Quote:
Originally Posted by OtterBooks
In case it isn't clear, the spirit of the poll is to determine whether you find touchscreen navigation preferable, or detrimental to your e-ink device experience.
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(1) whenever I move from my Sony 650 to either of my Kindles, I find myself wanting to use touch to navigate & page turn, but when I move from my Kindles to my Sony I never find myself feeling for the buttons. So for me, at least, touch seems more comfortable & natural.
(2) There might be a device size component here. Using buttons on my K3 is no big deal, but they are harder to use on my KDX. I think that touch might be more suitable than buttons on the larger devices, simple for ergonomic reasons. That is, it is easier to hold and touch on a large device, than to hold and press the correct button.
(3) I have two large devices, the KDX and an iPad. I tend to read both of them on stands of some sort. For my iPad, I have one stand for tabletop use, and another for laptop use. For the KDX I have a Tuff-Luv case which works as a laptop stand. I also have a Tuff-Luff case stand for my K3 and also for my 650, both of which I use on the tabletop. What I have found is that touch is a whole lot easier to use when I am relying on a stand to hold the device. It's a shorter, faster motion.
(4) The only time that the buttons seem equal to touch is on the 6 inch EBRs, i.e., the 650 and the K3, and only for page turning, and then only if I am holding the EBR rather than reading on a stand. This seems to be because on the 6 inch EBRs, it is possible to hold and pageturn with one hand using either the buttons or touch. But the buttons on the K3 are much easier to use than the buttons on the 650. So with respect to buttons, it is not enough that there be buttons - the buttons have to be well positioned.
(5) I have had the Sony 300 and the Sony 350. I preferred the 350 (unfortunately bricked through no fault of my own - it just up & quit) because it was smaller, which is because it was touch. But the pageturn buttons on the 300 (still around, but kept in the smallest room in the house, with short articles on it) were better placed. My conclusion for the 5 inch screen is pretty much as in (4) above.
So my overall conclusion is that there is NO situation in which buttons are actually superior to touch; generally, it's the other way around. There is one situation in which they might be equal, namely, smaller EBRs but only for pageturning. However, for most people, I think that 95% of the time spent reading involves (1) the 6 inch EBRs, (2) using the pageturning function, and (3) holding the EBR rather than positioning it on some kind of stand. In this situation, well placed buttons seem to be as good as touch, and the whole thing probably boils down to
"when I'm kissin', the one I'm kissin',
She is the one girl for me.."
For this reason, it seems to me that the best implimentation of touch would include pageturn buttons on the smaller EBRs. Everything else would be touch, including the option of swiping for pageturns.
Incidentally, I don't think that there's much to chose between a physical or touch keyboard, in & of themselves. However, the advantage of a touch keyboard is that the EBR can be smaller while having the same screen dimensions.
As for the fingerprint issue, I'm sitting here looking at my 650, tilting it this way & that in the light, & I just don't see any. If I squint, I can pick up some very light smears that for practical purposes I don't see when I'm reading. And now that I know the smears are there, I don't feel any need to do anything about them - and I am usually a little compulsive about small things like that.