Before you know the menu, you know how the object sits in your hand. There is a place your thumb wants to rest, an edge you turn toward the light, and a control that looks as if it ought to move. The first minute with a device can be full of these small guesses. You are finding a way to hold it while trying to discover what it will let you do.
A camera offers a particularly enjoyable version of this encounter. You lift it, look through the viewfinder or at the screen, and photograph something unremarkable nearby. The first subject might be a cup or the corner of a table. The picture is evidence that the exchange has begun: you did something, the object responded, and now there is a result to inspect.
Other devices offer different beginnings. A musical controller can answer with a sound. A little drawing tablet can put a mark under a moving hand. Whatever the object does, the first action gives it a character that a list of features cannot quite supply. A person may smile at a surprising response or repeat the same movement several times to make sure they understand it. That repetition is worth enjoying before the more ambitious plans for the new device take over.
