Is 7'' 800*480 enough to view downloaded books in PDF?

[cifroes]

I'm shopping for a 7'' android tablet with 800x480 resolution and I was wondering if that resolution is enough to read well some A4 PDF books?

I'm afraid that during reading I need to zoom in/out too much for it to not be practical (and maybe I should get an 8'' or 10'' tablet).

any experiences with these kind of devices?

[Tomsk]

If you want to view a page at a time, then no.

You need to consider the resolution of the display as well as the size.
IMO you would need at least 800x1100 for a full A4 page.

[delphin]

1024x600 tablets like the iPads and Nook Color do a reasonable job with full page PDFs, but a tablet with only 800x480 is going to have problems.

My Netbook is also 1024x600, and I find that if I hold it vertically (like a real book) in portrait mode, it also does a nice job with full page PDFs.

My Sony PRS-650 has a slightly lower 800x600 screen resolution, and a physically smaller screen, and together these two factors make viewing PDFs full screen much more difficult.

On the Sony, the best option seems to be to turn the PRS-650 by ninety degrees, in order to put the wider screen axis horizontal, then view standard portrait mode PDFs about a half page at a time. In this orientation, text is still pretty small, but I can read it fairly clearly without too many problems.

So, with only 800x480 resolution available, you will have to zoom in to read clearly, and I wouldn't count on being able to get more than about 1/3 to 1/2 of a PDF page on screen at a time.

[WillysJeepMan]

Originally Posted by delphin

1024x600 tablets like the iPads and Nook Color do a reasonable job with full page PDFs, but a tablet with only 800x480 is going to have problems.

FYI, the iPad is 1024x768.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

FYI, the iPad is 1024x768.

I stand corrected, you are right of course, I had forgotten that the iPad uses the older style 4x3 screen aspect ratio.

The Nook uses an approximately 16x9 aspect ratio, which is nice for wide screen multimedia content, but the iPad's old-school 4x3 aspect ratio is definitely a better match for a standard 8 1/2 x 11 page when viewing PDFs full screen.

[WillysJeepMan]

Originally Posted by delphin

I stand corrected, you are right of course, I had forgotten that the iPad uses the older style 4x3 screen aspect ratio.

The Nook uses an approximately 16x9 aspect ratio, which is nice for wide screen multimedia content, but the iPad's old-school 4x3 aspect ratio is definitely a better match for a standard 8 1/2 x 11 page when viewing PDFs full screen.

I have both (nook color and iPad) and I agree with your assessments.

[jocampo]

On my particular case, I find the iPad plus GoodReader being the best combination and solution for PDFs. Anything smaller is not good for me. I prefer reading or try to read PDFs with the less scrolling/page turning/zooming work possible.

7" is too small for reading PDFs and one of the few reasons why I returned the Nook Color.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by jocampo

On my particular case, I find the iPad plus GoodReader being the best combination and solution for PDFs. Anything smaller is not good for me. I prefer reading or try to read PDFs with the less scrolling/page turning/zooming work possible.

7" is too small for reading PDFs and one of the few reasons why I returned the Nook Color.

I agree that the 7" screen on the Nook Color is very cramped for full page PDFs, but it is at least readable, thanks to the Nook Color's superb hi-res 1024x600 screen, which is sharper than most other equivalently sized Android tablets.

If cost and size are no object, I agree that the iPad will give a more comfortable viewing experience.

On the other hand, anyone looking for the smallest possible device that will still handle full page PDFs will do much better with the Nook Color than some other Android tablets due to it's higher resolution screen.

[Sylver]

Originally Posted by jocampo

On my particular case, I find the iPad plus GoodReader being the best combination and solution for PDFs. Anything smaller is not good for me. I prefer reading or try to read PDFs with the less scrolling/page turning/zooming work possible.

7" is too small for reading PDFs and one of the few reasons why I returned the Nook Color.

Can't agree more with you on that - although I wish iPad had an even larger screen and weighs a little lighter. The GoodReader app is the best five dollars I ever spent on an iPad app - I just wish there is a similar app on windows platform.