Kindle Scribe 2024 Review

Design & Build

The design of the Kindle Scribe 2024 consists of a glass screen inserted into a metal tray or bucket. The corners and edges are nicely rounded and although the aluminium rear is smooth, it is not slippery and there is some grip for the hand. Also on the rear panel are four rubber feet (one in each corner) which prevents the tablet from sliding around on the desk.

The metal casing adds to the Kindle Scribe’s robustness, however this does result in it being rather heavy (433g), which means it is not really comfortable to hold for long periods – as one of its main functions is as an e-reading device, this is not ideal. If you rest it on your lap or a desk, it is fine, but if (like me) you prefer to read lying on your back with the tablet raised above your head, your arms will start to ache quite quickly. There is also the hazard of dropping it onto your face (and I talk from experience when i say that this is very painful!) Another drawback of the metal casing (for me, anyway) is that it is cold to the touch – personally, I prefer plastic because it is lighter and warmer.

The left edge houses the USB-C socket (for charging and file transfer). The problem with locating the socket on this edge is that there needs to be a cutout on the spine of the folio so that you can still charge the device when the folio is closed. This compromises the integrity of the folio, allowing the front and rear panels to move independently with much more freedom than is ideal (but I’ll cover this in more detail in the Folio section). It’s difficult to see on the image below (sorry) but the USB socket is located centrally and just a little higher is the power button. The other edges of the Scribe are smooth.

SIdenote: If you’ve read my review of the original Kindle Scribe (the 2022 version), you will notice very little difference between these two reviews. This is for the simple reason that the 2024 version of the Scribe is almost exactly the same as its predecessor! It uses exactly the same chassis and, as far as I can see, has no significant improvements (in fact, some things are actually worse). Hence, expect a fair bit of comparison between these two models in this review.

The build quality of the Scribe is very good. It is durable and robust, however it is also heavy and a little cumbersome. In terms of aesthetics, it’s not bad. There are plenty of e-ink tablets that are much less visually appealing, but there are also several that are more stylish as well.

Hardware Specs

Amazon does not publicly reveal the processor speed and memory of their Kindles, however, it is likely to have around a 1GHz CPU and around 1Gb of RAM. Whilst these specs are quite low in comparison to other e-ink tablets, this does not really impact the performance of the Scribe because it is limited by its software. The hardware is more than capable of carrying out the tasks that the Scribe was designed for (essentially, reading e-books and note-taking) because these tasks do not require a vast amount of power.

When you buy the Kindle Scribe, there are three options for the amount of storage capacity; 16Gb, 32Gb, and 64Gb. I would argue that the least expensive 16Gb version will be plenty of space for the average user. This is because the majority of e-books are under 2Mb in size, so a library of 5000 e-books will only take up about 10Gb of space. In addition, your full Kindle library is stored on the Amazon cloud and only downloaded to the Scribe when you want to read it (and can be deleted locally again afterwards). So, unless you plan on reading lots of large and complex PDFs or will be taking thousands of pages of notes, I think 16Gb would be sufficient for most users.

For e-ink tablets that do have the capability of running third-party apps (primarily Android tablets), I usually provide CPU benchmarks in this section so that users have an idea of how more CPU-intensive apps might behave. However, because the Scribe can only run its own native apps (no third-party apps), these are not provided. For the most part, the Scribe is quite quick and snappy and doesn’t lag too much when switching between apps and documents.

Overall, the Kindle Scribe is not endowed with a vast amount of processing power, but for the simple features it offers (reading and note-taking), the specs are sufficient.

Screen

The screen is 300PPI monochrome (black-and-white) Carta, and honestly, it looks really rich and crisp when compared with the previous generation of e-ink screens that had a screen density of 227PPI. However, I also have to say that the difference is very slight, and only really noticeable if you have both e-ink screens laid side-by-side or zoom in on some text. Essentially, I feel that there is some perceivable difference between the two screen densities, but not an awful lot – 227PPI is adequate but you do appreciate how much clearer 300PPI is after seeing the difference. When the original Scribe was released, they seemed to have exclusive access to 300PPI panels – this now appears to be over as all leading brands now have 300PPI tablets in their product range.

