Ask Slashdot: I Want To Read More. Should I Get an eBook Reader Or a Tablet? 415
gspec writes "I read less and less nowadays, but I realize I need to get back into my old reading habit. Would getting an ebook reader or a tablet help me to enjoy reading more? Would you recommend one over the other? A little relevant background about me: I probably can spare two hours a day to read. I do not travel a lot. I am not a fast reader; if I force myself, I could probably finish a standard length novel in a week. English is my second language, so a built-in dictionary would be nice. I enjoy Netflix, and I have bought many computer/technical eBooks from O'Reilly for reference. I have many technical reference PDFs. I have 300-400 bucks to spare for this. I'd like to hear opinions based on your knowledge and experience on reading using ebook readers/tablets."
I had this issue (Score:4, Informative)
I would recommend an e-ink reader (Score:5, Informative)
Right now I have a Kindle Keyboard. The screen may be too small if you read books with a lot of diagrams or illustrations. The Kindle DX would be better in this regards, but it is a tad spendy.
Regardless of what you get, I'd recommend Calibre for managing your library, and I would strongly suggest checking out your local library system's ebook lending. It is extremely convenient to be able to borrow books at any hour of the day or night. If you have access to different library systems, check out the ebook lending offers at each - sometimes one system will have a wider selection.
eInk (Score:4, Informative)
Tablets are multi-media devices. They do it all. eInk based e-readers are just for books and they do it exceptionally.
PS - The text on this page is insanely small and CTRL+ won't fix it. What the hell
Re:I had this issue (Score:4, Informative)
Ebook readers aren't great for PDFs, but they are leagues ahead of tablets for reading textbooks. I'd leave it another couple of years until ebooks really get all the wrinkles ironed out, then get an ebook reader. I have a nook and I can store tens of thousands of quality books in there at less than the weight of a paperback.
Re:Ebook reader (Score:5, Informative)
It won't be great for techinical books, but for reading novels, the cheapest kindle is just awesome. eInk is super comfortable to read and it doesn't force you to read with an overly bright backlit display. The "page" is about the size of a normal book (the ipad screen is a little too wide to support a good reading speed IMHO).
Really depends on the subject matter (Score:5, Informative)
If you're reading non-fiction, especially non-fiction with charts, graphs, and the like, get a tablet. They support more advanced features with ePub.
Finally, the device in many cases also ties you into a store. If you're just interested in loading up your own PDFs, you have free reign to select any tablet. If you want to read books from the iBookstore, you have to go with the iPad. If you like the Kindle store or the Nook store, you can choose most tablets OR their own tablet offering.
Get both (Score:5, Informative)
Get both. A $70-$120 dollar e-reader and a $330 to $280 tablet. e-Readers are bad for surfing the web or any interactive work, they are also bad for any graphical reading. Tablets are bad for long-term reading, both in strain on the eyes and they tend to go to sleep before wordy pages can be read, not to mention who wants to recharge multiple times to finish a book, and are worthless in sunlight, and Tablets are heavy.
I have a Second-gen Kobo I got on sale as Borders was going out of business. And, I have a HP Touchpad I bought as HP discontinued the product line. Together they cost less than $350. Watch for a sale, the previous generation devices can always be found cheap.
Both the tablet and e-Reader grew on me and I reach for each at different times. I keep both with me almost all of the time. My certification/professional work all ends up on the Tablet for the graphics. O'Reilly publishes their e-books without DRM, so I can put books on both and use whichever works best in a given situation. I wasn't too sure about the e-Reader until I went on a trip without it, I was miserable in an 8-hour layover without it. The Tablet I liked immediately, and have it dual booting between WebOS and Android. The E-Reader ends up with most fiction and non-technical non-fiction, I have downloaded about as many Gutenberg Press books as for pay books off of O'reilly, Google, and Kobobooks. I spend about an hour with each device EACH day. I also have learned to build my own Android APPs and ePub books, not that difficult.
Re:eBook Reader vs Tablet (Score:5, Informative)
That's not a good way of looking at it. ebook readers are much, much better for reading (easier to read off of is the main advantage, but not having to constantly re-charge is also a huge advantage, as is being able to fit it in a pocket). If you plan to read a lot, I just don't think a tablet is an acceptable substitute.
If you're not a heavy reader and but want to have the capability in case the mood ever strikes you, then reading a book on a tablet is fine.
It's almost a moot point, since a kindle is just $80.
Won't Make You Read More If You Can't With A Book (Score:2, Informative)
Would getting an ebook reader or a tablet help me to enjoy reading more?
No, they will make it easier to carry around a large bunch of books you might want to read, but they don't make reading any funner (it will be a word if you use it enough). Tablet vs eBook doesn't matter. If you truly want it for reading and not social media/videos, pick something with an e-ink display. If you're a slow reader, text-to-speech is a very nice feature. I use it all the time on my standard Kindle.
You want an e-ink display.
You want good battery life.
You don't need much storage (books are at most a few MBs each).
You want something that you don't notice while carrying.
You'll want to use the free open source Calibre to manage your eBooks. I hate it's slow and annoying interface, but it's by far the best at what it does.
However, eBook readers are poor for PDFs.
If you can't handle carrying around a small book and reading that, getting a tablet or eBook read won't make you read books. Getting a Kindle has made me listen to books. I listen to them while doing things around the apartment, traveling on a bus, and whenever I have +10m of nothing to do and don't want to simply relax. But I still don't read more.
