Amazon announced a month ago that it planned to launch the Kindle Scribe with Front Light and the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft into international markets, starting with Germany and the United Kingdom. These devices are now available to order and are no longer in the pre-order phase. However, if you live outside of these countries, you can order them from the Good e-Reader Store.
Kindle Scribe is available now with prices starting at $499.99 in the U.S., £449.99 in the UK, and €519.99 in Germany. Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is also available now, starting at $629.99 in the U.S., £569.99 in the UK, and €649.99 in Germany.
The Amazon Kindle Scribe 3 is the latest-generation e-notebook and e-reader with a giant 11-inch screen and a traditional black-and-white e-paper display. Amazon also bills this as the Kindle Scribe with Front Light, which is a bit of mixed messaging. This device is primarily geared towards freehand drawing, note-taking, and editing e-books and PDF files. Recently, this product received a software update that allows users to edit PDF files sent to the Scribe via USB, making it easier to send files to the Scribe.
If you do not intend to draw or edit documents, the Scribe makes for a very capable, dedicated book reader. The 11-inch screen is the largest that Amazon makes, allowing more text to fit than the Kindle Paperwhite, and it’s also tremendous for people with vision disorders or those who need to wear reading glasses for small text. The Kindle Scribe can increase text size or change fonts. There is also Profiles, which remembers all of your e-reading settings, in case you have one for books, one for e-textbooks, or comics.
The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is Amazon’s first e-notebook with a color e-paper screen, similar to the Kindle Colorsoft. This device features an 11-inch Kaleido 3 e-paper display designed for viewing and editing PDF files, annotating Kindle books, and freehand drawing.
If you intend to take notes, freehand draw, edit PDF files, or edit Kindle books, then it is worth it. You have 10 different colors to draw with and lots of highlights and bookmarked colors to choose from. Uploading or downloading your notes, books, or PDF files from cloud storage is also excellent, since many people use OneDrive or Google Drive.
What about using this as a large-screen e-reader for comics, manga, and reading books? It depends on what type of content you see yourself reading. Webtoons are often in full color; comics are in color; ditto for cookbooks, e-textbooks, or nonfiction titles with lots of pictures. The typical e-book is mainly in black and white, and a color e-reader never really does this well; a Kindle Paperwhite would better serve you for the book experience. However, if you have vision disorders and need glasses to read, the extra-large screen on the Kindle Scribe with front light might be the better buy, since it doesn’t have a color screen.