Comics on XOOM

[watchbot]

Hi all,

I'm not too active on these forums, though I do lurk often. Anyways, I just wanted to comment as I haven't seen too much on the subject of comics for the XOOM, mostly for the iPad.

The XOOM is great for comics. Much better IMHO than the iPad because of the high resolution and aspect ratio. American comics are only a tad tall when fit to the width of the screen in portrait mode. And that is only the border/page number not actual content. When compared to the iPad, playing with X comics at the store, fit width for me was too much scrolling and fit height made some of the smaller text too small to read with the image compressed that much. I'm a bit stingy when it comes to reading digital comics, I read on a large hi-def display in two page mode to avoid scrolling as much as possible. Color comics with great art look beautiful on the screen. I am using Perfect Viewer, which seems to load pages faster that ACV and has a better control system in my opinion.

I've only had it a few days and I am over all pleased with the device. It can lag at times but never for long enough to be annoying. The browser has been great and I love that it syncs with Chrome. I have the Wi-Fi only version by the way.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by watchbot

Hi all,

I'm not too active on these forums, though I do lurk often. Anyways, I just wanted to comment as I haven't seen too much on the subject of comics for the XOOM, mostly for the iPad.

The XOOM is great for comics. Much better IMHO than the iPad because of the high resolution and aspect ratio. American comics are only a tad tall when fit to the width of the screen in portrait mode. And that is only the border/page number not actual content. When compared to the iPad, playing with X comics at the store, fit width for me was too much scrolling and fit height made some of the smaller text too small to read with the image compressed that much. I'm a bit stingy when it comes to reading digital comics, I read on a large hi-def display in two page mode to avoid scrolling as much as possible. Color comics with great art look beautiful on the screen. I am using Perfect Viewer, which seems to load pages faster that ACV and has a better control system in my opinion.

I've only had it a few days and I am over all pleased with the device. It can lag at times but never for long enough to be annoying. The browser has been great and I love that it syncs with Chrome. I have the Wi-Fi only version by the way.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

congrats. on your Xoom, yeah the more I play with it the more I have come to realize it will take something remarkable to steer me away from making the purchase.

[AlexSno]

Gratz for having a Xoom. My must have/don't have the money yet tablet.
Didn't think of it as a comic "browser" but i now see how this could prove very useful. Wonder how Samsung Tab 2 will be regarding comics.....

[WillysJeepMan]

Originally Posted by watchbot

Hi all,

I'm not too active on these forums, though I do lurk often. Anyways, I just wanted to comment as I haven't seen too much on the subject of comics for the XOOM, mostly for the iPad.

The XOOM is great for comics. Much better IMHO than the iPad because of the high resolution and aspect ratio. American comics are only a tad tall when fit to the width of the screen in portrait mode. And that is only the border/page number not actual content. When compared to the iPad, playing with X comics at the store, fit width for me was too much scrolling and fit height made some of the smaller text too small to read with the image compressed that much. I'm a bit stingy when it comes to reading digital comics, I read on a large hi-def display in two page mode to avoid scrolling as much as possible. Color comics with great art look beautiful on the screen. I am using Perfect Viewer, which seems to load pages faster that ACV and has a better control system in my opinion.

I've only had it a few days and I am over all pleased with the device. It can lag at times but never for long enough to be annoying. The browser has been great and I love that it syncs with Chrome. I have the Wi-Fi only version by the way.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

How is the aspect ratio of the Xoom more conducive to comic book reading than the iPad? I have sampled comics on the Xoom and have read comics on my rooted nook color. Neither aspect ratio is as good as the iPad for comics. Having said that, I do enjoy using the smaller form factor of the nook color for some comics.

[Noah98]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

How is the aspect ratio of the Xoom more conducive to comic book reading than the iPad? I have sampled comics on the Xoom and have read comics on my rooted nook color. Neither aspect ratio is as good as the iPad for comics. Having said that, I do enjoy using the smaller form factor of the nook color for some comics.

I can confirm that comics on the ipad are amazing using either the Stanza or Bookman apps.

One of the reasons I bought an ipad 2 was because of the 4:3 aspect ratio. It is so much better to read in portrait mode. That is one area where the widescreen is not as good.

[Crowl]

Actually comics would be better in their native ratios which aren't usually 4:3 either, but since they aren't it is just personal opinion on how you want to compromise.

