Keywords

1 Introduction

With the development of technology, using electronic book readers to read has been trending upwards, especially in China. While there is a variety of devices to choose from, people naturally turn to the giant in this field, which is Amazon and its classic product Kindle. Since Kindle has been launched in the Chinese market in 2013, it obtains constant attention among Chinese netizens [1]. According to the statistics analyzing Taobao’s quantity of sales, we made a sales comparison between three kinds of kindle (Fig. 1), more than 5000 Kindle Paperwhites are sold within a month in Kindle’s flagship store. While the demand for e-book readers continues to increase, it is undeniable that the user experience of Asians was not given priority to when designing Kindle in the first place. A more user-friendly product, which is oriented towards the prosperous Chinese market, is in need imperatively.

Previous researches have mainly focused on the general usability and user experience of Kindle product. For instance, John V. Richardson Jr and Khalid Mahmood [2] present a comprehensive evaluation of user satisfaction and usability concerns related to five e-readers, including the Amazon Kindle. And Jakob Nielsen also did Kindle Fire Usability Findings in 2011 [3].

But what motivated us are some more specific questions: Is Kindle suited for Chinese users? Does it conform to the Chinese’s habitual ways of interaction and their mental models? In our research, we tried to narrow down to find the most severe and detailed problems that Chinese users might encounter when using Kindle. To supplement our findings, we made a comparison with iReader, a domestic e-book reader which is popular in China as well. With our result, we aim to provide some new insight into the design of e-book readers for the Chinese.

2 Research Subject

Since there is a series of Kindle products, we decided to take Kindle Paperwhite (Fig. 2) as the research example for two reasons. First, this type of Kindle is rather full-featured, with both essential functions and more advanced ones like built-in reading lights, which gives it the edge over Kindle 499. Second, Kindle Paperwhite ranks above other kinds of Kindle in sales according to Taobao (Fig. 1), which implies that it is more wide-spread currently compared to Kindle Oasis and Kindle 658, thus the conclusion we draw would be more universally applicable.

Fig. 2.
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(source: https://www.amazon.cn/)

Kindle Paperwhite

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3 Research Method and Process

Our research contains both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the usability of Kindle Paperwhite. The experiment can be divided into four steps. In the first step, task analysis and property checklist were used to draw a rough idea of the product, and we did these two methods by ourselves. In the second step, we handed out a questionnaire and interviewed with typical Kindle Paperwhite users. We also conducted think-aloud protocols and co-discovery with volunteers in the third step. And at last, we compared Kindle to iReader based on the problems we had found.

To see the instinctive reaction of using Kindle Paperwhite, the volunteers we selected in the third step were mostly novices and had not used Kindle products before, without particular restrictions in other variables such as age and gender. The participants in other method were not particularly defined.

3.1 A Rough Assessment Using Task Analysis and Property Checklist

At the beginning of the research, we did a property checklist using principles of usable design [4]. The outcome of the property checklist was only for locating the problems, so we would not discuss it further. We conducted this method with the simple purpose of making hypotheses in advance of the next two steps.

A qualitative task analysis (Fig. 3) was another method acting as a provision. We set up a task: read the three-body and adjust the font size before reading, and then listed every step required to complete the task to see whether the process was simple and straightforward enough. Because the task we set was not too complicated, there were no critical problems shown in the result of the analysis. We also observed our volunteers based on the task analysis process while they performed other tasks in the third step. The result of which will be discussed later.

Fig. 3.
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The task analysis

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3.2 Questionnaires and Interviews with Typical Kindle Users

In the second step, we used the questionnaire, to get a general idea that users held about Kindle Paperwhite. We handed out questionnaires in several Kindle interest forums for two days and received from 31 participants. Unfortunately, we had to discard the quantitative data from 14 users since what they were not our target users, so our statistics were based on the remaining 17 users.

In the survey, the physical properties and design style of Kindle Paperwhite were mainly questioned. For example, the participants were asked to rate in a 5-point Semantic Differential scale (Fig. 4) about their general feelings of Kindle Paperwhite. The adjectives used were collected from the reviews and comments about it on the Internet. The result shows that most participants viewed Kindle Paperwhite as a classic, succinct product. The questionnaire also included more detailed questions such as question (9): Do you think the size of Kindle Paperwhite is comfortable for you to use? And question (11): Do you think it convenient to press the button? The questionnaire is given in the Appendix A.

Fig. 4.
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The 5-point semantic differential scale

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After analyzing the results of the questionnaires, we invited five typical Kindle Paperwhite users to participate in an in-depth interview, in which their opinions were discussed at length. Besides the necessary information such as the frequency of usage, they were required to talk about their personal experience on several given topics. Then they were asked to answer some unstructured questions. The specific usability problems were known through these questions. In short, the major problem is that there are lots of hidden operations that users do not know. Since these operations were not shown in the beginner’s guide, most users discovered them by accident.

3.3 Think-Aloud Protocols and Co-discovery

At the third stage of our experiment, we conducted a think-aloud test. The participants were asked to complete the task which we had set up in the task analysis and speak about what were they doing and thinking simultaneously. The whole process was filmed by a moderator with the consent of the participants. We collected several usability problems in this research and ranked them by times.

