Amazon’s colour Kindle Scribe notetaker finally has an Australian launch date — and it’s a month earlier than I expected
Exactly a week ago to the day I suggested you don’t wait for the new Kindle Scribe Colorsoft if you’re in Australia because I didn’t think Amazon would release it until July. Well, I’m eating my words now, because all three new Kindle Scribes 2025 first announced in October last year are now available for pre-order.
These are the Kindle Scribe 2025 without front lighting for AU$699, the new Kindle Scribe with front lighting starting at AU$849 (32 GB) and the highly anticipated Kindle Scribe Colorsoft with a starting price of AU$999 (32 GB). All three will start shipping on June 10.
Is the upgrade worth it?
I myself was impatiently awaiting the launch of the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, but its starting price of AU$999 for 32 GB of storage makes me hesitant! The reMarkable Paper Pro has a starting price of AU$929 with the base pen and 64GB of storage, plus it uses display technology that no other brand has adopted yet (it’s a customized version of E Ink’s Gallery 3 display).
However, with an 11-inch screen, as well as support for Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is arguably more versatile.
Then again, the Boox Note Air5 C costs AU$919 in Australia and its Android-based operating system makes this color digital laptop much more versatile than its Kindle or reMarkable counterparts. But it’s heavy.
So maybe you can see my conundrum: I can (sort of) justify the price of the Colorsoft, but I would have a hard time recommending it at full price. But given that my colleague Lance has been using it since launch and loves drawing on it, I’d be sorely tempted to upgrade to my 2024 edition if it gets its first discount on Prime Day 2026.
Then again, I’m hard-pressed to recommend a color digital laptop at the best of times and would still say that a monochrome version is much more economical for most users. After all, E Ink screen technology just isn’t here yet, and most of us read and write in grayscale and wouldn’t get the most out of a color display.
But the higher prices of the two new monochrome Kindle Scribes are definitely hard to justify, despite the RAM crisis and inflation. Given that Amazon has already rolled out new features to the original Kindle Scribe 2022 after the launch of the 2024 model, I suggest grabbing the Kindle Scribe 2024 now while it’s marked down to its lowest price – honestly, it’s worth it even without the new features, but support for Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive would indeed be welcome.
