Galaxy Tab S 8.4 makes a great ereader

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by Gerrye

I just got a Galaxy Tab 12.2 and I'm looking for an ereader for it... Any thoughts... Love the real estate..

You'll need to put some time in to decide which features are important to you. IMO the following are worth a look if you're trying to read epubs:
Free: Pocketbook, CoolReader
Free version but Pro version better: Mantano, Moon+, UBReader
Some of these also read PDF.

There are many others Google Play Books, FBReader, Aldiko, Bluefire, ...

If you're reading Amazon formats (MOBI, KF8, AZW3) I'd stick with the official Kindle for Android. Some of the 3rd-party apps claim to read MOBI but when I tried them it seemed to be a hit-and-miss affair.

[theducks]

Jackie_w has it
My TAB 2 came with a PDF viewer that works fine. (I use PDF for technical files. Diagrams, color and that sort )

There is the FREE Amazon ap in the Google play store
I use Moon+ (YMMV)

and of coarse, Calibre Companion since I already manage my Library with Calibre.

BTW Outdoors (even shady) during the day...
Even with the brightness maxed (that eats battery time )

[danskmacabre]

Originally Posted by theducks

BTW Outdoors (even shady) during the day...
Even with the brightness maxed (that eats battery time )

Hmm, I have a pretty good experience reading in the sunlight and I read walking to work and back.
It's readable, albeit, not as good as an ereader.
In shade, it's perfectly fine me.
This is in Brisbane, Australia, so we get a lot of sunshine here.

I do have to turn up the brightness. Perhaps it's a drain on the battery, I dunno, but I have it plugged in at work anyway, so it's pretty much always pretty full on charge anyway, so I don't tend to notice the battery level.

Still, everyone's different and may have different views on what is acceptable.

[Raijin]

How is it compared to an ipad mini in portrait mode? Or any similar sized device in 4:3 ratio for reading? I read 4:3 is much better to hold in portrait mode.
I got tab s 8.4 recently, but considering selling and waiting for the next tab s 2. It will be 4:3, only 8 inches, a bit less ppi (320) still amoled, but less batterie spec, from 4900 to 3500. Lightest tablet with a metal frame.

Well, I have to wait for a review anyway. I hope the new tab s doesn't have a sd card slot or the batterie really is worse lol. Then that would out weight the 4:3 ratio vs 16:10.

[Raijin]

Originally Posted by theducks

BTW Outdoors (even shady) during the day...
Even with the brightness maxed (that eats battery time )

A matte display protector should help. Watched this guys tab s case review, and I liked the matte protector.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0BZrB4mtII
Tech Armor anti-glare / anti-fingerprint

[vugtitan]

Originally Posted by danskmacabre

I got a Galaxy Tab S 8.4 as a "Free" item for renewing my Phone and broadband contract here.

It has Android 4.2.2 and supports the "Ultra power saving mode" which shuts down lots of processes and switches to a black and white screen.

It's supposed to give a couple of weeks power based on a couple of hours usage a day.

The problem was that there's only a very limited amount of apps available to Ultra power saving mode, which doesn't include an ereader app.

So I decided to first Root the Tablet and got an app to add your own apps to the apps available in Ultra power saving mode.

That all worked out well and I must say, I'm pretty impressed so far.
Even if I only get a week of power out of it, that's plenty for me.

It's illuminated, which is great for night time reading.
It can be a full on tablet when I want.
And it's a great little Ereader as well with quite a good battery life.

So this may well have replaced my Kobo Glo as my ereader of choice and I've let one of my kids use the Kobo Glo for now whilst I test out the Tablet for a few weeks.

All in all so far battery life is great, the touch sensitivity is fantastic and VERY responsive.

I would add that I got this essentially for free. Well not exactly free, but as part of my Broadband contract renewal but I was going to renew anyway.

I dunno if the price tag is worth it for just an ereader if you have to pay for this, but if you want a great tablet that functions as a really good ereader with a good battery life, I highly recommend this device..

My eink days may well be over... but time will tell.

What does battery life is great mean? i day i week i month.....how many hours?

[danskmacabre]

Originally Posted by vugtitan

What does battery life is great mean? i day i week i month.....how many hours?

