Yesterday Amazon released a new software update for the Kindle Scribe and they sent out an email describing some of the new features they added with the update, and at the bottom of the email they mention a couple of additional new features that will be coming soon in a future update.
They say the Kindle Scribe will be getting new lasso select tools that can be used to do things like circle a word or paragraph to move, cut, paste, and scale notes.
They also list copy/paste tools in the Coming Soon section on the main Kindle Scribe help page at Amazon, so adding a lasso tool has been hinted at for a while now, but this is the first time they’ve mentioned anything about text conversion on the Kindle Scribe.
The email says they will be adding a convert to text feature soon, and you’ll be able to convert, edit, and send your handwritten notes to yourself, friends, or colleagues.
When the Kindle Scribe was first announced, I remember a lot of people being disappointed by the fact that it didn’t offer any kind handwriting to text conversion like other eNotes, so it’s good to hear Amazon plans on adding that feature in the future as well.
It’s also nice to see Amazon providing these details about what their plans are when it comes to future updates. That’s not something they usually do with Kindles. Sometimes they mention a new feature or change they plan to make in the future, but they’ve never done anything like this where they keep providing details about upcoming new features that will be added via software updates.
The email also said Windows users can now send documents directly from Microsoft Word to the Kindle Scribe, so that feature is officially rolling out now and throughout May, with the “Mac and Web experience to follow”.
They probably did this to stop people from returning their devices because it did not live up to their expectations? One of the developers of the development team had stated back in November that they were going to add handwriting conversion, but it is nice they are now putting it in writing (no pun intended). I have received this email. Maybe only for those who have scribes.
What are the chances that they’ll add “color”? Meaning, when a file is exported you’ll see colors, as opposed to just black and white.
And, do experts maintain gradients, or are they stark black and white?
Other eNotes can export notes in color so it’s not a stretch to think that’ll happen at some point, but hopefully they’ll focus on more important features first, like adding margin cropping for PDFs or at least fixed zoom like Kobo has. Personally I don’t really care about notetaking (this isn’t The Notetaking Blog, after all) so I’d rather have them improve the reading experience for ebooks and PDFs.
Yes, they need to work on their print replica format first and foremost. Cropping and/or fixed zoom and text selection/highlighting. Basically, Kindle Scribe over-the-air PDF should not have worse handling than sideloaded PDFs. Contrast settings are a welcome first step.
And if they expand on the note taking capabilities, they should give us the option to have a notebook open next to the book/file currently being read (and maybe even make it possible to link notes to sections in documents). If they insist on a closed system, they should make it so that users also profit from tight integration and proprietary technology.
Until then I think the Scribe will feel like a half baked attempt at a useful device.
I say that as someone who kept a discounted 16GB Scribe for reading Kindle books on a large screen.
Some of this functionality is similar to that of the Remarkable 2, and definitely welcome on the Scribe. Smart of Amazon to release these details.
Especially with the rumours of the Remarkable 3 due any time soon…
Very happy with the new darken the text feature. Amazon seems to know the priority of our needs, too. We can crop the margin using other apps, but no way to darken the text!
I think Scribe can be or is already the best Ereader at the 350-ish price range, given Amazon will likely offer discount again on the Scribe.