Tablet to read books, magazines and pdfs

JMP

Adept
Cousin sister is looking to buy a tablet device, which tablet do you guys use/recommend to read books, magazines and pdfs (technical) ?
Its been a long time since I looked into tab market and don't know what to advice. Her current considerations are -

Apple iPad Pro 12.9 2020 - 80K
Samsung Galaxy S7+ - 55K
 
If all she is going to do is read PDFs and image files, you don't really need a high end tablet. I use an OG Nexus7 (LineageOS, marshmallow) for comics and ebooks. My wife uses a 6th gen ipad for her reading (college prof., so large file sizes and heavy annotation), the pencil is really useful here.

Do keep in mind that screen sizes over 10" can get uncomfortable to hold for extended periods. I personally find anything over 8" cumbersome as an ereader.

If you can find one, the old(er) Galaxy Tab A with S-Pen support is a great little device. The Tab S 5/6/7 are also great for productivity, but are probably overkill as an e-reader. The ipad 6th or 7th gen if you are tied to the apple ecosystem (do not get the base 32GB), the pro is overkill, IMO.

If you want something slightly out of the box, I suggest the Lenovo ideapad duet. a 2 in 1 chromebook with USI stylus support. I do not have hands on experience with this one, but the specs are good and reviews suggest excellent battery life. The Surface Go is another option in this category, but it has poorer battery life compared to the ideapad and I have been less than pleased with QC on surface devices.
 
I haven't heard of this at all, let me look it up, will get back to you.


Yes, she has a laptop as well, so I guess its primarily for reading.

Then I personally see no purpose going for something like iPad Pro or so 12.9 Inch unless her requirement is having larger screen than regular iPad (including Air).
I use iPad 8th Gen which has 10.2 Inch screen for magazines on magzter and also downloaded PDF magazines. Good part is we can just use pinch to zoom to zoom into particular part of a magazine to read text so in that context, it won't much matter if it is 10.2 inch or 13 Inch pro and smaller iPad would be more portable and I personally feel that iPad 8th gen size is more akin to a regular paper magazine.
If internal memory is a usage, go for 128GB and don't want old design iPad, go for iPad Air 4.
 
I have been using a Galaxy Tab S5e for the past year and it works a treat for reading and watching stuff with its 10.5" 2K OLED screen. However, if reading is the primary use case, then a 4:3 aspect ratio iPad makes a lot more sense as all other tabs are too long.
Go with Supernote A5X. If interested we can use Rahul to ship from US to India and that will save our cost. Let me know.
PocketBook InkPad Color makes a lot more sense that the Supernote for reading and is a lot cheaper.
 
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iPad Pro is aimed more as a laptop replacement for content creators. If the requirement is exclusive to PDF a regular 10inch iPad should be sufficient.

I had a similar requirement in the past and got an iPad mini 5, besides the small screen these are superb for reading books on the go, very handy while on travel.
 
However, if reading is the primary use case, then a 4:3 aspect ratio iPad makes a lot more sense as all other tabs are too long.

+1 to this. I have Amazon Fire HD 10 and it is awesome for videos and media consumption and provides nice wide screen view but not so great for magazines. And on iPad, I do not much enjoy videos as there are too big black bars due its aspect ratio. But reading magazines is very nice on iPad.
 
Would recommend getting the base iPad with pencil support. Very useful in case one wants to use it for annotations, note taking, marking etc.
Been using this setup for 4 years now - 512 GB. Best device for reading, quickly jotting down notes, sporadic gaming, video/audio consumption etc. Excellent battery too.
Just a beautiful AIO.
 
Would recommend getting the base iPad with pencil support. Very useful in case one wants to use it for annotations, note taking, marking etc.
Been using this setup for 4 years now - 512 GB. Best device for reading, quickly jotting down notes, sporadic gaming, video/audio consumption etc. Excellent battery too.
Just a beautiful AIO.

+100 to this. Have iPad 8th Gen 32GB and have 1st gen apple pencil and using pencil even like a stylus is great on the iPad. This is seriously a great AIO device which will provide unparalleled experience. And yes please buy more capacity ones, not 32GB Like me. I am managing and feel it is ok for me but if money permits, buy more capacity.
I know it is known I am apple fan but I have fire HD 10 and let me tell you, it is not AIO device unless you are ok with compromising with performance. It is excellent for watching videos and Netflix with its awesome 1080p screen but not so much for magazines etc.
 