In subsequent, three groups of participants were invited to do a co-discovery test based on the same task as before. Each group is composed of two people, and at least one of them is a novice. When working together to accomplish the task, they were encouraged to help each other and verbalize their thoughts. After analyzing the video recordings, we found that the same problems appeared in this research, which was also related to the interaction of Kindle Paperwhite.

3.4 A Comparison Between Kindle Paperwhite and iReader

At the last step, we compared Kindle Paperwhite with iReader (Fig. 5), a China-produced e-book reader, in the usability problems found previously. The type of iReader we choose was iReader A6, which was launched in 2019.

Fig. 5.
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(source: https://ireader.tmall.com/)

iReader A6

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We compared these two devices in three aspects. The first aspect was the weight and size. iReader is thinner and lighter than Kindle Paperwhite, and a curvier back with the texture of metal makes it comfortable to hold. However, it is worth mentioning that during our research, there was little people complain about Kindle Paperwhite’s weight. One participant even reported that the shape and weight of it gave him a sense of the paper book. The second aspect was the design of the button. The button of Kindle Paperwhite was on the bottom of the device, while iReader A6 on the top. And the latter one is more suited for Chinese users’ habits. The last aspect being compared was the reading experience. Although Kindle Paperwhite’s interface is not as clear as iReader A6, it is still superior when it comes to the overall reading experience.

4 Analysis and Results

4.1 Results of Interviews

When providing a series of operations and asking the participants which ones they were not accustomed to, 3 of 5 said that they had trouble finding the way to adjust the font size and line spacing at first. One participant said that when she habitually tapped the center of the screen to wake up the menu, it turned to the next page. This is because most reading APPs use the interaction of tap on the center to wake up the menu, while on Kindle users have to tap the upper part of the screen to achieve that goal. There were also 3 participants did not know the way to take screenshots on Kindle Paperwhite (press two opposite corners on the screen simultaneously), and one reported that it was unnecessary to have all these tricks in an electronic reading device.

When required to rate in a 5-point Semantic Differential scale (the same as in the questionnaire), their common feelings for Kindle Paperwhite were classic, succinct, and lightweight.

4.2 Results of Think-Aloud Protocols

There are three significant problems shown in the research. First was that the screen flickers a lot, which bothers some of the participants. Secondly, participants had difficulty finding the way to wake up the TAB bar (the menu): they slide downwards or tap on the wrong places. Thirdly, when asked to adjust the font size, one participant, after failing a lot of times, eventually succeeded by habitually using two figures to zoom in. However, this operation was neither included in the beginners’ guide nor the standard step set by us.

4.3 Results of Co-discovery

The most severe usability problem was found in the group of two novices. The overall task went smoothly, but when asked to adjust the font size, they tried a solid two minutes and still failed. They reported after the task that they had no clues how to call out the command. And for other groups, one group of a novice and a common user and another of a novice and an expert, there is no obvious problems, since the novices were guided by the non-novices.

5 Conclusion

Although Amazon Kindle is nowadays one of the most common electronic reading platforms, it still can be improved when it comes to the usage of Chinese users. The conclusions of this research and our suggestions are drawn as follows:

Firstly, too many ways to achieve a simple task may confuse users. Tricks or hidden operations may sound intriguing, but if there were too many of them, it could bewilder users. From what we have researched, Chinese users prefer surprises with clues. So, the simplest way may be completing the beginners’ guide to include all the operations. A less clumsy way is adding hints which imply available actions, in order to release users’ workload. It is also suitable for other fundamental operations such as adjusting the font size.

Secondly, as an electronic e-book reader with rather specialized functions, it is better to simplify the procedures of other operations. It is shown in our research that Chinese users concern about the experience of reading the most when choosing an e-book reader. Thus, making other operations smooth and straightforward is of great importance, by which we can ensure that users can enjoy the reading part to the utmost.

Thirdly, it is evident that the basic interaction of Kindle Paperwhite does not ideally suit for Chinese users. If changing the patterns of interaction is beyond consideration, remind users of the interactions from time to time may be a choice worth considering.

Lastly, Chinese users prefer laconic interface and interaction. The priority of the information given on Kindle Paperwhite’s interface could be thought again thoroughly. It is advised to give a larger space for the reading part where the users can browse through his/her library.

6 Discussion and Limitation

The specific usability problems are investigated and evaluated in this research. However, due to the limited time, limited access to new techniques, and some other factors, there are still limitations in the following two aspects:

Limitation 1.

When interviewed with unstructured questions, it is difficult for interviewees to recall the problems they have met when using the Kindle Paperwhite. Their first answers are quite ambiguous, so researchers have to lead them to help recollect their experience. It might influence the rigor of the research.

Limitation 2.

It is widely acknowledged that a large number of samples is needed to support a precise result. However, we fail to recruit enough participants, especially for questionnaires. Since we intend to focus on Chinese users, it would be more accurate if we had had adequate samples.

This research mainly discusses the usability problems that Chinese users may encounter or already encountered when using the Kindle Paperwhite. There is still a lot of space for research and experiment. Our research can be used as an inspiration for further studies, not only for Chinese users but also for users worldwide. Meanwhile, the project will also be improved in our next phase of research.