MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Will Kindle ever do a touch-screen

Jazzetta · 11-25-2010, 03:47 AM

Touch screens have two large fails, IMO, outside of the glare issue and the battery life issues, both which may or may not be fixed with some new technology someday.

Problem one: they are a serious annoyance to someone with large hands. My father is 6'8", and his fingers are twice as thick as my thumb. He can not use my iPhone worth a hoot, even dialing is tricky for him. Stylus-type sticks do not help a bit since they are usually like 3 inches long. He says it's like trying to write with a toothpick. (They also don't work on the iPhone.)

And they also make life more difficult on the visibly impaired. All you need is the Kindle to read off the titles as you scroll up and down and you'd have an e-reader that the blind could use. (I don't know if the newer version does or not, mine is way old.) You can feel the buttons easily enough, good luck on feeling your way to the right spot on a touch screen w/out hitting anything else!

The only solution I can see would to have it barking out the name of every spot you touched, and having to do like a triple tap to open something and I think that would be too annoying for words.

I have an iPhone, I consider it a incompletely formed idea that they almost got right. (Seriously, a web device that can't handle Flash? What's the freakin' point?)

It was the first touch screen device I ever bought, and I really can't imagine making the same mistake again. It's awkward, I hit everything but the key I'm aiming for, the screen freezes or just flat out ignores imput, and in the case of my first iPhone, half of it just quit working. (Apple did replace it, but still.... I never had half the keypad of a normal cell phone just quit!)

And fingerprints are just obnoxious squared, even with a screen protector (which costs extra on top of the high price you pay for the item), you still get smears and the protector itself gets cloudy over time. The one I have on there now has shifted off center, which means I'll need to replace it and pay more money again.

Plus there's the problem of touching the wrong part of the screen at the wrong time. I've hung up on more than one person just by holding the phone wrong.

Maybe I'm just too old to stay "with it" anymore, but no, I flat out hate touch screens and do not want them in my e-reader.

11-25-2010, 03:47 AM	#32
Jazzetta Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Kindle	Touch screens have two large fails, IMO, outside of the glare issue and the battery life issues, both which may or may not be fixed with some new technology someday. Problem one: they are a serious annoyance to someone with large hands. My father is 6'8", and his fingers are twice as thick as my thumb. He can not use my iPhone worth a hoot, even dialing is tricky for him. Stylus-type sticks do not help a bit since they are usually like 3 inches long. He says it's like trying to write with a toothpick. (They also don't work on the iPhone.) And they also make life more difficult on the visibly impaired. All you need is the Kindle to read off the titles as you scroll up and down and you'd have an e-reader that the blind could use. (I don't know if the newer version does or not, mine is way old.) You can feel the buttons easily enough, good luck on feeling your way to the right spot on a touch screen w/out hitting anything else! The only solution I can see would to have it barking out the name of every spot you touched, and having to do like a triple tap to open something and I think that would be too annoying for words. I have an iPhone, I consider it a incompletely formed idea that they almost got right. (Seriously, a web device that can't handle Flash? What's the freakin' point?) It was the first touch screen device I ever bought, and I really can't imagine making the same mistake again. It's awkward, I hit everything but the key I'm aiming for, the screen freezes or just flat out ignores imput, and in the case of my first iPhone, half of it just quit working. (Apple did replace it, but still.... I never had half the keypad of a normal cell phone just quit!) And fingerprints are just obnoxious squared, even with a screen protector (which costs extra on top of the high price you pay for the item), you still get smears and the protector itself gets cloudy over time. The one I have on there now has shifted off center, which means I'll need to replace it and pay more money again. Plus there's the problem of touching the wrong part of the screen at the wrong time. I've hung up on more than one person just by holding the phone wrong. Maybe I'm just too old to stay "with it" anymore, but no, I flat out hate touch screens and do not want them in my e-reader.