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 system 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 yr, Amazon is launching three flavors of the Scribe. On the entry stage is a mannequin with a monochrome display and no entrance mild. Subsequent is 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 observed was the Scribe 3’s form. I’m used to the marginally thicker bezel alongside one lengthy aspect of the show that, on the older Scribes, has been a helpful place to grip the system with out touching the display. Nevertheless it wasn’t simply there for my thumb to carry onto. That space was additionally the place Amazon positioned lots of the Kindle’s parts just like the processor and reminiscence.

To scale back the scale of the bezel, Amazon’s Kindle vp Kevin Keith mentioned “we needed to engineer mainly the electronics to fold behind the show.” The result’s a symmetrical-looking system with a barely-there bezel that’s the identical measurement 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 loads 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 most recent Scribe so skinny and light-weight was by lowering the variety of layers within the show. It eliminated the anti-glare movie on the system, utilizing a glare-free show as a substitute, 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 ready to make use of a display with built-in contact enter assist. Keith mentioned that Amazon additionally thought of the scale of the casing across the USB port to assist in shrinking the system 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 comprise 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 appears lots completely different than its predecessor. I already discovered the unique Scribe satisfyingly svelte and this newest mannequin is equally enticing. I do surprise if I would miss having one thing to grip onto that isn’t the display, however that may not be an issue if Amazon’s palm rejection expertise is efficient.

I did discover a slight dullness within the mannequin with out the LED entrance lights, nevertheless it remained as straightforward to learn as an older Kindle. The opposite two actually appeared lots brighter, with the upper distinction making onscreen textual content and drawings look more energizing 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.

One in every of my favourite updates this yr is magnets. Particularly, the magnets holding Amazon’s stylus to the Scribe itself have gotten stronger. Keith mentioned “we added extra magnetic power 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 concerning the older Scribes, I’m very inspired to see this enchancment.

The stylus itself has additionally been refined, with a barely thicker, rounded silhouette that Keith mentioned is “slightly 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 effectively.

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 quicker general expertise with web page turning,” in line with Keith. The response fee additionally makes a major distinction in writing, which on the brand new Kindle Scribe is now right down to beneath 12 milliseconds. That allows a a lot smoother writing expertise with barely noticeable delay between placing the nib on the display and the digital ink showing, and due to the modifications to the show, any parallax impact is “nearly gone.”

In the course of the few moments I needed to scribble on the brand new Kindle Scribe, I discovered it onerous to inform if there was a giant enchancment in fluidity or parallax results in comparison with the earlier fashions. It’s about as responsive as earlier than, maybe only a contact quicker at displaying 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 most recent Scribe lots simpler to carry with one hand, even despite the thinner bezels. That’s with the caveat, in fact, that I’ve but to spend greater than a minute writing on it. I often have a tough time writing on the Scribe with out 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 accomplish that on the reMarkable Paper Pro. All my entries embody highlighting of the date and time, and my expertise with the colour rendering on that system has been underwhelming. Technically, I can select from yellow, inexperienced, blue, pink, orange and grey, however truthfully I can barely inform the distinction between yellow and orange, whereas blue and grey are additionally very shut. So as a substitute 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 sketch whereas the Colorsoft appears extra like a shiny graphic novel. It’s nonetheless a bit muted, however you possibly can a minimum of see variations in shades.

A part of what makes the Colorsoft look good is the truth that the system itself is available in a pleasant purplish hue that Amazon calls “fig.” With the choice of colours on its display, I bought 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 completely 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 completely different latency makes a giant distinction.

Along with the brand new {hardware}, Amazon additionally up to date the Scribe’s software program. All Kindles will probably be getting a redesigned residence web page that higher surfaces your not too long ago added and edited content material. Primarily based on what I noticed, as a substitute of getting rows of covers on the primary display, there’s now a Search bar on the very prime, adopted by an space on the left half beneath that for “fast notes.” That is mainly a notepad so that you can repeatedly replace everytime you want it, so that you gained’t have to create a brand new pocket book each time you wish to jot down a thought. To the suitable of this prime half is the “Soar again into” part, which can present stuff you have been not too long ago engaged on.

Beneath these two parts is a row of titles referred to as “Lately added,” the place stuff you simply downloaded into your library will seem. So when you have 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 “Lately added” part.

The search bar on the prime is now powered by AI, as a result of there isn’t any escaping that. Fortunately, Amazon has been pretty cautious about its method, which is especially vital for a product just like the Kindle Scribe the place folks 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 frequent subjects so you possibly can seek for one thing like “What have I instructed Panos Panay earlier than?” The Scribe will scan your notebooks, discover all of your related scribblings and current every thing 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 alternative to-do lists for Engadget’s occasions protection that it might be good to have the ability to ask “What are the duties I have to do by the tip of October” and presumably get a neatly organized listing. The usefulness of this characteristic relies upon virtually totally on how clever the AI is, so I’ll have to attend until I can assessment it extra completely to say something extra evaluative.

Amazon can also be bringing assist for Google Drive and OneDrive, so you possibly can create a folder in both service, add paperwork to them and the system will obtain them onto your Kindle Scribe. That is simply a better method to get recordsdata onto your Kindle, along with sending an electronic mail to the related deal with or discovering a manner so as to add them to your Amazon account. OneNote assist is coming as effectively, and it’ll will let you export your notes as an embedded picture or as a transformed textual content doc.

A “Ship to Alexa+” characteristic is coming early subsequent yr, so you possibly can share your notes or paperwork from the Kindle Scribe to the assistant. Will probably be capable of pull data out of your pages and keep in mind or consult with them in your conversations, so you possibly can ask it about what’s subsequent in your to-do listing or what gadgets are already in your buying notice.

Another replace on the redesigned residence web page: As a substitute of the present “Notebooks” tab, Amazon is rolling out the “Workspace” part. Keith described this as “basically like a brand new folder system.” Functionally, it didn’t seem too completely different from the Notebooks setup, apart from making it simpler to group your associated paperwork so you possibly can entry, say, all of the lists you’ve written up to your wedding ceremony planning or writing initiatives.

The redesigned residence web page will probably be launching later this yr, and older Kindle gadgets will be capable of replace to the brand new software program. The most recent technology of Kindle Scribe will probably be out there later this yr, with the entry-level mannequin going for $429, the model with the entrance mild costing $499 and the Scribe Colorsoft beginning at $629.