And now we get to the first major difference between the original Kindle Scribe and the 2024 version. The background of the screen is visibly darker (or ‘less-white’) than its predecessor, as can be seen in the image below.

Around the screen are four thin white bezels, with a dark gray vertical band on the left-hand edge (analogous to the spine of a book) – on the Scribe 2022, the entire border was the same dark-gray colour as the spine. This thicker bezel is useful for placing your thumb without obscuring the screen (or getting greasy fingermarks on it). The alteration of the border color appears to be a purely cosmetic change, and offers no real improvement – in fact I would argue that it is actually a regression because the darker screen and the bright white border creates a stark contrast, and some of the LEDs on the frontlight shine through the lighter bezel. In addition, I can make out shadows below the white border, which are not as obvious the 2022 Scribe.

The viewable screen size of the Kindle Scribe (measured diagonally) is 10.2″. This is slightly smaller than the industry standard of 10.3″ but is not really all that noticeable – it is still around the size of an A5 sheet of paper.

To the touch, the screen feels smooth but not slippy, a bit like a matte finish. This creates a satisfying scratching sound when you write on it (which I’ll talk more about later).

The original Scribe had a really good frontlight, and although the 2024 version presumably uses the same hardware, there is some bleed into the bezels/borders, particularly on the right edge. The lights appear to be shining through the bezel, which I found a little off-putting whilst reading.

It has capacitive (touchscreen) capabilities and a Wacom-EMR layer (which is, in my experience, simply the best technology for stylus input).

Overall, the screen is good quality, and great for both reading and writing tasks, but the inherent darkness and the alignment of the frontlight LEDs are a little frustrating, particularly when considering that its predecessor did not have these issues.

Writing Experience

The tactile writing experience on the Kindle Scribe is really nice, particularly for a tablet with a frontlight. Frontlit tablets tend to have a tiny gap between the surface of the screen and the point where your handwriting is displayed, which makes it feel a little unnatural. You can definitely observe this nuance on the Scribe however, it appears to have been reduced as much as possible.

The audible feedback from the scratching of the nib on the grainy screen gives me a lot of satisfaction. The screen is quite rigid, but has some flexibility, and the nibs are soft, which eliminates any kind of harsh tapping sound. In addition, it has very low latency (each stroke appears almost immediately after you make it) and for some brushes/pen types, both the pressure you apply and the tilt of the pen affect how the strokes are displayed.

Overall, the writing experience is really, really nice, but writing tasks are limited by the capabilities of the software (see my firmware review).

Hardware features

Like most e-ink tablets, the Scribe supports both Wifi and Bluetooth, however, the Bluetooth is really only limited to audio output, such as headphones or speakers. It may be possible to hook up a Bluetooth keyboard but I’ve not tried because the software does not really have any features whereby typed input would be particularly useful.

It has a G-Sensor, for auto-orienting the screen between landscape and portrait. And, of course, the USB port supports the transfer of files (ebooks) to/from other devices.

But, apart from this, there are no other hardware features (no speakers, microphone, fingerprint scanner, MicroSD slot etc.).

Battery

Amazon do not provide details of the battery in the Kindle Scribe 2024 however, in all likelihood, it has around a 3000mAh battery, like its predecessor..

The table below shows how much battery is depleted by performing certain operations for an hour.

Test (1hr)	Scribe 2024 (% battery used)
Note-taking	6%
Reading	1%
Wifi On	+0%
Frontlight (medium)	+1%
Frontlight (Full)	+6%

So, you could expect to drain about 6% of the battery per hour when note-taking, and 1% per hour when reading. With Wifi turned on, the battery will drain less than 1% per hour, with the frontlight on medium an additional 1% per hour will be used, and with the frontlight on full brightness, around 6% per hour.

