Amazon Kindle Scribe

Amazon doesn't take full advantage of the bundled pen, but there's still much to like about this large-screen Kindle

- 

SCORE ✪✪✪✪

PRICE 32GB, £317 (£380 inc VAT) from amazon.co.uk

Finally, a Kindle you can write on. That, at least, is what Amazon hopes you'll be saying. The Kindle Scribe is arguably the biggest upgrade to the Kindle since the original hardware was launched 15 years ago, adding a pen with which to scribble notes and annotations. It turns the Kindle from purely a consumption and reference device into something potentially much more productive.

Physically, the Scribe looks like the Kindle Oasis, with its all-metal chassis. It's larger, though, with a 10.2in Paperwhite E Ink screen, and it lacks the page-turn buttons of its sibling. It also doesn't have the bulging back that makes the Oasis so comfortable to hold; instead, it has a wide, flat back with four tiny nubs for feet, so you can lie it flat on a desk for writing. The bezel has a larger edge on the left side, if you hold the tablet Amazon smile-up; the USB-C charging port and power button are both strangely placed on the side of the device, near the middle.

Considering the pen is the big new feature, it's odd that it feels like an afterthought: there's no clever integrated slot or sturdy holder, with Amazon instead attaching the pen to the edge of the Scribe by a magnet. This is my least favourite way of attaching a pen: the strongest magnet on Earth won't keep it in place when you drop the Kindle Scribe into a rucksack. If you want to keep it safely attached, you'll need to pay £95 for the leather folio case, which flaps opens like a reporter's notebook and includes a proper slot for the pen. Which brings us neatly to the topic of value for money.

No bargain bin