I did a test when I first got it by ONLY using it as an eareader, setting to ultra power saving mode (slowed down CPU, Black & white screen, disabled passive and background tasks), I had it in airplane mode and no Wifi.
I got about 10 days out of it using it for at least and hour or so every day.
On weekends I used it for reading probably for maybe 3 hours a day.

As I use it for a LOT of other things now, email, browsing, social media, games, reading, chatting and so on, I charge it MUCH much frequently, but as a dedicated ereading device, you can expect about 10 days, based on the conditions I stated earlier.

That's less than an eink ereader, but then my Tablet does so much more if I want it to.
TBH, I was charging my eink ereader (Kobo glo) about 1 per fortnight anyway, so there's not that much difference.

[Tinderbox (UK)]

Hi.

I have been trying to find the "app launcher" without success, can you help me.

Thanks

John.

Originally Posted by danskmacabre

The App I eventually settled with was "ub reader"
I found the other apps I used such as Moon reader, cool reader etc didn't perform very well in ultra power saver mode for various reasons.
UB reader is a pretty simple ereader app, but it's rock solid for me and uses the entire screen to display text and it has no background image, just a white background and black text. Very simple looking.

Also, in order to be able to use an app in the limited ultra power saver mode, I had to root the tablet and install an app called "app launcher" which requires root access, so you will need the root access to take advantage of ultra power saver mode.
The App launcher allows you to add and remove apps from the limited 9 apps that are displayed in the ultra power saver app launcher.


I also installed "Uninstaller" which also needs root access and I removed all the unnecessary apps from the tablet.

Still, there is just the power saver and reading mode you can use and you can just set the screen to black and white and try ub reader and see how it goes. But you won't get the battery saving features like Ultra power saving mode has. Using that won't require root access.

[inmee]

Have anyone tried both Tab S 8.4 and Tab S 8.0?

How do they compare as a ebook reader?

Thanks!

[Gerrye]

I really can't answer because I use the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2". I use Coolreader 3 as my epub reader. It's great. Of course it does have to be charged more often than my old Edge e-ink reader but there is no comparison as far as ease of reading on a 12 inch color screen and a 6 inch e-ink screen.

[inmee]

Thanks.

What I'm more interested in is how does the S 8.4 compares to the S2 8.0.

The hardware is newer on S2, it's lighter and got a 4:3 screen which is smaller and has slightly less DPI.

[HarryT]

Moved to the "Android Devices" forum.

[peaceridge]

Originally Posted by Gerrye

I really can't answer because I use the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2". I use Coolreader 3 as my epub reader. It's great. Of course it does have to be charged more often than my old Edge e-ink reader but there is no comparison as far as ease of reading on a 12 inch color screen and a 6 inch e-ink screen.

I'm finding that my Galaxy 10.1 is just too heavy for much use. I really need something I can read pdf's on. My Nexus 7 is great for epubs, not so much for pdfs. I tried a Galaxy 8.4 and it was too small for pdf reading. So, I guess I'll keep looking for that sweet spot! The 10.1 is a good size, but, as I said way too heavy, this time I'll look for lighter weight tablets. I still use Mantano for my epub reader, in spite of its problem going from portrait to landscape (I've just learned to remember the page number so I can get to the right spot).

[TonyGamble]

Originally Posted by Gerrye

I use Coolreader 3 as my epub reader. It's great.

I have the 12.2

What settings do you use in Coolreader?

Tony

[inmee]

Originally Posted by peaceridge

I'm finding that my Galaxy 10.1 is just too heavy for much use. I really need something I can read pdf's on. My Nexus 7 is great for epubs, not so much for pdfs. I tried a Galaxy 8.4 and it was too small for pdf reading. So, I guess I'll keep looking for that sweet spot! The 10.1 is a good size, but, as I said way too heavy, this time I'll look for lighter weight tablets. I still use Mantano for my epub reader, in spite of its problem going from portrait to landscape (I've just learned to remember the page number so I can get to the right spot).

Speaking of the size, I've heard that 4:3 screen (which the S2 uses) is better for PDF in general. But of course it will still be too small for Legal/A4.

BTW, the S2 has a smaller battery than the S. But not sure about the battery life (some review say same some review say S is better)

(For my own record)
The S2 8.0 weighs ~265g
The S 8.4 weighs ~294g
The Aura H2O weighs ~233g