Ars Tecnica tests the 5 best e-readers for every budget 20190523

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Apache

The worry never stops. Now you have to worry that you have enough USB ports.
Apache

You just daisy-chain USB hubs .

Actually my need for USB ports is decreasing rather than increasing. Several of the devices I previously required a USB port for (eg mouse and printer) now work wirelessly (mouse via BT, printer via WiFi).

[Apache]

Yeah I was just making a joke and forgot to add the emoji.
I have made everything in my home and business wireless where possible.Apache

[lumpynose]

Originally Posted by Apache

Yeah I was just making a joke and forgot to add the emoji.
I have made everything in my home and business wireless where possible.Apache

You're gonna get brain cancer from all those radio waves! (Just kidding.)

[Apache]

Originally Posted by lumpynose

You're gonna get brain cancer from all those radio waves! (Just kidding.)

Were all going to die because radio waves are all around us.
Apache

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by Apache

Were all going to die because radio waves are all around us.
Apache

Ah, but those are natural and so safe radio waves coming from the sun, universe, etc. It is the artificial man made ones that give you headaches and cancer .

[ZodWallop]

I've been away most of this week, so sorry I'm replying to such old posts. I'll likely let it go after this. But:

Originally Posted by tomsem

Trust me: it is completely easy (much too easy) to buy books with Safari, and it is a better experience than Kindle Store on a Kindle, Fire, or the Android app (where important details tend to be missing). I would use Safari instead of an in-app experience.

Originally Posted by HarryT

That’s the way I buy all my Kindle books on any device. I find the “shopping experience” of the Amazon website to be far superior to using the store in the Kindle app on the other devices that have it.

I find the argument of 'I prefer buying the books on Safari anyway..." to be a weak argument. There is nothing stopping any tablet user on any major OS (Windows, Android, iOS) from using the browser rather than the app.

But there's only one OS where that's required.

Sure, maybe it's not something you're bothered by. But it can't honestly be framed as anything other than a disadvantage, regardless.

[ZodWallop]

As far as the arguing of aspect ratios: I only read comics on my tablet as mentioned. So I am not claiming any knowledge of the impact on reading books.

But for your standard, American-size comics (the bulk of what I read), the best is the 3:2 of my Surface. The worst was the 4:3.

On a 16:9 screen there will be black borders at the top and bottom of a page. On a 4:3 there are black borders on the left and right. But placing a 10.1" 16:9 tablet next to a 9.7" 4:3 screen side by side displaying the same page, the page is noticeably smaller on the 4:3 tablet.

On a 3:2 the borders are very thin. The pages fit almost perfectly. My Surface has a much larger screen than the other two, so a direct comparison wouldn't work. But I'd bet a 3:2 Surface Go would be better than a 10.1" 16:9 tablet or a 9.7" 4:3 screen.

Sorry if I'm boring you with minutia

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

But for your standard, American-size comics (the bulk of what I read), the best is the 3:2 of my Surface. The worst was the 4:3.

On a 16:9 screen there will be black borders at the top and bottom of a page. On a 4:3 there are black borders on the left and right. But placing a 10.1" 16:9 tablet next to a 9.7" 4:3 screen side by side displaying the same page, the page is noticeably smaller on the 4:3 tablet.

Yep, 3:2 is best for comics. I expect a Surface Go will display comics at full size (or at least very nearly).

However, the math doesn't support 10.1" 16:9 being bigger than 9.7" 4:3 using fit page to screen. That said, most Android tablets use 16:10 AR anyway and not 16:9 (there's a fairly significant difference between the two).

10.1" 16:10 5.4" x 8.6"

• fit 3:2 page to screen: 5.4" x 8.0"

9.7" 4:3 5.8" x 7.8"

• fit 3:2 page to screen: 5.2" x 7.8"

10.1" 16:9 5.0" x 8.8"

• fit 3:2 page to screen: 5.0" x 7.4"

Mind, I prefer reading in landscape (double page spread) so the 4:3 AR is pretty ideal (two 2:3 pages). The 9.7" is too small for double page landscape for American comics but it works great for manga.

12.9" 4:3 7.8" x 10.3"

• fit 3:2 page to screen: 6.9" x 10.3" (around same physical size as American comics)
• double page landscape: 5.2" x 7.8" (a wee bit bigger than DVD cases, definitely bigger than Archie digests)

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Yep, 3:2 is best for comics. I expect a Surface Go will display comics at full size (or at least very nearly).

However, the math doesn't support 10.1" 16:9 being bigger than 9.7" 4:3 using fit page to screen. That said, most Android tablets use 16:10 AR anyway and not 16:9 (there's a fairly significant difference between the two).

