Narrative:

We had cleared den runway 16R after a normal landing. The efbs were set up with the correct airport diagrams; arrival; and approach plates. After clearing the runway; we were given taxi instructions to the ramp. As a flight crew; we were familiar with den but needed the airport diagrams to reference for the taxi instructions. I attempted to switch pages from the approach plate to the airport diagram; but doing so with the right hand while using the left to operate the tiller and having to look away from the front window is a major distraction. A brief excursion from the taxiway centerline occurred but was quickly corrected. I had to stop the airplane and set the parking brake on the taxi in to properly adjust the efb to scroll to the corresponding location of the airport and adjust the zoom level so that it was useful and readable. The efbs have very small touch points that are really close together; which might actually be too small for some adult human fingers. The efbs have many difficulties in use. A big one that I have noticed is that you cannot read them very well in daylight because of their location on the window. The window shade must be up to see the screen image with its brightness turned up all the way. Also; after properly aligning your seat in the cockpit; the efb screens are not angled properly for viewing when you turn your head to look down; much like a laptop computer screen when viewed from the wrong angle. Furthermore; the charts in the efb are not formatted to match the size of the screen; one must scroll around to view the entire screen and often the units freeze up for several seconds while trying to scroll or switch pages. I know this sounds like a whining pilot thing to write up; but I think I speak for more than a few of us when I say that these efb units are hard to use and definitely can create unnecessary distractions and compromise safety until we get much more practice using them. If the efb formats are ever reconsidered; maybe some factors to be considered are their mounting location; adding a flexible angled mount; reformatting the chart sizes so that an entire approach plate is viewable on the screen and the words on them are legible without having to zoom. Several of the touch locations are too small and close together; even if the user taps the screen with the tip of a pen. The touch locations should be re-calibrated so that it actually matches the picture of the touch button more closely.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An ERJ-170 Captain reported difficulties using the EFB; including readability in sunlight and small touch screen target zones.

Narrative: We had cleared DEN Runway 16R after a normal landing. The EFBs were set up with the correct Airport Diagrams; Arrival; and Approach plates. After clearing the runway; we were given taxi instructions to the ramp. As a flight crew; we were familiar with DEN but needed the airport diagrams to reference for the taxi instructions. I attempted to switch pages from the approach plate to the airport diagram; but doing so with the right hand while using the left to operate the tiller and having to look away from the front window is a major distraction. A brief excursion from the taxiway centerline occurred but was quickly corrected. I had to stop the airplane and set the parking brake on the taxi in to properly adjust the EFB to scroll to the corresponding location of the airport and adjust the zoom level so that it was useful and readable. The EFBs have very small touch points that are really close together; which might actually be too small for some adult human fingers. The EFBs have many difficulties in use. A big one that I have noticed is that you cannot read them very well in daylight because of their location on the window. The window shade must be up to see the screen image with its brightness turned up all the way. Also; after properly aligning your seat in the cockpit; the EFB screens are not angled properly for viewing when you turn your head to look down; much like a laptop computer screen when viewed from the wrong angle. Furthermore; the charts in the EFB are not formatted to match the size of the screen; one must scroll around to view the entire screen and often the units freeze up for several seconds while trying to scroll or switch pages. I know this sounds like a whining pilot thing to write up; but I think I speak for more than a few of us when I say that these EFB units are hard to use and definitely can create unnecessary distractions and compromise safety until we get much more practice using them. If the EFB formats are ever reconsidered; maybe some factors to be considered are their mounting location; adding a flexible angled mount; reformatting the chart sizes so that an entire approach plate is viewable on the screen AND the words on them are legible without having to zoom. Several of the touch locations are too small and close together; even if the user taps the screen with the tip of a pen. The touch locations should be re-calibrated so that it actually matches the picture of the touch button more closely.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.