Reading A4 pdfs: Kindle DX versus Android tablets? - Page 2

Huyggy · 05-18-2011, 01:55 AM

I've got exactly the same problem as the OP!

10" is not too bad but too small for PDF A4 size academic papers .
I've already got a 10" dell mini so I can tell.

I see all the tablets which have appeared on the market and that doesn't suit me at all... Of course you can zoom on the go but I don't see that as completely comfortable to have to zoom in, zoom out, back and forth constantly.

the diagonal of a A4 size is : 14,33 inches (basic calculation

), so it's the size that you need. But problem... I've found for the moment no ultraportables with this size, or at a price very high.

eLiNK · 05-18-2011, 02:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solicitous

Well I'm thinking it is because some of my journals are actual scans from journals and not formatted text like the latter academic journals are.

ClearScan from Acrobat + Duokan and you are set to go.
The quality of your original scans should be reasonably good, though.

My main beef with eInk-based devices is the response time.

paravantis · 03-18-2012, 08:59 AM

I have been using my Amazon Kindle DX for a couple of years. It is a great ebook reader and I have gotten much enjoyment out of it.

Yet, I have thought about the very same question you pose for quite a while now, and bought an inexpensive Android 2.2, 10 inch, tablet for around 150 euros; you can find even cheaper tablets on ebay.com.

Result? No way I can go back to the DX now. I have been spoiled by my color tablet with the Repligo Reader for Android (cost around 3 euros). First of all, Android is much FASTER than the DX. Also, now I can annotate PDFs and move them back and forth my tablet and my laptop, via the USB port of my tablet.

I would also advise you to stay away from iPad: it is ridiculously overpriced for what it offers. My tablet came equipped with a full size USB port (that accepts USB flash drives and USB keyboards), a mini USB port, a mini Ethernet port (so I can hook it up to my home broadband Internet) and an HDMI port (which I have never used). And I listen to Sky.FM while I read, either with earphones (to enjoy sound of fantastic quality) or the supplied stereo speakers (tiny and of mediocre quality)! iPad excels in one sector: it has, hands down, much better touch screen response. My tablet has a resistive screen that requires careful pressing with a pointed stylus (a finger will not register), while the iPad is a delight to navigate with very light touching.

There is one annoying problem: Amazon Kindle on Android is a really bad piece of software, crashing and closing all the time, to the point of being unusable. So I use Kindle for PC to read my Amazon Kindle ebooks. The Amazon Cloud Reader is great BUT it has not been implemented for Android browsers yet.

ALL IN ALL: my Amazon DX has been replaced by a generic ($100+ on ebay) Android 10 inch tablet, on which I read all my ScienceDirect papers and academic PDF ebooks.

Happy deciding!

John A. Paravantis
University of Piraeus
Greece

Andy_T · 03-19-2012, 10:22 AM

I guess the new iPad 3 with its 2048x1536 resolution would be worth a try!

Best regards,
Andy

jojoba · 03-20-2012, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by curstpriest

Using E-ink for academic work (annotations, webbrowsing, etc) is simply too slow and inconvenient.

This.

I first looked into the e-reader market because I wanted something to help me go paperless with my academic readings (I'm a researcher). I realised that e-ink readers wouldn't do the job and got an iPad instead. I use iAnnotate and PDF Expert to read and annotate pdfs, both are very good apps IMO.

I have e-readers, too, and think they are great devices, but I only use them for recreational reading.

mayoi · 03-23-2012, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paravantis

There is one annoying problem: Amazon Kindle on Android is a really bad piece of software, crashing and closing all the time, to the point of being unusable. So I use Kindle for PC to read my Amazon Kindle ebooks. The Amazon Cloud Reader is great BUT it has not been implemented for Android browsers yet.

Just another data point, the Kindle reader is pretty solid on my Asus Transformer. The only complaint I have is in having to drag non-Amazon mobi files to the Kindle folder rather than just being able to click on them and having the reader open them up.

