Are handsets suitable for e-books?
Talk about a usability problem - read a book on your phone ...
"An announcement from HarperCollins, one of the world's largest publishers, that it will offer free chapter summaries direct to consumer's handsets in Australia started me thinking about the viability of the mobile handset as an e-book platform. The technology, of course, already exists - storing and reading large volumes of text is possible on most of today's mid-range and high-end handsets. The real question is whether the more fundamental aspects of reading text in the mobile environment are conducive to a good user experience.
Handheld computer manufacturers have been promoting their products as e-book platforms for many years now. There are obvious similarities in form-factor between PDAs and traditional paperbacks, but early attempts fell some way short of recreating the relaxing experience of reading a 'real' book. There were problems with the weighting and balance of the devices, which made them uncomfortable to hold in the hand for long periods of time, the legibility of text on the screen and the ergononic aspects of locating hardware scrolling buttons for flipping the digital pages.
It is these sort of problems which pose the greatest challenge to reading e-books on a mobile device, even more so on phones than PDAs. Issues such as storage capacity, digital rights management and the download process are overcome relatively easy with the latest technology. The human factors which determine whether an experience is enjoyable are more complex." continued ... (Via PMN)
"An announcement from HarperCollins, one of the world's largest publishers, that it will offer free chapter summaries direct to consumer's handsets in Australia started me thinking about the viability of the mobile handset as an e-book platform. The technology, of course, already exists - storing and reading large volumes of text is possible on most of today's mid-range and high-end handsets. The real question is whether the more fundamental aspects of reading text in the mobile environment are conducive to a good user experience.
Handheld computer manufacturers have been promoting their products as e-book platforms for many years now. There are obvious similarities in form-factor between PDAs and traditional paperbacks, but early attempts fell some way short of recreating the relaxing experience of reading a 'real' book. There were problems with the weighting and balance of the devices, which made them uncomfortable to hold in the hand for long periods of time, the legibility of text on the screen and the ergononic aspects of locating hardware scrolling buttons for flipping the digital pages.
It is these sort of problems which pose the greatest challenge to reading e-books on a mobile device, even more so on phones than PDAs. Issues such as storage capacity, digital rights management and the download process are overcome relatively easy with the latest technology. The human factors which determine whether an experience is enjoyable are more complex." continued ... (Via PMN)
Reading a book on a phone.
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