does the keyboard irritate you?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by speedlever

Ditto here. I much prefer the physical KB over a virtual KB on a touchscreen device. There's no guessing whether you pressed the button or not and if the machine is processing your request or if it didn't recognize the keypress.

I have the 650 with an on-screen keyboard. You do know if you've hit a key or not and it's very easy to hit the correct keys.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I have the 650 with an on-screen keyboard. You do know if you've hit a key or not and it's very easy to hit the correct keys.

I have the 600 and it's keyboard is sluggish. Glad to hear the 650 is better. I've heard good things about the improved readability of the screens on the new models as well.

[mikeayers]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

My Kindle has a keyboard!?!?

Seriously though, I rarely use the keyboard. And when I read... I don't even know it's there.

I also don't use it very often either cause it is annoying.

But again, all I want to do is read with it so I don't need it very often.

Also, once I found (through the help of MR) you can hit Alt and the top row of keys for numbers, it's less annoying

[travfar]

A irritating keyboard is better than no keyboard at all. If it bothers her, just tell her not to use it.

[tao]

I always feel the keyboard on my Kindle 3 is very nice, although I wish they had made full usage of the keyboard, such as add more Alt keys. Right now, it seems only Alt-B and Alt-G are used. I always wish they have put a keyboard combination for period, and question marks, for example, Alt-. for , and Alt-H or something else for ? mark.

I mostly use the keyboard for taking notes.

[tao]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

My Kindle has a keyboard!?!?

Seriously though, I rarely use the keyboard. And when I read... I don't even know it's there.

Kindle is designed mostly as a standalone device, so you can buy books from Amazon without connecting to you computer. They must provide users a way to search book titles, to enter user name, credit card info, etc. So a keyboard is a must.

IMHO, a keyboard, although unwieldy at times, is much better than a touchscreen: not fatty fingerprints on the screen surface. I hate finger prints on the screens.

[basschick]

after setting up my kindle, i don't think i've used the keyboard again - and i didn't find it particularly irritating.

[thorn]

the keyboard on my kindle 2 is irritating -- especially when i'm typing in my password -- because very often i'll feel a key 'click', but the letter won't appear.

i hope the keyboard on my k3 will be less irritating on account of the faster processor -- when it finally shows up. but any gain there might well be cancelled out by the absence of physical number keys! i look forward to the arrival of my device so i can find out.

e/t/a: agree that an irritating keyboard is better than none.

[malliemcg]

From your post I assume that she's worried she'll find the existence of the keyboard irritating? To be honest, you forget it's there after a very short period of time, I've had my kindle 3 now for 10 days and while the use of the keyboard can be annoying (letters not showing up all that quickly or mistyping) it's not that big of a deal. Once you're in reading a book, the only buttons are next and back.

I have more problems hitting the forward/back buttons when picking it up after having placed it down to do something not worth switching it off.

My annoyances around the kindle are some software design decisions (not being able to hit up up up to get the to the bottom few options in menus and having to use down down down down down down down to get to the same place), regional restrictions on eBooks and poorly converted books that seem to have been scanned, run through an OCR, a speelcheeker and charged out at $8 complete with some glaring mistakes that take you out of the book. Only one of those Amazon can do anything about. The device itself I love over a physical book, and is so easy to use, and when my eyes are getting tired, I can make the words bigger, can't do that w/ a pbook

[speedlever]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Although, as I'm sure you'll agree, the virtual keyboard on the iPad is top notch. It's one of the most responsive I've seen, but I miss the lack of arrows for navigating forward, back, up, and down. That's why I'm glad I have the physical keyboard/dock for extended typing sessions.

I will admit that the iPad has the best touchscreen I've ever used. It's also the most responsive I've ever used and frankly, the iPad is one sweet tablet. It will be interesting to see the iPad 2 when it debuts.

I've never been an Apple guy and this thing entered my world by surprise. I am truly enjoying it. But I haven't used it for any reading yet even though I've got a ton of book reading apps already. I think the only ebook I got is the iPad manual.

I really like my K3 for reading. I wish Amazon had thought to print the numbers above the top level keys for the Alt- number shortcut. I looked hard at the Nook and like many things about it, but not the weight and definitely not the touchpad. I didn't seriously look at the Color Nook because of cost and I wanted an eink display.

[speedlever]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I have the 650 with an on-screen keyboard. You do know if you've hit a key or not and it's very easy to hit the correct keys.

I have to say that I really like the latest Sony products except for the cost and lack of wifi on the lower models. I would like to have a 950. (can you have too many EBRs?) But for $300, I can have two wifi K3s and cash left over for covers, books, or other accessories.

I email almost everything to my K3 or to my daughter's K3, either directly from Amazon or from calibre after de-drm and format conversion if purchased from another incompatible store. I don't think I've sideloaded anything yet... mostly as a matter of convenience.

[OtterBooks]

I don't particularly like the presence of a keyboard, but it's just necessary enough to be there. I thought it would bug me, but I don't notice it while reading at all.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by speedlever

I will admit that the iPad has the best touchscreen I've ever used. It's also the most responsive I've ever used and frankly, the iPad is one sweet tablet. It will be interesting to see the iPad 2 when it debuts.

I've never been an Apple guy and this thing entered my world by surprise. I am truly enjoying it. But I haven't used it for any reading yet even though I've got a ton of book reading apps already. I think the only ebook I got is the iPad manual.

I really like my K3 for reading. I wish Amazon had thought to print the numbers above the top level keys for the Alt- number shortcut. I looked hard at the Nook and like many things about it, but not the weight and definitely not the touchpad. I didn't seriously look at the Color Nook because of cost and I wanted an eink display.

I far prefer the Kindle over the iPad for book reading. At nearly 3 times the weight, the iPad's just too heavy, but it's great for everything else. And, yes, I too wish the K3 had numbers listed over the top keys, but it's not that bad. I do wish it had a dedicated number row of keys, though, like the K2.

[ProfCrash]

I like my K1 keyboard and wish that the keys were larger on my DXG. I use it for shopping, setting a password when I travel, and setting up collections.

[tao]

Originally Posted by malliemcg

...

My annoyances around the kindle are some software design decisions (not being able to hit up up up to get the to the bottom few options in menus and having to use down down down down down down down to get to the same place), ...

I also find this quite annoying. The cursor should be able to loop back from the other side. Instead, it reaches the ceiling or bottom, then stop there. Quite annoying indeed.