If you are left handed, and you use a digital reader, in which hand do you hold the device?
Conversely, if you are right handed, and you use a digital reader, in which hand do you hold your device?
This was something Jane Litte and I were talking about yesterday as we were getting ready for our session, eReading from the eReader’s Perspective. (Full conference update coming soon.) Our presentation covered the differing hardware, software, and customer support of the different readers, and what a curious device buyer needs to consider when shopping for a device.
The device Jane was examining specifically was the Nook Color, which has a touchscreen page turn (and no buttons) that cannot be customized. So the page forward is on the right side of the screen, and the page back is on the left. This cannot be changed.
ETA: as MsCrankyPants identified, I’m speaking specifically of the frame screen tap: “It is done by a quick light tap between the frame and the screen that will forward a page or go back a page. Tap on the right side of the NookColor to advance a page, done on the left goes back a page.”
Jane and I realized that we’re both right-handed, but we hold our devices in our left hand. My husband is left handed, and when I asked him, he thought about it, and said that he holds his reader in his right hand. I’m wondering if it’s true generally, that digital device readers hold their devices in their non-dominant hand (so the dominant hand can be busy cooking, eating, lifting drinks, driving a public bus, applying mascara, etc) (all at the same time, of course).
If that’s true, and digital readers are more commonly held in the non-dominant hand, that makes design a more crucial point for ease-of-use. As we pointed out yesterday, the Kindle has page forward and back buttons on both sides in equal sizes, making the device pretty ambidextrous when it comes to page turning. Menu operations are on the right side, however. The Nook Color is right-handed, as is the current Kobo, which has the page turn button in the lower right corner. I believe Sonys are customizable with the touch screen page turning options available for every which way, so they can be reset as well.
This isn’t earth-shattering by any means, but it makes a difference when you spend money on a device – you want it to be easy to use. And since I’m nosy and curious, would you let me know if this is true for you – generally speaking. Subway poles and varying environmental factors not withstanding, if you read digitally, do you hold your device in your non-dominant hand most of the time? And if you read books that you can hold in one hand (like mass market sized paperbacks, or hardbacks if you’re like that bouncer I saw last night with hands like a catcher’s mitt) which do you use, dominant or non-dominant hand?
I voted “neither” although because I don’t have a valet (or more appropriately, a ladies’ maid) I usually prop my Kindle up on a table and press the page buttons with whichever hand is free. If I’m not sitting at a table, I’ll prop the Kindle up on a pillow in my lap.
I’m not ambidextrous but I am lazy, and I have to switch hands all the time because page turning is so much work. Are they working on my hands free page turning? Anyway. Initially I hold the nook in my left hand and I am right handed.
Where’s the option for Jeeves to read out loud?
I swap back and forth and I think the time is split pretty evenly between hands. I’ve always done that, even with paperbacks. Once I sit down to read, I tend to be there a long time and I’ve probably gotten used to shifting positions over the years just to keep from getting stiff.
My nook is a wi-fi low end model that has identical fwd and back arrow buttons on both sides. Love it.
I am right handed, and I always hold my book (e- or paper) in my left hand. I have occasionally tried to hold it in my right hand, and it feels unnatural to me. Having the page-forward key only on the right side of the machine would be a deal-breaker for me.
Learned to switch hands/use both hands simultaneously after getting a very painful and swollen hand from holding the kindle for too long in the same position in my regular hand… shouldn’t have supported the weight of the whole thing with my little finger!
I am mostly right-handed, but I do a lot of things left-handed, including, at times, writing. I mouse left-handed, for example, and can pretty easily switch hit in sports.
So, the answer is, I am very very often irritated by devices designed for the right-handed. The iPhone is small enough that it doesn’t matter, and it’s not an issue with the iPad. But my Mom’s Kindle sometimes drives me nuts when I’m troubleshooting something for her.
I have a b&w nook, and I tend to hold it in both hands, at least when the cover is on (which it usually is). Oddly, I think I’m more likely to use the page-turn buttons with my non-dominant hand (right) and the touchscreen swipe with my dominant hand (left). I guess that means my non-dominant hand has the firmer grip on the device.
