Tablet as an Ebook Reader?

[sakura-panda]

I'm looking to get a small, cheap tablet to use as an ebook reader to share with my kids. My main concern is what resolution will give me the best text readability. Reviews and specs do not say much about text legibility -- just mostly how good they are for gaming, watching videos, and taking pictures.

The tablet I am considering is the 7" HP Stream 7. It is a Windows 8 tablet and the screen resolution is 800x1280. The reviews on it are decent, but none of them seem to check any books on them.

I apologize if this is a question that has been covered before; I tried to do a search in the forums, but I couldn't figure out a good search string. It seems to me I've seen "Tablet as Ebook Reader" threads before, although I don't recall what they discussed.

Thanks!

[ottdmk]

Well,

I much prefer my e-ink device (a Kobo Aura HD) for reading novels. However, I've gone to tablets for PDFs, mainly gaming manuals and comic books.

A 7" screen with a 1280x800 resolution should be fine for reading. While not as high as my Aura HD (which is also .2" smaller) it's higher then the Aura or Paperwhite e-readers. My Playbook is only 1024x600 (7" screen), and although I prefer my 10" Asus MemoPad FHD for reading, when I do read on the Playbook it does a fine job.

[Ripplinger]

I have an Asus MeMO Pad HD7, 1280 x 800 resolution, and even with my crappy eyesight, reading on it is fine, very clear. I broke down and got it for a PDF I had to proofread. I use Moon+ Reader on it. I paid $99 for it and I'm very happy with it with that purpose.

I agree with ottdmk though, that if you're going to be using it primarily to read on, an e-ink screen would be much better... better on readability and much better on battery life.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

It seems to me I've seen "Tablet as Ebook Reader" threads before, although I don't recall what they discussed.

Oh usually nothing very useful, I can tell you. Mostly stuff like:

"eInk's better for 'heavy' readers.'
"Nuh, uh. I'm a 'heavy' reader. I love my tablet."
"Eyestrain!"
"Nope"
"I look at backlit screen all day at work, why would I ... yada, yada."
"Not the same."
"Battery life!, battery life!"
"I'm surrounded by sources of electricity."
"Sunlight!"
"I'm a vampire, so..."
"Distractions!"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Philistine!"
"Luddite!"

[sakura-panda]

Thanks for all the feedback! I really appreciate you taking the time to look up the specs on your tablets for me.

I also loved the thread summary! I forgot that is how those threads usually end up!

I bought my daughter a set of My Little Pony comic books, so the color screen is a big consideration. She does have an e-ink Kindle that she reads occasionally, but I have bought a few books for her from the Not Amazon Bookstores and would like to just download them without the hassle of hooking up to my computer. I was going to install the NOOK and KOBO apps on her Kindle Fire, thinking it would save me some trouble, only to find out there are no alternate reading apps available in the Amazon App store!

It's just as well, since I did sideload quite a few Kindle books onto her and her brother's Fires and they don't get read because of the distraction of all the games.

I have been wanting a small tablet for myself for when I'm away from home -- to read books, reference knitting patterns, maybe do some photo editing -- and this time of the year is good for buying them. I have a couple of larger 10" tablets -- iPad and NOOK HD+ -- but they are heavy to carry around with me for "just in case." Excellent for videos and reading, but not so good for packing light when I'm on the road. The HP Stream 7 is also $99, which I think is a good price for what I'm looking for.

[Purple Lady]

My 2012 Nexus had 1280x800 and I thought it was fine for reading. Then I saw what reading on the 2013 Nexus with 1920x1200 looked like and it's way better. Just don't look at a tablet with a higher resolution and it'll be fine!

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

My 2012 Nexus had 1280x800 and I thought it was fine for reading. Then I saw what reading on the 2013 Nexus with 1920x1200 looked like and it's way better. Just don't look at a tablet with a higher resolution and it'll be fine!

Good point! Though, I also had a 7" 800x600 tablet, and while I could read on it, it wasn't comfortable from the start (it really felt pixelated). I replaced it with a 1280x800 and never had any problems with it. In fact, my current reader is an 8" 1280x800 device (Asus Vivotab Note 8) and I still like it a lot... (I don't see the individual pixes at all, and that's the important bit).