I calculate typical battery life from these figures by assuming 3 hours of note-taking and 2 hours of reading each day, with the Wifi turned on for 3 hours. For tablets that have a frontlight, I also factor in 2 hours on a medium setting and 2 hours on a full setting.

For the Scribe, this works out at about 34% of battery use per day, which would give you 2.9 days of use before it needed to be recharged (although this could be improved by not having the frontlight on full, and for predominately reading tasks, battery life would be significantly longer).

Battery life is often poorer for tablets that have a frontlight (compared to those that do not), however even for a frontlit tablet, the Kindle Scribe 2024 does not perform very well. In fact battery life appears to be worse than the Kindle Scribe 2022 (you can see how it compares to other tablets here).

Accessories

The Premium Pen was shipped with my Kindle Scribe. The official Amazon folio was priced at around £60, which I really couldn’t justify to myself, so instead I bought a third-party folio from Cobak.

Stylus/Pen

There are two versions of the Kindle Pen; standard and premium. The standard Pen is more minimalistic and can only be used for writing. The Premium Pen is slightly more expensive but has an eraser at the top and customizable button on the shaft. There are several options for this button, including switching between different pen types, the eraser or the selection tool in the note-taking app.

The Kindle Scribe Pen is one of my favourite e-ink Styluses to use. It is almost perfectly weighted and has a comfortable grip. It is almost cylindrical, with one edge flattened to prevent it rolling across the desk. This flat edge is also used to snap the stylus to the right-hand edge of the Kindle Scribe – the magnets keep it in place fairly securely but it will fall off if you give the tablet a shake.

Many people prefer the additional functionality of the Premium Pen, but personally, I prefer the standard pen primarily because I often accidentally trigger the customizable button as I write. I also used to be slightly irritated by the movement and rattling of the eraser, but Amazon appear to have made some improvements with this version – the texture of the eraser is more ‘rubbery‘ than ‘plasticky‘, and there is less movement in the spring mechanism. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any option to buy the Standard Pen instead of the Premium Pen with the Kindle 2024 (as there was with the Kindle 2022).

It uses disposable nibs, so these need to be replaced on occasion. Frequency of changing nibs will depend on how much you write, but you should get at least a few months out of each one. There are five spare nibs included with the Kindle Scribe.

Overall, I really enjoy using the Kindle Scribe Pen (both the Standard and Premium versions), but if I were given the choice, I would go with the Standard Pen.

Folio

As stated earlier, I did not purchase the official Kindle Scribe folio because I felt it was too expensive, particularly for a tablet I was unlikely to be using regularly. Instead, I bought a £20 alternative folio made by CoBak*.

It is made from plastic but has a faux-leathery texture to it. The rear panel is composed of a rigid tray-like structure that the tablet can be wedged into. This provides a very firm grip and the tablet is not going to fall out of, even when given a vigorous shake. There are four indents on the interior of the rear panel to cater for the rubber feet on the underside of the Scribe. There is also a space for the stylus, and part of the right edge has been cut away to make it easy to remove. Magnets on the right edge keep the folio from inadvertently opening, and auto-sleep and auto-wake work fine.

The front panel is also rigid but has a little more flex to it. The interior is made from a softer material.

Connecting the two panels is a thinner and more pliable spine. There is a cut-out in the centre so that the power button, USB-C port, and LED can be accessed when the folio is closed. This, along with indents on the top and bottom of the spine, means that there is a bit too much independent movement of the front and rear panels. Imagine an old book that has a damaged or worn spine so that the front cover can be slid back and forth whilst the rest of the book stays in situ. The magnets do mitigate this somewhat by trying to force the front panel back into the correct position.

When the front panel is opened and folded back, there is some cushioning, so that when you lean on the screen of the tablet (to write) the unit moves downwards slightly. This is more noticeable on the left side of the tablet, with the right side being more level and sturdy. The movement is quite slight, but it may be a little to much for a left-handed user. Alternatively the folio can be opened without folding it back, which is more stable, but obviously takes up more desk space.

