Update (12/2/2024): Amazon added a Cyber Monday deal for the Amazon Scribe to get it at $270! This is the best deal now!
It’s been quite a long time since I bought something worth sharing as a game-changer. I can’t remember the last one, but here are two notable ones off the top of my head:
- Back in 2010, I recommended SodaStream as the Product of the Year. I still believe that SodaStream should get media attention, especially with all the talk of inflation. It can be easily hacked to replace their expensive carbonation. Combine that with cheaper and healthier sweeteners, and you’ve got a winning combination. Back in 2013, I estimated that a hacked SodaStream could save a family $500 a year. Soda was a LOT cheaper back then. It would probably save a family over $1000 nowadays.
- In 2012, I recommended the original Fitbit in 2012 as my Product of the Year. Now, the same step-tracking technology (and a lot more) is ubiquitous in smartwatches.
Those are some pretty old articles, but I’m actually going to go even further back. The Wayback Machine is set to May 28, 2008, when I wrote a review of Amazon’s new e-ink Kindle. Usually, my writing from that is fairly cringey, but I have to say that I nailed it when I said that the technology could catch on when they reduce the price from $350 to $99 in about the next five years.
So here we are in 2024, and it’s time to look at the technology again. Amazon has announced their first Color Kindle. Unfortunately, there have been some issues with the production, leading to bad reviews. Just like in my original Kindle review, I’d wait before paying the premium on this product.
However, I took the plunge on the Amazon Kindle Scribe on Prime Day and couldn’t be happier. The Kindle Scribe is an e-ink reading that you can write on. Back in the days of the Lone Ranger, before color was invented, we had things called Palm Pilots that you’d write on with a device that looked like a pen, but we’d call it a stylus just to confuse people. This is a little like that. Or you can think of it as an old-fashioned notebook.
I decided to buy the Scribe after a friend showed off her ReMarkable device. It’s also an eReader that you write on. She has a color one, and her co-worker has a ReMarkable 2 black and white one. These devices appear to be fantastic. However, the color version of the ReMarkable is $579, so you are looking at around $650 by the time you add a frugal after-market case and tax. The ReMarkable 2 is more comparable to the Kindle Scribe, but it is $379. It has some more bells and whistles, like converting your handwriting to text. However, it can’t be an eReader for your Kindle library. Maybe there’s a way to convert your Kindle books to bring on the ReMarkable, but I didn’t look into that. It felt like I’d have to do it illegally and probably for each individual book if it was possible at all.
It’s strange, but I need more notebooks now than I ever did working in the corporate world. I’m managing this blog, Kid Wealth, and a local business group that I volunteer for. I’m on the board at the kids’ parents’ association, and I recently went to the annual FinCon conference, where I wrote up more than 20 pages of notes. While the Scribe doesn’t convert handwriting to text on the device, I can email myself a PDF that Amazon converts on their servers. That way, I can send people either the original PDF notes or cut and paste the text into a document to mark up and send out as the “meeting minutes.” It would be really a game changer if AI could somehow crowdsource all the meeting minutes from everyone taking notes into one master document.
I never have to search for a notebook, and the battery life is nothing I have ever thought about. (I’ve only charged it once in more than a month of a lot of use.) For people who like calendars and day planners, you can upload any PDF and use that as a template to write on. A lot of people have come up with a lot of different productivity PDFs. These also work on the ReMarkable if you choose that option. My friend made a template for members of our local business group so she can keep track of attendance.
There are still quite a few things that feel like they could be improved upon. Support for Word and Excel is spotty on the ReMarkable and perhaps not at all on the Kindle. Sometimes, I expect it to be able to sync with Google Docs like a tablet until I remember that I need to think of it as a notebook. Other times, I’m very happy to have a device without all the distractions that are present on phones and tablets nowadays. Occasionally, I’ve found myself in a place with little cellphone reception, which makes it nearly useless. I can still read books and hash out ideas for the Amazon Scribe, though. Some people draw, but I’m not much of an artist.
Getting the Best Deal on An Amazon Scribe
I have bought enough Amazon devices to know that you should never pay the list price. With a couple of Amazon Prime Days a year and Black Friday, you can usually score a significant deal. (That’s one of the reasons why I am writing this before Black Friday.) Also, the refurbished Amazon products are usually just as good as the brand-new ones. On an eReader, you should be guaranteed to have a perfect screen, and the other blemishes can be covered by the case.
On one hand, I could pay around $400 and not read Kindle books. On the other hand, I could bargain hunt AND read my Kindle books. I should also note that the Kindle Scribe allows you to write in the books, but it might be as notes that are posted. I haven’t used this feature, but avid readers may find this incredibly valuable.
So let’s go bargain hunting, shall we? Here are the options as of this writing. There’s no particular “Black Friday” deal, but I’m hoping it’s coming on the actual Black Friday.
Update (12/2/2024): Amazon added a Cyber Monday deal for the Amazon Scribe to get it at $270! This is the best deal now!
About a week after I bought mine, Amazon announced the newest (second generation) Scribe. I could have returned it, but it looks like the newer Scribe may not be worth the money. Most of the improvements are software that Amazon has said will come to older Scribes. I’m hoping that’s true, but I’m certainly taking a risk that I’ll miss out on the advanced AI features.
The particular deal I got was not listed above. It was a bundle similar to this current one on the newest Scribe. If you want that version of the Scribe, I would buy this bundle for $480 and get the leather folio. This bundle also gives you a power adapter. Amazon converted the bundle into three separate orders for me, so I returned the power adapter “order” for a $10 credit.
Due to it being a Prime Day special, my bundle for the original Scribe (new, not refurbished) was around $299. However, with Amazon devices, there are often more savings. You can almost always trade in an Amazon device you have for some cash and 20% off. I had a really old Echo Dot in a kid’s room that I didn’t care about that much. With Prime Day, I was able to buy the latest Amazon Dot for around $20. I got $5 for my old device and 20% off the Kindle.
Here’s the cost break-down:
You’ll see that the price for the Kindle started at $231.82. That’s because the folio and the power adapter had their own order numbers to get to the $299 price. I was going to buy a folio or case of some kind anyway, so I liked getting a lower price for the “official, premium, Amazon product.”
With the deals that around today, I’d go with the certified refurbished option above and try to trade-in another device you have around. If you pick up a third-party folio, you might come out to around the same price as my bundle. Hopefully a Black Friday special will kick in and give you a better deal.
So what do you think? Are you ready to take the leap or is this kind of thing not a fit for you? Let me know in the comments.
Please note that I may make a commission if you end up purchasing an item that I refer. Of course, I’ll always be honest with my opinion, which is why I tell you straight off that the Color Kindle has had some production issues and bad reviews. Also, I
