I’ve been using my OG Kindle Scribe for years now. Not only is it a great tool for getting down whatever ideas or scribbles that happen to be in my head, I’ve found it really supports my writing practice. Whether I’m in a coffee shop or on a plane, it’s now trivial for me to get stuck into writing fiction, something that I struggled with endlessly on distraction-ridden devices like laptops and mobile phones.
As a result, I’m definitely a bit of a writing tablet evangelist, which means I’m always excited to see a new device hitting the market. However, ‘excited’ didn’t really cover it when the new raft of Kindle Scribes were announced on September 30. Alongside impressive quality of life improvements, the reveal of the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft – packing the full color screen of its Kindle Colorsoft stablemate – was a bit of a ‘shut up and take my money’ moment. There was no doubt in my mind I was going to upgrade.
At least, there wasn’t until the launch of Amazon’s early Prime Day sales when I discovered the brand was offering the Kindle Scribe (2024) from $299.99 (was $399.99) at Amazon US – or from £269.99 (was £379.99) at Amazon UK. Particularly compared to the $629.99 / £569.99 list price of the upcoming Scribe Colorsoft, this is a staggeringly reasonable price, and made me wonder whether I was better nabbing this deal than going for the full upgrade.
So how do the newest and older models compare in terms of features? And does that innovative color display make the extra spend worth it?
How do the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft and Kindle Scribe (2024) compare?
By far the most attention-grabbing reveal has been the fact that the Kindle Scribe is now available with a Colorsoft E-Ink display. And while some early devices with that tech have looked a little desaturated, the hues on the Scribe Colorsoft look impressively vibrant for a low-power e-paper display. Whether you’re sketching or annotating, this seems like it will unlock a whole new dimension to the Scribe experience.
The Scribe Colorsoft isn’t the only model that’s seen advances though: the design of all three of the new devices has seen plenty of incremental improvements.
Perhaps most noticeable is the Scribe’s slimmer profile: Amazon has trimmed the depth of all three of the new Scribes down from 0.22 inches / 5.6mm to 0.21 inches / 5.3mm and cut their weight down from 0.95 lbs / 433g to 0.88 lbs / 400g. Certainly this seems to translate into palpable results – in his initial hands-on, our US Editor in Chief Lance Ulanoff already remarked that he was “astonished at how light and thin it felt”.
Conversely, all three devices’ screens have been scaled up. Their predecessor’s 10.1-inch glare-free screen has been expanded to 11 inches, giving you even more room for scribbling and sketching. Despite this, the whole lineup maintains its 300ppi resolution for black and white images – although the Colorsoft drops this to 150ppi for color images.
Receiving a literal glow-up, the two more expensive Scribes in the new lineup have improved front-lighting. The LEDs are smaller than in 2024’s model and Amazon has upped their number, meaning you won’t sacrifice readability for that slimmer design. As the name would suggest though, the Kindle Scribe without Front Light is bereft of additional lighting, so bear in mind that you’re unlikely to do much journaling in the dark with that model.
Personally, I’m a big fan of some of the ergonomic tweaks Amazon has made here as well. For example, the thick spine that’s been on show on the Scribes since the OG unit back in 2022 has been surgically removed. While some may prefer having this additional bezel to hold onto, I’ve always found it an unnecessary addition compared to the slender bezels of the mainline Kindles.
But the bigger upgrade for me is the fact that the Scribe’s stylus is now magnetic, clipping to the side of the slates for easy storage. This feels like a far more elegant solution than the simple band its predecessors rocked. And as Lance discovered in the article above in his time with the device, it seems to be seriously sturdy solution – you’re unlikely to dislodge it with just a flap of the tablet.
Possibly the only feature that’s a dead heat between the two generations in my mind is battery life. The Kindle Scribe (2024) can deliver a solid 12 weeks of reading. Conversely, the new generation is much more all over the map here: while the Scribe without Front Light parlays its lack of LEDs to 16 weeks of reading, the Kindle Scribe (2025) matches its predecessor’s 12. And the marvelous hues of the Scribe Colorsoft requires a sacrifice in return – it will only last you eight weeks of reading.
What a difference a $100 / £110 discount makes
On paper, the latest generation of Kindle Scribes offer some serious upgrades. And the color screen of the Colorsoft is seriously tempting to me, offering enormous potential for sketching, highlighting and journaling. So why the hesitation?
This is where that whopping $100 / £110 discount comes in. As it is, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is available at a pretty major markup; the list price for the cheapest 32GB model is $629.99 / £569.99, which is already considerably higher than the $414.99 / £399.99 list price of the equivalent Scribe (2024) model. In light of the Colorsoft’s superior design, that markup would seem entirely warranted – but it’s much harder to square now that the latter tablet has been reduced to $314.99 / £289.99.
Even compared to the cheaper 2025 models, the Scribe (2024) is significantly more affordable. The 32GB model of the Kindle Scribe (2025) is due to go on sale with a list price of $499.99 / £449.99, while the equivalent Kindle Scribe without Front Light will have a list price of $429.99 / £389.99. That means you’ll save at least $115 / £100 opting for 2024’s model – no small change in anyone’s book.
Ultimately, my advice would be that if you can afford it, holding fire and waiting for the new Scribes to go on sale will see you richly rewarded. They’re slimmer, more comfortable to hold and offer larger screens – and that’s setting aside the Colorsoft’s impressive color display. But if pure value is your main concern, you really shouldn’t sleep on this bargain early Prime Day deal.
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josh.russell@futurenet.com (Josh Russell)
