Kindle Scribe is here and better than expected - ish
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- Опубликовано: 18 ноя 2024
- There's no nice way to say this: I was wrong about the Kindle Scribe's shortcomings for writers. But unfortunately, perhaps not quite wrong enough.
LINKS:
Writers' Mailing List: eepurl.com/gQTqTT
Kindle Scribe: amzn.to/3Fn03jl
Previous 58keys from when Kindle Scribe was announced: • Is the new Kindle Scri...
The Blank Screen: for writers who need to get more done: amzn.to/3RZhfAH
I love your content. You're always yourself, show unbiased reviews and dispense excellent advice for writers like me. I love that you don't take yourself too seriously and never fail to make me laugh. I am so tired of overproduced youtube videos that are always trying to sell me crap I don't need. You're like the professor that everyone loved and whom I wish I had when I was in University.
That's made my day, thank you.
You can hide the writing toolbar completely while reading. While your in the book go to the three dot menu. There you can select Hide Writing Toolbar.
Fantastic: thank you hugely.
Aha! I misread you: you have to be reading a book to get that option, it isn't available in the toolbar otherwise. Please picture me stabbing away at those three dots in a notebook, trying to figure this out.
If you are worried about loosing the pen, get the cover. The cover has a secure holder for the pen that is much better than just attaching it to the side of the scribe. It also helps you keep the screen safe when you are carrying the device.
I am concerned about losing the pen, but I also don't think I'm going to keep the Scribe for very long so I'll live with the risk for now, thanks.
I've discovered that, for me, the Kindle Scribe is the perfect writing tool for first drafts - if I’m typing I have a habit of obsessively re-writing the bits I've already done, so after a long writing session I will have one honed, shiny paragraph and nothing else to show for a morning's work. I've found writing by hand incredibly liberating as I can just let the words flow and polish them later (and there's finally a convert-to-text option, which is great). I've also found it more appealing than a notebook and pen, as I can still easily erase the last thing I wrote if it is just too awful. Excuse me for evangelising all over a year-old video, but your Scribe videos were a big help to me in deciding whether to buy one in the first place. Thanks!
Thank you for commenting: that’s great to hear. What you describe with handwriting is precisely how I feel with typing. I’m glad we’ve both found our way.
An excellent review! Writing tools have to fit specific parameters. Not every improvement fits a need, and slow performance is never much fun.
My handwriting was a wreck, by the way. Now, after 40 years of signing my name like a psychopath I have a signature diplomats envy.
It wasn't hard to do. Get a fountain pen, not a ballpoint, with a medium nib. Practice for 30 minutes on good paper. Write slow and large. Control the pen's motion as much with your shoulder as your fingers. Now stop practicing and just write. It's amazing the difference a little therapy makes, and your handwriting recognition appliances will thank you. ;-)
Hmm. Looks at keyboard. Keyboards are my friend.
I got a Kindle Scribe as a gift and was looking for a review and came across your video. I found it to be pleasantly informative and insightful. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
That's a very nice gift to get. I think my review boiled down to how for the cost, there were too many limitations, but to have it as a gift is tremendous. Tonight's (December 21, 2022) 58keys is an update about reading on the Kindle Scribe and -- sorry -- I end up returning it to Amazon. Which I must do today, actually. I'll be back for some future Kindle Scribe 2, though.
The premium pen has the advantage of the basic pen with the programable button. From my understanding is that you can hide the icon for note taking in a book and use the button on the pen to open up the sticky note. So you don't have to have that icon on the screen.
That really is a strong reason for the Premium Pen: thanks, I didn’t know that.
What a colorful and thoughtful review! It turns out there is a way to hide the toolbar when reading. I think you click the “3-dot” button in the reading menu. Thanks for the review!
I did not know that, you are a star, thanks.
What are your thoughts on Mind Mapping? I don’t used that method, but I do make my own charts of sorts to make notes in. I’ve keep a journal for 40 years, But I don’t go back and read what I write. There are times when I simply don’t care if my words are spelled correctly or not. I feel like I am always in a hurry to get things written down. I am dyslexic and often can’t read my own hand writing very well. Did you know they have a font for dyslexia folks? cool hah. Now back to the Kindle Scribe, I like reading from it, I wish there was a split screen, so I could at least a copy cut and paste into my notes. Best of all, when I finally sit down to read from my kindle books I can do so without interruption, I have so may Kindle books it’s like being in a candy store with so many choices. O and I like the fact, that I can listen to my Audible books on my Kindle Scribe.
