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Comment by dbecker | Hacker News Reader

I think reviewers overemphasize trivial differences in product dimensions just because those things are easy to measure.

They talk about the Fire being thinner, as if a 0.6mm difference in thickness is going to make one tablet easier to hold.

I also doubt many users care much about a 2.5 ounce weight difference.

Price matters a lot to potential buyers. After that, it's just a question of whether using the tablet feels pleasant or frustrating.

The dimensions fetish seems to cut across reviews of all sorts of consumer electronics.

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For me, the iPad is uncomfortably heavy at times -- especially if I try to hold it in one hand.

I mean, yes, it seems like splitting hairs -- but at some point, a device goes from being 'heavy' to 'light'. Same with thickness -- at some point a device stops feeling 'chunky' and becomes 'lithe'. I just don't know where those thresholds are :) (but I'm sure that industrial designers put a lot of thought into it).

I think it's a spectrum rather than a threshold. If one device was half as thick as another, you'd clearly notice that.

But it's hard to believe there's going to be a major change in user experience with a half millimeter decrease in thickness.

This is no fetish.

At some point, a threshold is crossed where a device becomes uncomfortable to hold and interface with. This threshold is different for every situation, but there is a sweet spot where most people think it's easy to interface with (which is why desktop mice are only so small and so big). Many folks think an iPad is fine for reading books, while others require a Kindle, and yet others eschew anything but paperback books.

Weight, dimensions and feel are part of the usability. If you think UX is a fetish, you're ignoring how Apple got to be the biggest market cap company in the world.

I think you are missing my point. Apple got the biggest market cap in the world by making products that are a joy to USE. A reviewers who writes about measurements from his caliper isn't describing UX at all. In fact, those measurements seem to distract the reviewer from describing the whole experience of using the product.

Look at the problems discussed at http://www.useit.com/alertbox/kindle-fire-usability.html

They mention dimensions in the context of how it feels to use the product... rather than the more common review which places dimensions ahead of the experience.

Mass does matter with this type of product - they're engineered at the gram level. Ounces are relatively immense.

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