Reading scientific papers

[milky30]

Hi

I will be using the device mainly to read scientific articles. They are normally PDFs, with a rather compact format (i.e small font size and content spread out across multiple columns per page). So the requirements are:

- Supports PDF. This includes support for advanced functionality, such as adding annotations (highlighting text excerpts, adding memo notes) and efficient searching of the original contents as well as the annotations. KOReader is a good example.
- Has an internet browser. This is important for looking up additional references, opening wikipedia, or even looking up word definitions.
- Supports an outliner-style note-taking app (i.e bulletpoint lists with varying indentation levels, that can be collapsed/expanded). An example here is something like the Obsidian app, which is pretty flexible and gets out of your way.

I realise at this point I'm probably looking at something Android-based. But there are so many "android tablets" on the market, it's hard to know what to choose. I'm worried some might have dodgy screens, not enough RAM, spyware, etc. At the same time, my budget is very limited; in fact, whatever gets recommended, I'd probably try to buy it used from ebay.

Thanks!

[Aleron Ives]

It sounds like you probably want something like the Boox Go 10.3 or the Boox Note Air 4C (if you need colour). You really don't want to go below 10" for reading PDF, and Boox's NeoReader is extremely flexible. If you don't care as much about portability, you could go 13.3" and get the Boox Note Max. All Boox devices have access to Google Play and fully functional web browsers (minus good video performance, since e-paper displays are not designed for high FPS).

[milky30]

E-ink devices are really nice, but I think outside my budget

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by milky30

E-ink devices are really nice, but I think outside my budget

What's your budget? Used iPad or Surface Pro might be a good option. Most Android tablets tend to have a 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio which isn't the best for scientific articles.

[jackm8]

I'd go cheapest 10-11'' 4:3 aspect ratio windows tablet that I could find. Though, i'd probably lose my mind trying to find 4:3 aspect ratio. Everything tends to be wide ratio, for some stupid reason.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by jackm8

I'd go cheapest 10-11'' 4:3 aspect ratio windows tablet that I could find. Though, i'd probably lose my mind trying to find 4:3 aspect ratio. Everything tends to be wide ratio, for some stupid reason.

Surface Pro's (well the 3 and onwards) are 3:2 which is a good in-between and for A4 formatted documents.

[milky30]

My budget is as low as I can get away with; so under $150 for a used device.

iPad is out of the question. I have old iPads and iPhones already, but because they're no longer compatible with the latest iOS version, Apple refuses to let me install any new apps on them from the App Store, or even update the internet browser. This put me off Apple completely.

I could find some surface pro models that are within my budget, but between windows and android, I'd prefer android, because it keeps me somewhat closer to the Linux environment, which I'm used to.

But with cheap android tablets I'm worried about poor quality hardware, like low quality displays and sluggish performance.

[Gormagon]

Originally Posted by milky30

But with cheap android tablets I'm worried about poor quality hardware, like low quality displays and sluggish performance.

Then don't get an e-ink device. They are usually older Android version with less RAM than Android devices and more expansive anyway. The exception so far is the Viwoods AiPaper Reader with Android 16, but it only has 4 GB of RAM. Although I find it snappy enough for reading and webbrowsing now and then. Ghosting isn't any issue while simply reading in librera or koreader with the eink mode set to best quality.

I would recommend a Android tablet with matte screen like TCL NXTPAPER 11 Plus or Huawei matte paper, both come with a stylus and you can install the apps you like. Since Huawei uses Harmony OS which is based on Android 12 not all recent apps may work though. Both have a good aspect ratio for reading. Since scientific PDFs usually have rather large margin you can either adjust these margins in the reading app or use PDF reflow. With PDF reflow I can also read such a PDF on a small device like the AiPaper Reader without problems (the only problems are graphics which appear rather small of course).
Dictionaries can be included in apps like Librera or KoReader as well as an option to look up a word in Wikipedia.

And being LCD-based devices colours look much better on these screens than on any colour e-ink device.
Since you don't want the device for watching videos or playing games you really don't need a top SOC.

[Quoth]

TCL Nxtpaper 11 (16:10 aspect approx on 10.9" & SD card) if you want to make notes, or otherwise the 3:2 aspect TCL Nxtpaper 14 (actually 14.25" and no SD card), which is best portable device for PDFs, but is a bit heavy for note taking if handheld.

Both are actually fine for video too. I have both and both came with a cover and pen. The epaper modes are gimicks; plain sRGB with manual brightness & colour temperature is best. May not work with polarised sunglasses! Both OK in bright sunlight and about 15% brightness indoors. Very good battery life/run time.

I find PocketBook app best for epub and PDF. It can do correct page layout with 2 pages PDF in landscape.
Some TCL Nxtpaper devices may be OLED.