Things You’ll Need

1. Make sure your system meets the system requirements (it’s a few hundred MBs of hard drive storage).

http://developer.android.com/sdk/requirements.html

2. The SDK Starter Package

http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html

3. ADT Plug-in for Eclipse (if developing in Eclipse). Requires Eclipse 3.5 (Galileo) or greater.

http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/

If not developing in Eclipse, you can use other IDEs like Apache Ant 8.1 or greater (http://ant.apache.org/) or JDK 5 or JDK 6 (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html)

Installing the SDK

Firstly, the downloaded file must be unzipped.

Zip file Type ‘unzip filename.zip’ in the terminal

.tgz file Type ‘tar zxf filename.tgz’ in the terminal

Once all the files are extracted, eclipse is ready to be used. Typing in ‘eclipse’ in the terminal should start the IDE.

Installing the ADT (Android Development Toolkit) to Eclipse

Follow this link for a step-by-step guide to adding the ADT Plug-in to Eclipse.

http://developer.android.com/sdk/eclipse-adt.html#installing

Install Android Platforms, APIs and other recommended tools

Once the ADT is installed, you can launch the Android Manager from Eclipse.

Open Eclipse

Select Window > Android SDK and AVD Manager.

Select the required components from the Android SDK Manager and it will install the required components for you.

That’s it! You’re ready to start developing your own Android Applications.

Visibility of System Status - The user should be informed of what is going on

Match between System and Real World - The system’s language should be familiar and follow real-world conventions

User Control and Freedom - System should support undo and redo to help user leave an unwanted state

Consistency and Standards - The meaning of words and actions should stay consistent in  different situations

Error Prevention - Eliminate error-prone conditions or allow users to perform commit actions

Recognition rather than Recall - The user should be able to recognize the meaning of actions than having to recall their functions

Flexibility and Efficiency of Use - System should provide certain accelerators that help speed up interaction for expert users, however it should cater to both, novice and expert users efficiently

Aesthetic and Minimalistic Design - The design should be aesthetic, minimalistic and easy to understand

Help Users Recognize, diagnose and recover from errors - The system should assist users in recognizing, diagnosing and recovering from errors

Help and Documentation - Adequate help and documentation should be available to the user when needed

The study has been conducted based on user interaction with the eBook reading interface.

Results of the Analysis

The table shows the results obtained. It displays the areas where the devices do not agree with Neilsen’s Heuristics, and mentions the reason it does not fit the respective guideline(s).

This study further agrees with our previously done research indicating that the current eBook readers have some shortcomings that affect the user experience and there is more room for improvement that would lead to more satisfying user interaction with the device from an eBook reading perspective.

Device

The first thing noticeable about the device, or should I say not noticeable, was the power button. The power button was nowhere to be seen on the sides of the device. Users often mistook the SIM card slot for the power button. This was an issue with all users. The power button is on the back of the device, besides the camera. It isn’t easily identifiable.

The XOOM weighs 1.6 lbs, slightly more than iPad and Kindle that weigh at 1.3 lbs and 1.2 lbs respectively. This was another concern shown by users. The users pointed out that the impact of the weight was clearly evident through stress in the wrists when holding the device.

The thickness of the device is also not comparable to the iPad 2 and Kindle DX, the two other devices used for the study. The users thought a thinner device would be more convenient. The greater thickness however, did provide for slightly better grip.

The keyboard feels too broad when holding the device in landscape mode making it difficult to type.

User Interface

The users liked the eBook reading experience the app had to offer. The pages were displayed across the entire screen not wasting space at the edges and thus displaying more words per page in portrait mode. Settings provided by the app were also deemed adequate by users.

The most admired feature was ”Night mode’. This feature allows users to change the screen to white on black from black on white. This makes it more comfortable to read in low-lighting conditions and especially at night. This feature is an advantage because the backlit display can cause severe stress to the eyes when reading continuously for a long time.

The areas users generally found tricky were finding applications to read books on the device. Previous experience with the device played a significant role in this case. The users with little or no experience found it difficult to find and install apps. Most users wanted the app to be installed by default instead of requiring the user to install it.

The landscape view does not support 2-page display, causing almost 2 inches of screen space being wasted on either sides of the screen. This space could be better utilized to display more text and thus help users to see more information on the same screen.

The most severe issue was that of crashes. In case of some users, the app crashed abruptly and the user was taken back to the homescreen.

