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Amazon’s Kindle Scribe is an E Ink tablet for reading and writing

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Re: Amazon’s Kindle Scribe is an E Ink tablet for reading and writing

#51

Post by themadturk »

desindol wrote: post #20
clint wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never once wanted to read a PDF on my Kindle and I'm not entirely sure why anyone would. Mostly because reading PDFs on something like kindle would be a shit show (I assume this is entirely why they haven't added that functionality). I've owned probably 10+ kindles, including the DX, and I think its honestly the bit of technology I used _the most_ outside of my iPhone.

10 kindles? What happened to 9 of them?

I've owned at least six or seven. They wear out (I think only the first gen and DX had a replaceable battery), get broken, get lost. They are superseded by better models (front lighting on the Paperwhite was a game-changer).

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Scribe is an E Ink tablet for reading and writing

#52

Post by kcartlidge »

DennisP wrote: post #43
tjoff wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are trivial ways to strip the DRM though. And I always do that regardless if the DRM is native for my device. If that wasn't an option I'd never buy a single ebook.

But you can strip Amazon's DRM too, so I don't see why the two platforms aren't equivalent.

For me the main difference I've found is that ebooks stripped of DRM tend to end up in EPUB form as the presumption is you're ensuring the books remain accessible on future platforms so you're going for an open and 'standard' format.

At which point it's then common to tidy up things like the book metadata (eg correct the genre or add a series identifier). That in turn means the DRM-free EPUB version becomes the better version, so the native and network-free support of side-loading EPUB books on the Kobo etc is a useful thing.

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Scribe is an E Ink tablet for reading and writing

#53

Post by yamtaddle »

digdugdirk wrote: post #46
yamtaddle wrote: post #45

This made it occur to me that a tablet that mimics the form of electric typewriters—a fixed-width LCD screen, a bit akin to those on simple calculators, with the full page above it, and text from the LCD appended to the "page" when you move to the next line—might actually be awesome for writing, coupled with an external keyboard. Potentially-very-low input latency while typing, and no page-flickering except when chan…

Could I interest you by chance in an Alphasmart word processor? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaSmart

Right—that, but stick a big e-ink display above it. USB port and bluetooth so you can use an external keyboard (though a compact attached keyboard/stand isn't a bad idea, even if it's kinda a shitty keyboard).

Like this, but instead of printing your finished line to paper it "prints" to e-ink:

https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NzY1WDEwMjQ=/z/IA8AAOSwQ59ZZBmO/$...

But, you know, not huge.

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Scribe is an E Ink tablet for reading and writing

#54

Post by barefoot »

sylens wrote: post #41

I have been trying to figure out a better workflow for grabbing websites or PDFs, marking them up, and storing them as notes, either by themselves or in something like Craft or Obsidian to reference later. I'm not sure this really moves the needle as I can't imagine moving stuff to the Kindle and then back again will be frictionless.

I’ve had some luck with Remarkable. Remarkable has a reasonably good experience for getting a PDF to the device, working with it, and then getting it back to the source as a seemingly plain PDF.

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Scribe is an E Ink tablet for reading and writing

#55

Post by themadturk »

Aromasin wrote: post #6
outcoldman wrote: post #3

I guess it is time for me to upgrade my Kindle Oasis (1st gen I assume), which I never use to this Kindle Scribe, which I also probably never going to use. But the main issue with the Kindles was not being able to read PDF (technical books, technical articles), and I dreamed about the DX when it was available only in US, and I also did not have money to buy one. After I moved to US 13 years ago, the DX version was ou…

Wait... you can't read PDF's? This seems like insanity to me? Why would they not enable such a basic and fundamental feature?

The Kindle is perfectly capable of letting you view PDFs. Many humans are not perfectly capable of reading material laid out for a letter/A4 sized sheet of paper on a six-inch screen. Yes, there are ways around it, but not everyone finds them satisfactory.

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Scribe is an E Ink tablet for reading and writing

#56

Post by themadturk »

dividedbyzero wrote: post #40
tjoff wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It never made any sense to have a huge library locked to a vendor. And there are ways to convert your library so you don't have to make the same mistake twice.

It's ridiculously absurdly convenient. Someone recommends a book to me or I see one mentioned, I quickly Amazon it, one click to send a sample to my Kindle. Amazon has everything, I can't remember when I last couldn't get something there. When I finish a book, I always have a bunch of samples, and Amazon gives you a decent portion of the book, so they're actually useful. If I like a sample, it's two or three taps to…

As an aspiring author, I believe in paying for books to support authors. I may also believe that I own the books I've paid for. Take from that what you will...

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Scribe is an E Ink tablet for reading and writing

#57

Post by themadturk »

ranger_danger wrote: post #22

Ironic that the original Kindle was already e-ink and had more features, like hardware page-turning buttons and "free for life" (yes I know) cellular connectivity.

I am displeased by Amazon removing the cellular connectivity, and was always willing to pay the premium to get it on new devices. Of course, on the Kindle 1 (which had page-turn buttons and a removable battery) 3G was the only means of connectivity (along with USB, if I remember correctly); wifi didn't come until later.

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Scribe is an E Ink tablet for reading and writing

#58

Post by solarkraft »

clint wrote: post #16
outcoldman wrote: post #3

I guess it is time for me to upgrade my Kindle Oasis (1st gen I assume), which I never use to this Kindle Scribe, which I also probably never going to use. But the main issue with the Kindles was not being able to read PDF (technical books, technical articles), and I dreamed about the DX when it was available only in US, and I also did not have money to buy one. After I moved to US 13 years ago, the DX version was ou…

I have never once wanted to read a PDF on my Kindle and I'm not entirely sure why anyone would. Mostly because reading PDFs on something like kindle would be a shit show (I assume this is entirely why they haven't added that functionality). I've owned probably 10+ kindles, including the DX, and I think its honestly the bit of technology I used _the most_ outside of my iPhone.

Because many things are only as PDFs. We can hate it as much as we want, it is like that.

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Scribe is an E Ink tablet for reading and writing

#59

Post by criddell »

radicaldreamer wrote: post #50
criddell wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both the Remarkable and the Scribe are only 10" devices. If you are going to read and markup PDFs, a 13" screen makes so much more sense because it's very close to letter/A4 size.

Sony Digital Paper was such a product but very few outside of Academia and some Japanese business customers bought it.

Fujitsu Quaderno is one you can still get and is supposedly pretty good.

Re: Amazon’s Kindle Scribe is an E Ink tablet for reading and writing

#60

Post by devindotcom »

jmcphers wrote: post #13

I was really hoping for a Kindle with USB-C and page turning buttons; inexplicably this still does not exist.

FYI the Kobo Libra 2 is just this if you don't need the Amazon ecosystem. If you do, you're out of luck for now though.
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