The new Kindle Scribe fixes my biggest complaint with the latest

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The Amazon Kindle Scribe was very clearly a first-generation device when it launched in late 2022, with hardware flaws and software with limited productivity. Amazon patched it over the next year with helpful fixes, but the fundamental problems remain. Now the Kindle Scribe 2024 corrects almost all the complaints I had with its predecessor.

Amazon announced four new Kindles on Wednesday, including its first color e-ink Kindle. But its new Scribe stands out for me thanks to one feature: Active Canvas. Essentially, you can now write directly on eBooks and have notes stay attached to the text, even if you resize the font or change the layout.

In my Kindle Scribe (2022) review, I complained that the only way to annotate eBooks was to tap next to a word to create a little footnote icon, then click write your notes in a pop-up box. These notes were only visible if you expanded them and covered half the screen.

Compared to underlining and annotating your textbooks and novels in the margins, this seemed extremely limited. At the time, I wish Amazon would let us lock an eBook in PDF format to enable notes.

It turns out that Amazon has taken these criticisms on board and adopted a much smarter solution with Active Canvas. As you can see in the photo above, you can write a note that reflows the text of the book itself and resizes it if you change the font size, so that it is still anchored to that part of the text.

You can also underline and highlight text using the pen for the first time, which for me is a simple necessity. Additionally, you can open a collapsible marginal column on any page and take full-size notes, then hide the column — although this feature won’t be available until 2025, according to Amazon. It’s not as natural as writing in the margins, but it also gives you more space, so I’m not going to complain.

Amazon intends the Kindle Scribe to be a note-taking tablet aimed at students and professionals. The second-generation Kindle Scribe is “AI-powered,” allowing you to “quickly summarize pages and pages of notes into concise bullet points in a script font that can be easily shared, right in the notebook tab.” notes.”

Personally, I would prefer a standard Android tablet for taking notes; I like working directly in application suites like Google Drive or Microsoft Office instead of having to export notes. But the overhaul of Amazon’s intelligence is nevertheless welcome. I complained about the first-gen Scribe’s “slow response time” for most tasks, and this AI boost gives me hope that the next version will be a bit faster.

Additionally, the design of the Kindle Scribe 2024 looks more attractive. I complained about the “massive bezel” of the first Scribe, but this design has shrunk it down to a more manageable size that will be easier to grip while adding new white borders along the edge that give it a distinct appearance from the other Kindles.

The 300 ppi screen and 16GB to 64GB storage are the same, but it comes with a Premium Pen by default, and the Scribe has some fun new color options to give it more personality. Unfortunately, it also costs more than the original Scribe – $399.99 and up – but now it feels like it. won this higher price.

During Prime Day, I shared the story of how my fiancée stole my Kindle Scribe to read e-books on a larger screen and that I wanted to buy a new one despite its flaws. Now I’m ready to return this Scribe and shell out full price for the Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024) once it arrives on December 4th. It could very well be one of the best e-ink tablets we’ve seen.

Take notes freely

The Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024) features a 10.2-inch, 300 ppi, glare-free, front-lit display and comes with a Premium Stylus that requires no charging and feels like draw with a pencil. You can now annotate your entire library of Kindle eBooks, keeping track of your thoughts for future tests or meetings.

Pre-order on Amazon