What about keeping the keys the same size, but just moving them a touch
closer together? My preference would be for much smaller keys much closer
together, but I agree this would be a problem to people without the finger
dexterity or precision.
Bruce
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On Sun, 23 Apr 2006, Russ & Valerie wrote:
I agree that smaller keys will be a challenge for some.
My aunt is using a BP, and she can just manage the buttons as she is a bit frail and her fingers not always steady.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Walt Smith" <walt@xxxxxxxxxx> To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, 23 April, 2006 11 21 Subject: [bookport] Re: New Bookport ideas
A BP with smaller keys might be okay, but I do wonder about the elderly or multi-handicapped user's ability to manipulate something that would enable a design of the size you mention here--a cigarette pack. While I don't know this to have been the case when the original device was designed, the present keypad certainly looks as if this section of the potential market was considered. I know from experience and observation that many elderly users just can't cope very well with buttons the size most of us find usable. Since NLS, from what I gather, isn't planning to produce a truly portable player when they move to digital Talking Books, I can imagine APH wanting to fill this gap, provided they can work with NLS to get the necessary permissions and work out the technology, so these folks would absolutely have to be taken into account in any design considerations.
I think that on balance, I also like the idea of moving to SD cards from CompactFlash, particularly if industry forecasts indicate that even higher-capacity SD cards may be forthcoming in the future and if NLS decides to move in that direction. Right now, 4 gig is the largest available size and if APH succeeds in removing all card size limitations, I can see that some folks may very well want to buy even larger-capacity cards. My sole concern about using SD cards is their relative fragility when compared to CompactFlash--I just see them as being too easy to damage or lose. CompactFlash is certainly going to continue to be around for a long, long time, given the number of devices that are dependent on them, but using SD would certainly aid in designing a smaller player.
----- Original Message ----- From: "David Tanner" <david-tanner@xxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Saturday, April 22, 2006 8:20 PM Subject: [bookport] Re: New Bookport ideas
It's size is about half to two thirds an inch thick, about 2 inches wide, and about 5 inches high. I am guessing it would need to be a bit larger than this unit in order to have decent size keys, but it would be nice if the BP could be a bit smaller; say the size of a cigarette pack.
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