To the OP: there is a forum called "Which one should I buy?" where your question might fit better.

[cromag]

Honestly, I'm using a couple of generic brand 7 inch tablets, with 1024x600 resolution, and they work fine for reading comics (although I prefer my generic brand 10.1 inch tablet for a nicer page image). I don't like reading novels or other text-based items -- for that I have real ereaders.

For kids I think that battery life, or lack of it, is likely to be a bigger concern.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by cromag

For kids I think that battery life, or lack of it, is likely to be a bigger concern.

Actually, I think the biggest concern is the distraction factor; email, games, web browsing, video, music, Facebook, etc.

[owly]

Also weight. E-ink readers are still lighter than tablets though the gap is closing.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by owly

Also weight. E-ink readers are still lighter than tablets though the gap is closing.

That would also depend on where and how you read. I mostly read in bed, laying on my side, with my tablet (or e-reader, depending on various circumstances) beside me. I won't be holding it, it's either propped beside one of my stuffed animals or using the cover stand (depending if the device has a cover stand).

On the road, I still prefer my bebook mini, simply because it's small and has all kinds of buttons where I can turn the next page (drawback is that I can't read it in wintertime, as it'll be dark around 4...)

[booklover6]

I would strongly consider the Fire HD 6" tablet. It has a very high resolution, and is very portable. And the price is cheap!

I absolutely LOVE reading on it.

[Demingy]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

Thanks for all the feedback! I really appreciate you taking the time to look up the specs on your tablets for me.

I also loved the thread summary! I forgot that is how those threads usually end up!

I bought my daughter a set of My Little Pony comic books, so the color screen is a big consideration. She does have an e-ink Kindle that she reads occasionally, but I have bought a few books for her from the Not Amazon Bookstores and would like to just download them without the hassle of hooking up to my computer. I was going to install the NOOK and KOBO apps on her Kindle Fire, thinking it would save me some trouble, only to find out there are no alternate reading apps available in the Amazon App store!

It's just as well, since I did sideload quite a few Kindle books onto her and her brother's Fires and they don't get read because of the distraction of all the games.

I have been wanting a small tablet for myself for when I'm away from home -- to read books, reference knitting patterns, maybe do some photo editing -- and this time of the year is good for buying them. I have a couple of larger 10" tablets -- iPad and NOOK HD+ -- but they are heavy to carry around with me for "just in case." Excellent for videos and reading, but not so good for packing light when I'm on the road. The HP Stream 7 is also $99, which I think is a good price for what I'm looking for.

Actually the free version of Moon+ Reader is available in the Amazon app store for Fire. I've also successfully sideloaded the pro version that I bought from the Amazon app store. It can read DRM free epub and mobi. I've heard a few people say they were able to sideload the other bookstore apps (sorry, I don't remember which offhand) but I haven't tried it. It was a while ago, before the recent FireOS update, so I'm not sure if that can still be done.

I love the higher resolution on my HDX, but I had no problem reading for a few hours on my 2012 Fire HD with the lower resolution.

[DrNefario]

I've never had a problem reading on my old 2nd-gen iPad, which is bigger and lower resolution (768x1024) than most modern tablets.

I don't do it often, preferring eink ereaders, but when I have the resolution hasn't been an issue.

[dwig]

I've been using a Dell Venue 8 Pro as my eReader for a while now. It's an 8.1" Win8.1 tablet with a 1280x800 screen resolution which works very well for reading, though I'm beginning to have several age related vision difficulties and use a bit larger text than what would be found in the typical paperback book.

I still haven't found a reading app that I am completely comfortable with. I run calibre with a large library on my DV8p and all DRM has been removed from the books so format conversion is easy. I'm currently using Book Bazaar Reader, a Modern (nee Metro) app. It functions well, but ignores a lot of a book's formatting. Calibre's ebook-viewer and the Kindle desktop version also work well but suffer noticably in a touch only environment. TouchMousePointer helps a great deal, but doesn't solve all of the handling issues.