best TABLET form factor,and size for reading

[church mouse]

For Android, my partner and I both have Lenovo tablets and they have been pretty solid over the last two years.

I have a 6" reader. My tablet is 8". When I have tried reading on the tablet I find I end up using pretty much the same size font as on my reader and simply have more words on the screen.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by stumped

when you went 7.9 -> 9.7 do you now have more words/lines on screen or did you opt to keep that constant and simply have larger text?

With ePub and Kindle books, I have more words on the screen. Most of the reading I do on my iPad, though, is academic PDFs and for those I have the text larger - it's generally too small to read comfortably on the smaller screen. I far prefer to read fiction on my Voyage, though; the eInk screen is easier on the eye, and it's much lighter to hold.

out of interest, what is the Kindle Voyage screen ratio - Is it actually 4:3 or a tad narrower 1430/ 1080 is 4/3 but subjectively it seems a tad narrower - maybe an optical illusion because there's more black plastic at top & bottom ?

All eInk Kindles (and all other current eInk devices, come to that) have a 4:3 aspect ratio.

[stumped]

sometimes I wish I was less ethical - the quick fix would be to order one in every size then return all but the one I liked best

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by stumped

i may be being little OCD but I did not see anything there on screen to body ratios.
on my Kindle voyage, there is very little "bordering" for example, but some tablets have (relatively) large borders so that the pixel area may occupy only 2/3rds of the headline device dimensions

I read also that if you choose a white tablet - you get the zebra effect of white screen with black borders, in a white frame... that may be more annoying for videos than for books but still... my fire HDX is black edged so I don't see that effect, but I do see that the lit screen area is smaller that you might expect, if given only the tablet dimensions.

Sorry you didn't find this helpful. Areas and Pixel sizes are compared as well as screen sizes. There are examples of most sizes you can click to find device dimensions. Perhaps you can generate a new wiki page with the kind of information you believe would be helpful.

Dale

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by stumped

background - I already have and intend to keep , a Kindle voyage, and a fire hDX tablet

I am wanting to treat myself to another tablet, for both videos and reading, so I am looking at form factors and sizes.
any links to other discussions will be appreciated.

I only read at home so ease of transport is not a factor.

here's my dilemmas,
1. for movies a 16:10 rectangle is arguably best, like my Fire HDX
but for reading, most? folks assert that 4: 3 is better, like ipads or like my shortlisted samsung galaxy tab 2
On the 16:10 tablets that I already own, i read mostly in landscape, using 2 column layouts
on a 4:3 device I guess i'd read in single column portrait
formats is not an issue - I know how to convert and I can sideload epub readers to amazon tablets as needed

2. then there is 8 inch via 9.7 inch size. I guess smaller = lighter, so easier to hold but text will be smaller

3. and finally there is ppi. I tabulated the ppi for all that i have now + my shortlist, but how much is " enough" i.e. at what number can you not tell the difference for reading ?

My kindle voyage ppi is 300

my shortlist of owned + targetted tablets, sorted on ppi looks like this
Lenovo (owned) 10.1 218 - fonts definitely look rougher on that
samsung galaxy tab s2 9.7 264
nvidia shield K1 8.0 283
samsung galaxy tab s2 8.0 320
fire HDX (owned) 8.9 339 - excellent fonts

( the shortlist is short because netflix in full HD is another requirement and only a few tablets are whitelisted by Netflix for that. )

so I am looking for feedback on ppi, form factors and sizes, for android tablets only please, and not to sidetrack into any e -ink vs tablet or android vs apple territory.
I will probably stick with my of google play copy of Bookari, as the android reader, and make my own pseudo night mode theme colour choices.

A final observation on size: if I hold my largest Lenovo tablet at my normal reading /viewing distance then look only out of each single eye, I note that both eyes do not take in the whole screen. each eye cuts off one bottom corner. that seems to make the case for a smaller screen , where both eyes should take in all of it?

I have a 10" HD tablet and a 326ppi 8" with a 4:3 ratio. The bigger one is good for movies, the smaller one to browse the internet and read form posts. Both are android, even though the smaller tablet is an iPadmini clone in specs.

The bigger one is too hefty to read with it comfortably and the smaller one is too small to have fun watching a movie.

