I thought of penning a few thoughts on designing an eBook reader, the hardware kind. After reading about Amazon's Kindle, I was wondering how the next version could be made better.
Here are what I feel are the requirements for a good eBook reader.
Ability to:
- Read
Ability to:
- Read
- Search
- Bookmark
- Annotate (Highlight, comment, markup, etc)
- Shared read (read along with another person)
- Loan a book
- Buy books, publications, etc.
- Turn page
- Turn multiple pages
- Leaf (flip) through
- Choose a publication to read
- Search for publications to buy/download
- Print
- Modify type size
- Single hand hold and operate
- Configure to individual taste
- Customize (software as well as firmware)
Phew. That seems like a big list, but it is what would make me switch from a paper book to an eBook.
Here are some of the desirable characteristics of an eBook reader:
- Should have a color display. In the days of color everywhere (have you seen a B&W TV or a computer monitor anywhere?), and publications using color, it makes a lot of sense to have color screen.
- Be easy to read. Should not be hard on the eyes and not produce eye strain. Easy to read in bright sunlight as well as in the dark.
- Easy to operate. Intuitive, with minimal buttons or menus. Shouldn't need the user to read a 200 page manual before using it.
- High quality display.
- Backlighting, for reading in the dark.
- Light and portable (preferably the size of a paperback).
- Configurable so users can tailor it to individual needs. I like to see page numbers on the bottom right, and someone else might like to see it on the bottom left. A left handed person might prefer to reprogram the buttons on the eBook to be mirrored.
Here is how I would design a new Kindle:
I would design the Kindle with a touch sensitive screen and incorporate a keyboard akin to iPhone's. Since the keyboard is utilized in certain actions (search, annotate, buy, etc) not directly pertaining to reading a book, it needs to be hidden out of sight. The only controls that should be visible are those that are "necessary" for reading. The only hardware controls that are provided should be directly related to the main purpose of the reader, which is Reading.
The rendering above is my concept of a eBook reader.
The book will be both right handed as well as left handed. The rendering above shows the book being held in the left hand of a person. If one were to hold it in the right hand, just turning the book 180 degrees produces the paging buttons on the right, AND inverts everything on the screen so that it appears in the correct manner. Now you understand why I have placed identical power buttons (again configurable to be anything) both at the top and bottom.
The reader would have a touchscreen and soft menus on the screen. Display thumbnails of the pages (as shown in the rendering) and allow users to leaf through the pages by flicking their finger on the thumbnails. Tapping on a thumbnail will take you to that page.
Single click of the page turners will turn one page, and double clicking them would turn 5 or 10 pages (configurable).
The header and footers should be configurable and provide content orientation clues like page number, chapter, section heading, book name, etc.
Of course, it would have a color screen. And, long battery life and all the other good stuff I haven't talked about.
Since the hardware uses a touchscreen and configurable buttons, the book could be customized to produce different menus as well as reprogram the buttons to do different things. Opening up the hardware to third party vendors and programmers will help drive the customization of the book.
For all you know, someone may reprogram it to act like a GPS or a video game console!
For all you know, someone may reprogram it to act like a GPS or a video game console!
As for the improvements on the service side of Amazon's Kindle offering, that is a topic for another blog.
PS: The unnecessary random line breaks is due to a bug in blogger. Whenever I include images this happens. I am still trying to figure out how to fix it.