If you primarily want a tablet device to mark up, highlight, and annotate your e-books and documents, and perhaps sometimes scribble some notes, Amazon’s new Kindle Scribe Colorsoft could be worth the hefty investment. For everyone else, it’s probably going to be hard to justify the cost of the 11-inch, $630+ e-ink tablet with a writeable color display.
However, if you were already leaning toward the 11-inch $549.99 Kindle Scribe — which also has a paper-like display but no color — you may as well throw in the extra cash at that point and get the Colorsoft version, which starts at $629.99.
At these price points, both the Scribe and Scribe Colorsoft are what we’d dub unnecessary luxuries for most, especially compared with the more affordable traditional Kindle ($110) or Kindle Paperwhite ($160).
Image Credits:Amazon
Announced in December, the Fig color version just began shipping on January 28, 2026, and is available for $679.99 with 64GB.
Clearly, Amazon hopes to carve out a niche in the tablet market with these upgraded Kindle devices, which compete more with e-ink tablets like reMarkable than with other Kindles. But high-end e-ink readers with pens aren’t going to deliver Amazon a large audience. Meanwhile, nearly everyone can potentially justify the cost of an iPad because of its numerous capabilities, including streaming video, drawing, writing, using productivity tools, and the thousands of supported native apps and games.
The Scribe Colorsoft, meanwhile, is designed to cater to a very specific type of e-book reader or worker. This type of device could be a good fit for students and researchers, as well as anyone else who regularly needs to mark up files or documents.
Someone particularly interested in making to-do lists or keeping a personal journal might also appreciate the device, but it would have to get daily use to justify this price.
Image Credits:Amazon
The device is easy enough to use, with a Home screen design similar to other Kindles, offering quick access to your notes and library, and even suggestions of books you can write in, like Sudoku or crossword puzzle books or drawing guides. Your Library titles and book recommendations pop in color, which makes it easier to find a book with a quick scan.
Spec-wise, Amazon says this newer 2025 model is 40% faster when turning pages or writing. We did find the tablet responsive here, as page turns felt snappy and writing flowed easily.
Despite its larger size, the device is thin and light, at 5.4 mm (0.21 inches) and 400 g (0.88 pounds), so it won’t weigh down your bag the way an iPad or other tablet would (the iPad mini, with an 8.3-inch screen, weighs slightly less). You could easily stand to carry the Kindle Scribe in your purse or tote, assuming you sport a bag that can fit an 11-inch screen. Compared with the original Colorsoft, we like that the Scribe Colorsoft’s bezel is the same size around the screen.
The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft features a glare-free, oxide-based e-ink display with a textured surface that makes it feel a lot like writing on paper. This helps with the transition to a digital device for those used to writing notes by hand. It also saves on battery life — the device can go up to 8 weeks between charges.
Helpfully, the display automatically adapts its brightness to your current lighting conditions, and you can opt to adjust the screen for more warmth when reading at night. But although it is a touchscreen, it’s less resp …