Let me know if you find an eReader with a joystick

Ebook readers are currently in a strange place for people who like to annotate books. Most manufacturers keep the number of buttons to a minimum and rely on touch screens—a good solution for people who don’t take notes from books. However, it looks like people taking notes from books represent a meaningful segment of the market.

Rather than return to the joysticks once used successfully, eReader manufacturers are introducing styluses. Styluses that currently can do roughly as much as a built‑in joystick, while being separate devices that you must remember to carry around, charge, and not lose.

Companies are experimenting with making it possible to scribble on books more naturally with styluses. The problem is that there is no standard of structured data for this type of annotation. Unless I’m missing something, the only thing my software can tell me about such annotations is that I left myself some handwritten notes on page X. Not that useful.

It will take a few more years to create software that can realize the potential of styluses (if it happens at all; people who annotate digital books are a niche). Let me know if you find an eReader with a joystick. I’m not an Amazon fan, but I miss the joystick from the old Kindle models.

November 4, 2024

Tags: control stick, ebook, hardware, input device, joystick, kobo, pencil, reading, stylus