Affiliations: High Plains Engineering Services, Minneapolis, MN,
USA | Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA | T-Mobile, Redmond, WA, USA
Note: [] Corresponding author: Thomas Albin, High Plains Engineering
Services, 4425 34th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55406, USA. E-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Tablets and other mobile devices can be tilted during
use. This study examined the effect of tablet tilt angles on reading
performance, target-tapping performance, wrist and forearm posture, user
comfort and users' tilt angle preferences. METHOD: Ten participants used tablets alternating among four
different tilt angles: 0°, 30°, 45°, 60° and a user selected
angle. Head, neck, wrist and forearm postural data were collected, along with
reading and target-tapping performance. Subjective, perceived impressions were
gathered via Likert scale questions. RESULTS: Neck flexion decreased significantly as tilt angle
increased. The extreme tilt angles, 0° and 60°, were least preferred
while the self-chosen tilt angle, averaging about 34°, was most preferred.
Tapping performance was significantly better for the self-chosen tilt angle;
however, this may be a practice effect. No effect of tilt was observed on
reading performance or for forearm and wrist posture. CONCLUSIONS: Tablet tilt angles should include a range of 20°
to 50° at minimum.
Keywords: Tablet, tilt, slate computing, mobile computing, head neck posture