[watchbot]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

How is the aspect ratio of the Xoom more conducive to comic book reading than the iPad? I have sampled comics on the Xoom and have read comics on my rooted nook color. Neither aspect ratio is as good as the iPad for comics. Having said that, I do enjoy using the smaller form factor of the nook color for some comics.

I prefer the widescreen in portrait mode for comic reading, especially for american comics. American comics are very tall compared to manga and others. The 4:3 aspect ratio of the iPad makes the comic too short on the screen to comfortably read smaller text. This is when viewed too fit height, it also loses many pixels to either side to letterbox the page. At the width of 768 in portrait minus the letter boxing, it does not leave enough resolution to see small text easily. I get annoyed with scrolling so the fit width on the iPad does not work for me. On the Xoom when view in portrait the width is 800 pixels. And because it is widescreen the height of an american comic fits almost perfectly, only cutting off page numbers and such. If I find out a way to minimize the system bar the pages will fit great on the 16:9 screen.

[Edit] I should also add that small text (such as the footnotes in spawn) show up clearly on the Xoom when the iPad would require some zooming and panning.

[Noah98]

Originally Posted by watchbot

I prefer the widescreen in portrait mode for comic reading, especially for american comics. American comics are very tall compared to manga and others. The 4:3 aspect ratio of the iPad makes the comic too short on the screen to comfortably read smaller text. This is when viewed too fit height, it also loses many pixels to either side to letterbox the page. At the width of 768 in portrait minus the letter boxing, it does not leave enough resolution to see small text easily. I get annoyed with scrolling so the fit width on the iPad does not work for me. On the Xoom when view in portrait the width is 800 pixels. And because it is widescreen the height of an american comic fits almost perfectly, only cutting off page numbers and such. If I find out a way to minimize the system bar the pages will fit great on the 16:9 screen.

[Edit] I should also add that small text (such as the footnotes in spawn) show up clearly on the Xoom when the iPad would require some zooming and panning.

My main problem with the Xoom is that it is not comfortable to hold in portrait mode. I wanted to buy one, but it just seemed like it was meant for landscape, and I like to hold my tablets in portrait the majority of the time. Also, the colors are nowhere near as vibrant as they are on the ipad. Lastly, I wasn't too impressed with Perfect Viewer or ACV (although I did use them on a rooted nook color). I find that Stanza and Bookman on the Ipad work seamlessly.

You are correct though, that 16:9 is probably closer to the original aspect ratio, and the higher resolution is great too. Still, so far every comic that I've thrown at the ipad 2 has been a pleasure to read.

[watchbot]

Originally Posted by Noah98

My main problem with the Xoom is that it is not comfortable to hold in portrait mode. I wanted to buy one, but it just seemed like it was meant for landscape, and I like to hold my tablets in portrait the majority of the time. Also, the colors are nowhere near as vibrant as they are on the ipad. Lastly, I wasn't too impressed with Perfect Viewer or ACV (although I did use them on a rooted nook color). I find that Stanza and Bookman on the Ipad work seamlessly.

You are correct though, that 16:9 is probably closer to the original aspect ratio, and the higher resolution is great too. Still, so far every comic that I've thrown at the ipad 2 has been a pleasure to read.

The only issue I have with comfort of holding is the weight. It is certainly not as light as the iPad 2. But coming from a convertible tablet PC (>4lbs) for comics, it is a dream. I haven't seen enough of the iPad to compare the colors, but colors on Spawn and a few of the Batman comics look great. I am currently using Perfect Viewer and I have no complaints. The UI is great with the multiple touch areas.

I also have a thing against iTunes and iOS in general. Though OSX is pretty cool. So that was a factor in choosing the XOOM.

[murraypaul]

Wikipedia lists the standard US comic size as having an aspect ratio of 1.53, which is almost exactly between 1.33 (4:3) and 1.78 (16:9), so it does seem a bit of a toss-up which one is more suitable.
The figures actually surprised me, I'd intuitively felt that the 4:3 resolution 'felt right' for comics.
The 4:3 resolution is significantly better for viewing double page spreads, which have an aspect ratio of 1.31, although whether they are actually readable or not depends heavily on the text sizes used in the comics, so may not actually be that important.