Amazon Kindle Scribe is a modern twist on an old idea – and you might like it
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A big-screen E Ink device that’s equally at home with documents and books released by Amazon in the depths of an economic downturn, and it’s not the Kindle Scribe that Amazon unveiled Wednesday during a massive rollout of smart products.
This was the Amazon Kindle DX (opens in new tab), a 9.7-inch E Ink reader released in 2009. It wasn’t as slim, light, or bright as the 300 ppi backlit Kindle Scribe. There wasn’t even a touchscreen, rather it had a physical keyboard and navigation buttons. The Kindle DX was thought to be the future of Amazon’s E Ink bookstore, especially for textbooks.
The device’s large screen and ability to hold thousands of books would spell the end of students struggling under the weight of overstuffed backpacks filled with gigantic and expensive textbooks. The Kindle DX cost nearly $500, but most expected typical college and school textbooks to cost half the price through Amazon’s online bookstores.
After a single update in 2010, the Kindle DX died a quick and unobtrusive death. I was never quite sure why, but came to believe that the majority of Kindle e-reader users read novels about it while on vacation and have no interest or need for a tablet-sized device that only has a black-and-white screen. offers and can’t even play video.
The 2010 release of Apple’s iPad essentially sealed the fate of the DX
By that measure, the new Kindle Scribe could be the same kind of misfire. However, despite the economic similarities, 2022 is not 2009 and the Kindle Scribe is technically much better than the DX.
The biggest innovation, at least for Amazon, is the Kindle Scribe’s stylus, included in the $339 price. First, it’s reassuring to see that Amazon hasn’t followed the DX pricing model: go expensive or go home. Second, it’s kind of genius to bundle the stylus, which is probably more intelligent than a simple piece of plastic. It’s what makes the Kindle Scribe cool, desirable and, aside from obvious design differences, very different from Amazon’s last big screen E Ink tablet attempt.
But even here Amazon is treading familiar territory, though not necessarily its own.
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2017, I tested the first ReMarkable tablet, a 10.1-inch, 350-gram E Ink and stylus-assisted tablet. It boasted 226 ppi with a look and feel that was as close to a piece of paper as you could get without being made from pulp. ReMarkable worked closely with E Ink to create a version of electronic paper that offered a response time of 100 milliseconds, making it seem like the E Ink that appeared on the page was flowing from the ReMarkable stylus. By the way, that stylus did not require batteries and extracted energy from the screen via inductive charging. The follow-up ReMarkable 2 tablet is even lighter and thinner (4.7mm).
The similarities between the Kindle Scribe and ReMarkable 2 aren’t, well, remarkable, as they are a reflection of how far E Ink rendering, processing, materials and stylus technology have progressed in 13 years since Amazon unveiled the Kindle DX. The fact that ReMarkable was there first is a credit to them, but now also a concern.
Amazon had 15 years to perfect its e-reader business, with a range of products starting at $99 (often retailing for $69) and costing as much as the $249 Kindle Oasis. The 10.2-inch Kindle Scribe is more affordable than the original DX, but not as cheap as the $279 ReMarkable 2. It extends the Kindle’s utility into a space once owned by ReMarkable.
Amazon now has the resources to let this more expensive and mostly niche e-reader penetrate and grow in market share, while the sloppy startup ReMarkable needs some splashing innovation. It should remind consumers that it was here first (as if that matters) to survive.
What’s odd is that my excitement about the Kindle Scribe is based almost entirely on my ReMarkable 1 experiences. It’s fun to draw on E Ink with a stylus. It can look and feel like paper. ReMarkable was always smart enough to harness the processing power behind the paper-like screen for more usability.
The arc of technology often goes up, but also bends back in time to long-forgotten failures to create something fresh and new. It’s nice to look at the new and try it, but it’s always worth remembering how we and everyone else got here.
You can see everything Amazon revealed at its big event here.