The Kindle Scribe is an excellent e-ink tablet for both reading and taking notes, but which model should you buy? The original 2022 model or the updated 2024 variant?
While you might assume that the newer Kindle Scribe (2024) is an easy recommendation, there are plenty of similarities between the two generations of e-reader that muddy the waters. Do you want the premium experience on offer from the 2024 model, or should you save some cash by opting for the older but still wholly capable 2022 model?
We compare the Kindle Scribe (2024) and Kindle Scribe (2022) right here, including real-world testing, to help you decide which is best for your needs.
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Price and availability
The Kindle Scribe (2024) is available starting at £379/$399 with 16GB of storage, though you can opt for a model with 32- or 64GB at an additional cost. It’s available to buy right now following release in late 2024.
The first-gen 16GB Kindle Scribe cost £329/$339 or £359/$369 at launch, depending on whether you wanted the basic or premium pen. However, even with an updated model now available, Amazon is still selling the 2022 model at the same price.
Design
With a design similar to the now-discontinued Kindle Oasis, both generations of Kindle Scribe sport a familiar three-slim bezel design with one thick bezel to make it easier to hold without accidentally activating the display.
This makes sense, not only from a reading perspective but also from a writing perspective, complete with a flat back with grippy feet to ensure the e-reader doesn’t slide around tables when written on.
Both are equally large devices with 10.2-inch e-ink screens. However, while sizeable enough to be a little awkward to use one-handed for longer periods, the combination of a 5.7-5.8mm thickness and 433g makes them easy to slide into a bag unnoticed.
There are slight differences between the two, including slightly slimmer bezels on the newer model and a white bezel option to accompany the black bezels of the original, but these are relatively minor changes.
What’s disappointing is that neither model feature physical buttons to make changing pages easier, and unlike cheaper Kindles, neither offer any kind of dust or water resistance.
That could make taking the Scribe to the pool or the beach a risky move, and one we’d have hoped Amazon would fix with the newer 2024 model.
Winner: Kindle Scribe (2024)
Screen and stylus
As with the Scribes’ general design, there isn’t a massively noticeable difference between the two 10.2-inch e-ink screens – but there are subtle differences if you look a little closer.
For one, the newer Kindle Scribe (2024) offers a tweaked textured finish on the screen that massively improves the experience of writing with the bundled stylus, with a scratchiness not too dissimilar to that of a pen and paper.
The colour temperature has also been tweaked slightly compared to the older model, though this isn’t noticeable in real-world use, even with the two sat side-by-side.
Elsewhere, the screens are almost identical; both offer a 300ppi resolution to deliver crisp text, even on that large screen, with 35 LED lights around the sides of the panel to provide an even lighting effect in low-light conditions.
Both can become very bright or very dim, and both can also shift the screen’s colour temperature to better suit your environment – though the latter is very much a manual process. Regardless of the model you go for, you’ll get a great screen for both reading and note-taking – especially when paired with a stylus.
Both generations of Scribe come with a stylus that magnetically attaches to the side of the e-reader, though there is a slight difference on offer. The older Kindle Scribe came with a choice of basic or premium styli, with the latter offering an eraser button and a shortcut key, though it came at an additional cost.
The newer Scribe, on the other hand, comes with the premium stylus as standard. It is a very good stylus, too; we praised its functionality and writing experience across both generations of Scribe. It’s ergonomically shaped, and the eraser functionality at the end of the pen provides a familiar erasing experience – so much so that our reviewer occasionally brushed the screen afterward to get rid of non-existent rubber shavings.
Winner: Kindle Scribe (2024)
Software and features
Software is, rather surprisingly for such a successful line of products, a little hit-and-miss – when it comes to the first-gen Scribe, anyway. As my colleague Max put it in his review, “for a device designed as a note-taking tool, the lack of deep features in this area makes the Scribe hard to recommend.”
The first-gen tablet lacked what many consider to be rather basic features, especially for an e-reader focused on note-taking. For one, you couldn’t actually take notes directly on any eBook or PDF file, instead relying on digital sticky notes that you could attach to files. Neither could the Scribe recognise handwriting to make searching for notes easier.
This essentially limited the initial Scribe’s writing functionality to a dedicated note-taking section of the tablet, with the e-reader experience otherwise consistent with other Kindles in Amazon’s line – that is to say, access to a massive library of ebooks either outright or rented via Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program.
It really does offer one of the best collections of books and magazines around, especially compared to the competing Onyx Boox Go 10.3 and Remarkable Pro, and that’s also true of the second-gen Scribe.
However, it looks like Amazon took the criticism of the first-gen product onboard and massively improved the software offering with the newer variant.
Most importantly, you can freely write in any eBook or PDF file on the newer Kindle. The former is achieved by Amazon’s new Active Canvas system that essentially warps the text on page around your handwritten notes, staying synced in place regardless of whether you change the size of the text or view it on a smaller device.
Following a post-launch update, you can also expand the margins and take notes there, offering more space without that messy doodled look. There’s also the option to use AI to process your handwritten notes and turn them into text-based notes that are easier to share with friends and colleagues.
Winner: Kindle Scribe (2024)
Battery life
The excellent power efficiency of e-ink display tech means that, like most other e-readers and e-tablets, the Kindle Scribe can just keep on going – even with that sizeable 10.2-inch screen.
Amazon claims that both generations of Kindle Scribe can last around 12 weeks on a single charge, and that’s about on the money in our experience. We found both tablets could easily last well over a month with demanding, everyday use, with more sporadic use extending battery life even further.
Winner: Draw
Final thoughts
The Kindle Scribe is one of the better e-tablets for note-taking, especially if you opt for the newer 2024 model. The newer model not only offers the premium pen from the first-gen Scribe as standard, but a new textured finish to the screen better emulates the regular pen-and-paper writing experience.
The core note-taking experience is also improved compared to the first-gen Scribe, especially when writing directly in books.
That aside, the experience is fairly consistent among the two; both offer a large canvas that’s perfect for both reading books and writing notes, with an ergonomically shaped stylus that’s comfortable to use. Both also offer weeks of battery life, and access to the same massive library of books through the Kindle store.
If you want the very best experience, the 2024 model of Scribe is the one to go for, but if you’re not too fussed, you could save a pretty penny on the older, but more affordable, 2022 model.
