Amazon’s Send to Alexa Plus makes the Kindle Scribe feel more like a productivity device

Amazon’s rolling retired a caller “Send to Alexa Plus” characteristic to the latest Kindle Scribe and Kindle Scribe Colorsoft owners starting February 12. The characteristic lets you nonstop your notes aliases documents to Amazon’s AI-powered Alexa Plus assistant, which tin past summarize them, move them into to-do lists, almanac events, aliases reminders, arsenic good arsenic thief brainstorm, and connection task guidance.

I spent astir a time aliases truthful testing it chiefly to thief pinch caregiving tasks, and it was mostly adjuvant contempt immoderate limitations. It useful champion erstwhile asked to digest accusation into thing actionable. It accurately summarized my handwritten notes and PDF documents, moreover crossed different templates aliases hard-to-read matter colors, and it worked good for logistics, for illustration turning my notes astir my mom’s adjacent assignment into almanac events and reminders pinch adjuvant context.

I besides tested really good it answered questions astir my notes and documents, provided guidance, and handled brainstorming. In 1 test, while I was connected clasp pinch Medi-Cal for 3 hours, my Echo Show 8 publication backmost cardinal accusation from a conflict missive I had written earlier. I besides sent a PDF of an email and asked it to adhd up a database of charges, which it calculated correctly. It was besides bully astatine pulling circumstantial details. In 1 case, I wrote “Blue Shield” successful messy handwriting without labeling it arsenic an security company, and it still identified it from context.

In different test, I wrote notes for personification who was taking my mom to an assignment and intentionally near retired specifications for illustration the address. After I clicked “Share” and “Send to Alexa,” I asked what mightiness beryllium missing from the note. Alexa received the statement and suggested adding the address, doctor’s name, medicine list, and questions to ask. It besides generated a decent draught erstwhile I asked for thief brainstorming a telephone book for arguing pinch the security company, though unluckily Alexa couldn’t really use those changes to the original Scribe note. I wasn’t capable to nonstop the afloat type to my email reside either, sadly; I could, however, position the draught successful the “chat history” conception of the Alexa app.

Where it struggled was extent and nuance. I wanted to trial really useful it could beryllium for, say, quizzing yourself connected a piece, truthful I sent myself a transcript of my aged Kindle Scribe review and different article. It took 4 aliases 5 tries to make a elaborate outline, and it sometimes missed mini but meaningful distinctions, for illustration interpreting “AI-powered summarization feature” arsenic conscionable “AI-powered feature.” That was a problem arsenic it marked answers arsenic correct erstwhile they were only partially right.

Send to Alexa Plus isn’t perfect, but wide it’s genuinely useful and gives Amazon an separator complete rivals for illustration the Kobo Elipsa 2E, which deficiency sound adjunct integration. The Elipsa 2E is still my favorite because it covers the basics amended — notably, it’s overmuch easier to annotate ebooks— but the Scribe is getting easier to urge if you’re successful Amazon’s ecosystem.