After K3 Design are you underwhelmed with the KDGX Design & Features?

[rsmin]

I have the K1, and bought the GDX a few weeks ago. I have no remorse at all. I am left handed and don't miss the buttons on the left at all. In fact I found while using my K1 I had always used the buttons on the right. Plus it's easier to hold with my left hand and not worrying about hitting a button which sometimes happened with the K1.

[jgaiser]

Love my GDX. Bought it for the screen size, improved display and PDF support. Already have my K2 sold and am not looking back (or forward for at least a year )

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by rsmin

I have the K1, and bought the GDX a few weeks ago. I have no remorse at all. I am left handed and don't miss the buttons on the left at all. In fact I found while using my K1 I had always used the buttons on the right. Plus it's easier to hold with my left hand and not worrying about hitting a button which sometimes happened with the K1.

Thanks for the feedback about buttons, but if you had the K1 and had not tried out a K2, ya missed out that the buttons worked significantly different on the K1 compared the K2 versions. On the K1 the buttons pushed outward to activate and on the K2 the buttons push inward which as you see with the GDX is a big and welcome difference... Now with your GDX you can actually hold the device by the button (on the outer edge of course) if need be w/o activating it.

Interesting that you found ya used the right side buttons the most...I find I have always read holding the book in my left hand. I think it is somewhat natural to hold reading material in your off-hand allowing your "everyday" hand to remain free for other tasks like notes, page turning or holding your tasty beverage/lunch. So I sense your off-hand use is consistent with my experience as well as what we have discussed here on MR in other threads in the past.

I originally had a K1 since like the 3rd month it was released. Never really liked it then once I tried the K2 I actually started to like the Kindle, which really did not "blow my skirt up" initially in no part due to the problematic buttons and their accidental activation simply by changing hand position on the device. It was actually a pretty common complaint about the K1.

BTW, my reason for needing buttons on bot sides is physical so to me that some does not miss them on one side doesn't work...I have to have them on both sides as I need to change hand position frequently and can rarely hold the reader in one hand or the other more than 30-60 seconds at a time. Not an RSI related issue but rather a life long issue with my hands and other joints. And even though the GDX is going to pretty much be a 2-handed reader I will still need to move my hands around often and, unfortunately for me, my right hand has more pain than the left though neither hand is ever pain free.

BTW, this is one of my reasons for a simple tiny IR remote control being an option for either Kindle...I can use a simply wire frame easel style plate stand to prop up the Kindle and change pages with the remote...and with a large reader I would see many who already like to user a book stand to read on would also be interested in a remote....but still we would be a small minority of users so it's not fair to think it a feature everyone could use. So I would be happy to have every Kindle be enabled with an IR receiver but us who would use it need to spend extra, and enough to help cover the cost, say even as much as $50, for the added hardware even though the hardware would be less than a buck and once added to the design ti development overhead is spread across the whole lifespan of the device...of course to force users to buy an Amazon branded IR remote would mean some pretty good encryption as those codes are usually pretty easy to crack... oops, went OT...sorry about that...hehehe....

Originally Posted by brecklundin

BTW, my reason for needing buttons on bot sides is physical so to me that some does not miss them on one side doesn't work...I have to have them on both sides as I need to change hand position frequently and can rarely hold the reader in one hand or the other more than 30-60 seconds at a time. Not an RSI related issue but rather a life long issue with my hands and other joints. And even though the GDX is going to pretty much be a 2-handed reader I will still need to move my hands around often and, unfortunately for me, my right hand has more pain than the left though neither hand is ever pain free.

I only have one hand--my right arm is amputated (from birth) just above where the elbow would have been. I've had to learn to adapt in a decidely right-handed world, so perhaps I'm better at adapting than most. But I really don't have a problem using my KDXG even though the buttons are only on the right side. If the other benefits of owning a KDXG are great enough to justify buying it, I think you will find a way to work the buttons.

[brecklundin]

Jack:

yikes, your one-hand option only has to be even more challenging!! Had a friend when I was a kid who lost his left arm from just above the elbow in Korea but the guy could do ANYTHING one handed, including whip my rear end just to tease me....hehehehe...I always remember Frank when my pain gets me too down as I can never get away from it anymore and only have it getting worse over time to look forward to...d'oh!!

Makes sense when you mention using the GDX upside down...for me in the "normal" position the Kindle keyboards have always sort of just disappeared, which did surprise me with my K1 as I did not think it would become so transparent. But for some reason I simply cannot get comfy doing the 180-degree thing and have the keys on top...I honestly have tried. I suspect it has something to do with my constant hand fidgeting and well, knowing I have the option not to use it in that orientation causes me to sort of give up early on the effort.

I suspect I would be OK with the DX family as they exist because as many have pointed out it's a two handed device...and since learning of the silly lack of numbers on the K3 I know if I was to buy a reader today it would probably be the GDX simply because it's not horrible expensive, though not inexpensive either, and it also has the nifty new screen and will eventually have the even niftier (is that even a word??? hehehe) new PDF handling.

As far as buying a DXG right now, I would say no because I want to see where it all shakes out this year. I want and have a need for a large format reader/device but nice as the DXG might be, it's not 100% where I would like it to be so why not wait is my position...and maybe my point. If I had a more pressing need and the content was more widely out there in the area of content I most need/want it could be an option to compromise and "learn to love the bomb" but right now I am not in that situation, yet.

[Clawdia]

I went right from the K1 to the DXG. The increased weight of the DXG hasn't bothered me a bit, and I adore the increased screen size as well as the clarity. I tend to read for 2-3 hours straight every night, curled up in bed. (I confess I have a waterbed with down covers, and there is no more comfortable place to read, as far as I'm concerned.)

I've been using the DXG with only one hand - I lie down with the bottom of the DXG resting on a pillow, curve my left arm all the way around the Kindle and rest the fingers of my left hand on the 'next' and 'back' buttons and click as needed. For me, that's a very comfortable way to hold it. I did hold it rested on a pillow with both hands one night, got drowsy, and next thing I knew I'd bopped myself on the forehead with the top part of the DXG. I was terrified I'd damaged the DXG, but seems the only thing damaged was my head, considering the straight line bruise I ended up with across my forehead.

Live and learn . . . at least I just hit myself with the plastic part and not the screen itself.