This turns out to be a game changer, because the selection, while small, is already unique and helpful. The USB-C port for charging, as well as the power button are both strangely placed on the side of the device, near the middle, but this isn't unique to the Scribe and can be seen on the Onyx Boox Note series tablets too. The Kindle Scribe has improved enough since it launched to become my preferred tablet to recommend if you like reading, journaling, and now maybe even old school pen and ink games like crossword puzzles and sudoku.

I use bullet journaling and found some basic dots and lined pages, but nothing as organized or creative as the templates I enjoy on the reMarkable 2 tablet. If this were a more serious productivity tool, that would be a top request, but I've yet to see an alternative E Ink note-taking tablet offer this option.It is set up with a random username by default, but you can change this online, and I made it more convenient. Phil was the internal reviewer for Samsung Mobile, writing opinions and review predictions about top secret new devices months before launch. Compared to the competition, the Kindle Scribe is a bit thicker than the reMarkable 2 tablet – which makes sense because the reMarkable lacks a backlight – but is slimmer and sleeker-looking compared to the plastic body of the Kobo Elipsa.

Overall, though, if you opt for the 16GB Kindle Scribe with the Basic Pen, there's decent value for what you get. So not only can you sideload ebooks, you can also download the Kindle, Kobo or Scribd app to access any of your libraries. Of course, comparing a colorful, extensible tablet like the iPad to the Kindle Scribe is like comparing apples to, er… Kindles.The screens are all roughly the same size, it’s just that the reMarkable puts its big bezel edge at the bottom instead of the side.

For journaling and freewriting, the Kindle Scribe offers few template options, and none that work well with popular journal methods. The Kindle Scribe has rounded corners and smoothly curved edges with a wide, flat back, which interestingly has four tiny nubs for feet. If you already make notes in books by writing on Post-it Notes and slipping them in between the pages, the Kindle Scribe will help you do that. The only thing the Scribe cannot do is take a dip in the ocean, which the Kindle Oasis can legitimately handle, saltwater and all.If you’ve been craving a gigantic reading screen for bigger fonts and larger images, the Scribe is a joy to use. He has been writing about phones and mobile technology, since before the iPhone, for a variety of sites including PCMag, infoSync, PhoneScoop, and Slashgear. If only it had a backlight for nighttime use, and came with the pen in the box instead of being an optional add-on. Still, the screen is much larger than the next-biggest Kindle Oasis' 7-inch display and there's no sacrifice of the remarkable pixel density, so everything is super sharp and glorious on screen. It isn't quite as robust as the reMarkable tablet, but it's a great improvement over the original offering.

It has the biggest screen you can find on a Kindle, while keeping the display just as sharp as the best Kindle ereaders, so books and text look amazing, even better than reading on the best iPad. Where it differs, other than the obvious size, is the missing page-turn buttons and the asymmetric thickness that I love on the Oasis.

If you want to start a journal, or if you want to draw and be more creative, turn to the reMarkable 2. The Kindle Scribe is also wider than the reMarkable and Elipsa, and less tall, but has identical overall dimensions as the Onyx Boox Note Air2 tablets. You get pre-filled journaling pages, some crossword and sudoku puzzles, and the promise of more to come. However, the Elipsa gives you far more annotating and note taking options, with the ability to convert handwriting to type, uploading directly to Dropbox and even adding drawings or formulae to notes. The Kindle Scribe keeps things simpler, and this will work better for most people who aren’t using the writing tablet in the boardroom.