The future of Kindle

Far too many times in the past, I was tempted to listen to The Vergecast. I did not start before now. But then, Amazon announced the new Kindles and the vergecast had an episode with Panos Panay discussing these same Kindles.

I added the Vergecast to Overcast and started the download of the episode.

It was a fun episode. The Vergecast is a fun show. Panos is a fun person to listen to. He is good at making you care about the products he is announcing. It was true back when he was announcing the Surface products. It is true now while he is talking about Kindles and hinting at future Alexa goodies.

I have a Paperwhite. I actually have two (11th Gen and 7th Gen). I got the 11th Gen a couple of years back. I had hoped to use the 11th Gen as much as I did the 7th Gen. But I couldn't.

See, I used to be a digital reading convert. Physical books did not make sense to me. I wanted to have a library. But the reality of modern life, moving between cities, countries, meant that I could not have my books with me. But then, some time last year I started going to the library.

All the things they say about actual, physical paper books, is all true. It is a different experience. It feels different, better even.

Ultimately though, reading more is what matters. Whatever the medium.

Anyway.

I was listening to the Vergecast and Panos talked about the ultimate vision for the Kindle. That it is a device that does a specific thing, and does it well, without any distractions. He talked about getting the Kindle as close as possible to the feel of paper: both in reading and writing.

I love my Kindle. Or used to, anyway. But I have never considered the Kindle as a note-taking device. The e-ink display is great for reading, but I can't imagine the slow refresh rate being good for writing. Heck, I am considering getting the iPad Pro, because it is the best device to use with the Pencil Pro.

And yet, Panos talked about how he uses the Scribe for taking notes. All notes.

I guess that's what Panos is good at.

Before this, I had no desire to use the Kindle. The Kindle has been sitting in my cupboard, since I don't know how many months. But I picked it up yesterday and downloaded some books on it. I will be travelling tomorrow, and I think I will take the Kindle with me. It is great for portability after all.

Remarkable also has Paper Pro, which is a tablet size device, primarily for taking notes. I think that is the direction that Kindle will go in. Not just as something you read on, but also something you can write on.

With Panos at the helm, it feels like Amazon might start giving better updates to the Kindle. The e-ink technology in itself can develop a lot. One of my frustrations with the Paperwhite is that it feels janky. It refreshes slowly. I would love it if it refreshed faster. If the page turns felt like page turns.

I am not sold on the whole note taking thing yet. Maybe one day soon we will get there.