Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
That said, what does a dedicated ebook reader need? Better performance, a color screen, lower price, better annotations, perhaps a larger screen. Color is probably a year out (maybe more, who knows), so in the meantime they can fix up what they can, without necessarily losing the die-hard 3-or-more-fiction-books-a-month crowd.
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Nothing to argue with there, but I would like to suggest one area that needs *major* improvement:
Human factors engineering; the ergonomics, and two aspects in particular: screen size and control schemes.
Screen size seems to be practically arbitrary, driven more by manufacturing capability than usage profile. This *must* change if dedicated readers are to endure. The "standard" six inch screens are too big to be pocketable, too small in display area for the gadget size size. The aspect ratio is off, too. (And instead, they focus on thinness?)
So far, of the sizes I see on the market there is a gaping hole in usability between the 5 in models (paperback sized and generally pocketable) and the magazine sized 10 in models best suited for indoors use. It may be that the optimum is an 8in 16x10 or a 7" 16x9 but nobody seems to be trying to find out. (The Sony Daily reader is an interesting one but it looks to be a tad too tall or too thin. At least they tried to get closer to an actual book aspect.)
An even bigger issue is the control schemes; except for the odd TXTR or PB360 design, most eReaders take their cues from the button-infested Sony505 or the Kindle's keyboard-ridden button-fest, wasting precious surface area on "features" that, in usage time terms, don't justify the area they consume.
Too many designs seem to give little if any thought to how people actually hold these things, to handedness, and to proper button design (hey, Amazon! Way to go with that tiny, slippery 4-way-switch; you took an excellent control mecanism--the 5-way mini jostick--and made it almost unusable).
So yeah, I'd like to see a K3.
If only to see if they actually do something about ergonomics. Cause the way the secod tier vendors slavishly copy Kindle, I don't think we'll see better controls unti Amazon gets it.