Amazon announces Kindle Scribe Colorsoft at Sept. 30 Devices Event

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's when you scroll down the page that the you hit the paywall.

Attachment 219651

Maybe you, but not me.

Try disabling javascript and cookies. Or, even better, use lynx.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's when you scroll down the page that the you hit the paywall.

Attachment 219651

Oddly, I scrolled down to the bottom of the page without seeing any paywall requests. Perhaps you have been accessing their site too often?

For what it may be worth, I'm using Firefox with javascript and cookies enabled but I see the same behaviour of Edge, Safari, Chrome and a couple of Firefox-forked browsers on a Linux VM.

[The Old Man]

I see it’s now available, both bw and color. Expensive! I wonder, can you use just as a notepad to create a short story or book, upload to Google Drive as a pdf, covert to docx and continue writing in ms word?

Asked Amazon the question. Received this reply:

Yes! The Amazon Kindle Scribe is excellent for creating original stories and books with Google Drive integration:

Writing Features:

Built-in notebooks for original writing with AI-powered tools
Natural paper-like writing experience with the included Premium Pen
AI writing refinement to convert handwriting into polished text
Export notebooks to Microsoft OneNote or as PDFs
Google Drive Integration:

Import documents from Google Drive directly to your device
Export your written work back to Google Drive as PDFs
Seamless cloud workflow for backing up your creative writing
The AI tools can help summarize your work, refine your handwriting into readable text, and even help you find specific information in your notes even if you don't remember exact keywords - perfect for tracking plot points and character development in longer works.

[tomsem]

I ordered Scribe Colorsoft 64GB this morning. Won't arrive until early January. I had a Kindle to trade in for 20% + $20 and put it on zero interest Prime card payment plan. Will see what covers are available by then.

I have low expectations about the Google Drive integration:

2. How can I import my documents onto Kindle Scribe?

You can now import Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive documents, directly onto your Kindle Scribe. Most imports convert quickly in under a minute, but larger ones may take longer.

You can also use Send to Kindle to import documents from your desktop web browser and the Kindle app. Supported file types that you can import this way include PDF, DOCX, eBooks in EPUB format, as well as other common document formats like JPG, PNG, HTML, and TXT. When you import or export documents from Kindle Scribe, you're creating a new copy because syncing documents with Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive isn’t currently supported. Learn more about sending documents.

So it's getting converted to print replica on-device in the case of GD/OD. Less clear is what the export involves: does it save this "new copy" back to GD/OD, or do you still need to export to PDF using Amazon services? It would be nice if it actually converted annotations to PDF annotations in any case instead of flattening them to a background raster image as it does now. It's not as if they have not had a lot of time to design and implement something better, it's been 3 years now..

(and is 'GD/OD document' only 'PDF'? that's what I'm assuming)

It's not my use case, so just a matter of curiosity for me.

[The Old Man]

So, I assume downloading a docx file from GD to the Scribe converts it to some Kindle format, then after editing and uploading back to GD converts it to a PDF. Also assume new PDF is not DRM protected so Calibre could convert it back to docx or epub. Lots of assumptions.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by The Old Man

So, I assume downloading a docx file from GD to the Scribe converts it to some Kindle format, then after editing and uploading back to GD converts it to a PDF. Also assume new PDF is not DRM protected so Calibre could convert it back to docx or epub. Lots of assumptions.

I have not seen evidence docx or epub is supported for GD/OD downloading at least initially; they only mention Send To Kindle for those formats. But at least we have confirmation that PDF is supported for direct downloading and conversion to Kindle format.

I have not much considered what DOCX annotation 'should be' (or is in any collaborative document workflow), but it is clear exporting a PDF without even any actual PDF annotations is not any better than marking up a printout of the document and handing it to the author of the document for updating it manually. I'm not at all hopeful this is gonna get addressed.

They 'do not currently support sync with GD/OD' could mean any of several things, including that it cannot save anything back to GD/OD at all initially. At a minimum it would involve conversion back to PDF on-device.

And there's still no evidence GD/OD features will be available on 2022/2024 Scribes via some update. Amazon has been pretty good about back porting new features in the past but I'm not assuming that it will happen in this case.

Well, since mine doesn't come until next year, I will have to leave it to others getting them next week to discover things!

[JSWolf]

Do the 2025 Scribes have the same problem with side loaded eBook as the other Kindles on the latest firmware?

[The Old Man]

Questioning AI on the Scribe page said:
Import documents from Google Drive directly to your device.
Export your written work back to Google Drive as PDFs.
So if it doesn’t do that I will return the b&w Scribe I just ordered. Delivery in 7 days.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Do the 2025 Scribes have the same problem with side loaded eBook as the other Kindles on the latest firmware?

How would we know? My guess is that it does.

You cannot create proper print replica for side loading, and there is no evidence that side-loaded content will get converted the way that GD/OD downloads apparently will. I think it'll just continue to use the legacy PDF features. Amazon has no history of improving features for side-loaded content.

We know nothing about where document downloads will get stored but for security purposes my guess is that it is not visible over USB, since they seem to be targeting corporate customers and their requirements.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by The Old Man

Questioning AI on the Scribe page said:
Import documents from Google Drive directly to your device.
Export your written work back to Google Drive as PDFs.
So if it doesn’t do that I will return the b&w Scribe I just ordered. Delivery in 7 days.

Okay, nice! Of course AI may be just telling you what you want to hear...

[tomsem]

Whatever PDF lifecycle is when this ships, I hope this time around they are better prepared than previous to improve it. The 'not currently supported' language appears to signal some aspiration to do this.

It's not just about having somewhat better exports, but also being able to handle existing PDF annotations and at least not lose them in the back and forth conversion process.

[tomsem]

So it seems that you can add any books or documents in Library to Workspace folders (I assume they still appear in Library). Looking forward to this - presumably existing Scribes get this too.

No reports of Shape objects, which @jhowell discovered traces of in latest Update file.