For the third generation of its Kindle Scribe line of reading-and-writing tablets, Amazon is giving the device a makeover and two new configurations. Since its introduction in 2022, the Scribe hasn’t changed much physically, with the sophomore model mostly getting a new color. This year, Amazon is launching three flavors of the Scribe. At the entry level is a model with a monochrome screen and no front light. Next is a version that has LED front lights but with a black-and-white display. Finally, at the top of the line is the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft — Amazon’s first writing tablet with a color display.
I was able to briefly check out the three new tablets ahead of the company’s launch event, and was quite impressed at the responsiveness and color saturation on the demo units I saw. Also, Amazon hasn’t given these devices a name that indicates what generation they are, simply calling them the “all-new Kindle Scribe lineup” and adding the Colorsoft label to the color model. To make things easier for this article, I’ll be occasionally referring to these as the Kindle Scribe 3.
The first thing I noticed was the Scribe 3’s shape. I’m used to the slightly thicker bezel along one long side of the display that, on the older Scribes, has been a handy place to grip the device without touching the screen. But it wasn’t just there for my thumb to hold onto. That area was also where Amazon placed many of the Kindle’s components like the processor and memory.
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To reduce the size of the bezel, Amazon’s Kindle vice president Kevin Keith said “we had to engineer basically the electronics to fold behind the display.” The result is a symmetrical-looking device with a barely-there bezel that’s the same size along all sides of the 11-inch display (slightly bigger than its predecessor’s). It weighs 400 grams (or 0.88 pounds), which should make it easier to hold with one hand while taking notes. Keith also said that, at 5.4mm, the new Kindle Scribe is “thinner than the iPhone Air.” I should point out that a lot of tablets are similarly sleek. The 13-inch iPad Pro and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra both have barely-there profiles of 5.1mm, while the 11-inch iPad Pro measures 5.3mm.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
Another way Amazon was able to make the latest Scribe so thin and light was by reducing the number of layers in the display. It removed the anti-glare film on the device, using a glare-free display instead, as well as a textured glass that mimics the friction you’d get when putting pen to paper. The company also got rid of a touch layer that was on top of the display before, since it was able to use a screen with integrated touch input support. Keith said that Amazon also considered the size of the casing around the USB port to aid in shrinking the device further.
On models with front lights (all but the entry-level configuration), Amazon had to use miniaturized LED front lights since there was no longer a chunky bezel to contain them. In addition to making them smaller, the company also doubled the number of bulbs to ensure consistency of lighting across the page.
I couldn’t help reaching for the new Kindle Scribe when I saw it, mostly because it looks a lot different than its predecessor. I already found the original Scribe satisfyingly svelte and this latest model is similarly attractive. I do wonder if I might miss having something to grip onto that isn’t the screen, but that might not be a problem if Amazon’s palm rejection technology is effective.
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