The Kindle Scribe, Amazon’s e-reader with handwriting input, was updated this October along with three more Kindle models. Although the 2024 Scribe visually resembles the first-generation model from two years ago, the former offers better annotation features and AI summaries. With a recent update, Amazon is eliminating the gap between the two generations and bringing these features to the older model.
The older Kindle Scribe model recently received an update that added two new features, Good e-Reader reported. The additions include Active Canvas, which allows you to scribble notes anywhere on a book from your Kindle library, just like you would on a physical book. When you do so, your jottings appear in a resizable box, anchored to that part of the text, and stay there even when you resize the font. Previously, notes would appear on the top of a particular page, which could make things confusing if you had multiple comments referring to different sections of the page.
The feature also expands highlighting options to underlines, which automatically snap to the text for a cleaner look. While the new Kindle Scribe also offers Extended Margins, wherein you can pull out the margin for longer notes, it is missing from the update.
The second feature coming to the older Kindle Scribe is AI summarization, which serves as an extension to the handwriting recognition function. The new feature converts your unruly handwriting to something much easier to read — while still looking like handwritten text — and uses generative AI to organize and make sense of your handwritten notes.
If you have the first-gen Kindle Scribe, you should be notified about the update the next time you power it on. If that doesn’t happen, you can also find the option to manually install the update by selecting Update Your Kindle in the device’s settings.
With this update, the older Kindle Scribe is now nearly on par with the new model in terms of experience. So, if you are looking to save some bucks, you can still snag it for $340 with a basic pen on Amazon. However, if a more premium appearance matters more to you, the 2024 model with a slick green color is what you should get despite the slightly higher price.
