Improvements I would like to see in kindle scribe tablet

· sepi's blog


around a week ago I received my kindle scribe e-ink tablet and has been using it actively since. I've come to appreciate the simplicity of the device and the way it functions but some things can be improved to make the device a fantastic product. the build quality is also very good and the pen also feels OK and does not need charging, so all is good on the hardware side.

Basically, the device has two major modes, ebook mode, and notebook mode. in the ebook mode, you get the good old kindle experience and on top of it, you can handwrite and annotate the books, at the moment annotation is only supported for PDF and kindle specific ebook formats. the refresh rate has improved greatly and the palm gesture is also very nice and accurate to my experience.

the second and my favorite mode is the notebook mode where you get to write and draw things. I've watched numerous videos on youtube to make sure which e-ink device has the lowest drawing latency and I realized at the moment kindle scribe is the best. I'm really pleased by the performance and latency of the device and you almost do not notice the delay as you get more comfortable with the device.

With all that said the device has a few software limitations, I will list them below and if amazon gets to read them, I hope they will take them into their consideration if they already haven't.

high priority #

  1. selection and copying/moving shapes: usually, when you work on a note for a presentation you will end up with a combination of handwriting and drawings, you would want to be able to select part of the page and copy them over not only across pages in the same note but also across different notebooks

  2. zoom in/out: sometimes when you are drawing something you would want to add some subtle details to your drawing but the pen/screen resolution does not allow that, so the only way you can overcome this problem is to be able to zoom in/out the page

  3. change the notebook template after creation: this is a bit annoying as when you select a template for your notebook you cannot go back and change that, this will be even more obvious when the note is exported and then the result might not look as appealing as it was on kindle, so having the option to remove or change the background template is a nice feature

  4. more shades of gray both for pens and highlighters: the device only has a black and gray color, that's it

  5. layers: this is also very annoying when you work on a complex notebook with a lot of shapes and details, there is no layering concept in notebooks you have a raw page to draw onto

low priority #

  1. lack of subfolders: if you are obsessed with notebook organization then you are out of luck because kindle does not allow for sub-folder creation

  2. pressure aware pens: this will open the door for more creative drawings and more fantastic-looking paintings

  3. text support on the notebooks: it would be nice to be able to add text in notebooks especially if you are preparing slides for presentation