ReMarkable 2 vs Kindle scribe: Our tech expert compares the digital notepads | The Independent

This is the first Kindle you can write on (well, without ruining your device). It’s a large-screen ereader that doubles as a digital notepad, enabling you to annotate ebooks and documents, make handwritten notes, and even doodle in a dedicated sketchbook, all using the included stylus.

Priced at £329.99 for the basic 16GB model (rising to £379.99 for 32GB of storage and the premium pen), the Kindle scribe is significantly more expensive than Amazon’s other ereaders, such as the Kindle paperwhite (from £149.99, Amazon.co.uk) and the Kindle oasis (from £335.10, Amazon.co.uk), both of which have higher-resolution screens and smaller form factors better suited to reading on the go.

The scribe’s higher price tag is partly justified by the device’s premium design. Like the priciest Kindle oasis, the scribe features an asymmetric design, with one edge thicker than the other, which helps with grip and makes the device feel less bulky in hand, despite the larger screen size.

The main draw here, however, is the inclusion of a stylus for note-taking. It’s a similar experience to using the reMarkable 2 but with some key differences.

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You can’t write directly onto ebooks from Amazon’s Kindle store. Instead, you add virtual sticky notes to individual pages. Tap on a highlighted passage of text in an ebook and you can scrawl your thoughts onto a digital notepad linked to that specific line of text.

To experience the full potential of the scribe’s note-taking abilities, you can import your own compatible documents, such as PDFs or Word files, and doodle all over them. Like the reMarkable 2, that makes the Kindle scribe a great solution for signing documents in your own handwriting. Just email yourself the PDF, add your marks and email it back to yourself.

There are a few downsides to the Kindle scribe, though none of them are deal-breakers. The 10.2in screen is big and bright, but the 300PPI resolution is lower than that found on Amazon’s cheaper ereaders. That’s not a huge problem, since the lower resolution helps extend battery life (which is excellent – expect to get more than a month of use from a single charge), but text can look a little less crisp on the scribe, especially if you’re used to the pin-sharp text of the Kindle paperwhite or oasis.

The stylus is fractions of a second slower to respond than the reMarkable 2, meaning the illusion of writing on paper is slightly less convincing. Then again, this is partly because the Kindle scribe has an additional layer under the display, with front lighting for reading and writing in the dark, something the reMarkable 2 doesn’t have.

So, who is the Kindle scribe for? It’s not cheap, so casual readers are likely better served by one of Amazon’s cheaper ereaders but, if you’re a student or professional who reads and annotates a lot of documents, or if you’re simply looking for a more versatile ereader that doubles as a digital notepad, the Kindle scribe is a great option.