Travis and Michelle Fitzgerald's blog

Human factors

This is the part I’m least impressed with the Kindle. I’m not sure how much of this represents my personal preferences so your mileage may vary…

The buttons are intuitive to use but oddly placed on my Kindle. I’m glad there are “Next Page” buttons on both sides of the screen (I don’t think the bigger version does), but where the “Prev Page” button is on the left there’s a “Home” button on the right. I want “Prev Page on both sides! Also, the buttons are vertically centered on the device, not on the screen. I have to hold the thing at the bottom so that my fingers rest on the buttons, which is awkward; I really want to hold it in the middle. In fact, I’d really rather ignore the keyboard taking up the bottom third of the device and hold the Kindle centered on the screen.

Ah, the keyboard. On the one hand I like having it to type in searches; on the other hand I’d rather have a smaller device or bigger screen. The buttons aren’t easy to accidentally push, thank goodness, but I’d like to fold it out of the way. The only good thing about the room it takes up on the Kindle is that I can prop the thing on a fluffy blanket and it gets buried, leaving the screen visible. (By the way, I really like how e-book readers will sit on the table or my knee or chair arm and stay open! That’s one thing books don’t do well.)

Because the Kindle is an electronic device, it does need to be plugged in occasionally. So far I have to plug it in every few days if I’m using it a lot, especially if I leave the wireless on. However, you can still read while it’s charging and it comes with a decent length power cord – it reaches from the wall to the couch, and that’s about all I need. I’m a little concerned about road trips, but it hasn’t been a problem so far.