Amazon Kindle Scribe Basic Pen
No-frills stylus
The Kindle Scribe Basic Pen is the standard stylus included with the base model of its namesake e-reader. As the name suggests, it’s pretty basic.
Amazon Kindle Scribe Premium Pen
Editor’s pick
The Premium Pen is a more feature-rich stylus of the two official Kindle Scribe pens offered by Amazon. It has a dedicated eraser and a built-in Shortcut button.
TheKindle Scribeis the most versatile e-reader inAmazon’s portfolio. Besides allowing you to enjoy your favorite books, it acts as a digital notebook. The company offers two stylus options to make use of the note-taking functionality: the Basic Pen and the Premium Pen.
So, if you’re considering buying the e-reader, which of the two styluses is better for you? Let’s find out.
Price and availability
When you buy the Kindle Scribe, you get the Basic Pen bundled with the 16GB variant of the e-reader, whereas the Premium Pen comes with the 32GB and 64GB variants. The stylus can also be purchased as a standalone product.
The Basic Pen is priced at $30, and you can get the Premium Pen at $60. Both pens are readily available on Amazon.
The Basic and Premium styluses have similar designs. The Basic Pen has a matte plastic build with a round pen-like structure and a lightly grippy texture. There’s also a groove on one side that flattens close to the tip. While the flat portion helps thumbs rest while writing, the groove aids in magnetically attaching the stylus to the e-reader.
The Premium Pen also includes a dedicated eraser on the top and a Shortcut button at the end of the groove. But otherwise, it’s the same as the Basic Pen. These two additions make it a tiny bit heavier at around 15g, compared to the approximately 14g weight of the Basic Pen, which you won’t feel while using either of the two pens.
The Basic and Premium pens' similar design means you get the same experience holding both.
Functionality
Based on Wacom’s electromagnetic resistance (EMR) technology, the Kindle Scribe styluses are pretty straightforward and easy to use. You don’t have to worry about the battery or charging. There isn’t even a pairing process. You can just pick up the Basic or Premium Pen and start scribbling.
As both pens use the same technology, the writing experience is the same. Pen strokes appear quickly, and writing feels fluid. The matte surface of the Kindle Scribe offers a paper-like feel when writing with these styluses.
But it’s the extras that you get with the Premium Pen that differentiate it from the standard version. For example, the dedicated eraser makes it seamless to remove some of what you have written or doodled. You don’t have to go into the tools, select the eraser function, erase what you want, and re-select the pen function. You can flip the stylus and modify work without a manual process.
Similarly, while the Premium Pen’s Shortcut button triggers the Highlighter function by default, you can configure it to start the Pen function, open a sticky note, or enable the eraser function. But beyond these extra features, the Basic and Premium pens are virtually the same.
Which is a better stylus for the Kindle Scribe?
Although the note-taking or sketching experience with both the Basic Pen and the Premium Pen is comparable, the extra buttons on the Premium version make it much more convenient. You don’t have to manually switch to the eraser tool in the software, and you can use the pen as a highlighter by simply pressing the Shortcut button.
The Premium Pen is all about convenience, and we believe that convenience is worth the extra money.
The Premium Pen is aimed at making your life easier, and it does so by offering extra features. If you have the budget, you should go for it.
But if you’re on a tight budget or think you can live without the added conveniences of the Premium Pen, the Basic Pen is a good alternative. You won’t get the extras; the rest of the experience will remain the same.
The Basic Pen keeps things simple and is a no-frills stylus for the Kindle Scribe. You pick it up and start writing, sketching, or doodling. There are no extra buttons or features.
