Two Weeks Now of Kindle Touch and I've Learned Something

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Note that KT lets you type more than one letter for Title/Author search, while K3 only allows 1 letter. So you can get a more precise jump. Moreover, to use the keyboard quick search on K3 you have to be in Author or Title sort already. With KT, it will switch to Title sort automatically and then display the page with the result (unless you are in Author sort).

It's a small refinement but it has already changed the way I use Kindle (once I discovered it). I never used Title or Author sort before this, and mostly just stayed in Collection or Most Recent sort, I never used the quick search very much (except for jump to page #).

And of course all of this applies to Archived Items, so things are very easy to locate in there, as I discovered while transferring my stuff from K3 to my KT.

, the screenshot seems to imply what you describe and it certainly does seem to be an improvement per your description. But how does one get to the screen depicted in that second screenshot.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by alansplace

, the screenshot seems to imply what you describe and it certainly does seem to be an improvement per your description. But how does one get to the screen depicted in that second screenshot.

Just tap on 'Page x of y'. Likewise tapping on the sort order label brings up a dialog to change that.

[thayerwilliams]

Originally Posted by abookreader

I really, really love that Kindle Keyboard.

I tried it out. My objections pretty much what I thought they would be. I just don't much like reading with touch screen devices. I accidentally turn pages. I accidentally skip to the next chapter. I want a page turn button to rest my finger on. I try to adjust the font and I end up highlighting words and looking them up in the dictionary instead. Mostly, I'm hopeless.

I couldn't agree more, though I believe it's the device itself that's hopeless. I just returned my KT tonight after a thorough two week trial period. I was a bit quick in passing along my old KK 3G to my son though and I'm now waiting for a brand new KK 3G to arrive Monday.

I believe that most people who regularly use the KK 3G to its fullest extent (music, audiobooks, text-to-speech, 3G) will be at least a little disappointed with the KT, if not completely disheartened at the prospect of the Kindle's future.

The KT speakers are a far cry from the KK, there is no easy way to enable background music while reading a book, no means of adjusting the volume once the screen has gone into standby and of course the 3G has been grossly restricted. If you enable TTS it kills the MP3 player which then has to be reloaded through Home > Menu > Experimental > MP3 Player > Play (that's 4 screens and at least 5 taps vs. pressing Alt+Space)

In fact, just about everything you could do at the press of a button (or key) now requires two, three or even more taps to accomplish. The power button is perhaps the most user-unfriendly revision of all; it switched off constantly on my morning bus commutes. It's as if they didn't even test the device in real-world settings.

Add to that the flaky touchscreen...my device had about a 70% success rate for button taps (volume up/down, next track, page turn, etc.) and because it's e-ink I often sat waiting for something to happen before realizing the tap didn't register; at other times it registered events twice.

I won't even bother commenting on the new lighted cases.

Such a disappointment; plain and simple.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Just tap on 'Page x of y'. Likewise tapping on the sort order label brings up a dialog to change that.

but then I'll need to ask this:



how do you get from the above screen to the below screen:

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by alansplace

but then I'll need to ask this:



how do you get from the above screen to the below screen:

The from/to images you are using are not displaying for some reason. There are just a couple of tiny boxes (I'm using Chrome).

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by tomsem

The from/to images you are using are not displaying for some reason. There are just a couple of tiny boxes (I'm using Chrome).

again. Guess I'll just have to experiment when I can get my hands on one of them again.

[seajewel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I have the fire, and I can read on it, but the touch interface is not winning here. Yes, it's much better for magazines (I expected that, with the slightly larger screen and the colour), but there is no way to hold it in your left hand, and flip pages without using your right hand. What a nuisance. Glad I have my KK 3G.

Does swiping not work? I don't own a Kindle Touch, but recently found out that most tablet apps and smartphone apps let you swipe from right to left on the left side with your thumb to turn pages. Vice versa to do previous page on the right side.

[techiegirl]

I, too, am returning my kindle touch. I already have the fire and am going back to kindle (4) for my e-ink reading. I swipe with the KF and with the KT, swiping will move me a couple of pages ahead. I'm having trouble adjusting to the idea that the KT is a touch and not a swipe.

[shinew]

Originally Posted by techiegirl

I, too, am returning my kindle touch. I already have the fire and am going back to kindle (4) for my e-ink reading. I swipe with the KF and with the KT, swiping will move me a couple of pages ahead. I'm having trouble adjusting to the idea that the KT is a touch and not a swipe.

You probably swiped vertically(or almost). Unlike touch, Kindle Fire doesn't register swiping up/down as a separate command(last time I tried). On the Touch however, it goes to next/prev page by either tap or swiping horizontally. If your swipe was too vertical, it'll jump to the next/prev chapter(similar to K4NT's up & down button).

Anyway, K4 is also a great device if you just want a small & simple reader, don't enter much text and have no interests in the X-Ray feature.

[techiegirl]

I'm swiping horizontally, or at least I think I am. With the KT, when I swipe, I find that I've gone a couple of pages ahead and not just one page.

[shinew]

Originally Posted by techiegirl

I'm swiping horizontally, or at least I think I am. With the KT, when I swipe, I find that I've gone a couple of pages ahead and not just one page.

try a shorter swipe

EDIT: actually it couldn't have been the length of the swipe. just tried it on mine and I've swiped from edge to edge with no issue, so I can't really reproduce the problem.

[DiapDealer]

Oh yeah... all this is helping convince me.

[shinew]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Oh yeah... all this is helping convince me.

You've managed to do that pretty well yourself by not even trying the new device

[VictoriaP]

Originally Posted by shinew

try a shorter swipe

EDIT: actually it couldn't have been the length of the swipe. just tried it on mine and I've swiped from edge to edge with no issue, so I can't really reproduce the problem.

I can't reproduce it either. I've tried both firm and very light swipes, short and longer. The only way I can get it to skip ahead with a swipe is by changing the direction to vertical. Maybe that particular Kindle is defective?

However, I will add that I find swiping to be a completely inefficient way of advancing pages (I don't use it when reading on the iPad either). I'm really glad they included a "tap" function for those of us who prefer that method.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by VictoriaP

...
However, I will add that I find swiping to be a completely inefficient way of advancing pages (I don't use it when reading on the iPad either). I'm really glad they included a "tap" function for those of us who prefer that method.

The swiping is what turned me off a bit from my eInk Sony. Doesn't recognize taps. When given the choice, I'll always tap.