I enjoyed your video, keep up the good work Sir. Mrs. Dino
Thanks for commenting. And no, I didn't know that about a font, that's fascinating. I'm off to look into that. But first, mind mapping: I've done videos here in which I've used it and there are definitely projects where it's the thing I automatically turn to. But I wouldn't say I use it much.
A very frank and honest review. I think I'll stick to my iPad and Notability for the time being. I can live without the tactile writing feel - though I understand why some people may well buy the Scribe for that reason alone.
Yes, me too. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the sensation of writing on the Scribe, but it isn't practical for me. I think I'll stick to typing, actually.
Excellent review sir. It is the only review I've seen that focused on writing on the Kindle scribe.
My thoughts:
1. I've waited 10 years for an eink writing device and I'm grateful to buy one that isn't perfect.
2. My eyes aren't great and I love I can read with a larger font without needing glasses
3. Battery life with wifi off and screen brightness low has got to be far superior to iPad. It's eink, it's just logical.
Thanks. I hope so about the battery; I've not had the Scribe long enough to more than anecdotally notice how it drops -- it was on 100% this morning, I read for about 15 minutes and it's on 97% - but Amazon's own statistics are not encouraging.
@@WilliamGallagher
Keep this in mind
Pessimist will say that Amazon fudges on the battery life. They do the math this way:
2 months of battery life is really 30 minutes a day or 30 hours. Looked at like this battery life is still somewhat comparable to an ipad.
I disagree with this premise because:
iPad begins using battery life the moment it is unplugged with the screen on. The Kindle will not use any battery life until the moment you turn the page. There's more that could be said here but that's the idea. Last point, as big as it is, you can write pages in a device at least half as thin as a keyboard laptop. That's pretty awesome. I hope you change your mind and keep it.
I was curious about this little gizmo, but you’ve convinced me to keep my eye on the Apple Pencil 2 instead.
That Apple Pencil is very nice, yes.
Mr. Gallagher, excellent review and I enjoy your insights. I used the Samsung Tablets for note taking ut gave up; it turned off while I considered what to write often. Like you, hand writing is almost unreadable. I enjoy that I can use the Scribe without fear of mistakes. It just stays on.
Thanks. Especially for that shared handwriting issue, I was thinking I might be the only one. That's terrible about the Samsung Tablets - except I can imagine it forcing me to think faster, to not hesitate over decisions. Might result in rubbish writing, but it would be faster than I usually am.
Thank you again for an interesting video and you review of the Scribe. I was offered a substantial discount to buy the Scribe and decided against it. Amazon just isn't putting out quality next gen Kindles any more. It's almost as if they do "just enough" to get it on the shelf and then we become guinea pigs testing the product for them so that they can add incremental improvements. Two big advances Amazon could make: (1) Keep the large screen with page buttons; (2) color screen. A big screen cries out for color! Okay enough venting! Thank you for your willingness to try out the Scribe and give us your honest assessment.
Thanks.
You can have all that on an iPad.
Good evening William. I wonder, have you tried the reMarkable 2? I find that device better to write on. I also have the Scribe and am trying to use it as my primary writing device. If the reMarkable 2 was backlit it would be the winner for me. Also, do you not have a case for the Scribe?
I haven't tried reMarkable 2 yet, no. I have tried and I do like the Note Air2, though - you can read about that here: appleinsider.com/articles/23/04/14/note-air2-plus-review-costly-but-very-desirable-e-ink-tablet. I do have a case on that, but I'm afraid I returned my Kindle Scribe.
Good review. I couldn't use a scribe because I lock my kindle oases screen for speed reading - for using my finger to guide my eye. Without buttons or some way to turn the page using your finger for guiding your eyes won't work.
That is so interesting: it never occurred to me that there’d be such a clear, specific reason for physical buttons.
Very nice contact, I never write in a book, my mother, bless her soul had her library card (from me) revoked because he wrote in one of my books. LOL. Great content.
GASP! No, I'm the same, I cannot, cannot, cannot write in a book. But then these days I'll be reading an ebook and Kindle will tell me other people have marked a particular sentence. That's nice for them, I think, what do I care?
