Quote:
Originally Posted by Tuna
I've said as much on the other Cool-er thread. It looks like Interead are relying on Netronix to provide the firmware. As an OEM manufacturer, Netronix are very unlikely to be able to deliver a UI that is up to the 'iPod for ebooks' comparison. If that's your goal, you need to develop something special in house which doesn't seem to be Interead's business model.
Two points of comfort for the Cool-er:
1. A UI doesn't have to be perfect to be perfectly useable.
2. Firmware updates can make a world of difference.
If they really want to be successful, they might have to rely on the latter, but the good price point and straightforward proposition of the Cooler makes it a contender in my eyes. Readers should be getting cheaper, not more expensive - a lot of the other devices seem determined to add on as many bells and whistles as possible and to up the price in the process.
Let's not loose sight of the fact that we're trying to justify a device costing hundreds of dollars as a replacement for books that cost a few dollars.
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If a device got a bad name because the software sucks, it'll be very hard to get rid of that in a next version.
And no, it doesn't have to be perfect, but it must be easily useable. Sometimes, a small change can get rid of a major annoyance. Take that font-size changing for example:
You have:
1 5
2 6
2 7
4 8
Now, from what Pogue showed, you must go all the way down from 1 to 4, then from 5 to 8 to get the largest font. But, what if they had made a sideway control? You'd go from 1 to 5 down to 8. It's only a minor change, but can help a lot in the clicking. Or, just be able to move upwards (from 1 to 8) would also bring down the amount of clicking by half.
When you have enough of those (minor) points, the overall feel of the software will be terrible and thus, people won't like the device.
As soon as I saw the device I was thrilled. It was cheaper than the others, doesn't have all those bells and whistles (which, I think is a good thing!) and even looks good. But, in the end, you must work with it, and a clunkie UI can make you feel like you're not working with it, but fighting against it.