Device in your Hand

Book Cover 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?

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