I'm toying with buying this because I want something to mark up my PDF manuscripts. What's stopping me is that you cannot live write on books you own and have to use those horrid sticky notes. I'll probably end up biting the bullet and just getting one, but man its driving me nuts trying to decide.
It sounds like you do need to try one out. My only caution, for what it’s worth, is that I once marked up about half of a friend’s book manuscript in PDF on my iPad with an Apple Pencil - and then when I did the rest on my Mac through just typing, I was easily three times faster.
Love your voice.
Thank you.
Informative and helpful, thanks for sharing your thoughts..
Thanks.
I'm not sure what processors they use in the Fire Tablets and the Kindle, but they are both agonizingly slow. Especially, as you mentioned, coming from an iPad.
Thank you: I was starting to think it was just me and that I was crazily impatient.
Your handwriting is as disastrous as mine😂. Thanks for the review, how do you evaluate this Vis -a- vis iPad and Apple Pencil, which I have ?
If we were talking solely about reading, I'd say a Kindle has strong advantages in that it can be read in direct sunlight and since you can't do anything else with it, realistically, it's quite a distraction-free device. But in every other way the iPad is far better and for writing, the Apple Pencil is excellent.
In Indonesia it’s a bit less than price of a 256gb ipad 9 gen. does it do transcription to text? I can’t see any compelling reason to use a Kindle. Can you? I’d be interested in a comparison.
No, there's no transcription in the Kindle Scribe. For a comparison, you could check out the video I did comparing the Kindle Paperwhite to the iPad some months ago: ruclips.net/video/afAS1MnMBIY/видео.html
Not that I'm planning on buying one, but does that little menu bar have a left-handed option? That would be a major problem for me (if I were buying one, which I'm not).
You can move the toolbar to the opposite side, yes. I didn't know that: had to wait until I got back to my office to look, but it turns out to be quite easy.
Marc, RUclips is insisting that I didn't reply to you about this a year ago -- and yet I can see my reply right here. In case it's been hidden from you for 12 months, the answer is yes. I hope you've not been sitting there waiting for me.
I want to compliment you on your self-awareness. You are so right about your handwriting. You might just want to fess up to the teacher who was responsible for that. Also, compliment on your assessment of this device, interesting, but not interesting enough for me.
My teachers tried and tried.
@@WilliamGallagher I can relate.
Kindles are great for reading on ( mainly for the ability to read in bright sunlight). But I fail to see what this gives a writer over an iPad. An iPad has a range of writing apps to cater for different preferences. Plus the ability to convert to typed text. So, personally, it isn’t for me. Especially starting at $600 (Australian).
Ouch, $600 Australian?
The big disappointment is that I assumed that when you handwrote it, there would be a way to have it decipher your handwriting (depending on how bad one's handwriting is) and create a text file. Unfortunately it does not seem to have the OCR ability even though OCR has been around for decades and has vastly improved in the decades. Why is that not a feature?
I imagine it's because OCR is a processor-intensive job and Kindles don't have fast enough processors. I wasn't disappointed because a) I figured if they had handwriting recognition Amazon would have shouted about it very loudly and 2), cough, nobody, nothing can read my handwriting. But you've reminded me: I meant to include a screenshot with "egg freckles" written on the Kindle Scribe -- it's an ancient reference to the Apple Newton's handwriting recognition - and I forgot. But I'm writing a review for AppleInsider; I'll see if I can slip it in there. Thanks.
@@WilliamGallagher Ah yes, played with a Newton when they were in stores and was unsure about the tech at the time. I did have a Palm Pilot which could do handwriting recognition but you had to learn their special moves for various letters... kinda like learning a new alphabet to use it which was less than ideal.
Looks like it can do this now with latest software updates
I use kindle app on my iPad to read
Have you tried the Apple Books app? When I used to solely read on iPhone and iPad, I preferred that to the Kindle app: I still think the typography is better. But the Kindle app has more books and of course since I'm using an actual Kindle now, I can't read my old Apple Books on it.
@@WilliamGallagher no. I’ve never tried it
great video many thanks new subscriber looking forward to more vids
Thank you, that's very good of you to say.
You can’t insert a page in the notebook wherever you want to though. That makes it almost identical to a real life notebook but not as convenient as an e-notebook should be. Surely that’s not too hard for the Amazon brains to add? Let me add a page when I forget something important!
