How much is a touchscreen worth?

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

This is pure nonsense. Of course you touch your book: To turn the pages. And of course it adds to the reading experience when the page turning process is as close to the one one is used from pbooks as possible. This is why it is so wonderful to just swipe a page to turn it when using a Sony. It feels like reading a book!

Maybe you should just try it, before you say it adds or it does not. Now you act like a poor person or a kid that can not afford caviar or champagne and claims it does not taste and is not worth it even when they have never tried it in their lifetime.

I don't want a touchscreen. I like my buttons and little joystick. A touchscreen would not add anything to my experience.

The touchscreen is a personal decision. What works for you does not work for me. It is great that there are different readers for different needs.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

The fact that you own a tablet which takes time to open the dictionary as it doesn't have it on board is irrelevant when the ereaders in question do have their dictionaries right on board... Your buying decision is hardly the OP's fault.

I think you misunderstood my post, there is nothing wrong with my tablet and it's common on Kindle Android app to check dictionary online, regardless of your hardware.

The OP is asking about what extra value touchscreen adds to a normal reading experience, defining normal reading experience as reading a novel or a pure text book and the answer is, nothing extra.

-Turning pages: I can do it with buttons on an eink device
-Dictionary: I can use the joystick or buttons for that
-Highlight: you can do it with buttons
-Annotations: you can do it, actually, with a keyboard as well but not a virtual one.

As you can see, there is nothing extra or different.

Now, if you read my comment and previous post, I am not talking about reading technical materials or studying; on those cases, there is no question that touchscreen could be better, like an HP slate, for example or an iPad, but the ability to export and sync your own annotations between that device and others is not always a seamless process.

I am glad that you like your Sony touchscreen, but the fact is that for reading a novel, the touchscreen really does not change the experience in a radical way. Moving around the operating system itself is different, but that's not my point. I also think that for PDF documents and studying, Sony touchscreen readers are awesome, but not all people buy an ereader for PDF only purposes or just for studying.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

Of course you touch your book: To turn the pages. And of course it adds to the reading experience when the page turning process is as close to the one one is used from pbooks as possible. This is why it is so wonderful to just swipe a page to turn it when using a Sony. It feels like reading a book!

I don't want something that feels like a book, if I wanted something that feels like a book I'd use a book. I want something better than a book. And the process of turning pages in books is one of the little annoyances they have: you have to move your hand from where it normally is (either holding the book, or a pencil, or the phone, or picking your nose...). Granted, it's a very small annoyance and most of us hardly mind, but I can't see it as something to be desired.

I'm not saying swiping the screen to turng pages is not easy or nice, just that being like a book is not necessarily a good thing.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by jocampo

Good point, but ...

I can do the same with my Kindle 3 .... ...

Yes, it takes a bit faster with touchscreen but would not justify the touchscreen itself, not only for a dictionary. Actually, reading with my Galaxy Tab, using Kindle app, it takes maybe a second more while it calls the dictionary app and retrieves the info from Internet or over 3G. Kindle 3 dictionary is built-in; I just need to move the cursor and the word description will be there because the data has been incorporated as part of the device.

I think the touchscreen convenience is more noticeable on an Operating System. Moving around several pages or even browsing, is way much faster via touchscreen. That's why iPhones just changed the way we used phones.

A true story and a funny one:
When I was a kid and was reading something, I used to ask my dad for the meaning of words. He never answered at that moment but pointed me to the home office so I can grab a huge and heavy dictionary that we had, a spanish one. Following that, he asked me to look for the word and before start reading, he just describe or give the meaning to me, which was basically the same on the dictionary. He past away long time ago but I will never forget that and I developed an awesome Spanish vocabulary that way. The whole process would take maybe 5 min for a simple word, but a true learning experience

Thank you for sharing that. You reminded me of my own childhood.

[jocampo]

Well,

I think at the end, it is a very personal choice, but to be honest, I don't find turning pages between books annoying or a problem, putting aside people with some physical limitations of course, on which case, voice recognition is usually the way to go.