Aesthetically, the folio is alright. It’s not going to win any ‘gorgeous design’ awards, but it looks okay.

But, overall, it is a decent folio that does the performs its primary roles of protecting the tablet and housing the stylus perfectly adequately.

Software

My review of this tablet should be read in conjunction with my review of the current firmware (see table below), which includes aspects such as the Operating System, User Interface, and Native Apps.

The hardware and software reviews have been separated because the firmware used at the time that this review was written may not be the same firmware being used currently. This could result in the review quickly becoming outdated. Also, as several tablets may use the same firmware, this would mean going back and updating every single tablet review from a particular manufacturer to account for the new firmware. By splitting them up, if there is a firmware update, I am able to make the updates on a single page. This movement does expose the top and bottom corners of the right side of the tablet. However, I think it is unlikely to result on any damage to the tablet.

Current versions of this brand’s firmware are shown in the table below, along with the tablets running them.

My rating	Firmware version	Tablets using this firmware
	5.18 (current version) Apr 2025	Kindle Scribe 2024 Kindle Scribe Kindle Scribe Colorsoft 2025 Kindle Scribe 2025
Older amazon kindle firmware versions may be found here

Brand

For some people, it is also worth considering the brand as a whole, including aspects like customer service, ecosystem, values, and criticisms.

My full overview of the Kindle brand can be found here, but I have provided a summary below.

Final Verdict

The Kindle Scribe (2024 version) is well-built, has a nice screen, and a very pleasant tactile writing feel.

However, it is rather heavy and bulky, and the software is very limited compared to other products on the market – you are essentially limited to e-reading, annotating ebooks, and note-taking (and the note-taking app is comparatively feature-poor).

Inevitably, I’m going to have to compare the Scribe 2024 to it’s predecessor, the Scribe 2022, and (in all honesty), I feel the Scribe 2022 is better. The Scribe 2024 has not bought any significant improvements to the table. In fact some things are worse – the battery does not last as long, the screen is darker and the frontlight bleeds through the white border. One of the selling points of the Scribe 2024 is the new Active Canvas feature, which allows you to insert resizable blocks of handwriting directly within the text of ebooks. And I admit that this is a really cool feature and extremely useful. However, the Scribe 2022 runs exactly the same version of the software, and has exactly the same features.

The Scribe (original 2022 version) has never been my favourite e-ink tablet because of the limitations of the software and ecosystem (as previously discussed). However, I still recommended it for several reasons. The limited features have been implemented very well (basically, it doesn’t do as much as other e-ink tablets, but what it does do ‘just works’). It has a simple and intuitive user interface. And, perhaps most importantly, it is one of the most affordable ~10″ e-ink tablets on the market. This makes it an ideal for choice for those that are looking for a simple digital reading and note-taking tablet without breaking the bank.

The new Kindle Scribe 2024 is simply the 2022 version, with a white (rather than dark gray) border around the screen and poorer battery life. I can see nothing that makes this a better choice over its predecessor, particularly as it is significantly more expensive. My advice would be to look for a refurbished 2022 Scribe instead – some great deals can still be got on this tablet during Amazon promotions. Or, of you’d prefer a brand new device, check out the Boox Go 10.3 instead (which is still cheaper than the new Kindle Scribe, although it doesn’t have a frontlight).

Now I need to decide what to do with my own Kindle Scribe (2024). I like to keep units of all the major e-ink tablets so that I can stay abreast with firmware updates (for eWritable). And, I actually think I’m going to be using the new Active Canvas on the Kindle Scribe for reading some philosophy texts and taking notes along the way. But I already have the 2022 version of the Scribe – and because it does everything the 2024 version does (including running the same firmware), I’m seriously considering just sending the newer unit back. I’m not the sort of person that usually buys devices to review and then returns them, but I’m so disappointed with this tablet that I can see little reason to hang onto it.

Buying Options

The Kindle Scribe (2024) is only available from Amazon, and a small selection of major retailers.

Kindle Scribe 2024 Specs