None of them is good for reading books for me. I pretty much never read on the tablet despite its high resolution and perfect form factor but prefer to read on the Kobo One.

I find reading on a tablet tiresome and do enough of it, when I am on the internet and my eyes are happier reading on an eink device.

I guess you'll have to try them out in person to find what you are looking for.

[stumped]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Sorry you didn't find this helpful. Areas and Pixel sizes are compared as well as screen sizes. There are examples of most sizes you can click to find device dimensions. Perhaps you can generate a new wiki page with the kind of information you believe would be helpful.

Dale

Sorry, i did not mean to suggest that it was not helpful, just that it did not include one specific additional entry

[graycyn]

I have a Nexus 7 (video friendly aspect ratio) and also a Nexus 9 (4:3) as well as a Pixel C.

For reading, the latter 2 are best, I prefer the Nexus 9 for reading over the Pixel C, the screen size is *perfect*, where the Pixel C is a bit large and heavy for absolute reading comfort.

I read in portrait mode on all tablets.

Sent from my Pixel C using Tapatalk

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by stumped

Sorry, i did not mean to suggest that it was not helpful, just that it did not include one specific additional entry

Unfortunately it wouldn't be one entry. While there are standard sizes for the screen itself the body of the device varies all over the place as you have observed. There are likely 10 or 20 devices for each size screen with different size bodies. Good luck on your quest.

Dale

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by barryem

I have a Windows 10 tablet and I've explored the various ereaders available for it and some aren't bad but there's nothing to compare with the readers available for Android.

I have a Windows 8.1 tablet (won't upgrade it to 10 as I prefer 8.1 on a tablet...) and I simply use the Calibre ereader. It was the best I could find...

Originally Posted by HarryT

If I were reading only fiction, I wouldn't even go for an 8" device. A 6" reader is far more portable and lightweight. The reader you always have with you is better than the big heavy one that's left at home.

I prefer 8" over 6". It's all a personal preference, naturally. But then, I never hold my device in one hand for an extended time. About portability, even my 8" tablet fits in my coat pocket, if I don't have a bag handy.

Originally Posted by HarryT

I went from a 7.9" iPad Mini to a 9.7" iPad Air 2 (I know you don't want an Apple device - I'm just using it as an example) and for me the difference was enormous. The 9.7" screen makes so many things much easier to read, and I can make the text larger with the same amount of content on the page, which makes it more comfortable for me. And of course, much better for video. The opposite side of the coin is of course that the 9.7" device is significantly heavier.

I have a (several) 6" device, a 6.8", 7.8", 8" (tablet) and 10" (tablet). The 10" I wouldn't even consider reading books on, way too large. I really prefer the 7" or 8" devices, as long as they're either 4:3 or 16:10. 16:9 I really don't like, too narrow for its height.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by stumped

I have made some cardboard cutouts for various devices ...

...And you think you may be a little OCD?

Originally Posted by stumped

sometimes I wish I was less ethical - the quick fix would be to order one in every size then return all but the one I liked best

Assuming you can't easily just try them in a local showroom, I see nothing unethical about doing just that, as long as the return policy of where you're buying allows for it.

It's kind of the whole purpose of having a mail order return policy, to give the buyer confidence in buying something sight-unseen.

Maybe order just your top two contenders, and keep one if you love it. Then you'd only need to order more when you have a better idea of what you like and don't like about the first two.

[ElspethB]

In summer 2014 I bought the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (16:10) for movies and reading. (Like you, I primarily read ePubs. Very rarely do I read PDFs.) Although it works beautifully for video, I quickly decided it was too heavy for comfortable reading, so in September 2014 I got the smaller version, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (also 16:10) to carry around with me, leaving the larger tablet at home for streaming video or music. While the Tab S 8.4 was lighter, I still was not satisfied with the aspect ratio. It felt too tall and narrow to me while reading. So this February I bought the Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 (4:3) and gave the Tab S 8.4 to my husband. I really enjoy reading on this tablet. It's surprisingly light, and the text is quite crisp. I use Bookari and generally read in portrait mode, though if I'm eating, I'll turn the tablet to landscape mode and stand it up in its case and read in 2 columns.