Re:300-400 dollars buys a lot of paper books (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I had this issue (Score:5, Informative)
Ebook readers aren't great for PDFs, but they are leagues ahead of tablets for reading textbooks. I'd leave it another couple of years until ebooks really get all the wrinkles ironed out, then get an ebook reader. I have a nook and I can store tens of thousands of quality books in there at less than the weight of a paperback.
Ebook readers aren't great for PDFs, but they are leagues ahead of tablets for reading textbooks. I'd leave it another couple of years until ebooks really get all the wrinkles ironed out, then get an ebook reader. I have a nook and I can store tens of thousands of quality books in there at less than the weight of a paperback.
I have a Kindle and an iPad. Both have their strong points. The remarks about reading PF files are valid. However there is one other thing to consider, environment. The iPad is 100% useless outside in bright light. I use mine for reading in bed. The Kindle needs ambient light for the display so it is perfect outside, even in bright sunlight.
Re:iPad 2 (Score:4, Informative)
Why does everyone here want/recommend an idevice? I thought slashdot was a little more enlightened than this, and an ipad2? The screen resolution's not all that special at reading range and it's too large, what about the lovely nexus7, high res screen, good size for reading, cheap, or if you must get a 10" device how about the asus transformer 101, pad only since you want it primarily for reading, refurbished for ~$200.
If all you want is to READ, then any e-ink device is much better than any tablet. First, because of the display and second because they are much LIGHTER than tablets. When I want to read in bed, I can comfortably hold my Kindle with one hand over my hand while lying on my back and use the thumb to page up/down. If you'd try the same with an ipad, you'd get muscle cramps within a few minutes. E-ink readers are built specifically for reading and do that exceptionally well - display, battery life, size/weight are all much much better than on any tablet. Tablets are built for so many more functions than only reading (video, games, surfing, ...) that if all you want is read e-books, they are too expensive and too big.
Only situation where I could accept choosing a tablet over an e-ink reader is if you mainly read pdf files which are heavy on colour photos/diagrams, because the b/w e-ink displays suck at those.
Re:I had this issue (Score:5, Informative)
I hate being in bright sunlight so that isn't an issue for me. I have a basic kindle and Nexus 7, and I've read books on both.
Both are a handy size for reading and both can be held in one hand comfortably, though the kindle is lighter. I haven't read so long with the Nexus that I've drained the battery, but if you are going to be away from power for days, the kindle is better because it will have juice.
However, for reading PDFs, particularly PDFs with color, the kindle is very weak compared to the tablet. For example, I have the fishing regs for my state uploaded to my kindle and to the kindle app on the Nexus 7, and it's a real pain to use on the kindle. On the tablet, it's a snap to zoom in on a picture of a fish for example, or on some small print for a particular marine area. It's so clunky to do the same thing on the Kindle that I don't even bother trying.
However, reading in the dark with the kindle app on the Nexus 7 can be blinding. The Kindle app doesn't respect the brightness settings you set for the tablet, at least not once you're in your book. Fortunately, you can choose to adjust the display in the kindle app once you are on a page of the book by clicking on the font size icon -- then you can choose black on white, sepia, or white on black. You can also adjust brightness. I can't figure out why that is in the font size setting area, rather than in the preferences area, and I found it only accidentally. Anyway, for me, white text on black at the minimum brightness is tolerable enough for reading till I doze off. It isn't as good as ambient light on e-ink, but tolerable.
The nexus will play netflix vids fine, though I rigged up a bit of stand by bending up a coat hanger so I can just set it on a side table rather than hold it if I want to fall asleep watching a show. Obviously the kindle won't do video at all. The tablet is a lot closer to having a real computer too and can do interesting things like marine charts, games, etc. etc.
Anyway, if I didn't already have the kindle, I wouldn't buy one now that I have a 7" tablet. It will do what the kindle does best reasonably well, plus a million things the kindle won't do at all, and excels at a few things the Kindle does poorly (like full color PDFs).
I don't have a 10" tablet, but I don't think I'd want one either. At that size a laptop is more compelling to me, but a 7" tablet can be used with one hand quite handily. So anyway, I'd get a 7" tablet and use the $100 a kindle costs for buying books rather than buying both devices.
Re:I would recommend an e-ink reader (Score:4, Informative)
Calibre is wonderful, it converts between many different e-book formats (and manages them, i.e. you have ONE entry for a book, even if there are multiple formats), it is VERY flexible, and it knows about a whole heck of a lot of different e-readers and how to transfer to them. Just plug your reader into your computer, select what you want to transfer and click one button.
On my Nook, it knows about both the built-in memory and the microSD card (if you have one installed) and can transfer to either one. It will also show you which books are already on the device or card.
Re:I had this issue (Score:4, Informative)
Couple things.
One, if you aren't tied to kindle books by DRM or can convert them to DRM free, check out moon+ reader on the tablet. It's a pretty decent app for reading, can be set up so a swipe on the left side of the screen will adjust brightness, and has a decen't library interface as well as being able to search through your SD card / internal memory by directory to find your books. It beats the pants off the nook app or kindle app.
Two, just root a LCD type reader into a full tablet. Nook color ( what I have ) runs Cyanogen mod 7 and works as good as a much more expensive tablet, even to running netflix. Total cost: $210USD, 200 for the device and 10 for the 16GB microSD card. I'm sure the kindle fire is probably hacked already too. The only real drawback is HW decoding h.264 video over 480P is crap, 720P xvid in software works out just fine though with only minimal size overhead for costs.