Note-taking on e-readers has always felt like writing with a broken pencil—technically possible but frustratingly limited. Amazon’s new Kindle Scribe lineup changes that equation with the company’s first color e-ink display and AI features that actually understand what you’re reading.
Hardware Gets a Serious Upgrade
The new 11-inch Scribe delivers 40% faster performance in a sleeker package.
Amazon stripped away the chunky bezels and built something that feels more like a premium notebook than a gadget. The new Scribe measures just 5.4mm thick while packing an 11-inch Oxide display with texture-molded glass that mimics paper friction. At 400 grams, it’s light enough for extended writing sessions without cramping your hand.
The quad-core processor and additional RAM deliver on Amazon’s promise of 40% faster writing and page turns—no more waiting for your thoughts to catch up with the screen.
Color E-Ink Finally Makes Sense
The Colorsoft variant brings soft, eye-friendly colors to digital reading and note-taking.
After years of waiting, Amazon cracked the color e-ink code with the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft. The display produces what Amazon calls “soft” colors at 150ppi resolution while maintaining 300ppi for black text—basically giving you gentle watercolor tones instead of the harsh blues that make your eyes water after midnight reading sessions.
Ten pen colors and five highlighter shades transform margin notes from monochrome scribbles into organized, color-coded systems. Artists get gradient and brush tools that work surprisingly well for sketching, though this isn’t replacing your iPad Pro anytime soon.
AI Reading Features That Don’t Suck
Story summaries and contextual Q&A could revolutionize how you tackle dense books.
Amazon’s new AI features sound gimmicky until you consider returning to a 600-page biography after a two-week break. “Story So Far” generates spoiler-free summaries up to your current position, while “Ask This Book” lets you highlight passages and get context without falling down Wikipedia rabbit holes.
These features launch on the iOS Kindle app in late 2025 before hitting devices in early 2026. Your handwritten notes get AI-powered search and summarization, then sync with Alexa+ for voice discussions about your annotations.
Premium Pricing for Premium Features
Starting at $429.99, the new Scribes target serious note-takers willing to pay for paper-like writing.
The standard Scribe ranges from $429.99 (no front light) to $499.99 (with lighting), while the Colorsoft commands $629.99. That pricing puts Amazon squarely against the reMarkable 2 and Kobo Elipsa 2E, but with deeper ecosystem integration and weeks of battery life that competitors can’t match.
Amazon finally built an e-reader that treats writing as seriously as reading. Whether the AI features justify the premium remains to be seen, but the hardware improvements alone make this the most compelling digital notebook since the original Kindle proved e-ink could work. Your margin notes deserve better than cramped phone screens—and now they can get it.
