I have the Kindle 2, and same problem here. Also, the page turn buttons are pretty big vertically, but you only get a firm click if your thumb is in the sweet spot toward the middle of the button. If you click further up or down from there, your odds of getting a successful click are lower. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it drives me nuts.
The original Kindle was even worse, to me, by comparison to Sony’s e-reader (PRS-500, IIRC) that had amazing build quality, feel, and design (and ePub!). Of course I’d rather jab myself with a stick than use Sony’s clunky software, which also took forever for Sony to update for 64 bit Windows.
I recall it was an appearance on Oprah’s TV show that really set the Kindle up to crush Sony. It probably helped that Amazon’s e-book store quickly surpassed the Sony store. What is it about Sony? They sure made some nice hardware but tended to drop the ball on consumer follow-through.
I’ve had a couple generations of Barnes and Noble Nooks and then switched over to Kindle when it became clear that B&N wasn’t committed to providing usable software on other platforms. Both of my Kindles have been Paperwhites, and I’ve been pretty happy with them overall. I was tempted by the Voyage but I think I can wait till version 2–it sounds from the reviews like they’re still having some problems getting even lighting across the entire page surface.
I like the idea of having some other means of turning pages than touching the display area, but where I really want the buttons is at the top of the display. I tend to lie on my side to read sometimes, and the most comfortable way to grip the Kindle is with my fingers over the top of the device. It’s easy enough to snake a thumb off the bezel and onto the screen to flip the page when I’m sitting up reading, but I have yet to find a comfortable way to turn pages when lying on my side. (Touching at the top of the screen on a Paperwhite brings up the menu, so that’s no good.)
Pontiac, wasn’t it? It’s just weird to me that things seven years old can seem so dated and quaint. There’s an art to it.
Random thought. Attach a connector in parallel to the buttons, and plug in a little dongle with alternative buttons. That way you can have the reader in a position comfortable to read, and can be curled up with the buttons in your hand in any position you desire.
Tested in a similar version with a laptop with reading PDFs, and with mouse control via scroll wheel. The parallel buttons were tested with a small camera as an external trigger and numerous other little gadgets; you can run to EMI issues (spurious button clicks under certain conditions) if you don’t do it right, or in the case of camera flash get latchups (then you have to shield the wires), but otherwise it should work well. Readers, unlike big capacitor discharges (which the camera flash is), don’t operate with large energy surges so it should be easy and simple.
Interesting and helpful thought, though I am probably the wrong person to do the surgery.
The Paperwhite, by the way, doesn’t have buttons–your only option is to tap or swipe on the screen itself to turn pages. Not sure how much of the screen behavior is driven by the software and how much is hardwired into the circuitry.
Most likely it is a generic form of capacitive touchscreen, and the behavior is determined by software. The circuitry itself will only report the touch position.
Try FBreader on a Nexus 7 HD with an origami roocase or a leather binding, you might like it better.
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It does sound insane, never heard of Faxview until now. Definitely strange but i can see the thinking behind the design.
Hello Jason
You have to remember many of us are readers and writers…we browse scientific pdf and write some. Even if we are fond of lengthy old novels we use these devices to work! Up to now even with a bad resolution the Kindle DX was the best way to store many PNAS report…Sciece and Nature articles. And reading these without killing our eyes. Unfortunately the keyboard was unconvenient and the “edit” apps discontinued. But a b&w readers writer as an open way for more that aniche success…if Bezos can open a little more is big hears to professional writers scientist and musicians who will work in black and white for maybe one hundred years…Hey Jeff…I am volunteer to help you conceive this project!
Yes it was Pontiac.
I have a kobo touch, which I really like, although to be honest I find pdf’s a pain to read (because the page size is not scalable) compared to epubs. The e-reader makes large volumes (such as Moby Dick etc) easier to read. Also reading outside with the bright sun on the e-reader is still fine compared to a paper book. I also like the word definition feature that I find myself tapping a word in a regular book. The battery life of several weeks is great too.
Jason I noticed you left out an important row on your table, which I’ve amended for your convenience:
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Slightly OT, but I recently dug out my Xybernaut MAIV and MATC units. They have been a hassle for me to reconfigure because they don’t boot from USB, and I have no floppy adapter. I am going to try putting the drives in another box and installing MS-DOS on one and Linux on the other. The head display is decent for augmented reality, but not great as an e-reader. For low-res interaction should be ok, but I wouldn’t want to read a novel on it.
My first ereader was a Nook, purchased because I mistakenly believed that its support for an open ebook standard (epub, which I think Amazon STILL does not support) would cause it to win the battle. In retrospect, given Amazon’s size, that was super naive, but hey, sometimes I’m naive, what can I say.
Later I bought a Kindle Paperwhite (first generation). I consider it to be the most perfect electronic device I have ever owned, even though I’m sure the newer ones are even better. I think the size, weight, texture of the case are perfect. And I like how it performs all the functions it needs to perform and not a single function more.
Single use devices are an expensive luxury these days and I can no longer afford them, but I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.
For me the fact these can only do one thing and have bad browsers is one of the best features.
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What about using the “Spritz” method of reading, the way of displaying individual words? Can go pretty high-speed (with penalty to remembering/understanding), but at lower speeds should also work, and a hybrid way of displaying the text (similar to Spritz but larger chunks at once and slower) could be a workaround to the display resolution.
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[quote]I never understood why I’d want to type on a reading device.
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To got to a specific page number, to search, etc.?
I can’t use touchscreens at all, so I can’t use today’s e-readers.
The Original Kindle had a keyboard and the new Voyage doesn’t. I never understood why I’d want to type on a reading device.
I like to search my books-- of course, my Kindle 3G is a bit slower than my ipad’s kindle app.
I’m going to be very sad when my K3 bites the dust. It fit nicely between the slimline design of the recent models, and the functionality of the original (buttons! They are Good Things).
Sony’s biggest problems all stem from the decision to buy Columbia. That is when they turned from device engineers first to content gatekeepers first. They learned the wrong lesson from the Beta/VHS war, and forgot the lessons of the Walkman. As long as Sony makes income from copyrighted content, their devices will be hobbled by the concerns of that side of the house.
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