Best Reader/Tablet for me? Summaries top priority!!

[trianglekitty]

Hello! I currently own a Nook Simple Touch and I'm on the hunt for a new e-reader. I am VERY frustrated with my inability to properly organize my files on the Simple Touch. I could really use some advice on a new device to invest in. Some things that are important to me:

1.) I think I'd like a multi-functional tablet instead of 'just' an ereader. Something that can go online, run apps, etc.

2.) Price is not a concern right now

3.) Memory space is important. I'd like to put music on the device as well, and I don't want to have to fuss with taking things on and off the device because of limited memory. Putting music on is not a top priority, however.

4.) The single most important thing is that I need to be able to input AND view my own summaries and metadata for the documents. Many of my files are either things I've written or, frankly, fanfiction. I also like to put in my own summaries and metadata for published books. As an example, my Nook does not allow me to view summary info- I can only view title/author or information limited by file name length. With fanfiction, titles and author are meaningless to me. From what research I've done, the Kindle only allows you to download summaries from Goodreads or Amazon, which again is not helpful. I don't know if you can view metadata AND open a book directly in calibre companion, so that might be a solution. Without the ability to input and view summary info, I can't find anything on the device and it gets very frustrating very quickly.

5.) Since I have so many files of my own and fanfiction, I obviously need the ability to side load documents.

6.) I'd like to be able to read comics (cbr files) and magazines.

7.) I don't really have a preference as far as OS goes.

Any suggestions would be very helpful! I'm very excited that right now I have a chance to spend a little on myself and get something that will last a good while, so I want to make sure I get something that will make me happy!

[Cinisajoy]

It sounds like you need a tablet.
For you, I would recommend one that has a memory card slot. This will allow you to store all your music and other files easily.
Personally I love my Samsung Galaxy.

[Phogg]

There are a lot of options.

I currently use an eight inch Asus Vivotab Note 8 (windows 8.1, will update to windows 10 when they get the bugs out) tablet, together with the eight inch Onyx Boox I86ml electronic ink reader (technically and android tablet, but not all apps work on an e-ink screen.) If you spend time outdoors then two machines of your preferred screen size are the way to go.

You may wind up buying online, but I would recommend a trip to a big box electronic store first to at least see what size you prefer for comics. When I was making that decision I would log into Batoto and read Sahara Mizu's My Girl on different machines. Then I went with the Asus because I wanted both full windows and a Wacom digitizer.

After you settle on a screen size, look at forums in different places to get the opinions of people who buy a lot of hardware. If you go Android, XDA Furumachi have a lot of modders who will probably disassemble and rebuild everything and give a complete rundown on quality of components. Also, whatever you buy, check user reviews at stores like Amazon and Newegg where you can see if there is a recurrent reliability problem.

This isn't really giving you a list of potential machines, but I hope the process I use is helpful.

[ekbell]

CC does allow you to see summary information and search by whatever tags you've set up in Calibre. And you can open the book (into your choice of third party reader) directly from the summary page. You can either select the reader from a list (if you have installed more then one program capable of reading that format) or set a particular program as your preferred reader for that format. And obviously you can easily load books from calibre (or a cloud hosted calibre library) to CC.

I have my fanfic library set up on my tablet with CC in my admin account and my book library set up with CC in a secondary (restricted) account. My main reader is fbreader (can read a variety of formats including mobi and ePub). I'm not sure of its merits as a cbr reader but there are a variety of free cbr readers available for android.

I agree that memory cards are very useful although it's still worth making sure you have a reasonable amount of internal storage as it can be tricky to store things other then music on the card.

I'm fairly certain my tablet isn't still on the market (perils of buying deeply discounted items) so I can't give an opinion on which tablet.

[Rbneader]

There are some eInk tablets from Onyx. Kobo ereaders can use Calibre metadata, so organizing your collection there is easy.

I've used tablets to read fanfic for a while. LCD screens really are much harder on the eyes, but sometimes having a multifunction device beats out a better single purpose device. Here are my suggestions.