With some cooking books, touch screen is actually a bad stuff, in my opinion; I prefer to turn pages myself on the 10 dollar pbook that doing that on a $200.00 plus LCD device. Even with buttons, on a eink device would be less of a mental discomfort pressing buttons if your hands are full of onion or meat ;-)

I do want a reader that "feels like a book" in terms of reading experience itself. I don't want a reader that feels like a book in terms of portability or weight. I was looking for an improved reading experience with a balance between price and features.

[Grimm]

Originally Posted by jocampo

The buttons are for changing the pages is an electronic device. How are you going to change pages otherwise?

Swiping is for changing pages as well. I fail to see how you discern one being better, or even all that different than the other.

[Grimm]

Originally Posted by Jellby

I don't want something that feels like a book, if I wanted something that feels like a book I'd use a book. I want something better than a book. And the process of turning pages in books is one of the little annoyances they have: you have to move your hand from where it normally is (either holding the book, or a pencil, or the phone, or picking your nose...). Granted, it's a very small annoyance and most of us hardly mind, but I can't see it as something to be desired.

I'm not saying swiping the screen to turng pages is not easy or nice, just that being like a book is not necessarily a good thing.

Ummmm... touchscreens also allow for tapping the edge of the screen to change pages, EXACTLY like pressing a button.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by Grimm

Swiping is for changing pages as well. I fail to see how you discern one being better, or even all that different than the other.

Hi Grimm,

Want a direct answer? buttons use less energy than swiping via touchscreen, hence the battery consumption will be less. An example? Nook 1st gen. That small screen is basically the reason why the battery last just only a week or so. With just buttons, I can warranty you it would last same as Kindle 3.

But if you prefer one over the other, is your preference, of course.

[Belle2Be]

I wouldn't buy an ereader with a touchscreen. For one, i've yet to come across a touch screen that always does what I want it too, quick and accurate, and second, I don't want crap(fingerprints, smears etc) on my pages.

[Belle2Be]

Originally Posted by Grimm

Ummmm... touchscreens also allow for tapping the edge of the screen to change pages, EXACTLY like pressing a button.

Is the touchscreen on the side of the ereader? Because I squeeze in the side to change the pages on mine. Can you still read/change pages one handed?

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by Belle2Be

Is the touchscreen on the side of the ereader? Because I squeeze in the side to change the pages on mine. Can you still read/change pages one handed?

My touchscreen unit has a PAGE FORWARD and a PAGE BACK button, in addition to swiping. If I hold it in my left hand, my thumb rests on the FORWARD button, so I just push on it for the next page. Not a problem at all.

All quite "quick and accurate" by the way.

[teadonkey]

I really, really dislike touchscreens on everything. I was one of the Kindle v. Nook people for a long time, but the touchscreen on the Nook was one of the main things that pushed me to Kindle. I don't have touch screen on my phone, I have no interest in owning a tablet. I like buttons and keyboards.

I'm also one of those people who freaks about touching computer screens, TV screens, gameboy screens, phone screens. I'm the same with the eReader. I don't like the fingerprint smudges. And yes, they can get smudges. I read someone saying that their touch screen doesn't get them. Oil on fingers is oil, and it's GOING to leave a smudge. It's just more noticeable on a shiny LED screen.

So to answer the original question, touch screens detract from an eReader for me.

[Grimm]

Originally Posted by Belle2Be

Is the touchscreen on the side of the ereader? Because I squeeze in the side to change the pages on mine. Can you still read/change pages one handed?

Nope, it's not on the side of the e-reader. Yes, I read/change pages one handed all the time with my Nook Color.

[Grimm]

Originally Posted by jocampo

Hi Grimm,

Want a direct answer? buttons use less energy than swiping via touchscreen, hence the battery consumption will be less. An example? Nook 1st gen. That small screen is basically the reason why the battery last just only a week or so. With just buttons, I can warranty you it would last same as Kindle 3.

But if you prefer one over the other, is your preference, of course.

That is a fair assessment however, there was no mention of battery before, just that swiping added nothing to the reading experience. In that line of thought it remains that buttons do not either.

No worries.

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

The touchscreen is a personal decision. What works for you does not work for me. It is great that there are different readers for different needs.

DING! DING! DING! We have a winner!!!

I love the idea of seeing all of my loaded books by thumbnail cover (instead of a text list), as well tapping to get a dictionary definition. To be honest, page turning by swiping is the least necessary/interesting/useful touchscreen feature.