# Kindle Scribe

16 Hacker News commenters recommended Kindle Scribe and 12 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 1 years (3 owners).

**Verdict:** Praised for reading and handwritten notes on a large e-ink screen with long battery life; critics mostly say it costs too much.

## Why people recommend it

- Good pen writing and drawing (3 comments): "Ereaders (Kindle scribe specifically) has been a huge discovery! I cannot make any claims, but my daughter draws on it, writes on it, does homeworks on it and reads so many books on it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47615450)) "The writing experience on Kindle Scribe is pretty good as well." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46847222)) "I can use the pen to add or check off items." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49881080))
- Long battery life (2 comments): "I can read and take notes and even web browse for hours on end and barely budge the battery percentage" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49000461)) "My Kindle Paperwhite and Scribe Coloursoft go weeks between charges." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48997405))
- Large screen, easy on eyes (2 comments): "my kindle scribe 2022 10.3” 64 GB is bigger than a physical manga volume. I couldn’t imagine using anything smaller" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49909498)) "my poor eyesight welcomes the bigger font size" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47251263))
- Enjoyable for reading books (2 comments): "I own last years Kindle Scribe model and enjoy reading with it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46219682)) "If you are just reading then it should be fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50125012))

## What people warn about

- Amazon restricts software and services (3 comments): "it pops up a 'refreshing store experience' modal and if you clear it, the entire UI disappears except for the system menu, until you restart." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49248838)) "cloud sync of reading position etc, which won't be possible after 20 may." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47830662)) "Because Amazon were increasingly locking-down their systems" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46325319))
- Limited apps, tools and automation (2 comments): "but no automation or tools or apps seemed to come along" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48820024)) "quite nice, but way too limited" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49034271))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Kobo e-reader](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kobo-e-reader.md): 154 recommend
- [Onyx Boox e-reader](https://hackerapproved.com/p/boox-e-reader.md): 48 recommend
- [Kobo Clara](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kobo-clara-bw.md): 38 recommend
- [Kindle Paperwhite](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kindle-paperwhite.md): 34 recommend
- [Kobo Libra Color](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kobo-libra-colour.md): 26 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Amazon+Kindle+Scribe+10.3+inch+64+GB&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Kindle Scribe", https://hackerapproved.com/p/kindle-scribe/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).