5 ms·
> The point being, of course, that the ergonomics of smartphones as reading devices are not only kind of rad, but historically so. You can also turn this aroun
by avian 11y ago
> The point being, of course, that the ergonomics of smartphones as reading devices are not only kind of rad, but historically so.
You can also turn this around and say that smartphones throw away three centuries worth of ergonomic improvements in reading. I personally find smartphones completely unusable for any kind of longer text.
- pc86 11y ago> I personally find smartphones completely unusable for any kind of longer text. Literally two paragraphs after that he notes that historical authors didn't often write anything longer than a magazine article. So it makes sense that you wouldn't read a modern book on a smartphone, but blog posts are no problem.
- bryanlarsen 11y agoThe article's author read War and Peace, Middlemarch, and Moby Dick on his smartphone.
- drunken-serval 11y agoI've read entire novels on a TI-89. That doesn't make it an ideal format.
- mhurron 11y ago> I personally find smartphones completely unusable for any kind of longer text. I definitely prefer reading anything on my Surface (10") or previously the Nook (7"), or on my desktop if I'm there over the small phone screen.
- bryanlarsen 11y agoIn what way? In my opinion, a high resolution 5" AMOLED smartphone is superior to any other reading device including paper and e-paper, except for works that are diagram/table heavy, and for reading outside where glare becomes an issue. - AMOLED means perfect blacks, use white on black for nighttime reading - internally self illuminated for night time reading - light weight and lack of page turning allows wide variety in reading positions. The use of volume keys for page turning allows easy one hand operation, improving the number of positions available - narrow width eliminates horizontal eye scan. This is important -- most people do not read a word at a time, their brain processes an entire phrase at a time. If that phrase spans two lines, being able to focus your eyes on the end of one line and the beginning of the next at the same time significantly improves your ability to read the work quickly with full understanding.
- hsitz 11y agoIt's not just about how a single page looks. Even assuming that a nice backlit AMOLED is preferable to ink on paper in good light (which I'm not sure is true), physical books have pages that are easily turned, quick random access to different parts of book, and lots of subtle cues to reader about current location, etc. This is an advantage over ebooks. Ebooks can be digitally searched, which of course is an advantage for them. But it's hardly clear that any electronic reading experience is hands down superior to physical book in all situations. And if one were it would not likely be an ebook in a 5" form factor, that's too small. 5" is good for portability, but for sitting down in a chair at home for a 1 hour session, I can't imagine anyone preferring a 5" smartphone to a larger tablet. (I say all of this as someone who probably reads 40% on 4.5" smartphone, 30% on 13" laptop, 20% on 8" tablet, and 10% physical books.)
- ZeroGravitas 11y agoI've always liked that pleasant surprise you get when a novel finished "early" because there's a novella or preview of another book or something that comes after the main text, so that those "subtle clues" don't give you unwanted hints that you're near the end.
- mkrfox 11y agoThat's an annoying thing with short stories on Project Gutenberg. Half the pages are backmatter and frontmatter.
- eclipxe 11y agoI much prefer tapping the edge of a page vs moving my entire hand/arm to turn a page. +1 for digital for ease of turn. Quick random access to different parts of a book? A digital table of contents that I can bring up anytime and instantly tap to go to the section? Much faster than finding the TOC in the beginning, reading the page number, then hunting around for the actual page. Ugh. +1 Digital. How about randomly jumping around the book? All reader apps I use have a scrubber at the bottom, I just drag that wherever I like and boom, instant. Just like thumbing through the book. Many advanced readers will even show a live preview of the page as I scrub! +1 Digital. Add in the ability to scale font sizes (+1 digital), adjustable line heights (+1 digital), adjustable margins (+1 digital), Text-to-speech (+1 digital), non-destructive highlights and annotations (+1 digital), tappable footnotes and references (+1 digital), unlimited bookmarks (+1 digital), adjustable bg/fg color and lighting (+1 digital), self backlit (+1 digital), and the ability to have THOUSANDS of books in a few ounces. It's no contest. And 5" too small? I think it is the perfect size. Easy for one-handed use.
- rms_returns 11y agoI have a reasonably priced 7" ASUS Fonepad. It doubles up as my smart-phone too since my hands are large enough to easily hold it. Most importantly, it has a reading mode button (perhaps a feature of Android Kitkat itself) that dims the LCD and puts a yellowish haze, so its super-easy for reading. I personally spend several hours a day reading books on it.