Tablet for A4-sized PDFs - experiences?

[Pismire]

Thanks for your clarification Harry and Ilovejedd. It would of course be nice if reading would be possible without eye-squinting

Lots of things to consider just to get a decent PDF reader. You mentioned aspect rates before - is there any android reader that allows for unzoomed reading comparable to the iPad?

Again thanks for the help. Learning lots of new things here.

[jojoba]

Originally Posted by Pismire

thank you guys for your feedback.

jojoba, do you zoom the publications to fit a single column on your screen? do you read PDFs in landscape mode?
trying to get a feeling for just how easy working on an iPad is. I was honestly hoping to avoid iPads - not usually a fan of apple.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Pismire

Thanks for the replies. As I indicated, money is indeed a major factor. I have had my eye on the Nook HD+, but so far did not find info on how it handles as a dedicated journal-reader.
Even on an iPad, I assume it is impossible to read documents without zooming in?
If zooming is unavoidable in all tablets, I reckon the Nook HD+ would do what I have in mind in landscape mode.

I never zoom when I read academic journal articles on my iPad, unless there is a particular table that is formatted with much smaller font than the rest, or something similar. Basically, I just open, read and annotate, always in portrait mode.

I'm sure an android tablet could also do the job. The thing I would go for if I were you is a high screen resolution (which is where the 3gen iPad is good with the retina screen, again you should be able to get one second hand). But there might be good android alternatives as well, I just don't know how they compare.

[Alexander Turcic]

For A4 PDF documents, I prefer using my good old Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. The screen size is big enough to avoid frequent zooming and panning without straining my eyes. I also own a old Nexus 7, which works for quick reads, but for longer A4 documents, I consider its display too small.

So if you can get your hands on a used Galaxy Tab 10.1, revive it with a modern CyanogenMod 10.1 firmware, you have an excellent and inexpensive e-book reader for that kind of content.

[Pismire]

Again, thanks for the answers. From what I read after extensive googling as well as on this forum, finding a PDF reader for publications and other A4-sized documents seems to be a common concern.

Just for a good comparison (and future reference for other searchers), would it be possible for some of you to post a picture of your device displaying a PDF, i.e. this one? My research is not related but I thought this might be educative and entertaining

Cheers!

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by Pismire

Lots of things to consider just to get a decent PDF reader. You mentioned aspect rates before - is there any android reader that allows for unzoomed reading comparable to the iPad?

With a high enough resolution (I'd say 1920x1200 min), 9+" Android tablets work well enough. It's just that A4 and letter-sized PDFs tend to fill the screen on a 4:3 aspect ratio display better (almost no margins).

iPad: 5.8" x 7.8" (back-calculated from 9.7" diagonal, 4:3)
A4 fit to screen on iPad: 5.5" x 7.8" (9.5" diagonal, 0.15" margin on left and right)

10.1" Android: 5.4" x 8.6" (back-calculated from 10.1" diagonal, 16:10)
A4 fit to screen on Android: 5.4" x 7.6" (9.3" diagonal, 0.5" margin on top and bottom)

Nook HD+: 4.8" x 7.6" (back-calculated from 9" diagonal, 16:10)
A4 fit to screen on Nook HD+: 4.8" x 6.8" (8.3" diagonal, 0.4" margin on top and bottom)

[khahoon]

I use my HD+ and HD for pdf needs. Recommended.

I also use "Document Viewer" as my primary pdf reader. It is the best one out there and has auto splitting and cropping functions which makes screen estate reasonable in many occasions.

[hapmas77]

Acer Iconia W510 Windows 8 tablet, with SumatraPDF, if you are comfortable with windows.

[Pismire]

I have only recently given the Windows tablets (is that what you call them?) a brief look. I will need to compare hardware specs to get a real idea. Am I correct in assuming that Windows makes handling several programs at the same time easier than Android? Unfortunately have close to no Android experience.
Still many questions to be answered before I can comfortably pick one...

[memeweaver]

Originally Posted by Pismire

Am I correct in assuming that Windows makes handling several programs at the same time easier than Android?

Modern Windows tablets probably give you a better multitasking experience than your desktop did a few years ago.

I currently use a Lenovo Yoga 13 Ultrabook/tablet which lets me read A4 PDFs at close to full size. My main usage case is to read and annotate classical sheet music at the piano. Anything smaller than A4 is unacceptable as I don't have extra limbs for panning and zooming, plus it's not the sort of thing you want to do while concentrating on performance. If anything I'd like to have an A3 tablet that would allow me to see two pages at once.

Ten years ago I had Motion Computing M1300 tablet pc (running Windows XP), which for all its shortcomings still enabled me to view A4 PDFs at almost full size, plus annotate them with a pen, and also run standard music editing software like Sibelius or Finale. ... and all while sitting on my piano's music ledge.

[Lemurion]

Depending on budget, I'd look at the new 12.2 inch Samsungs.

[memeweaver]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Depending on budget, I'd look at the new 12.2 inch Samsungs.

They are even smaller than the devices I've used before. For full size A4, you need 14.3 inch, so going sub 13 inch doesn't help

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by memeweaver

They are even smaller than the devices I've used before. For full size A4, you need 14.3 inch, so going sub 13 inch doesn't help

You honestly don't. A4 PDFs generally have sizeable margins, so a smaller screen is entirely satisfactory. I have to read innumerable academic PDFs formatted for A4 paper size, and find that my iPad serves admirably for the purpose (full size iPad, that is, not the Mini). By sizing the page so that the margins are cut off, I can comfortably read the whole page with no zooming or scrolling required.

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by memeweaver

They are even smaller than the devices I've used before. For full size A4, you need 14.3 inch, so going sub 13 inch doesn't help

However, they are larger than all the other tablets people have suggested. So since you didn't say anything about 9 inch tablets being too small, I thought 12.2 was a reasonable suggestion.