Tablets are great for viewing but horrible for entry, due to the limitations of touchscreens. If you want to write stories on one, get an external keyboard. Just searching should be fine.

For lots of storage, get a good Android tablet with an expansion slot.

I've found 7-8 inches to be the sweet spot for carrying around and also having enough text on the screen. That said, I can also read effectively on my 4.5 in phone since I got used to it. If you have an Android phone, putting FBreader + Calibre Companion + your library onto a microSD card is a good first step.

Minimum specs for a decent tablet: 1.2 GHz of processor, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage, Android 4.4 or higher, good brand.

Try for 2 GB RAM, 16 GB of storage, especially if the tablet maker has packed a lot of unremovable apps on. Major vulnerabilities have been discovered in Android over the past year, so the more modern the OS is the better.

Buying from no-name Chinese makers is a bad idea. Often they have lousy parts, bad quality control, or come with malware installed (researchers found this out while doing a study of tablet security).

Buying refurbished can get great deals. I bought almost every tablet that way and never regretted it.

Buying used has a risk of malfunctions or malware. Tablets are more vulnerable to malware than PCs are, since they aren't updated as often. Doing a factory reset on any used tablet is a good idea.

I'm looking for a new tablet too, since the battery on mine croaked. I'm currently looking at:
Sony Xperia Z2
LG G Pad - I've had good experience with LG
Samsung Galaxy Tab - good, solid brand but packs a lot of crap onto their tablets
Nvidia Shield - benchmarks well, but users report sluggish behavior. Had a battery recall.
Dell Venue 7 - good reviews, low price

[ebusinesstutor]

I love my Samsung Galaxy Note for reading, but for comics you will need something bigger.

I used to have a 10.1" Android tablet that worked well for this, but recently got the 12.1" Surface Pro 3. Nice size for news and comics but a little large for ebook reading. But it replaced my old laptop nicely.

[trianglekitty]

You know...silly me, I didn't even think about screen size and comic reading. I guess I am going to have to get something a little larger then I probably would have otherwise. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions! If anyone has some thoughts on larger sized tablets, I'd gratefully accept them.

[LadyKate]

I was looking at the specs for ereaders. The longer battery life interesting but then I see the "two months" battery life is based on a mere 30 minutes of reading a day.

My tablet requires charging after every 9 to 12 hours of reading depending on the light level I set in the reading app and if wifi is on or off.

This is not nearly as significant a difference as it appears comparing "2 months" instead of the reality of three or four days of the same level of reading.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by LadyKate

I was looking at the specs for ereaders. The longer battery life interesting but then I see the "two months" battery life is based on a mere 30 minutes of reading a day.

My tablet requires charging after every 9 to 12 hours of reading depending on the light level I set in the reading app and if wifi is on or off.

This is not nearly as significant a difference as it appears comparing "2 months" instead of the reality of three or four days of the same level of reading.

2 months includes self discharge so you are likely to get about a week between charges and the important thing is that you can still read if you forget to charge it every day or are out somewhere where it is inconvenient. They used to spec it at 10,000 pages which is probably more accurate. Power is really only used to change pages. The other difference is that it is visible in sun light.

Dale

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by trianglekitty

You know...silly me, I didn't even think about screen size and comic reading. I guess I am going to have to get something a little larger then I probably would have otherwise. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions! If anyone has some thoughts on larger sized tablets, I'd gratefully accept them.

It depends upon what comics you read.

For manga you can get by with seven inch screens theoretically.
For American superhero comics, or western publications like Elfquest or Love And Rockets then bigger screens are better. Nine and a half inch might be the smallest to do it well. I read my collections of old Adam Warlocks and the DC run of The Shadow on my eight inch vivotab but the dialog is a little small unless I get reading glasses.
If you out go for a larger electronic ink reader check out the reviews on Nate The Great's site, as some of those have processors that are too slow to do comics well.

I am happy with the two machine solution that I have, but my tablet is around two years old, pretty ancient in the computer world.