OK, I’m the only perv here. Talk of devices, fiddling & switch hitting is taking my brain down paths completley inappropriate to the work place.
I have my Sony 350 set so I turn the pages like I do a book, with a right-to-left brush. Seems to me that a left-to-right swipe would be like turning pages backward, no? I’m right handed and hold it in my left hand.
I tend to hold my Kindle 2 in both hands, with my thumbs resting on the page turn buttons, so it’s just an easy click to turn pages.
right now I’ve been using the keyboard too much and my ereaders too much and my right hand and wrist are hurting, so I’m reading a paper book.
I did a little self research on myself and was surprised on the results. I’m right-handed (although I do have leftie tendencies). I hold my Sony eReader in my left hand the majority of the time, both hands on occasion. I hold paperback books in my right hand the majority of the time, using my left hand to turn pages. I hold hardbacks in both hands (possibly due to the size and/or weight).
data26 – yep, this is definitely data and I could probably think of 26 different ways to hold a book/eReader.
I am right-handed and usually hold my Sony in my left hand. But every now and then I will use my right hand.
One of the things I love about my the 650 is the touch screen. And you can change the swipe direction in settings.
I’m left handed and have a Kobo with the big button in the right hand lower corner. This dictates that I must hold the device in my left hand, so there is no opportunity to apply personal preference to usage.
I don’t have an e-reading device, but your general guess holds true for me anyway – I’m right-handed and I always hold my paperbacks in my left hand so that I can make notes/underline with my right, which means i also turn pages with my right hand.
I have a Sony PRS-700. And, thinking about it, I find that it depends on the position I am sitting in because I will read with either hand. Because I can easily touch the screen to turn the page, it really doesn’t make much of a difference to me which hand it’s held in.
If manufacturers were smart, they would make them all ambidextrous. I’m left-handed, and I start out holding my nook left-handed. But when reading in bed, I like to turn on one side until I get bored, then turn on the other side. Thankfully, the nook has the page buttons on both sides, so it’s comfortable no matter what hand I’m holding it in.
When I read on my iPhone, I hold it in my right hand, turn pages with my left. But again theoretically one could turn pages with either hand since you just swipe the screen.
They made a mistake making the nook color not ambidextrous…actually from what I’ve heard on this site, they made a lot of mistakes in the redesign. I definitely won’t be upgrading anytime soon.
actually it depends, if I’m sitting and reading I hold the device in my left hand and use my right hand to press buttons or tap the screen to turn the page. I’m right handed. However, if I’m walking with the device and reading at the same time, then I hold it in my right hand and press the button to turn the page as well – this works really well with the Sony but the iPad is too big to carry one handed and walk and read at the same time.
I am right handed, hold the device right handed, and click the page turner with my right thumb/forefinger. That poor neglected left hand cannot do much for me. It is very akward.
Hmmm. Like you, I never really thought about it before. I’m ambidextrous, and I hold my ereader in either hand, and switch back and forth between the page turning controls as well. What I’ve noticed and and not necessarily thrilled with is that the nook has page controls on both sides, but I intuitively want to use the one on the left to move back and the one on the right to move forward. So because I just use whichever is handier, it’s frustrating to move forward when I meant to move back.
Verification: been39
More years than I care to admit, LOL.
Oh, and I forgot to add that I read a lot on my iPhone as well. There, I switch back & forth holding it in either hand, but I always use my right hand to swipe the pages in either direction. Go figure.
I really, REALLY wanted to choose Jeeves, but I decided not to skew the results. I chose the “both” option, which is closest to the truth for me; I actually do hold onto my Kindle with both hands most of the time.
I’m right-handed and have both a Sony Reader and a Kindle. I almost always hold them in my left hand when I’m reading. This is probably because I’ve always held paperback books in my left hand and turned the page with my right. It’s so ingrained in me to do that that even when I switch off hands because my left is tired, I’ll switch back without thinking (and often without noticing), even when my arthritis is bothering me.
