GoKawiilKaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority
I’ve been carrying Kindles around for well over a decade, but recently, Amazon has done a pretty good job of convincing users to look elsewhere. Between the company’s restrictive ecosystem and my growing concerns about what I even own when I buy digital books, I’ve spent the past year hopping between e-reader brands. Meanwhile, competitors keep getting better. I’ve dipped into BOOX, Kobo, and reMarkable devices, and some have shown me features I wish Amazon would borrow immediately. They’ve also made me appreciate just how polished Kindles are, and how comfortable the familiar experience feels.
I want Amazon to make a lot of changes to Kindle. I’m also realistic enough to know most of them probably aren’t going to happen. But one feels both achievable and overdue: a phone-sized Kindle Scribe. I’ve been asking for a portable Scribe since 2024, and after spending time with similar devices from other brands, it’s become my single biggest Kindle wish. Amazon could keep making decisions I disagree with, and I’d still probably stick around if I could just grab a pocketable e-reader with stylus support.
Would a pocket-sized Kindle Scribe win you back to Amazon's ecosystem? 29 votes Yes! 21 % I'd consider it. 24 % No, I won't go back to Kindle. 38 % No, the device doesn't appeal to me. 17 %
What I actually mean by pocket-sized
Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority
At this point, I don’t think I’m asking Amazon for anything particularly radical. The BOOX Palma 2 proved there’s real demand for a phone-sized e-reader, and reMarkable’s smaller devices like the Move have shown that note-taking doesn’t require a massive display. In my mind, the ideal device would land right around the size of my smartphone, so yes, even smaller than a 6-inch basic Kindle. I want it just large enough to comfortably read books and annotate documents, but small enough to slip into the back pocket of my women’s jeans.
I want a pocket-sized e-reader that's small enough to fit in my jeans and focused enough to keep me reading.
And yes, I already know the obvious counterargument that I should just use the Kindle app on my smartphone. I already do. But while I appreciate the app for supplementing my e-reader experience, I don’t want it to be where I primarily consume books. First, it drains my battery. Missing an important call because my phone died mid-reread of Harry Potter is embarrassing for a number of reasons. Secondly, my phone is a black hole of distraction that’s more likely to lead me down a rabbit hole of group texts or scrolling than into a book. Most importantly, though, it lacks the comfortable, paper-like experience that makes e-ink displays so uniquely suited to reading.
A digital pocket notebook
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