Premium size tablet for ebooks?

[betelguese]

Hi, what would be the best tablet for reading ebooks (pdf, djvu, epub, mobi) with a screen size bigger than 10 inch? I can't find one, all tablets I found end at 10.1 inches.

[Dr. Drib]

Thread moved to the "Which one should I buy" forum.





Don
(Moderator)

[exscentric]

There are some 13 inch android tablets I think, more expensive than readers but more versatile as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Kocaso-M1400-1...13+inch+tablet is one on Amazon to see what it will do, I think there are others.

You might search for 12 inch as well.

[charmian]

You could try a Windows tablet. I know the Surface is slightly larger. There are also some laptops that flip all the way around, like the Lenovo Yoga. That has around 13.3 inches.

[petrucci]

There are a handful of tablets that have screens that are larger than 10.1". However, I do not know if any of these would be good for reading e-books on. I certainly do not think that they would be. I have considered reading music on them.

The tablets include Toshiba Excite 13, Asus Transformer AiO, Dell XPS 18, HP Envy 20, Sony Vaio Tap 20, and the Lenovo Horizon 27. Samsung is rumored to be working on the Galaxy Note 12.2, and Apple is rumored to be working on a large iPad Maxi.

[HarryT]

Do you actually need a bigger screen? I don't have terribly good eyesight, but I find the iPad to be excellent for reading A4/Letter-format PDFs without having to scroll the page.

[betelguese]

Thanks for your replies. Yes, I need a bigger screen. I mainly need the tablet for physics and math college textbooks. Most of them in pdf and djvu format. It does require long reading sessions and my eyesight for reading is not the ideal, so both for comfort and practicality a big screen is welcome, ideally bigger than 15 inches, and the bigger the better.
Would you consider the current Ipad or Samsung 10.1 tablet fit for this? Which tablet would impose less strain to the eye? Or should I wait for incoming larger tablets?
Yes, I've seen the 20in and higher portable screens from Dell, Asus AIO and the like. I also read about this cool 4K tablet, eventhough its price is outrageous at the moment:

NOTE: I don't have any experience with tablets. I'm used to my current PC's 23in LCD 1600x1200 display.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by betelguese

Thanks for your replies. Yes, I need a bigger screen. I mainly need the tablet for physics and math college textbooks. Most of them in pdf and djvu format. It does require long reading sessions and my eyesight for reading is not the ideal, so both for comfort and practicality a big screen is welcome, ideally bigger than 15 inches, and the bigger the better.
Would you consider the current Ipad or Samsung 10.1 tablet fit for this?

Yes, definitely, as I said in my previous post; I use my iPad primarily for reading PDF articles from academic journals, and the page is comfortable to read without zooming or scrolling.

The advantage of the iPad is its 4:3 aspect ratio, which is a better closer fit to the shape of an A4/Letter page than the 16:9/16:10 aspect ratio that Android tablets use. This means there's a lot less wasted space around the edge of the page.

[betelguese]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, definitely, as I said in my previous post; I use my iPad primarily for reading PDF articles from academic journals, and the page is comfortable to read without zooming or scrolling.

The advantage of the iPad is its 4:3 aspect ratio, which is a better closer fit to the shape of an A4/Letter page than the 16:9/16:10 aspect ratio that Android tablets use. This means there's a lot less wasted space around the edge of the page.

Harry, I understand the iPad's aspect ratio advantage, however sometimes the letter size becomes small for my eyesight and I need to zoom in resulting in browsing a single page which is very uncomfortable. I can say this from my limited experience in testing it with friend's tablets or trying them at stores. hence the need for larger screens.
The 15+ inch screen market for AIO Windows tablets is very incipient:low battery life, not so portable, not perfect touch experience and maybe not so good for ebook reading as Petrucci pointed out. Maybe in 2 years when CPU's become ever more efficient and powerful the perfect jumbo tablet will be a reality.