Peggy makes quite a good point: I quite often read while eating, and have been known to cut up all my food before I start so I can eat with just a fork and hold my book in the other hand. My fork hand tends to be my left so the book is in the right; the same is true of my Kindle.
I’m left-handed, but do a lot with my right hand (sewing, using scissors, applying make-up etc) so it’s not unusual for me to hold my book in either hand. I also wonder if the Scissor Issue applies: my school only had right-handed ones, so I learned to use those; by the time they got left-handed ones they were irrelevant to me. Still can’t use ‘em. I wonder if the same is true of ebook readers?
I use my iPhone for ebook reading, and I’m right handed and usually use the phone with my right hand. Because the screen is so small, and I use a few different readers on it, I find it’s easier for me to be able to hold the book with the hand that’s gonna be touching the screen all the time!
i don’t think i’d want a jeeves only because i’m relatively blind (too much reading as a child…) and he’d have to stand within my personal zone so i could read the text – even if it was zoomed in!
anyway so i’m right-handed who keeps her books in the left. i think mainly because i use my right to do other stuff. I have the kobo and initially i thought that the lower right hand button was such that you would use it in your right hand but i actually find it comfortable in my left and can easily turn with my left thumb at the same time. I just hold it at the corner….
Just pulled it out to check – i do not hold the whole thing in my palm. Just the corner is cupped in my left hand, left thumb is free to move pages back and forth and my right hand is free to feed me biscuits, tea, other edible things, stir a pot etc.
I’m another Kobo user who’s left-handed but pretty much stuck with holding it in the right hand. The base of my right thumb is currently very unhappy—been using it a lot the last couple of days. Would be nice to make it easier to switch back and forth. (Didn’t fill out the survey on the grounds that it’s not a preference thing.)
RH but hold my Kindle LH (never thought about it until you posed the question!)
I’ve used a Rocket ebook for 10 years. It had the buttons on the left, requiring left hand use.
I bought a Kindle because of the buttons on both sides. I’m somewhat ambidextrous, and I like the idea that I’m not stuck putting the strain on one hand/thumb. I’ve only had it a bit over a week, but I’ve noticed that I switch hands often.
I’m a righty and voted as a switch-hitter because it really depends on where I’m reading.
For my iPhone, if I’m going two-handed (rare, but it happens), it’s hold on left & swipe to turn pages with right; if it’s single-handed, it’s right & right (hello trusty page-turning thumb!)
For my Kindle, it varies. I have one of those foldback cover things but can’t be bothered to actually fold it back & hold it out of the way with the elastic (since I’ll often read for short spells, like when I’m walking down the hallway or on the lift leaving my flat, and need to shove it back into my rucksack), in which case I generally hold the Kindle with both hands: my right holds the actual Kindle at the bottom right corner & turns the pages, and the left sort of keeps the cover flap from getting in the way. I use my Kindle at the gym all the time & it’s the same setup, except for when I’m reaching for my water bottle with my right hand :).
Without the cover, I’ll often hold it with my left (I guess to keep my right available for other things) and turn the pages with either hand, but I also hold it with my right. It kind of depends on where I’m sitting & where the light is coming from. If I’m reading something in the ‘landscape’ orientation, I tend to go two-handed again, holding it with the right (because I orient it such that the keyboard is on the left side, and holding it there is weird!) and turning pages with the left.
Basically, I’m a Kindle-holding/page-turning slut and will do it any way 😛 So I’m glad there’s buttons all around to accommodate every possible combination 🙂
(on the rare occasions when I still read print books, I again tend to go two-handed [because I like keeping the spines tight!], but favour my right hand when using one hand. Unless the light is kind of crappy and on my left, in which case I’ll use my left. Wow, so basically, I’m a paperback-holding slut as well :-P)
I’m right-handed, and use my left hand when reading. I don’t own an ereader yet, but for paperback books (which is what I’m usually reading, since hardcovers are too expensive/heavy) and borrowing the Kindle from my mom I always use my left hand. As you mentioned, this leaves the right (dominant) hand free to eat, brush my teeth, attempt to put in contacts one-handed (can’t do) while reading without correction (can’t do)…..
