I wanted to love Amazon’s $630 Kindle Scribe Colorsoft. It has everything I covet. An E Ink display with front lighting and color. A pressure-sensitive stylus. The ability to take notes and annotate my existing library of ebooks. A distinct lack of distracting apps. And, for a certain type of person, this is the sweet spot between an iPad, an analog journal, and a regular e-reader.
I’m just not that person. I thought I might be, as I’ve been searching for a gadget that lets me read books while taking handwritten, uploadable digital notes. But for a whopping $629.99, I will be sticking to my Kindle Paperwhite and Hobonichi Techo, thank you very much.
Here’s the rub: The Colorsoft’s hardware is excellent, so long as you’re cool with E Ink’s limitations. For instance, there’s always some pixelation, colors aren’t vibrant, and you’ll always see some ghosting after the page refreshes — though Amazon’s done a great job of minimizing that. Battery life is superb. I haven’t even thought about charging in the week I’ve been testing it. Using the included Premium Pen stylus is surprisingly pleasant. I say that as someone with an absurdly specific and expansive collection of pens, pencils, and markers. As a gadget nerd, a little part of me goes “Whee!” every time I use it. But as a journaling dork, hobbyist calligrapher, and bookworm, it still doesn’t quite hit the mark.
For me, the best part about e-readers is that they’re highly portable. Doesn’t matter if I’m rocking a fanny pack, purse, or backpack — my Kindle Paperwhite fits easily in all of them, so I can read my books anywhere I go. The Colorsoft is extremely light and thin, weighing 14.1 ounces and measuring 5.4mm. (That’s much thinner and a whole 1.5 ounces lighter than my Hobonichi Techo Cousin notebook.) You’d think that means it’s a great device for commutes. But with an 11-inch display, this ain’t fitting into my smaller bags. Without a case (or a Pop Socket-type grip), the thinness makes it awkward for one-handed subway or bus reading. Forget annotating. Also, good luck finding the Premium Pen if you take it on the go. It may attach magnetically to the right side, but you’ll end up rummaging around the bottom of your bag for it.
I was pleasantly surprised by the stylus, but it still doesn’t compare to my favorite pens and pencils.
This is less of a problem if you’re curled up on a couch, Colorsoft propped up on your knees, or reviewing documents at your desk. It just means this is best as an at-home or at-office device.
A funny thing: The Colorsoft doesn’t need color unless you’re the type to color-code your notes or annotations, sketch, or read comics/graphic novels. Otherwise, the color is limited to screensavers and book covers. But if you do color-code, sketch, or read comics, then it’s a mixed bag.
On the one hand, it’s nice to read comics in color on E Ink! On the other, E Ink colors are inherently muted due to the tech’s current limitations. (You can watch our E Ink explainer for a deeper dive.) You cannot convince me that the orange highlighter on the Colorsoft isn’t brown, for example. That gives everything a newspaper-like feel, which has its own charm. But it’s less ideal for reading modern graphic novels, especially those with punchy art styles. The same goes for drawing. It’s fine if you like rough pencil sketches, charcoal, or doodling to clear your head. But if you want to do any sort of digital art, the lack of color options here makes this less versatile than an analog sketchbook and markers, or a more art-centric tablet.
One-handed reading is a must for Kindles and the Colorsoft (left) is gigantic compared to my Paperwhite (right). It’s quite thin at 5.4mm The colors can look pretty for cover art, screensavers, and in photos… But it’s generally more muted like this in person.
Color was most useful when annotating. While reading Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall, I was ecstatic that I could use blue highlights for themes, yellow for facts I’d like to read further on, and pink for writing that made me go “Oh damn.” As an avid bullet journaler, I use bright colors to decorate, divide sections, and color-code tasks in my notebooks. It was delightful to finally replicate that in some test notes on a Kindle.
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