I would suggest you consider cheaper android tablets as many have already mentioned earlier in the thread as you don't need to spend so much for just a reading tablet.

You definitely have to look at like-priced items. If you want to spend that much, there are plenty of Samsung tablets to consider in that price bracket too, and have much better screen quality. Dont compare an ipad to an item priced 1/3 or 1/5th with the cheaper android tablets.

Samsung is the leader in the industry with their S-pen and has mastered their technology over the years with galaxy note. Their screens are the undisputed best in both tablets and mobiles. Plus you will get a higher refresh rate.

S Pen for your Galaxy tablet (samsung.com)
 
I would suggest you consider cheaper android tablets as many have already mentioned earlier in the thread as you don't need to spend so much for just a reading tablet.

You definitely have to look at like-priced items. If you want to spend that much, there are plenty of Samsung tablets to consider in that price bracket too, and have much better screen quality. Dont compare an ipad to an item priced 1/3 or 1/5th with the cheaper android tablets.

Samsung is the leader in the industry with their S-pen and has mastered their technology over the years with galaxy note. Their screens are the undisputed best in both tablets and mobiles. Plus you will get a higher refresh rate.

S Pen for your Galaxy tablet (samsung.com)

I agree that if not iPad, please not to go with random brands that are cheap in every way. And I feel Samsung is the only mainstream brand in Android world which is giving competition to iPad and keeping Android tablets alive so yes samsung if not ipad.

Amazon Fire is an option but it is not officially available in India and they are made cheap and sold for relatively less cost as amazon expects to make money from services.
 
Thanks Guys, I have shared these perspectives with her. Since she is a student and her main criteria was reading books while at home than while traveling / otherwise. I told her that the iPad has a superior experience and she should consider that.
They ruled out imports as her classes start from March and she cannot wait.
 
Tab s7+ has samoled screen, book cover plus s pen all inclusive about 70k much better deal
I had the OG Galaxy Note 10.1, it was not very good for reading books because of 720p combined with 16:9 aspect ratio.
Not comparing it with S7+, this is a huge improvement, but since her primary purpose is reading books need to be sure the device is serves that purpose well.
 
As someone who uses both a Tab S 10.5 and a Kindle PW to read, I find them equally useful, depending on what I read.

For technical textbooks, magazines and comics (or anything else where colour is vital), the tablet is the only option. And better (and to an extent, larger) the screen, better the experience.

For plain text books (or books that are largely just text), nothing beats an e-ink screen. And the Kindle form factor makes it just about perfect to carry around.

And one thing I cannot stress enough, is the focus (or lack of distractions) a Kindle offers - you can read, and read alone. Whenever I read on the tablet, I find this urge to check the news or watch one last video. Not so, when I read on a Kindle. And as a result, I invariably read more (and for longer) on the Kindle.

My ideal device would be a combination of the two - large screen colour e-ink device, and something reasonably priced. These exist, but haven't seen them in the market here.
 
I haven't read the full thread but if it is only Books then hands down Kindle is the best option. You can manage to squeeze pdf files into it too. Nothing like kindle for reading. It's worth to have one even if you have a tab. You can read for hours without a bit of strain on your eyes.
 
I haven't read the full thread but if it is only Books then hands down Kindle is the best option. You can manage to squeeze pdf files into it too. Nothing like kindle for reading. It's worth to have one even if you have a tab. You can read for hours without a bit of strain on your eyes.

I have had horrible experience with pdf on Kindle paperwhite. Op wants to read magazines too so for that reason proper tablet would be best.
 
I have had horrible experience with pdf on Kindle paperwhite. Op wants to read magazines too so for that reason proper tablet would be best.
Cannot help but second this. PDFs are practically unreadable on a Kindle, unless the page size is small enough.

For that matter, even epub files can sometimes be difficult to read on a Kindle. For a pleasant reading experience, you need the files in mobi or the newer azw3 formats (ideally, with a decent TOC tree).

That said, if you do have the source files in a plain-text form (HTML, txt, epub, etc), with a bit of effort, you can optimise it for a Kindle with a program such as Calibre. I have often had to do this with books that I - *ahem* - download for free.
 
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