As a note, one of the things I love about using the Kindle, which I’ve borrowed extensively, is HOW EASY it is for me to do things while reading. SO much easier to get dressed while reading, or brush teeth while reading, or do anything else involving two hands, because you don’t have to try to prop the book open (I don’t care much about book spines). Also, much easier for things like reading while making the bed, since it’s easier to turn pages with one hand.
Tracy said,
Are you fucking kidding me? FOR THE LAST TIME (I hope):
THE NOOKCOLOR PAGE TURN WORKS WITH EITHER HAND. READ PEOPLE’S RESPONSES TO THE ORIGINAL POST BEFORE WEIGHING IN.
FOR EXAMPLE:
Nicole said,
STOP THE MISINFORMATION AND CORRECT THE ORIGINAL POST. NOT TOO SMART, BITCHES.
NookColor is NOT for righties only. Neither is the Nook or Kindle.
You can use small right or left swipe gestures to the to move forward a page or backup a page on either side of the screen making the NookColor ambidexterous. Similar to a smartphone or other tablets.
Jane might have meant the frame-screen tap. It is done by a quick light tap between the frame and the screen that will forward a page or go back a page. Tap on the right side of the NookColor to advance a page, done on the left goes back a page. I use it more than the swipe. I hold it with my right hand and tap with my right thumb. Easy.
I’m a leftie. I hold ereaders in my right mostly.
Bearing in mind that I have no dog in this fight, other than being somewhat offended by this sort of carrying on in my, normally, sane corner of the internet…
1. Whomever was incorrect the first time doesn’t have the option of “correcting the original post”. Unless, of course, things have changed and there’s an edit option of which I am unaware. (If so, I’m sure someone will correct me.)
2. Screaming is more rude and off-putting than someone being incorrect about, or unaware of, the options on her ereader.
3. “Bitches” isn’t used as an insult here. In fact, most people that post here don’t name-call and insult other people at all. Now, perhaps you were intending it in the way it is used here (Smart Bitches) and not intending to use it as an insult, but it certainly reads as an insult.
4. Being incorrect about an option on an ereader isn’t cause for having a temper tantrum. Perhaps you need to (if you’re old enough) have a glass of wine and relax a little. Or find something more worth all of that screaming rage, like poverty or war or certain political groups redefining the word “rape”.
(whispering, so as not to alarm you):
it wasn’t meant as an insult. so get a sense of humor, because that would be the more smart bitches thing to do.
Donna said,
heehee. And also, every time someone talks about reading one-handed? :} Or is that as silly as giggling over the whole nook e-reader/“nookie reader” thing? I don’t care if it is…iheartnook.
😉
Well then, alright.
I guess my answer would be “none of the above,” most of the time. I’m left-handed, but generally hold my Kindle with the palm of my left hand and operate the page-turn/menu buttons with my right hand. If I absolutely am forced to do it one-handed, I’ll use my left-only, but it feels awkward.
I’m the same with paperback/hardcovers. Am I just unusually uncoordinated? How are you all holding books, turning pages and reading with one hand? lol
Feh – the Nook “hate”/misinformation over here and on Jane’s blog isn’t anything new. But yeah, pretty sure the Nook Color is geared more towards swiping. One could say it’s bad for them to assume readers are going to default mostly to the swipe while making their other page-turn option less ambidextrous. But, funny, I don’t think I see any other devices with multiple options for how one turns a page (IE, touch/button or swipe-motion as opposed to buttons only). Seriously, ladies. It’s a personal taste thing – not a failing on the device itself.
My eReader is an iPod Touch. I switch hands as one gets tired. When I hold it in my right (dominant) hand, I page-turn with my thumb. When I hold it in my left hand, I page-turn with my fingers. Either way, I just barely tap the right edge of the screen. I think I actually find page-turning with my left hand to be easier, because of the way I hold the Touch.
I was a bit surprised cause I voted in the poll before reading your post, SB Sarah. Who would’ve thought that a lot of righties hold their devices with their left-hand. It’s the same with paperbacks for me as well, ‘cause I use my right hand to turn the pages and hold the book with my left. 🙂