E Book Reader or Tablet

[mikilianis]

Hi
I am trying to gather as much info about tablet’s and e readers, as I would like to purchase a smallish device that I can use as a replacement to books. Reading at night before I turn off the lights is a habit that I have and I have decided to start going the electronic way, I know that it can never replace the original paper book but it does have advantages. I started out looking at a Kindle reader with Wi-Fi then it was suggested that I should rather purchase one with 3G capability and so the weighing up begins Should I rather get a tablet 7’’ or 8” which one has the best battery usage etc.etc. There are so many on the market and I wish to put out my feelers and get some advice. I originally only wanted a reader but all the “ for only a few more bucks extra you can get such and such with so and so” started so in the end I am advised to buy a state of the art super duper ultra fast laptop computer. Perhaps someone could tell me a bit more or maybe there is a e book reader sales man out there who can give me some advice.
Thanking You.
Mike

[IanF]

I have a kindle, one day I will upgrade to the Kindle paperwhite then you can read in bed without the lights on.
Evidently the Kobo glo is also nice.
I just have the wifi version once you download a book it is there so you can stock up before you go away and not worry about wifi.

[adrianh]

I have a Galaxy Tab 10.1" and it is with me 24/7 I spend countless hours reading and looking at stuff on the internet. I purchased the device second hand a year or so ago and I've never had any problems with it. My wife has a Kindle and a Galaxy tab. She prefers the Kindle for reading because it has a matt white screen that isn't harsh on the eyes. The screen isn't backlit so she reads with a little light dangling from it.

If I had to do it over again I would still buy the Galaxy tab 10.1" Maybe a version 2 or 3 depending on second hand price. The version 1 that I have is fast enough to browse the internet and read anything you like.

[HR Solutions]

I used to have the galaxy 10 - nice unit but found too big. I then got an I Pad Mini. Absolutely awesome and have never looked back. Download Kindle (amongst other things) and you can read to your hearts content Its lightweight and very easy to hold when reading in bed - and obviously you have got the table functionality as well and can also do a bit of work in bed as well My tablet is synced with other devices and makes life much easier.

[pmbguy]

...Download Kindle (amongst other things) and you can read to your hearts content Its lightweight and very easy to hold when reading in bed ... can also do a bit of work in bed as well ... makes life much easier.

Sounds like the ideal porn machine

[adrianh]

Sounds like the ideal porn machine

wha ha ha

[irneb]

I don't know ... perhaps I'm just "strange" ... I've been reading books since I could read (do about 50 to 100 a year). I've tried the Kindles when they first came out and liked the idea, but liked books better. Then tried on my first smart-phone (3.5" Motorola Milestone) through the Kindle app and found it just the same as a Kindle, only now I can read without extra lights - still not as good as the books though. Size-wise it's not an issue since you can zoom in closer which just means there are more pages with larger text. The biggest trouble i had with the phone is the battery - would last about 7 hours of constant reading (yes I've read that much in one go several times). The main reason I went away from physical books is space - I'm a book-hog so find it difficult to sell them back 2nd hand (since I've the tendency to re-read books several times over). Now with electronic storage my rooms don't resemble libraries anymore.

Later again tried on a colleague's newer Kindle (with backlight) and found it nice, but not good enough to overrule the phone. Couldn't see the point. Then also tried on a friend's iPad and found it similar to the phone only larger. And both were making my wrists sore after a long read, same with the Android tablets - strange that I didn't have this issue with real books, must be the way I hold it. These days I'm using my new smart-phone (Samsung Note 2) which is a little smaller than a tablet but still light enough not to give my wrists that "sore" feeling after an hour of reading. Also its battery lasts a lot longer than the previous phone - my charges are between every 2nd day and every 5th depending on how much I actually use it.

And in all cases (phone / tablet / special reader / on the PC/Laptop) they save the book onto local storage so it's not an on-the-cloud situation. You just download the "book" and after that you can turn off your connection and still be able to read it. If you wish to synchronize the position(s) of your last reading between devices though - you need to turn on connection (3G / WiFi / LAN) in order to save this position onto the cloud and read it back to the other device(s) - but again once that's done you don't need the connection anymore.

So for me, I just don't see any point in logging a extra great big tablet / ereader along just so I can read - and then still need to rest it on a table since my arms would become lame very quickly. If I wanted to have a bulky thing with me then I'd get the book proper.

[AndyD]

Hi Mike,

What kind of material do you want to read? Is it manly just normal books and novels with text only or do you want something that can handle image intensive stuff like magazines, newspapers, comics and maybe school/college textbooks with drawings and graphs etc?

Do you want to be able to store and view photos on it and maybe watch movies etc? How long do you need the battery life to be? Also how do you obtain your books, do you already have a collection on a hard drive or are you going to start purchasing new ones? Finally what's your budget?

[mikilianis]

Hi AndyD
Just normal books novels and biographies, now that you mention it the odd magazine would be nice. I have already started downloading books and am reading them on my laptop (a bit awkward in bed) hence the idea of an e reader, I must admit battery life is one of the things that I am looking at no good having to charge it every second day. Another point is the economical factor should I spend + - R6000.00 on say a Apple I pad, I mean am I going to utilize all the functions that it has on board. Here are some models that I have looked at beside the Apple I pad
Polaroid 9.7’’ 3G Wi Fi R2999
Acer 7” 3G Wi Fi Tab B1 R1999
Acer 8” 3G Wi Fi A1 811 R2999
Lenova 7” 16GB 3G R2600
Huwai 7” 3G Wi Fi 8GB R2499
Amazon Kindle Fire HD R3299
Gobi 7” E reader R700
Those are just a few of what is on offer . What I want is something reliable with some storage capacity, good battery usage, 3G Wi Fi I fancy the Huwai, anyone have any experience with the Huwai ?

[AndyD]

This is the million dollar question. If you just want to read novels then the screen technology of the old style Kindle or Kobi is unbeatable because it's easy on the eyes and the battery lasts weeks for an average person.

Their drawback is that they're not designed to display graphics,only text so if you want to read magazines then they're both out and your other options are backlit LCD screens which are heavy on battery so you're going to be charging them every couple of days. Next question to ask is do you need it to be internet connected. Are you looking for a full tablet that runs all sorts of apps and can browse the internet, pick up you mail etc? If not then the Gobi ereader is fine, I have a couple of them and they are good ebook readers and they play movies and music as well. Grab yourself a copy of Calibre to manage your library and you're a for away....oh and just as an off-topic did I mention that Demonoid is back online?

With regard to the Crapple iPad, unless you already have a plethora of other over-priced and DRMcrippled Apple products then I would touch it with a barge pole. If I had 6 grand to burn I'd rather spend it on surgery to have my knees made double jointed so I can kick myself in the nuts than buy anything made by them. There's a few Apple fanboys around who'll disagree but I'm not one of them