[WillysJeepMan]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, definitely, as I said in my previous post; I use my iPad primarily for reading PDF articles from academic journals, and the page is comfortable to read without zooming or scrolling.

The advantage of the iPad is its 4:3 aspect ratio, which is a better closer fit to the shape of an A4/Letter page than the 16:9/16:10 aspect ratio that Android tablets use. This means there's a lot less wasted space around the edge of the page.

This is a very important point. 4:3 is definitely preferable in my opinion over 16:9/16:10. I've tried to explain why the iPad's screen is better for reading than the Surface RT (in a Surface RT forum) and I get branded an iSheep.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by betelguese

Would you consider the current Ipad or Samsung 10.1 tablet fit for this? Which tablet would impose less strain to the eye? Or should I wait for incoming larger tablets?

iPad is better. Whether it's good enough depends on your eyesight, though. Here are some calculations on how big an A4-size PDF will look if viewed in fit-to-page mode on a couple of screen sizes:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...0&postcount=20

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by betelguese

Harry, I understand the iPad's aspect ratio advantage, however sometimes the letter size becomes small for my eyesight and I need to zoom in resulting in browsing a single page which is very uncomfortable. I can say this from my limited experience in testing it with friend's tablets or trying them at stores. hence the need for larger screens.
The 15+ inch screen market for AIO Windows tablets is very incipient:low battery life, not so portable, not perfect touch experience and maybe not so good for ebook reading as Petrucci pointed out. Maybe in 2 years when CPU's become ever more efficient and powerful the perfect jumbo tablet will be a reality.

With the arrival of the new Haswell processors you get 8-9 hours of battery life on Windows tablets. That is not the issue. Touch experience is as good as any Android or iOS device. Of course, the portability of a device with a 15" screen will be limited. But I am fine using my 13.3" laptop as a tablet. Definitely a great option, but not for everyone.

[betelguese]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

With the arrival of the new Haswell processors you get 8-9 hours of battery life on Windows tablets. That is not the issue. Touch experience is as good as any Android or iOS device. Of course, the portability of a device with a 15" screen will be limited. But I am fine using my 13.3" laptop as a tablet. Definitely a great option, but not for everyone.

I checked the reviews extensively on the Dell XPS AIO 18 and similar competing products, their battery life is 2 to 5 hours depending on usage. Many people are not happy with the touch experience, they report having to tap twice or more on a link or screen element for the device to respond, and their screens are too glossy.
I also have a laptop, a 15.5" Sony Vaio IPS FullHD, great device for general Windows use, but not comfortable to use it as an ebook reader, screen size is not enough plus the keyboard occupies unnecessary space in my desk while reading, not to mention the inability to place the screen to my liking . Hence the need for a tablet as it's much more comfortable for ebook reading, and as I said, preferably bigger screen so I can read a single page or ideally two pages without zooming.

[shalym]

I have an HP Split X2, which is a 13.3 inch Windows 8 Pro tablet/laptop. In tablet mode, I get about 6-7 hours of battery, and about 4-5 more when attached to the keyboard base in laptop mode. I have no problem with touch responsiveness at all. However, if a 15.5' screen isn't large enough for you, then that will not be enough for you. Have you looked at this 18.4 inch Asus Transformer? http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Transform...957142&sr=1-14 It looks like it's a Windows 8 tablet that has a base station that turns it into an all in one desktop. Oh...and it also runs Android Jellybean. If I could justify another computer to myself, I would get it just for the coolness factor

Shari

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by shalym

Have you looked at this 18.4 inch Asus Transformer? http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Transform...957142&sr=1-14 It looks like it's a Windows 8 tablet that has a base station that turns it into an all in one desktop. Oh...and it also runs Android Jellybean. If I could justify another computer to myself, I would get it just for the coolness factor

Shari

It's probably awfully heavy to use a tablet. I have a Microsoft Surface Pro Windows 8 tablet, and even that's really too heavy to use as a tablet, for me. I use it with a keyboard as an ultra-portable laptop.