Ergonomics and the e-book Reader

[Darqref]

Originally Posted by mollybo

You know what had excellent ergonomics? The Rocket eBook. It was weighted and curved to fit into your hand, with the page turn button right under my thumb, and you could switch the buttons if you chose. You could also rotate the display if you wanted to switch hands. I wonder how hard it would be to take the guts out and stuff an eink display in one ...

Yes Yes YES! Well, I could do with maybe half the weight, or even 2/3.

Actually, I was thinking about packing an auxiliary battery into the rounded part. A couple of C cells might be just about the right size, and would probably triple the battery life. But hooking it into the rest of the reader would be a kluge. If the extra weight went towards a functional battery extender, I don't think I'd even mind it. If I have an extended time to read, I'll go through thousands of pages (of eInk) long before even one week went by, so an extended battery would help.

Too bad the manufacturers don't listen to us.

[kindlekitten]

you lost me at battery

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by Darqref

Yes Yes YES! Well, I could do with maybe half the weight, or even 2/3.

Actually, I was thinking about packing an auxiliary battery into the rounded part. A couple of C cells might be just about the right size, and would probably triple the battery life. But hooking it into the rest of the reader would be a kluge. If the extra weight went towards a functional battery extender, I don't think I'd even mind it. If I have an extended time to read, I'll go through thousands of pages (of eInk) long before even one week went by, so an extended battery would help.

Too bad the manufacturers don't listen to us.

Again, you might take a look at the Ectaco jetBook Lite.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16858723010

Look at the pictures and consider how the battery box could be used as a
handle.

The Newegg description and the user comments do not reflect the current
capabilities of the device, as they don't take into account the improvements
brought about by the latest firmware. The new firmware includes the Adobe
Reader Mobile with support for ADE (epub & pdf) and B&N (epub) as well as
the Secure eReader (pdb) DRMs. Including PDF Reflow for files that support
it.

You can get rechargeable AA batteries with considerable storage increases
over earlier models. 30 hours of reading time for a charged set of four AAs,
is very well within the expected performance for such batteries. Offline
charging offers the benefit of never having to wait while the device is
charging its internal battery.

Having the weight of the four AA batteries in your hand provides a solid
balance for single handed use.

Luck;
Ken

[Anthem]

There really aren't all that many interesting cases out there, I'm finding (from an ergonomic perspectve).

Sleeves and boxes, and then everything else seems to be the whole strap it in bi-fold cases (many with nearly inexplicable slots for IDs, business cards, and else!) of dubious quality and little ergonomic value. Doesn't anyone think outside the mainstream? Come on manufacturers, what the 'ell?!

Argh! The naked Kobo is better than most of these. Maybe I just need to do more hand exercises?

ManosHandsOfFate recommended a bi-fold case and I do have one of those but I cannot for the life of me make it feel like anything other than an imbalanced, weight-adding, life enraging encumberance which completely erases the obviousness of how to hold the reader!

Somebody, put me out of my misery.

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by Anthem

There really aren't all that many interesting cases out there, I'm finding (from an ergonomic perspectve).

The less popular your device, the less selection you'll tend to find in the marketplace.

[Anthem]

Originally Posted by Maggie Leung

The less popular your device, the less selection you'll tend to find in the marketplace.

Alas! I have looked at cases for devices similar to the Kobo in size and shape, but to no avail!

[Jadon]

Coming from the ergonomic eBookwise, I've had to adapt to the Kindle. I didn't like the slippery brushed metal feel or sharp edges, so I got a silicone skin. I still don't like the page buttons (too small, too low, and backwards; it uses PageUp/PageDown logic, and I'm used to Forward/Back logic). The PocketBook 360 had nice buttons, and an integral hard cover, but the Kindle had a slightly better screen, slightly bigger (not a big issue: I was either going to move up or down a half inch from the EB1150), for less money (though at the cost of more conversions), so I went with that.

[Darqref]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

you lost me at battery

Well, I compare my old gen3 with my older Rocket. On each device, I got to read about the same length of book(s) before needing to recharge. My new pb360 is getting much better battery life than that.

So, for me, the idea of combining a more comfortable hand-hold with something that extends the battery life is interesting, although I might like it almost as much if it just had the shaped grip of the Rocket. Battery is just something that *could* fill the space.