (admittedly messy) handwriting later down the line.

Elsewhere, it’s very much business as usual for the Kindle Scribe; you’ve got a customised version of the same OS present on other recent Kindles, albeit with a dedicated Notebook tab for your notes. These handwritten notes will also integrate into your recent items displayed at the top of the feed among books I’ve been reading recently, making it handy to jump back into to-do lists and the like.
And, of course, the reading experience is fantastic with such a large, pixel-dense e-ink screen, complete with plenty of formatting customisation options that let you dial in the reading experience to your exact tastes.
Battery life
- Exceptional battery life
- USB-C port for charging
- No wireless charging
As with other e-readers, the Kindle Scribe and its e-ink screen can last for absolutely ages on a single charge. I received the tablet in early December 2024, and as of late January 2025, I’ve only had to charge it once, showcasing its potential longevity.
That’s with elements like auto-brightness active, with Wi-Fi on constantly, so there’s potential for even better efficiency if you’re truly determined – but in my experience, you really needn’t go to such extremes.
For reference, Amazon claims that the Kindle Scribe can last for 12 weeks on a single charge with more conservative use, and after using the e-reader for the past couple of months, I’ve got no real reason to question those claims.

When it does eventually need a top-up, a side-mounted USB-C port will bring you from flat to full – though with just 9W charging, it’ll take you around two and a half hours to achieve a full charge. Thankfully, you won’t need to do that too often!
The only oddity is the lack of wireless charging, given that it’s a feature of the cheaper (but still premium) Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition. I don’t miss it, especially given the impressive standby times on offer from the Scribe, but it would’ve helped justify its premium price tag.
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Final Thoughts
I’m a big fan of the experience the Kindle Scribe offers; first and foremost, it offers one of the most natural writing and doodling experiences of any e-ink tablet I’ve used, possibly even bringing the fight to Remarkable, and note-focused tweaks to the OS like Active Canvas are massively welcomed, even if there’s still some refinement needed to make it the best it can possibly be.
However, it does still fall short in several areas, lacking any kind of IP rating, no automatic temperature adjustment, the omission of wireless charging, and even the lack of buttons, all of which would’ve helped Amazon justify the Scribe’s £379.99 starting price that little bit more.
It’s also worth pointing out that it’s not a Kindle designed for reading on-the-go; while the reading experience on such a large screen is exquisite, it’s not a one-handed device that you can quickly pull out on a packed train, so it’s very much something you’ll be using at home or the office for reading.
Still, I think it’s a notable improvement on the rogiinal that fixes some of our biggest complaints, making it a worthwhile purchase if you want to blend note-taking and reading on a single device.
Trusted Score
Should you buy it?
You want a big-screen e-reader for reading and note-taking
With a 10.2-inch e-ink canvas and a superb writing experience, the Scribe is the ideal option.
You want a portable e-reader
The Kindle Scribe might be excellent for reading and scribbling, but the 10.2-inch screen means it’s nowhere near as portable as a regular Kindle.
How we test
We test every mobile phone we review thoroughly. We use industry-standard tests to compare features properly and we use the phone as our main device over the review period. We’ll always tell you what we find and we never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
- Used as a main tablet for over a month
- Read multiple books
- Taken a lot of notes
FAQs
Yes, unlike the previous Scribe, the 2024 variant comes with the Premium Pen as standard.
No, there’s no kind of IP rating so it’s best to keep this tablet away from the bath and pools.
Full Specs
Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024) Review | |
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UK RRP | £379 |
USA RRP | $399 |
Manufacturer | Amazon |
Screen Size | 10.2 inches |
Storage Capacity | 16GB, 32GB, 64GB |
IP rating | No |
Size (Dimensions) | 196 x 5.7 x 230 MM |
Weight | 433 G |
ASIN | B0CZB5RHWX |
Operating System | Kindle OS |
Release Date | 2024 |
First Reviewed Date | 27/01/2025 |
Resolution | 1860 x 2480 |
Ports | USB-C |
Colours | Tungsten and Metallic Jade |
Display
Resolution | 2048 x 1536 |
Operating System | Android |
Display Type | LCD IPS |