Amazon's new Kindle Scribe is its biggest and most interactive ebook reader yet, but this large-format ereader sports a feature completely new to the Kindle line: a writeable screen.
The Amazon Kindle Scribe has a 10.2-inch, 300ppi E Ink display, similar in sharpness and adjustability to the screen on the Kindle Paperwhite. It's the largest Kindle device yet, and the first one with a screen larger than 8 inches since 2010's Kindle DX.
The screen is touch-sensitive, a standard feature on current Kindles, but it goes further than that. It can capture handwriting and sketches with a stylus pen.
The stylus interaction lets users add handwritten notes and drawings to any books they're reading on the Kindle Scribe. It also supports writing on PDF and Microsoft Word documents, which can be emailed directly to the device. Microsoft Word will also be gaining support to transfer documents directly to the Kindle Scribe in 2023.
Amazon offers two different Kindle Scribe pens with the device, a Basic Pen and a Premium Pen. Both are battery-fee stylii, but the Premium Pen adds an eraser and a shortcut button.
Besides the writeable screen, the Kindle Scribe has all of the standard features of Kindle ereaders. It integrates with the Kindle Store to offer access to over 13 million books, including the 3-million-book Kindle Unlimited subscription service. It also supports Audible audiobooks and Amazon's VoiceView text-to-voice screen reader.
The Amazon Kindle Scribe is available to pre-order now at $339 in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models. It ships on Nov. 30.