Grief, this thing gets worse and worse. But at least that's something you can imagine them fixing in an update some time.
You should take a look at the Supernote A5X--it's a much better device than the Scribe. Much better function and a nicer writing experience for writing.
I truly had no idea there were so many digital writing tools. Thanks.
@@WilliamGallagher As you are at it, take a look at the Onyx Boox tools : Ultra Tab or Note 2 plus
There are far better E ink tablets out there. Just look at the Supernote and Boox note air and Tab ultra which do everything far better than the scribe, with the exception of the Kindle Library, but they both still have access and function great, they just dont have the new handwritten sticky note function. Just research other options.
Thanks. I won't stick with the Scribe, as I said I the video, but I suspect I'll not go off into equivalents either: Kindle is so big that it felt it overlapped with what 58keys is usually about, but overall these feel like I'd be better off using my iPad.
Having had the Scribe for close to two months, and a Remarkable2 before that, I think you gave up on this kind of device too quickly. For writing (and here I am referring to writing books, essays, scripts and the like) the first question is whether the writer likes to write in long hand or with a keyboard. If the former then the Scribe beats using a legal pad, in my view. If the latter well then an iPad or other keyboard device wins hands down. For editing with a pen, then I think Scribe is very useful. Amazon could and hopefully will improve this aspect of the device by broadening the editing options. If we are talking about quicker note taking, then, again, I would go with the Scribe. Finally, if we are researching, the combination of a Scribe sitting next to an iPad is a powerful duo. In fact, the Scribe complements an iPad very nicely. I think you ought to repurchase the Scribe and stick with it for the next year and see what you think. I would think any writer would find it a useful tool. After all, no one tool is good for all jobs. A good tool kit is what you need.
These are all first-class points. Once I'd found it wasn't what I wanted - the size for reading, most especially the inability to tag documents or rearrange pages - then I was suddenly conscious that I was still a week or two inside the extended Christmas returns period. So I used it for about another week after this video, and it didn't change my mind. I take the points, but I think I'll still hang on for Scribe 2.
@@WilliamGallagher You are a tough customer. Happy New Year.
Nice video. I am surprised at your comments on the speed of the screen loading. You mentioned you have other kindles so I thought you’d be used to that. This is a limitation of e ink displays unfortunately. Do you find this to be slower than your paperweight?
You would have thought that it was something that coding could sort esp if it is only happening now and then, either more compute power,memory or sorting software out a bit more surely
That is what I say in the video: the Scribe has the same slow display for everything but reading and writing.
A few months ago my wife's old Kindle stopped working and I spent a lot of time looking in to how to get it fixed. What I learned along the way was that it seems Amazon goes for the cheapest components possible and that's fair enough, but it's why the processors are not very fast. I can't prove that, it's just what I gleaned from repair people and a lot of online repair research.
Hello I have a question, I've started to learn novel writing but I'm a bit concerned as I've read articles on the internet about AI and how they might replace novel writers :/ do you have any opinion on this? will it really replace it completely or will it be more like there are both written by humans and by AI. i just don't want to spend a lot of time on something to learn it, which might not be of any use in a few years?
No one and no thing will ever write like you. So write. I’ve interviewed AI artists and they all say the same thing: it is a tool like a pen or a keyboard, it is never some solely automated piece, it is artistic expression by the human programming the AI.
@@WilliamGallagher Hey, thanks for your quick reply. So you think it will be more of a tool in the future and that novels will continue to be written by people? Do i undestand this correctly ?
Exactly that, yes. Now stop putting it off, get writing.
lots of writting features are still missing. Kindle team need work hard on it.
I believe it will have a much better performance in the near further.
I hope you're right. I think it's going to take a Kindle Scribe 2 refresh for some of this, though.
when is it coming to India?
Probably soon: it's already out of stock in the US so I imagine they're still ramping up production. Certainly Indian press has covered the launch without saying there are delays.
@@WilliamGallagher thanks for the reply appreciate it,also how can we rest our palm and write with a good handwriting on it? As I have no idea about e notepads as this is going to be my first one and i have a kindle paperwhite as for now
Sorry, RUclips only just showed me that you'd said this. For the most part, Kindle Scribe is good at letting you rest your hand on the screen while you write. I know I keep getting that accidental page turning but I'm convinced it's something to do with my rolling my hand around.