Bottomline

The Motorola XOOM is a powerful device and runs the latest Android 3.0 OS, however as far as eBook reading goes, is not a very suitable option. Especially for academic text. The device’s weight. thickness, abrupt crashes, and the ePub format’s illustrations rendering capabilities deems it unsuitable for reading academic text. Like most other tablets, the XOOM is good for leisure reading with its simple UI, various viewing modes and fast responsiveness. Academic text on the other hand requires more information displayed on a single page, the ability to flip through chunks of pages while being able to see the scrolled contents and the ability to make notes on the textbook. It will take more time till eBook readers support these features and as of now the Motorola XOOM does not seem ready for use as an academic textbook reader.

We studied the Kindle from point of view of academic text. We studied the reading experience on Kindle DX, the user interface it offers, and the device in general.

Device

The users were really happy about the fact that it was lighter than any other tablet they had held in their hands.  The fact that it is lighter than most other devices is true, however saying its weight makes it an ideal eBook reader is not. The users did have problems with the weight of the Kindle DX. Some users that had used other Kindles previously said that the bigger screen on the  DX was a great advantage, but the addition to the weight worked against that. The users were comfortable using the smaller Kindle than buy the more costly, heavier Kindle DX for a bigger screen.

The E – Ink Pearl display made a mark on all users. The users were very impressed with the fact that there was no glare from the screen, and the absence of brightness adjustments to be made to the screen to adapt to ambient light.  The screen was perfectly readable in varying lighting conditions. The screen felt good, and mimicked paper.

The problems mostly faced were with the buttons on the device. Users complained the keys on the keypad were too small, and found holding the device and typing at the same time uncomfortable as the keypad was too low on the device. The fact that there are no dedicated numeric keys added to this factor. The 5-way stick was difficult to identify for the first time, and making selections was difficult until the users realized the 5-way stick could be pressed in to make a selection. The device has navigation buttons on the right side only, which makes it mandatory for people to hold the device either in the right hand, or use another hand to flip pages when holing it in the left. The ‘Back’ button and the button to navigate through a book were misleading. Users mistook the ‘Back’ button for page navigation, however it is for navigating through and to menus and not for in-book navigation. Some users also expressed the need of a ‘Forward’ button as the slow response rate may cause repeated actions causing unwanted results. The Menu button was also misleading. as users thought they could change settings in-book using the Menu button. There is a dedicated key for settings on the keypad. This key too, is difficult to identify the first time.

User Interface

The users liked the simplicity of the UI, as all the books were displayed on the Homescreen. This made it very easy to find a required book on the device.

The Kindle offered a number of font sizes to aid the user. It also has a text-to-speech feature. That being said, the text-to-speech isn’t as advanced as one might expect. It is like any other text-to-speech software you may have tried using. The software  sounds fairly automated and loses expressions, which are key to any book or story alike.

The fact that it was not a touchscreen and did nothing but read eBooks was seen as an advantage. The lack of a touchscreen and other features caused less distractions to users and readers spent time reading instead of anything else.

The main concern shown by all users was the responsiveness of the UI. Common tasks like unlocking the device, opening a book and flipping a page took a long time due to the slow refresh rate. Talking from an academic texts viewpoint, fast refresh rate is one of the most important attributes an eBook reader should possess. When reading textbooks, most people flip through chunks of pages to retrieve relevant information. A task that seems impossible at a very slow refresh rate.

Bottomline

The Kindle is great for linear reading, but its currently not suitable to be used to read academic text. The refresh rate is too slow to allow for fast flipping to and from pages. The limited illustrations rendering capabilities and weight are also a problem. The Kindle, due to its low weight and E-Ink display may be really well suited for leisure reading, but it might take some time till one can use the Kindle DX to replace textbooks.

Device

Most users were very happy with the design of the device, and particularly liked how thin it was. That being said, the flip side is that they were not very happy with the weight of the device (despite being 15% lighter than its predecessor), and complained that their hands would hurt after a certain amount of time when using the device to read. When reading from the device for a significantly long time, one starts to feel the edges, especially when held in one hand.

The most common concern that all participants raised was that they all wanted the iBooks app installed by default instead of having to install it separately to be able to read eBooks. I admit this isn’t a lot of work, but isn’t the whole point of eBook readers allowing the user to get access to books as fast as possible? Inexperienced users did not know much about applications and their installation.

The screen feels good to read, however exposing your eyes to an LED-backlit display for a really long time isn’t a good idea. Especially in low-lighting conditions.

User Interface

The users were particularly impressed with the responsiveness of the touchscreen. They liked the way the device registered the tap exactly where they intended, and did exactly what they wanted it to do.

