Kindle Fire Usability Findings: Good if You Have Muscles like Popeye

By Dennis Kuba
December 8, 2011

Usability expert Jakob Nielsen says the current version of Amazon’s Kindle Fire offers a poor user experience.
The “fat finger” problem is quite evident on a 7-inch screen, especially for full websites. The Fire is also heavy and unpleasant to hold for extended periods, “unless you have forearm muscles like Popeye.”
Magazine reading is “miserable” since the content is not tailored for the device. “Page View is unreadable and Text View has the worst layout I’ve seen in years,” he writes. “Illustrations are either too big or too small and are usually located far from the place they’re discussed in the copy.”
Moreover, screen updates tend to be slow, which breaks the illusion of direct manipulation.
Nielsen suggests that for 7-inch tablets to succeed, service and content providers will have to design specifically for these devices.

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