Buttons, what's the big deal?

JSWolf · 09-09-2016, 09:38 AM

What's the big deal with buttons for turning the page on a Reader? Why isn't the touch screen good enough?

fjtorres · 09-09-2016, 09:42 AM

Ergonomics:
Economy of movement leads to better immersion.
A matter of taste to some extent.

spindlegirl · 09-09-2016, 10:11 AM

My first Kindle was one of the button ones. One thing that I appreciated was that I am frequently a transit passenger, and when my bus goes over a pothole I don't wind up going ahead or behind 20 pages when my finger hits the screen :-)

My daughter is inheriting that one now, and I do love touch screens far more than buttons, but buttons are not all bad.

It's mostly a matter of preference.

Sirtel · 09-09-2016, 11:10 AM

For me, it's mostly fingerprint phobia. I can't stand any fingerprints on the screen of my reader, no matter how faint they are. They're still too visible for my taste. Weirdly enough, I have no such phobia about my phone.

theducks · 09-09-2016, 12:00 PM

Medical:
Poor fine motor skills (coordination)
Parkinson's or other jitters of the hand
Oily or acidic skin

Preference:
Buttons and Knobs look

(don't believe me? Look at all the High end Audio gear. EYE CANDY )
They are in the right placement (for me)

barryem · 09-09-2016, 12:08 PM

It's about personal taste. We're all different. As we multiply we mutate and become varied so some people love one thing and others love something else. That's why we have wars and why men fight over women and some people work in banks while others rob banks.

Be glad! Were it not so novelists would probably just write stories about dogs and cats.

Barry

crane3 · 09-09-2016, 12:22 PM

For me, the "touch" screen often don't register; have to touch multiple times & sometimes have to "mash" the touch area, even after cleaning the screen. Then frequently, the touch screen & even a touch-pad will register without being touched, as has happened when I use YouTube. In YouTube, I have to make sure that the other fingers are way off the screen so that an unselected choice doesn't run; usually fail & have to use a stylus pen to do the "not interested" thing. Also have to be careful when using a keyboard that has a touch-pad.

Perhaps it is due to a high capacitance body type as I get shocked frequently & try to wear cotton only clothes; the worst thing was that I saw a 2-3 inch spark between the car's keyhole & the car key.

4691mls · 09-09-2016, 12:50 PM

I can hold my Sony reader in my right hand (in portrait mode) and use my thumb to press the page turn buttons. My thumb is not long enough to reach over the area where the buttons are to swipe the screen, so if I want to read one-handed I need to use the buttons.

silverraven · 09-09-2016, 01:00 PM

Arthritis in thumb joint. Hurts to move it back and forth to touch the screen. I can just lay it on the button all the time and gently press when I need to change pages. The pressing motion does not hurt, moving back and forth to the screen does.
So yes, I NEED buttons. They are important to me.
S

JSWolf · 09-09-2016, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirtel

For me, it's mostly fingerprint phobia. I can't stand any fingerprints on the screen of my reader, no matter how faint they are. They're still too visible for my taste. Weirdly enough, I have no such phobia about my phone.

eInk screens are not like LCD. LCD screens you do see fingerprints. But on eInk screens, you hardly see fingerprints. I do clean the screen of my H2O , but not because of fingerprints. So even if you don't like fingerprints, you really don't see them on an eInk screen.

JSWolf · 09-09-2016, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barryem

It's about personal taste. We're all different. As we multiply we mutate and become varied so some people love one thing and others love something else. That's why we have wars and why men fight over women and some people work in banks while others rob banks.

Be glad! Were it not so novelists would probably just write stories about dogs and cats.

Barry

Have a look at the attachment.

JoOrwick · 09-09-2016, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

eInk screens are not like LCD. LCD screens you do see fingerprints. But on eInk screens, you hardly see fingerprints. I do clean the screen of my H2O , but not because of fingerprints. So even if you don't like fingerprints, you really don't see them on an eInk screen.

True, but they're harder to clean because they're matte and I don't feel comfortable rubbing the screen on my ereader with anything, not even a cloth.

Most smartphones and tablets these days use quality scratch-resistant glass which can easily handle keys, blades and coins for example, let alone a bit of dust and other particles rubbing against the display.
E-ink displays look fragile and matte things generally scratch very easily.

JSWolf · 09-09-2016, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoOrwick

True, but they're harder to clean because they're matte and I don't feel comfortable rubbing the screen on my ereader with anything, not even a cloth.

Most smartphones and tablets these days use quality scratch-resistant glass which can easily handle keys, blades and coins for example, let alone a bit of dust and other particles rubbing against the display.
E-ink displays look fragile and matte things generally scratch very easily.

I have never scratched an eInk screen. Also, a microfiber cloth can be used to clean the screen. I have dust and other particles landing on my H2O's screen and never a problem.

radius · 09-09-2016, 02:54 PM

For me it's comfort. I can rest a thumb on the next page button and advance with a press.

For touch screen, I have to either swipe, or touch in a designated area. That means that most of the time my thumb has to rest somewhere else and I have to slightly shift my grip every time I want to turn the page. This makes it more likely that I will drop my reader.