Users that had previous experience using iOS devices were more comfortable operating the device than others that had never used iOS devices before.

iBooks renders the book in a very graphical way to make it look not like plain text, but more like an actual book. This feature, however, costs almost an inch of space from each side. Space that could be utilized to fit more content on a single page, allowing the user to read more on a single page, saving some time from the reduced page flips.

Bottomline

From a purely objective viewpoint, I’ll go ahead and say the iPad has a supercool UI and great responsiveness, however, when it comes to eBook reading, these features don’t really count. Its backlit LED display and weight make it a ‘not so ideal’ eBook reader when it comes to academic text. The device is useful for leisure reading, but it may take some more time before we see students using the iPads as textbooks leaving their 2000 page hardback textbooks at home. One of the main uses of a textbook is to refer to a particular formula, diagram or search a particular concept as soon as possible. The ePub format’s limited Math rendering capabilities coupled with the inability to write all over the book and flip through chunks of pages at a time does not affect leisure reading, but makes it not so suitable for academic use.

Internet access was enabled for all devices for the purpose of the study, as connecting to the internet is not part of the eBook reading activity.

Study 1

The study was implemented in two phases, the difference being the instructions given to the user.

Phase 1

In this phase, the devices were connected to the internet, and the users were asked to download and open an eBook on the respective device. They were not told about specific apps that were needed to render eBooks, and were given no specifics whatsoever. The users were not given any instructions so as to get a firsthand view of where they try to get the eBooks from, whether they even know about the requirement of specific apps to render eBooks on the devices and of any other OS specific functions.

This study helped evaluate whether prior experience with the OS played a significant role in understanding OS specific requirements such as apps, the app stores the devices used, and the place to get eBooks from.

Phase 2

In this phase, the users were given more specific instructions about the applications that they would have to download to be able to read eBooks in the ePub format. This test helped answer questions such as, did the user know where to get the application, which application to get, did they have trouble installing the application, how to download eBooks on the device, and so on.

This study gave a very clear understanding about the intuitiveness of the UI, the difficulty or ease in performing tasks, and whether previous experience with either similar devices or the operating system played a part in performing the given task.

Study 2

This study was devised to evaluate the eBook reading experience each of the devices had to offer. The participants of the study gave feedback on the overall device design from point of view of an eBook reader, the user-friendliness of the user interface from the eBook reading point of view, and inputs on the in-book settings the devices allowed the users to change.

In this study, the users were asked to inspect two areas of the eBook reader or eBook reading app. First, the overall readability of eBooks was tested by asking the users to read a book for ten minutes on the device. The eBooks were rendered at default settings. This part of the test was to get feedback on the eBook reading experience the device offers. For the next part of the test, the users were asked to find and change the settings they wished to change when reading, and also inspect the settings the device offered. For this part of the study, each user was given five minutes. This dedicated time to change settings allowed the users to find all or most settings the software offered, and identify settings the software lacks or are unnecessary.

Cc image by Astragony

Since there is no emulator that performs exactly like the physical device, we chose to take a practical approach to measure the times. The render times were measured in two ways. One, manually, and the other using a video camera.

Manual Method

Take a stopwatch in one hand, and have the other hand tap on the device. For example, when using an iPad, what we did was to hold the stopwatch in the left hand, and tap the iPad with the right hand. Start the stopwatch precisely when the iPad is tapped, and stop when the desired action is done. This method depends a lot on the user’s reflexes and you may have your doubts about the level of precision when it comes to results. Let me tell you, the results were surprisingly accurate. Read the figures to see for yourself.

Camera Method

This is a slightly more sophisticated way of measuring, thouukolngh just as simple. All you need to know is the fps (frames per second) at which the video is recorded, and a video player that can replay the video frame-per-frame. Record the desired action on-camera, and then replay the video frame-per-frame. The number of frames traversed from the start to end of the task gives a more precise time taken to complete the task than the manual method.

Results

We measured the times for six free eBooks per device. Six readings were taken per task, and the average time for each task was calculated.

iPad (Average from six readings)

Kindle DX (Average from six readings)

There is no application load time as all the books are displayed directly on the Homescreen.

XOOM (Average from six readings)

Both the methods gave fairly similar results. The differences in the times on an average are:

The standard deviations for each method are shown below:

iPad (Standard Deviation)

Kindle DX (Standard Deviation)

XOOM (Standard Deviation)

The standard deviation tables show that the camera method showed less variation from the average as compared to the manual method in all but two cases, where the difference is only 1/100th of a second. These two cases may be safely ignored.