But yeah, I tend to read PDFs on the tablet and mobi/prc files on my Kindle 3.

Haesslich · 03-23-2012, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy_T

I guess the new iPad 3 with its 2048x1536 resolution would be worth a try!

Best regards,
Andy

Especially now that GoodReader for iPad was updated with Retina support. It's as sharp as eInk, and many times more responsive.

amgoforth · 03-24-2012, 10:40 PM

I use a Lenovo K1 10.1 android tablet. I tried almost all the ebook readers for PDFs. Kindle DX does work for google pdfs, but tablet is the only real solution that I found. I use adobe reader for android for text based pdfs and droid reader for photo based djvu and pdfs. Both are free and adobe will reflow text based pdfs.

amgoforth · 03-24-2012, 10:43 PM

My Lenovo dooes it perfectly, see my other reply to this thread.

amgoforth · 03-24-2012, 10:53 PM

What I like bestboout my Lenvo is the ability to read scanned pdfs easily and on free software-

zooterkin · 03-25-2012, 04:54 AM

I've got an HP Touchpad running Android; that's a 10" screen, but it's a 4:3 ratio rather than 16:9 like a lot of Android tablets. I've found it very good for reading A4 (and Letter) PDFs. I did experiment with my Kindle 3 when I first got it, but the screen was just too small, and rotating it to view half a page at a time was too tiresome.

Huyggy · 05-12-2012, 03:41 AM

One year after my post here.
NOTHING has changed. What a shame! Constructors are like sheeps

amgoforth · 05-15-2012, 08:19 AM

That sounds good. I really don't like reflowed PDFs, because some times tjat dosen't work too good. It would take at least a !@ inch rtablet screen to view regular PDFs easily.

Huyggy · 05-26-2012, 12:11 PM

Desperately waiting for that... :
ViewSonic teases 22-inch Android ICS 'tablet,' promises more at Computex
Toshiba Excite 13 hands-on

..if it is fanless of course

Jessica Lares · 05-26-2012, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Huyggy

Desperately waiting for that... :
ViewSonic teases 22-inch Android ICS 'tablet,' promises more at Computex
Toshiba Excite 13 hands-on

..if it is fanless of course

Good luck with carrying that around.

That's why I still keep my old Macs around. The big screens make for a much better PDF reader.

05-18-2011, 01:55 AM	#16
Huyggy Zealot Posts: 117 Karma: 87860 Join Date: May 2007 Location: Strasbourg France Device: Onyx Max 3 & Onyx Lumi 2	I've got exactly the same problem as the OP! 10" is not too bad but too small for PDF A4 size academic papers . I've already got a 10" dell mini so I can tell. I see all the tablets which have appeared on the market and that doesn't suit me at all... Of course you can zoom on the go but I don't see that as completely comfortable to have to zoom in, zoom out, back and forth constantly. the diagonal of a A4 size is : 14,33 inches (basic calculation ), so it's the size that you need. But problem... I've found for the moment no ultraportables with this size, or at a price very high. Last edited by Huyggy; 05-18-2011 at 02:28 AM.