Also, I hold my reader in my left hand, and on Kindle, touching the area immediately adjacent to the left bezel goes back one page instead of forward one page. So I have to kind of stretch some hard to determine distance in order to advance the page.

On my other devices I need to swipe to turn the page and this is very hard to do one handed. Maybe my hands are too small compared to the average.

I really miss the page advance buttons on my old Sony PRS-505. So many options for buttons, especially if you hacked it to also use the direction pad for page advance.

DiapDealer · 09-09-2016, 03:10 PM

All touch with no buttons; what's the attraction? Why aren't buttons good enough?

09-09-2016, 09:38 AM	#1
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 80,746 Karma: 150249619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Buttons, what's the big deal? What's the big deal with buttons for turning the page on a Reader? Why isn't the touch screen good enough?

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09-09-2016, 09:42 AM	#2
fjtorres Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,732 Karma: 128354696 Join Date: May 2009 Location: 26 kly from Sgr A* Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000	Ergonomics: Economy of movement leads to better immersion. A matter of taste to some extent.

09-09-2016, 10:11 AM	#3
spindlegirl Wizard Posts: 1,594 Karma: 21245891 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra h20, Paperwhite 2017, Phone & Tablet w Moonreader	My first Kindle was one of the button ones. One thing that I appreciated was that I am frequently a transit passenger, and when my bus goes over a pothole I don't wind up going ahead or behind 20 pages when my finger hits the screen :-) My daughter is inheriting that one now, and I do love touch screens far more than buttons, but buttons are not all bad. It's mostly a matter of preference.

09-09-2016, 11:10 AM	#4
Sirtel Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,983 Karma: 243829945 Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Estonia Device: Kobo Sage & Libra 2	For me, it's mostly fingerprint phobia. I can't stand any fingerprints on the screen of my reader, no matter how faint they are. They're still too visible for my taste. Weirdly enough, I have no such phobia about my phone.

09-09-2016, 12:00 PM	#5
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,250 Karma: 61360164 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Medical: Poor fine motor skills (coordination) Parkinson's or other jitters of the hand Oily or acidic skin Preference: Buttons and Knobs look (don't believe me? Look at all the High end Audio gear. EYE CANDY ) They are in the right placement (for me)

09-09-2016, 12:08 PM	#6
barryem Wizard Posts: 2,459 Karma: 68781975 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Arkansas Device: Paperwhite 4	It's about personal taste. We're all different. As we multiply we mutate and become varied so some people love one thing and others love something else. That's why we have wars and why men fight over women and some people work in banks while others rob banks. Be glad! Were it not so novelists would probably just write stories about dogs and cats. Barry

09-09-2016, 12:22 PM	#7
crane3 Guru Posts: 608 Karma: 5007204 Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Calif Device: Fire hdx 8.9, Tab S2, Tab S5e, Aura ONE	For me, the "touch" screen often don't register; have to touch multiple times & sometimes have to "mash" the touch area, even after cleaning the screen. Then frequently, the touch screen & even a touch-pad will register without being touched, as has happened when I use YouTube. In YouTube, I have to make sure that the other fingers are way off the screen so that an unselected choice doesn't run; usually fail & have to use a stylus pen to do the "not interested" thing. Also have to be careful when using a keyboard that has a touch-pad. Perhaps it is due to a high capacitance body type as I get shocked frequently & try to wear cotton only clothes; the worst thing was that I saw a 2-3 inch spark between the car's keyhole & the car key.

09-09-2016, 12:50 PM	#8
4691mls Wizard Posts: 2,776 Karma: 30081762 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: US Device: ALL DEVICES ARE STOCK: Kobo Clara, Tolino Shine 2, Sony PRS-T3, T1	I can hold my Sony reader in my right hand (in portrait mode) and use my thumb to press the page turn buttons. My thumb is not long enough to reach over the area where the buttons are to swipe the screen, so if I want to read one-handed I need to use the buttons.

09-09-2016, 01:00 PM	#9
silverraven Guru Posts: 974 Karma: 3438612 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Kindle Voyage, Kindle 4NTB x 4	Arthritis in thumb joint. Hurts to move it back and forth to touch the screen. I can just lay it on the button all the time and gently press when I need to change pages. The pressing motion does not hurt, moving back and forth to the screen does. So yes, I NEED buttons. They are important to me. S

09-09-2016, 02:54 PM	#14
radius Lector minore Posts: 661 Karma: 1738720 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Aura One, Paperwhite Signature	For me it's comfort. I can rest a thumb on the next page button and advance with a press. For touch screen, I have to either swipe, or touch in a designated area. That means that most of the time my thumb has to rest somewhere else and I have to slightly shift my grip every time I want to turn the page. This makes it more likely that I will drop my reader. Also, I hold my reader in my left hand, and on Kindle, touching the area immediately adjacent to the left bezel goes back one page instead of forward one page. So I have to kind of stretch some hard to determine distance in order to advance the page. On my other devices I need to swipe to turn the page and this is very hard to do one handed. Maybe my hands are too small compared to the average. I really miss the page advance buttons on my old Sony PRS-505. So many options for buttons, especially if you hacked it to also use the direction pad for page advance.

09-09-2016, 03:10 PM	#15
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,882 Karma: 207000000 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	All touch with no buttons; what's the attraction? Why aren't buttons good enough?