Kindle Scribe Colorsoft (2026) review: Is it worth the money?

When I reviewed the last version of the Kindle Scribe a couple of years ago, I couldn't help feeling like the niche it was serving felt overhyped – are there that many people looking to write on the same e-reader that they use for reading?

Well, since using the ReMarkable Paper Pure I'm a bit more of a convert, so it's back to Amazon to see if it can win me over with an upgraded model for 2026.

That's exactly what the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is: an upgrade. This Kindle, with a new design and the relatively new colour display that Amazon is so proud of, is basically the most premium one it's ever made, with has an eye-watering price tag to match.

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Having used the 2026 Kindle Scribe Colorsoft for a couple of weeks, I'm still just as conflicted about why it exists, but can't deny that as a luxury option it has its place – even if only for a small market niche.

Price and Availability

The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft got quite an old-fashioned rollout after its announcement last year, meaning it came quickly to the US but took much longer to reach UK shores. Now, though, the tablet is available in Europe, which is why I'm now able to review it.

That brings us to what it costs, so prepare yourself. In the UK, the Scribe Colorsoft comes in at a huge £569, while it's $629.99 in the US and A$999 in Australia. Those are full-fledged tablet numbers – all for the 32GB version. There's a 64GB model that costs even more too.

Design and Features

In late 2024, the standard, non-colour Scribe still looked much like the ones that had come before it, largely thanks to Amazon's decision to stick with one enlarged bezel along a long edge of the display, for you to grip onto without needing as much palm rejection.

Now, though, that's finally gone, and the Scribe Colorsoft looks like the modern tablet it actually is, with unified bezels all the way around. It's a massive improvement, in my opinion, although it's possible some people might miss the old grip area.

There are also handsome new colours to choose from – a dark plum one called Fig and a greenish-grey called Graphite.

The front of the e-reader houses the display and one small logo at the bottom right in portrait orientation. The back, meanwhile, has four small rubber feet to keep it stable on a surface, and the only interruption around the edge of the tablet is one power button, one USB-C port for charging, and a small groove to remind you where the included stylus will magnetise to charge.

That stylus is colour-matched and very simple, with a function button near its top and a rubber-style end for erasing. Its magnets are impressively solid, though, so it's nice and snug when out of use on the side of the tablet.

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Those edges, though, are worth focusing on, since this is a hugely thin tablet – at just 5.4mm thick, it's gorgeous in the hand and consequently very easy to slip into bags and briefcases.

That 11-inch display, meanwhile, has some solid specs, and resolves at 300ppi when you're viewing black and white content, or 150ppi when in colour mode.

That difference in sharpness is something I'll come to later, but it is the same compromise you'll get on the Kindle Colorsoft compared to the Paperwhite, so is clearly an area for Amazon to concentrate on in subsequent iterations.

That colour screen is a big part of the attraction, though, and works in multiple ways. On the most obvious level, like the Colorsoft before it, you can use this e-reader to read comics, travel books and other books where colour adds to the experience. You can also use colours in notes and sketches, with a decent palette to use, but a heavy emphasis on pastels because of the way the display resolves.

Of course, it's also worth remembering that there are new versions of the standard Kindle Scribe (with and without a backlight for the display) – starting from £389.99, nearly £200 less than the Colorsoft version. That underlines the price of upgrading to get colour.

From a battery point of view, Amazon says you'll get around eight weeks from the Scribe Colorsoft if you're just reading, or around two weeks if you're writing, which is understandably vague for a multi-use device. I found the tablet lasted long enough when experimenting with it that charging was a non-issue, and it recharged fully in around two-and-a-half hours.

Performance

I'll cover the easy side of things for the Scribe Colorsoft first. As an e-reader, it's hard to fault, provided you know what you're getting into with the bigger display. Frankly, it's not a size I would choose for daily reading, not least since I do my reading in bed before sleeping.

Still, the display is sharp enough, and it does work really nicely for bigger-format stuff like comics. Page-turning is responsive, the whole device works slickly and quickly, and the Kindle store remains a really easy way to download new content to read in a matter of moments.

Really, though, the Scribe Colorsoft is less about the reading than it is the writing, and here it's a really interesting proposition. I'm getting more and more used to writing tablets, and the finish on Amazon's display is an interesting approach to the niche. It's textured in a really clear way, but far smoother and less high-friction than a ReMarkable's equivalent.

In practice, this means it's less satisfying to write on, but also that it's more straightforward to use certain controls on and to navigate around. The "pencil-feel" is solid but not outstanding, but that's likely to be enough for most people. It's also still textured enough that, like a ReMarkable, you get replacement nibs in the box here for your pen's tip as it eventually wears down.

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Amazon's interface for taking notes and starting sketches is really simple and works nicely, though, and has some good searchability and indexing to make backing things up and accessing them through the cloud very solid. Again, ReMarkable streaks ahead here, though, with some of its newer screen-sharing and presentation features making its tablets far more professionally versatile.

That said, I don't think the Scribe Colorsoft is aimed quite as squarely at the professional world. Rather, I think it's intended to be a do-it-all notebook for the digitally-minded. You can read whatever you like, jot down thoughts, take notes in meetings for personal use, and access those notes easily online. That's still a fairly impressive offering.

As mentioned, though, it's hard to get around the fact that despite the Colorsoft display being a big step forward for Amazon, it's not the finished article yet. Just like when I tried the original Colorsoft at launch, I don't think the vibrancy on offer is really what people want, and it pales in comparison to any traditional tablet.

This isn't a huge issue for hand-writing and sketching, but it does make one of the big advantages of the Scribe Colorsoft ring a little hollow. Sure, it's great to have a colour display, but when the uplift in price is this steep to get it, it's hard to recommend it unless you have a really specific need for it.

Verdict

The Scribe Colorsoft is a marker of progress from Amazon, and a really good one at that, but it's not an unqualified success. The design, which is shared across the whole Scribe lineup, is a superb change, making it feel far more modern, sophisticated and subtle, and makes any of the new Scribes a great upgrade over what came before.

The unique selling point of the Colorsoft version, though, doesn't end up feeling justified at this stonking asking price. I think most people would probably get by just fine with the standard Scribe, saving a chunk of money along the way, and I'm fairly confident Amazon will improve its colour displays in the years to come.

That said, if you have a big comics collection and love taking notes, this could be a winner for you – if you have the budget to make it work. For the rest of us, there are far more sensible purchases waiting to be made.

Also consider

I've mentioned it a bunch in this review because it's such a recent release, but if you're really only interested in an e-paper device that feels amazing to take notes on, the ReMarkable Paper Pure is a better choice than the Scribe Colorsoft, in my view. It's more refined and more powerful from a productivity standpoint – but it doesn't work as an e-reader at all, which is hugely relevant for most people.

If, on the other hand, you're just looking at the Scribe because it seems to be the fanciest Kindle, I'd make sure you consider just getting the latest Paperwhite – espcially if you don't really take notes and just want a great e-reader. It's way more affordable, performs excellently and should last for years before you need to upgrade.