03-18-2012, 08:59 AM	#18
paravantis Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2012 Device: many	I have been using my Amazon Kindle DX for a couple of years. It is a great ebook reader and I have gotten much enjoyment out of it. Yet, I have thought about the very same question you pose for quite a while now, and bought an inexpensive Android 2.2, 10 inch, tablet for around 150 euros; you can find even cheaper tablets on ebay.com. Result? No way I can go back to the DX now. I have been spoiled by my color tablet with the Repligo Reader for Android (cost around 3 euros). First of all, Android is much FASTER than the DX. Also, now I can annotate PDFs and move them back and forth my tablet and my laptop, via the USB port of my tablet. I would also advise you to stay away from iPad: it is ridiculously overpriced for what it offers. My tablet came equipped with a full size USB port (that accepts USB flash drives and USB keyboards), a mini USB port, a mini Ethernet port (so I can hook it up to my home broadband Internet) and an HDMI port (which I have never used). And I listen to Sky.FM while I read, either with earphones (to enjoy sound of fantastic quality) or the supplied stereo speakers (tiny and of mediocre quality)! iPad excels in one sector: it has, hands down, much better touch screen response. My tablet has a resistive screen that requires careful pressing with a pointed stylus (a finger will not register), while the iPad is a delight to navigate with very light touching. There is one annoying problem: Amazon Kindle on Android is a really bad piece of software, crashing and closing all the time, to the point of being unusable. So I use Kindle for PC to read my Amazon Kindle ebooks. The Amazon Cloud Reader is great BUT it has not been implemented for Android browsers yet. ALL IN ALL: my Amazon DX has been replaced by a generic ($100+ on ebay) Android 10 inch tablet, on which I read all my ScienceDirect papers and academic PDF ebooks. Happy deciding! John A. Paravantis University of Piraeus Greece Last edited by paravantis; 03-18-2012 at 09:35 AM.

05-26-2012, 12:11 PM	#29
Huyggy Zealot Posts: 117 Karma: 87860 Join Date: May 2007 Location: Strasbourg France Device: Onyx Max 3 & Onyx Lumi 2	Desperately waiting for that... : ViewSonic teases 22-inch Android ICS 'tablet,' promises more at Computex Toshiba Excite 13 hands-on ..if it is fanless of course Last edited by Huyggy; 05-26-2012 at 12:18 PM.

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03-19-2012, 10:22 AM	#19
Andy_T Evangelist Posts: 431 Karma: 5121676 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Hannover, Germany Device: iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, Kindle KB, NT, Fire, PW II	I guess the new iPad 3 with its 2048x1536 resolution would be worth a try! Best regards, Andy

03-24-2012, 10:40 PM	#23
amgoforth Groupie Posts: 195 Karma: 3142469 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Odessa, Texas Device: 2 Kindles, 2 Nooks, 2 Kobos, Ipad.	I use a Lenovo K1 10.1 android tablet. I tried almost all the ebook readers for PDFs. Kindle DX does work for google pdfs, but tablet is the only real solution that I found. I use adobe reader for android for text based pdfs and droid reader for photo based djvu and pdfs. Both are free and adobe will reflow text based pdfs.

03-24-2012, 10:43 PM	#24
amgoforth Groupie Posts: 195 Karma: 3142469 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Odessa, Texas Device: 2 Kindles, 2 Nooks, 2 Kobos, Ipad.	My Lenovo dooes it perfectly, see my other reply to this thread.

03-24-2012, 10:53 PM	#25
amgoforth Groupie Posts: 195 Karma: 3142469 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Odessa, Texas Device: 2 Kindles, 2 Nooks, 2 Kobos, Ipad.	What I like bestboout my Lenvo is the ability to read scanned pdfs easily and on free software-

03-25-2012, 04:54 AM	#26
zooterkin Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 936 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Kindle 3 WiFi + 3G	I've got an HP Touchpad running Android; that's a 10" screen, but it's a 4:3 ratio rather than 16:9 like a lot of Android tablets. I've found it very good for reading A4 (and Letter) PDFs. I did experiment with my Kindle 3 when I first got it, but the screen was just too small, and rotating it to view half a page at a time was too tiresome.

05-12-2012, 03:41 AM	#27
Huyggy Zealot Posts: 117 Karma: 87860 Join Date: May 2007 Location: Strasbourg France Device: Onyx Max 3 & Onyx Lumi 2	One year after my post here. NOTHING has changed. What a shame! Constructors are like sheeps

05-15-2012, 08:19 AM	#28
amgoforth Groupie Posts: 195 Karma: 3142469 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Odessa, Texas Device: 2 Kindles, 2 Nooks, 2 Kobos, Ipad.	That sounds good. I really don't like reflowed PDFs, because some times tjat dosen't work too good. It would take at least a !@ inch rtablet screen to view regular PDFs easily.

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