Kindle Scribe Software Update: New Pen Styles

 ... and as if by magic Amazon have released an update for the Kindle Scribe.

An email arrived on Tuesday 28^th Feb announcing an update, which would either automatically arrive on my Scribe at some point, or I could download and install it manually. Of course, I didn't wait.

The update does address a few minor things that appear on my Scribe wish list:

Some different pen & highlighter styles & shapes

New pen styles

Initially there was but one pen type available, with five different thicknesses to choose from. Now, explored using the same menu, there are four new styles - three based on pens, one based on pencils - each with five different thicknesses. The new pens are:

• Pen: A biro-style jotting pen, close to (but I don't think exactly the same as) the single style available before the update.
• Fountain Pen: A pen that provides a different thickness of line depending on the direction you drag it on the screen.
• Marker: A big, thick, dark pen.

These pens are demonstrated below, with the numbers 1 - 5 indicating which thickness option I used to write them:

Kindle Scribe Update: Pen Styles by T.Briggs is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

The Pencil addition is pretty much just a grainy version of Pen, also with five thickness options, demonstrated below:

Kindle Scribe Update: Pencil Styles by T.Briggs is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

New highlighter styles

The highlighter now has 5 thickness options to choose from as well, but no new shapes: it's still just the vertical line. I've demonstrated these new sizes below:

Kindle Scribe Update: Highlighter sizes by T.Briggs is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Bonus update: Eraser changes

The eraser tool didn't get a mention on my wishlist, but it's been updated anyway. There are now five thickness options to choose from (i.e. erase more in a single pass, or fine-tune your deletions). In addition, you can choose from "rub out selection" and "rub out page". I'm thinking you don't want to leave the second option engaged by accident.

Teaser

That's pretty much it for this update: a token gesture that, I think, is meant to reassure us that the Kindle Scribe isn't just being left as-is and that there's more to come. In fact, the email notification for the update included this promise at the bottom:

"In the coming months, Kindle Scribe will add lasso copy/paste tools, improved notebook organization and navigation, and the ability to send documents to Kindle Scribe directly from Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365 subscription required)."

Oh, you teasery teasers, you.