Although both methods gave fairly similar results, it must be noted that the manual method would give varied results for every test. It is completely dependent upon user reflexes, and slow reflexes could have seriously bad results. The camera method does take up more time, however the results are more accurate and dependable  So, I’d recommend the camera method.

All the recorded times are an average, and the times may change with the length of the books proportionally. These results give us a fair idea about the various devices when it comes to render speed and page flipping. The iPad and XOOM clearly render faster than Kindle DX. However, these results are only pertaining to the device capabilities and say nothing about the user experience. What makes an eBook reader good or bad does not depend only on the render speeds, but more so on the user experience the device has to offer. A detailed usability study of the devices will be undertaken soon which will shed light on the varied user experience, and help us better understand what the user expects from an eBook reader.

Kindle DX

Purchasing and Installing Content

• Content for the Kindle can be downloaded on a PC/Mac from the Amazon web-site and transferred to the device by USB.
• Content can be purchased and downloaded on the Kindle itself  (Wi-Fi or 3G required).

Integration

• Kindle apps are available for iOS devices as well as Android devices
• Kindle purchases are transferable to other Kindle devices

iPad

Purchasing and Installing Content

• Purchase and downloading of content on a PC/Mac requires iTunes to be installed. Content can be transferred through USB.
• Content can be purchased and downloaded on the iOS device from the iBooks app available in the App Store.

Integration

• Books purchased in iBooks cannot be read on eBook readers running on platforms other than iOS
• Other devices can read books purchased from the Kindle App

Motorola Xoom

Purchasing and Installing Content

• Free ebooks can be downloaded from Google Books on the desktop and on the device
• Google Books provides links to purchase books from other booksellers
• Content can be transferred to the device through USB

Integration

• Books purchased can be read on other Android devices
• Books purchased can be read on iOS devices that have the Google Books app installed
• Google Book is also compatible with any browser with JavaScript enabled

Kindle DX

Amazon has made great use of the Kindle’s E Ink display, with instructions displayed on the screen, waiting to be read once the Kindle is unboxed. The display showed where the power button was, asking to slide and release, and also to plug in the Kindle to a power source. On starting, the Kindle was already setup to the Amazon account it was registered with and displayed a user’s guide. Very simple.

iPad

Setting up the iPad was a bit tedious. On switching on the device, it immediately showed the iTunes USB screen that indicated connecting the iPad to a PC/Mac for setup. The iPad does not start unless connected to a PC/Mac that has iTunes installed. Since I did not have a desktop with iTunes installed, it took some time to install iTunes just to setup the iPad and get the iPad to work. Once this was done, the on-screen instructions took care of the rest. This issue will be solved in the next iOS update allowing wireless setup of iOS devices, but presently its not supported.

XOOM

The XOOM looked different from the other two devices, as its primary orientation is landscape and not portrait. The iPad and Kindle have the Power/Sleep button on the edge of the device. Expecting the same, I checked its edges for the power button. To my surprise, it was not to be found. After checking all sides and mistaking the SIM card slot for the power button, I decided to resort to the documentation. This was the first time I had to check documentation given with the device to find the power button. Its a concave button, placed very close to the camera, which is hardly visible in low lighting conditions. However, it was only a first time thing, after which it made sense as to why the button is placed where it is. Its very convenient and easy to reach when holding the device in landscape mode, as your finger naturally rests very close to the button.

Now, since the wait is done and the devices are finally here, we can start working with them.

Amazon Kindle being a dedicated eBook reader has capability to read eBooks by default, without requiring the installation of an eBook application. iPad and Xoom being tablet PCs primarily, require an additional application to be installed that allows the device to render eBooks. We will be considering the native applications that are developed specifically for the device.

Apple iPad

iBooks is the default application for reading eBooks on the iPad. It is free to download from the Apple App Store, and allows in-app purchases. The iBookstore has over 200,000 eBooks available for purchase, with some free ones. There are other eBook apps too, such as the Kindle app and many more.

Motorola Xoom

Google Books is the default application for reading eBooks on Android devices. However, due to publisher restrictions, Google Books is not available to users in UK (yet). The Kindle app for Android works just fine, though you need to have an Amazon account. The other eBook apps rated highly in the Android Market (Android’s App Store) are mostly paid.

Amazon Kindle DX

The Kindle is a dedicated eBook reader. Books are directly displayed on the homescreen, where you can start reading immediately. You can purchase books from the Kindle Store. Most of the books also have a free sample that Amazon wirelessly transfers to the device, allowing you to read the beginning of the book and then decide whether to buy it or not.