Kindle Scribe

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by jackm8

What I'm trying to do now is skip all 'send to kindle' part. Converting pdf to kfx in Calibre via jhowell's kfx out plugin ended with similar results as sideloaded pdf. Cover on lock up screen, but even bigger white margins around images. End file also isn't considered as pdf by Kindle, I got font and spacing options instead of contrast options. Judging by log report, it converts pdf into epub, then coverts that into kfx. All those extra steps are good for epub to kfx, but mess things up in this case.

If you want fixed layout you should create a fixed layout book from pdf in Kindle Create and convert it with the kfxoutput CLI interface to kfx. Turns into a print replica, same as sending pdf via send to kindle.

[jackm8]

Yeah, I got it working that way in the end. As far as I know, one can go either Print Replica or Comic creator (it also accepts pdf), and get pretty much the same results. Only difference in the end is that Scribe then uses different GUI as it opens the files.

Loving the device so far, only real problem, besides needing to go for kfx format, is power charging inlet directly on the thicker side of the device, and it's sharp to boot. I've really no idea what were they thinking with that.

[apastuszak]

As a new owner of a Kindle Scribe (I dove in on the Black Friday sale), there are a few disappointments.

1. I can't believe at this price point, there no physical page turn buttons.
2. The PDF rendering is not good and VERY slow. Thank God I found the procedure to convert PDFs for KFX format on these forums. That makes PDFs very usable.
3. The magnet holding the stylus onto the Kindle is pretty weak.

Though speed is much better when you convert a PDF to KFX (I had one very complicated multi-layer PDF that would take as long as 1 minute to do a page turn), any pages with images still render slower than I would like it to.

I have until mid January to return it to Best Buy, so I will play it some more.

My main use case for it was to drop in PDFs of Role-Playing games I buy and magazines. So, now I need to convert all of those to KFX and move them to the Kindle through Calibre.

There is going to be some upfront conversion. But once the bulk of it is done, the effort to add 2 monthly magazines and an occasional PDF purchase should not be too bad.

I'm happy the KFX fills the whole screen, where the PDF had a white border around it.

I've converted 3 PDFs so far. Two of them lost their table of contents. Need to figure out how to get that back.

[axu2]

Originally Posted by apastuszak

2. The PDF rendering is not good and VERY slow. Thank God I found the procedure to convert PDFs for KFX format on these forums. That makes PDFs very usable.

Have you tried converting the PDF via the Send to Kindle Website? 200 MB limit.

[BionicGecko]

Originally Posted by apastuszak

1. I can't believe at this price point, there no physical page turn buttons.

I was feeling the same before I got my Scribe, and I after using it for a while I came to believe it’s all about writing comfort. Generally when using the pen one wants to orient the device in such a way that the edge with the wider bezel lies on the side of their writing hand, as it provides support for the hand even as one writes near the edge of the page. Physical buttons would be in the way of the hand as it moves on the bezel in this matter.

Perhaps Amazon could have put physical buttons on the edge of the device, but it would have made it impractical to use them while the Scribe is in its case.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by apastuszak

As a new owner of a Kindle Scribe (I dove in on the Black Friday sale), there are a few disappointments.

1. I can't believe at this price point, there no physical page turn buttons.
2. The PDF rendering is not good and VERY slow. Thank God I found the procedure to convert PDFs for KFX format on these forums. That makes PDFs very usable.
3. The magnet holding the stylus onto the Kindle is pretty weak.

Though speed is much better when you convert a PDF to KFX (I had one very complicated multi-layer PDF that would take as long as 1 minute to do a page turn), any pages with images still render slower than I would like it to.

I have until mid January to return it to Best Buy, so I will play it some more.

My main use case for it was to drop in PDFs of Role-Playing games I buy and magazines. So, now I need to convert all of those to KFX and move them to the Kindle through Calibre.

There is going to be some upfront conversion. But once the bulk of it is done, the effort to add 2 monthly magazines and an occasional PDF purchase should not be too bad.

I'm happy the KFX fills the whole screen, where the PDF had a white border around it.

I've converted 3 PDFs so far. Two of them lost their table of contents. Need to figure out how to get that back.

There really is no advantage to using calibre to convert to (Print Replica) KFX versus using Send To Kindle service. Necessary only if you cannot reduce file size below 200MB (there are many tools to help with doing this).

Last time I checked Kindle Create has a limit of 100 PDF bookmarks that can be converted to Print Replica. I think this limit may be higher with Send To Kindle but would also need to check that.

Magnetic attachment is a convenience only, if you need to secure it (as one often does) you need a case with a loop or tray to hold it more securely. It is same with Apple Pencil and iPad.

[apastuszak]

Originally Posted by axu2

Have you tried converting the PDF via the Send to Kindle Website? 200 MB limit.

Yes. 2 PDFs failed to convert, so I gave up.

Then I did the manual process of using Kindle creator, Kindle previewer and Calibre to convert and PDF to KFX and upload it to the Kindle, and the PDFs got a LITTLE faster. But I still have some that take 15 seconds of longer to do a page turn.

[apastuszak]

Originally Posted by BionicGecko

I was feeling the same before I got my Scribe, and I after using it for a while I came to believe it’s all about writing comfort. Generally when using the pen one wants to orient the device in such a way that the edge with the wider bezel lies on the side of their writing hand, as it provides support for the hand even as one writes near the edge of the page. Physical buttons would be in the way of the hand as it moves on the bezel in this matter.

Perhaps Amazon could have put physical buttons on the edge of the device, but it would have made it impractical to use them while the Scribe is in its case.

I don't care about the pen or any of the writing features. I wanted a large screen eink device that can render PDFs well and render them quickly.

The Kindle fails in that respect, at least for me.

