Looking for first ereader

[atluu]

I will be using it mostly to read The Walking Dead comics and also books. I'm kinda divided between the Kindle Fire and the Paperwhite. I am also interested in other better ereaders if it exists.

Thank you.

EDIT: Sorry budget would be ~$150, the lower the better.

[meeera]

To my eyes, a six inch e-ink reader is a terrible choice for full size comics. I'd look for a tablet. Any good-sized tablet should read TWD comics just fine, so it's a matter of what else you want to use it for, your budget, etc.

[booklover6]

Aren't the comics in color? If so, you don't want an e-ink (black and white) reader, do you?

For the money, get the Kindle Fire for $159. I can't think of any other tablet that good, in that price range. If you can go up to $200 you should consider the Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire HD.

[atluu]

Originally Posted by booklover6

Aren't the comics in color? If so, you don't want an e-ink (black and white) reader, do you?

For the money, get the Kindle Fire for $159. I can't think of any other tablet that good, in that price range. If you can go up to $200 you should consider the Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire HD.

The Walking dead comics are in B/W, at least the ones I have.

[RZetlin]

If you plan to read comics on a 6" ereader there are few things to consider:

Amount of text - If the comic is text heavy, the comic is going to to be unreadable because the text is too small.

Colour - If there is a lot of similar colours, the contrast in greytones may not look good.

I had more success reading manga on my Kobo reader than American comics. (All manga is in black and white and majority of them are not text heavy)

[atluu]

Originally Posted by RZetlin

If you plan to read comics on a 6" ereader there are few things to consider:

Amount of text - If the comic is text heavy, the comic is going to to be unreadable because the text is too small.

Colour - If there is a lot of similar colours, the contrast in greytones may not look good.

I had more success reading manga on my Kobo reader than American comics. (All manga is in black and white and majority of them are not text heavy)

This is a typical The Walking Dead comic. I'm really hooked on the PW, but the non expandable storage kills it. But I will only read a few books + this comic, so I might not need that much storage.

[RZetlin]

Originally Posted by atluu

This is a typical The Walking Dead comic. I'm really hooked on the PW, but the non expandable storage kills it. But I will only read a few books + this comic, so I might not need that much storage.

I loaded your sample page into my Kobo reader and it is readable.

If the Walking Dead the only comic you like, go for the PW.

I am going to assume you are not in Canada and have no access to the Kobo.

[sneakyspider]

If you want to get it for comics, as well as reading books, then I'd definitely recommend getting the first generation Kindle Fire. The price with Special Offers is $159 - it is over your budget, I know, but not too much over.

[atluu]

Originally Posted by sneakyspider

If you want to get it for comics, as well as reading books, then I'd definitely recommend getting the first generation Kindle Fire. The price with Special Offers is $159 - it is over your budget, I know, but not too much over.

Though I love the multi functional features of the Fire, I'm not too sure if my eyes will. I have pretty bad vision, I might just buy the kindle PW and see if I like it. If not, I'll definitely buy the Kindle fire.

Is there any difference between the Gen 1 and 2 of the Fire?

[Teknikal]

E-ink would be bad for comics in truth while it's possible to do it anything that involves you having to zoom in the screen will flicker and jerk quite badly the sames true to pdf files, if you can afford it I'd suggest a Nexus 7 or another cheap Android tablet.

e-ink is great for novels and stuff but I'd honestly rather attempt a comic on my phone than my T1 actually my PC would be better. If you do go the android route I hear "comic book mobi" is a very good comic reader that can zoom into speech bubbles automaticly.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by atluu

Though I love the multi functional features of the Fire, I'm not too sure if my eyes will. I have pretty bad vision, I might just buy the kindle PW and see if I like it. If not, I'll definitely buy the Kindle fire.

Is there any difference between the Gen 1 and 2 of the Fire?

The first gen Fire is not sold any more. The 2nd gen Fire is $159, and yes, it is much better than the 1st gen. There is also the Fire HD for $199 and it is great. But if money is a concern, the $159 Fire is fine. Be aware that it has half the space of the Fire HD, though.

[soulfuldog]

Where are you from atluu? If you are based in the US or somewhere with it's own Amazon store, then there should be no problems with you ordering a Paperwhite and trying some comics on it, and if you don't like it, returning it and asking for a Kindle Fire instead.

Tablets are clearly the better option for comics, but then again, if you are also going to be reading standard fiction books, e-readers are the better option for them. I think the comic you are talking about looks fine on an e-ink screen, it's the size that's the issue though.

It's probably worthwhile trying an e-reader out to see how you find the experience of reading a comic on one. The Kindle will give you the option of using Panel View, so when you turn the page it first shows the entire page, then each individual comic panel on that page (so you end up turning the page 6 or 7 times for each page of your comic). It works far better than zooming in to read text, but I'd personally find it a bit irritating to be turning the page for each and every strip! If you have good eyesight you can just read it one full page at a time, but the text will be pretty small.

There are other e-readers that would give you more storage for your comics than the Paperwhite (as most of them use SD Cards), but how much that matters is down to your preferences. How many comics you'd like to keep on your e-reader at the one time, how happy you are to store them on your PC etc. If each comic is 50mb you'd still be able to store 20 on there and have room for some books too.

[atluu]

Originally Posted by l_macd

Where are you from atluu? If you are based in the US or somewhere with it's own Amazon store, then there should be no problems with you ordering a Paperwhite and trying some comics on it, and if you don't like it, returning it and asking for a Kindle Fire instead.

Tablets are clearly the better option for comics, but then again, if you are also going to be reading standard fiction books, e-readers are the better option for them. I think the comic you are talking about looks fine on an e-ink screen, it's the size that's the issue though.

It's probably worthwhile trying an e-reader out to see how you find the experience of reading a comic on one. The Kindle will give you the option of using Panel View, so when you turn the page it first shows the entire page, then each individual comic panel on that page (so you end up turning the page 6 or 7 times for each page of your comic). It works far better than zooming in to read text, but I'd personally find it a bit irritating to be turning the page for each and every strip! If you have good eyesight you can just read it one full page at a time, but the text will be pretty small.

There are other e-readers that would give you more storage for your comics than the Paperwhite (as most of them use SD Cards), but how much that matters is down to your preferences. How many comics you'd like to keep on your e-reader at the one time, how happy you are to store them on your PC etc. If each comic is 50mb you'd still be able to store 20 on there and have room for some books too.

TWD comic alone is 1.42 gb. I have a few books also which are about 10mb each. That will probably be all I will read for now. And yes, I will most likely try out the PW first, then if I don't like it, I'll buy the Fire.

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by atluu

TWD comic alone is 1.42 gb. I have a few books also which are about 10mb each. That will probably be all I will read for now. And yes, I will most likely try out the PW first, then if I don't like it, I'll buy the Fire.

Wow, didn't realise it'd be that big. I looked at a couple and they were both less than 50mb, those must have been small ones! In that case, I'd be considering one of the many .epub ereaders that have SD slots, and ignoring the Kindle.

Seriously, is it standard that comics are 1GB, that seems a huge size? I'd expect that for video, not a comic!

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by sneakyspider

If you want to get it for comics, as well as reading books, then I'd definitely recommend getting the first generation Kindle Fire. The price with Special Offers is $159 - it is over your budget, I know, but not too much over.

That would be the 2nd gen KF. The first gen hasn't been sold for a while, although there are probably some deals out there for used ones.