Great review from a writer’s point of view and someone of my generation. You did lose me a bit toward the end. You have to compare speed with the alternatives. You probably do not mind the time making a cup of tea. Speed is somewhat overrated in our digital world. Anyway, the pros of products like Scribe and Remarkable clearly outweigh the cons in my view. But, I could listen to you all day long, especially with a cup of coffee beside me.
Thanks. I should say that it's not really speed I want, it's responsiveness. You can see me tapping at a button on the Kindle Scribe over and over again, trying to get it to work. In that specific case, I think it was a lack of touch sensitivity on the Kindle Scribe screen, but so very, very often I will tap a control and simply not be able to tell whether I had done or not, because it takes so long to react.
@@WilliamGallagher I haven’t had that problem particularly. All of these devices have their moments. I deal with those by screaming at the top of my lungs. On balance though I find the pros outweigh the cons by quite a bit. I am prone to losing notes in pieces of paper. Now I do not lose them, although all too often reminded that they were not worth keeping in the first place. That is where the delete button comes in handy. I will keep watching. Happy holidays.
@@Bruceneuman Made me laugh with the screaming. Happy holidays to you, too.
You´re the fist to says Kindle Scribe is good. The others say is too basic, at least the software.
That's exactly what I say. What's good about it is very good, but it's not enough.
As a writer, until a device that calls itself 'Scribe' provides a robust, accurate and efficient way to turn my handwriting into text, then I'm not interested.
I am biased because my handwriting will never be recognised even by myself, but I'm not as interested in it being converted into text. I envy you your handwriting.
They've added that now with latest software updates
@@melc900 Is it any good?
Not as good. Far behind Boox Tab Ultra
I really should try that.
There's a better solution. L found it a few weeks ago and it's simply amazing. It's the PAPERLIKE for iPad s - it gives you really a great paper feel experience.
I hear a lot about that yet it's a film you put on your iPad screen, isn't it? Somehow I'm not keen on doing that.
Thank you William. First my clumsy English attempt: With all due respect - you can see that you have no practice in using digital notebooks. Such a notebook does not only have 1 page! That's why it's a "book" and not a sheet of paper. If you create a notebook with 100 pages in Scribe and then want to go back to page 30, then you have to 70 times !! Swipe the display from left to right. If you want to go back to page 100, you have to swipe 70 times again, then from right to left. Unbelievable! That doesn't work at all and is a deadly argument for returning the Scribe to Amazon. In addition: no own templates possible, practically no zoom possible, the lines or squares are then much too small to write. Straight lines, true circles, squares, etc. cannot be drawn. You cannot copy anything, insert a row, insert a sheet. You always have to use the same format template for a notebook. This software sucks! I wonder what suckers Amazon has hired for software development.
Now again plain text in German:
Nun nochmal Klartext in deutsch:
Danke Abraham. Mit Verlaub - Man sieht, dass Du keine Praxis in der Verwendung digitaler Notizbücher hast. So ein Notizbuch hat nämlich nicht nur 1 Seite! Deshalb ist es ja auch ein „Buch” und kein Blatt Papier. Wenn Du im Scribe ein Notizbuch mit 100 Seiten anlegst und willst dann auf Seite 30 zurück, dann musst Du 70 mal !! über das Display von links nach rechts wischen. Willst Du wieder zurück auf Seite 100, dann musst Du erneut 70 mal wischen, dann von rechts nach links. Unfassbar! Das geht überhaupt nicht und ist ein Todschlagargument für die Rückgabe des Scribe an Amazon. Außerdem: keine eigenen Vorlagen möglich, praktisch kein Zoom möglich, die Zeilen oder Karos sind dann viel zu klein zum Schreiben. Gerade Linien, richtige Kreise, Vierecke usw. kann man nicht zeichnen. Man kann nichts kopieren, keine Zeile einfügen, kein Blatt einfügen. Man muss immer die gleicher Formatvorlage für ein Notizbuch nehmen. Diese Software ist ein Verrecker! Ich frage mich, welche Nieten Amazon für die Softwareentwicklung eingestellt hat.
We can only hope that a Kindle Scribe 2 will take on these points.
@@WilliamGallagher The software is still quite crude but it will be updated many times in the following years.