[apastuszak]

Originally Posted by tomsem

There really is no advantage to using calibre to convert to (Print Replica) KFX versus using Send To Kindle service. Necessary only if you cannot reduce file size below 200MB (there are many tools to help with doing this).

Last time I checked Kindle Create has a limit of 100 PDF bookmarks that can be converted to Print Replica. I think this limit may be higher with Send To Kindle but would also need to check that.

Magnetic attachment is a convenience only, if you need to secure it (as one often does) you need a case with a loop or tray to hold it more securely. It is same with Apple Pencil and iPad.

The advantage for me is that I can add cover art, and proper title and author info.

In the end, it doesn't matter. Even after the conversion to KFX from PDF, either from "Send to Kindle" or the manual Kindle Creator→Kindle Previewer→Calibre process, the rendering of the final file is WAY TOO SLOW. The PDF I have that took 30 seconds to do a page turn, now takes 15 seconds. An improvement, but still unacceptable.

What I really want is a large screen eink device that can render PDFs quickly and easily. I know that eink will never be as fast as an LCD/LED screen. But it shouldn't take 15 seconds to turn a page in a KFX file with graphics. This is either some really bad software, or the CPU in this thing is seriously underpowered.

I think I need to take it back.

[BionicGecko]

Originally Posted by apastuszak

I don't care about the pen or any of the writing features. I wanted a large screen eink device that can render PDFs well and render them quickly.

The Kindle fails in that respect, at least for me.

Understood, I was just trying to bring a counterpoint to your comment that you couldn’t believe that at this price point there are no physical buttons; there is a valid reason for this design choice, this is not Amazon just skimping on this feature to save a buck.

[mergen3107]

I think for these size and weight of the Kindle Scribe Amazon decidedly omitted the buttons. They suggest that the hand holding the wide bezel should only hold the bezel, eliminating the risk of dropping the whole Scribe while trying to push a button.

[apastuszak]

Originally Posted by BionicGecko

Understood, I was just trying to bring a counterpoint to your comment that you couldn’t believe that at this price point there are no physical buttons; there is a valid reason for this design choice, this is not Amazon just skimping on this feature to save a buck.

True.

I guess my problem is, I want a very large screen e-reader, and just an e-reader. I don't want a note taking device.

Sadly, that device doesn't exist. Everything with a large screen comes with a stylus and wants you to use it as a note-taking/markup device.

I think the screen on the Kindle Scribe is a little small for my needs. I want a table with a 13" e-Ink screen that will allow me to load files into it without going the hoops I have to do it with the Kindle.

[apastuszak]

Originally Posted by mergen3107

I think for these size and weight of the Kindle Scribe Amazon decidedly omitted the buttons. They suggest that the hand holding the wide bezel should only hold the bezel, eliminating the risk of dropping the whole Scribe while trying to push a button.

It frustrates me that all e-readers came out the gate with page turn buttons. The Kindle had them. The nook had them. The Sony Reader had them. Then they got left behind in a cost-cutting move.

Barnes and Noble brought them back. And Amazon offers them for a premium.

The more I play with the Scribe, the more I realize I am not the target market for this device.

I want the convenience and battery life of an eInk panel, with the flexibility of a full tablet. And I'd like it at a reasonable price point. But I don't think that's possible.

I think the closest thing that comes to my needs is the Onyx Boox Tab X. But it also lacks physical page turn buttons, and it costs as much as a tablet. Sadly, that doesn't work for me.

I can't be the only person that wants a large screen e-reader the size of a magazine that's just an e-reader.

[DJUNGELSKOG]

Originally Posted by apastuszak

I can't be the only person that wants a large screen e-reader the size of a magazine that's just an e-reader.

You are not the only one. I'd like to have a device like this as well, but I don't want or need any of the note-taking capabilities, I don't want Android, I just want a big e-reader that I can use to read books.

There is only 1 device on the market right now that checks all of these boxes, and it's Pocketbook Inkpad Lite. It also has page-turns buttons (I absolutely love page-turns buttons), but it also has a 150 dpi screen and it's backlight is very uneven. I've seen it on Youtube and I know that I personally would focus on the backlight rather than on the book that I'm reading.

If pocketbook has released a similar device with a better screen and with even backlight, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

[Quoth]

The old Kindle DXG is also 9.7″ @ 150 dpi (1200x824 pixels) with page turn buttons. It's too low resolution for novels and too small for PDF data sheets. I have one, thus I wouldn't be interested in a Pocketbook Inkpad Lite (which seems a nearly identical panel).

I also have an 8″ @ 300 dpi Kobo Sage (1920x1440 pixels) and it manages larger page and smaller text PDFs. It seems an ideal weight and size. The 10.3″ reMarkable and the 10.3″ Kobo Elipsa are too heavy and large to read novels on (both 1872x1404 pixels), I had/have both. The reMarkable is really a PDF viewer and sketch pad, no on device writing to text like on the Sage and Elipsa. I find the 8″ Sage better for notes than the 10.3″ Elipsa due to size and weight, not just that it's more pixels.

I want the convenience and battery life of an eInk panel, with the flexibility of a full tablet. And I'd like it at a reasonable price point. But I don't think that's possible.

No, it's not because the good battery life is due to reading novels has brief page turns (CPU wakes) and longer time CPU sleeping as the page is read. I know from my Android eink tablet that doing "Tabletly" stuff eats battery and Sage/Elipsa/Remarkable much worse on battery consumption using the pen to sketch/handwrite (the reMarkable is worse as it powers the pen; the Wacom system is inefficient compared to NTrig system MS bought that Kobo uses. The Scribe uses the same pen system as the reMarkable).

Also eink has black, white and 14 greys. Using greyscale slows an already very slow display panel compared to Plasma, CRT, LED, OLED, LED, EL etc.