Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
Don't underestimate the value of cutting in half the physical size. An A4 sized Academic reader is easier to carry around and manage than an 11 by 17 display.
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What would you see as an ideal size?
If a device is truly 'pocket portable' then it can still do some reading tasks surprisingly well. Yet there are other tasks that simply must have a bigger screen. How big though?
Once you get out of the pocket format there's really quite a big range of sizes that can be carried around the home or office relatively easily - either in the hand(s) or in a carry case or briefcase. If the weight and general bulkiness isn't too great then I find that I can carry surprisingly large folders around without any great inconvenience. However, ease of carrying can also be affected by what
else you might be carrying at the same time. You can even add to the mix a certain satisfaction in folding something into a smaller size that can just feel 'right' even though it doesn't necessarily always make carrying it that much easier. Sometimes things can be sold on the
perception that a feature is more useful than it necessarily is.
A4 seems an ideal size to me. It's a good fit all round with so many aspects already in common use. It's not just a good general match with the existing folders, briefcases etc that we're used to handling, but it suits the enormous amount of archived material that was designed to be viewed at that size and shape.
Until wide screen movie formats came along and literally distorted the computing picture, the ratios seemed much more work and reader friendly. I can read text perfectly comfortably on a 10" 16:9 netbook, but for some other tasks it still feels poky and out of shape.
What do others feel are the minimum and maximum comfortable sizes for their own usage?
Cheers,
Chris