10.1" 16:10 5.4" x 8.6"

• fit 3:2 page to screen: 5.4" x 8.0"

9.7" 4:3 5.8" x 7.8"

• fit 3:2 page to screen: 5.2" x 7.8"

10.1" 16:9 5.0" x 8.8"

• fit 3:2 page to screen: 5.0" x 7.4"

Now that you mention it, my Lenovo may be 16:10

Here's a photo of the same comic displayed on my 4:3 tablet running Windows 10 and my Lenovo tablet. I changed the colors on the letterboxing so you can see what is unused screen vs. bezel. It may or may not be obvious in the photo, but the comic is noticeably larger on the 16:10.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Now that you mention it, my Lenovo may be 16:10

Here's a photo of the same comic displayed on my 4:3 tablet running Windows 10 and my Lenovo tablet. I changed the colors on the letterboxing so you can see what is unused screen vs. bezel. It may or may not be obvious in the photo, but the comic is noticeably larger on the 16:10.

Yep, looks about right for 16:10. On older versions of Android, you couldn’t hide the bottom navigation bar (unless rooted) so instead of top and bottom margins, it pretty much fit the comic + bottom nav bar exactly.

Here are pics I took a while back on various iPad sizes (12.9, 9.7 and 7.9). These pictures have been compressed a lot but text is clear all the way down to 7.9 on the actual devices. Caveat, text on 7.9 is around font size 1 on the Kindle. That's for regular text. Smallprint is, well, even smaller.

[ilovejedd]

As an aside, I don't think the article is saying the iPad mini is the absolute best for ereading. Rather that it's the best option if one wants a multipurpose device.

The Apple iPad mini is the best tablet to serve readers' bookish needs and all other digital needs.

My last use of Android tablets was around 4-5 years ago. My impression back then was majority of the apps were very much phone-centric. Given even pro-Android tech blogs have given up on Android tablets as a lost cause, I reckon that situation hasn't really improved much.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Here are pics I took a while back on various iPad sizes (12.9, 9.7 and 7.9).

I wonder how the 12.9" iPad Pro and the 12.3" Surface Pro would stack up side by side? Without doing the math, I'd guess they're pretty close.

These pictures have been compressed a lot but text is clear all the way down to 7.9 on the actual devices. Caveat, text on 7.9 is around font size 1 on the Kindle. That's for regular text. Smallprint is, well, even smaller.

With comics it's not about the legibility of the text, but the detail of the artwork.

With an ereader, I prefer a smaller screen.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I wonder how the 12.9" iPad Pro and the 12.3" Surface Pro would stack up side by side? Without doing the math, I'd guess they're pretty close.

For comics, I don't think so. I think 12.3" 3:2 would display them much bigger (likely bigger than the physical comics themselves).

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

With comics it's not about the legibility of the text, but the detail of the artwork.

Technically, comics on the 7.9" (2048x1536, 326ppi) will be just as detailed as on the 9.7" (2048x1536, 264ppi) assuming the source content has sufficiently high resolution. Art's just going to be a lot smaller on on the 7.9".

If you go by number of pixels:

10.1" 1920x1200 16:10
3:2 : 1800x1200

9.7" 2048x1536 4:3
3:2: 2048x1365

7.9" 2048x1536 4:3
3:2: 2048x1365

Caveat, you'd need really good eyesight with the 7.9".

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Technically, comics on the 7.9" (2048x1536, 326ppi) will be just as detailed as on the 9.7" (2048x1536, 264ppi) assuming the source content has sufficiently high resolution. Art's just going to be a lot smaller on on the 7.9".

Technically, schmeclically. You could use that argument to say watching Godzilla stomp Tokyo on an IMAX screen is technically the same as watching Godzilla stomp Tokyo on your phone. Technicalities be damned. They aren't the same experience.

Caveat, you'd need really good eyesight with the 7.9".

Do you want readers or do you want people with good eyesight? Typically they aren't the same group of people

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Technically, schmeclically. You could use that argument to say watching Godzilla stomp Tokyo on an IMAX screen is technically the same as watching Godzilla stomp Tokyo on your phone. Technicalities be damned. They aren't the same experience.

No but AR goggles kinda do. A 12.9” iPad that’s around 18 inches away from me looks bigger than the 50” TV that’s all the way across my living room (blocks the TV from view).

Granted, one would probably hold the 7.9” and 10” tablets at same distance so bigger is better.

Do you want readers or do you want people with good eyesight? Typically they aren't the same group of people

Lol, I’m nearsighted. Everything’s blurry even just 10’ away but I can actually read manga just fine on a 5.5” 400ppi phone. And yes, I happily use my 6” PW3, PW4 and Glo HD to read manga (with KOReader).