Kindle or Tablet

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 8:44 am

I brought my Mrs a Kindle for her birthday last year, she still tells me now it's the best thing i've ever brought her. She does not put it down.

But she only reads eBooks,her preference. I'd go with the tablet myself because like others have said it has loads more to offer after you have finished reading.

Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 2:02 am

it's truly a hard choice to choose between you [Tablet] and your missus [Kindle]. i'll think about it. thanks for the reply.

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 8:39 am

My tablet came today and at first play it seems pretty good, the video player wok on lots of file types and looks great the sound in ok too. Struggling to get it to connect to the browser and the app market though.

But for a reduced price of £75 its not bad, i just need to try and get an e-book reading app then i will be a happy man

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 10:56 am

Asrai79 wrote:

My tablet came today and at first play it seems pretty good, the video player wok on lots of file types and looks great the sound in ok too. Struggling to get it to connect to the browser and the app market though.

But for a reduced price of £75 its not bad, i just need to try and get an e-book reading app then i will be a happy man

Which tablet did you buy?

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 2:05 pm

cbilljones, what's your preference? Kindle or Tablet? or other? please specify.

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 4:22 pm

Tablet, i got mine for $75 its a Pandigital Black, very easy to flash with new FW

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:28 am

My tablet is a Disgo 7000

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 6:13 pm

Hope it is ok to post my question in this thread.

I too was thinking of getting either a tablet or e reader but after reading this thread, may settle for tablet.
Was looking at Xoom 3g android honeycomb ??

I need something to read reference books, mostly pdf files, some approx 3000 pg.
I need to be able to use index and TOC to go straight to a particular page, and was wondering if a tablet is capable of doing this without a huge wait for pages to load, and would the pages and tables be readable.

I know nothing about tablets, android 3g etc, and would be grateful for any input or advice. Thanks in advance Very Happy

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:27 pm

scotty123 wrote:

Hope it is ok to post my question in this thread.

I too was thinking of getting either a tablet or e reader but after reading this thread, may settle for tablet.
Was looking at Xoom 3g android honeycomb ??

I need something to read reference books, mostly pdf files, some approx 3000 pg.
I need to be able to use index and TOC to go straight to a particular page, and was wondering if a tablet is capable of doing this without a huge wait for pages to load, and would the pages and tables be readable.

I know nothing about tablets, android 3g etc, and would be grateful for any input or advice. Thanks in advance Very Happy

The only thing that's difficult about tabs are finding which one to buy; rest are just plain simple. And in this thread I completely agree with =$9artan= that you can use your tablet even after you're done reading (such as playing "tilt to live HD" or Shift 2 or Rage HD..or listening to Brian Eno while reading some books..etc).

I have bought an ipad2 recently and trust me I didn't need any manuals of some sort (I also have an iphone 3gs and ipod touch 64 gb 4th gen); which makes it easier for using ipad and syncing from a single itunes library and transferring apps etc. It's so simple to use you'll just grab it and start exploring every bit of it. That's the actual fun imo. It helps if you're a smartphone user. There are almost 90% similarities between iphones and ipads; a user like me (who uses it for reading books, games, DJing, movies, cure etc lol) find iphone's bigger version is ipad lol. The only advantage I get in ipad is the size; maybe it's just me heh.

You wont have to wait for anything (no page loading or anything). And tablets are also "reading" friendly, you wont end up with stained eyes even after reading a book (just make sure you've a great app for reading epubs, mobi or pdf formats where you can adjust the font size according to your convenience); unlike PCs or laptops. My friend has Xoom and he's very happy with it. There's a lots of stuff to explore and do in a tablet depends on how much system and other apps you have (can buy or simply download lol). It needs maintenance though and if you're simply jailbreaking of some sort (by yourself esp.) you sometimes can't sync your app with itunes and it tend to crash a lot. There are many tips and tricks are there though you can easily get troubleshoot with youtube or google guides after you get you hands on one of of 'em tabs.

It'd be suffice to suggest you to go to a store where you can give a try on a display one. Use it for 10-15 minutes and they will teach you the basics as how you'd operate it according to your usage. And if you're buying an ipad2, go ahead buy one and for minor tweaks I'm here to help you (and our igreat mcmod johnno23) with just a PM away. Wink

Still if you want to go through few reads..

Xoom Guide (link)

Android 3G guide (Link)

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:00 am

Hi som ace, thanks so much for your reply and thanks for the links. Have saved those to have a read through later tonight.

Your right, the hardest part is deciding which tablet. Started out after an e reader but have progressed to tablet. As such, the price too has progressed from around $120 aud to $400 aud.

I have seen the ipad2 and really liked it although not so sure I like the idea of being shackled by Apple, plus the price is about $700 so that is way out of my budget.

The main thing i would need it for would be to read and search through reference books in pdf format, although some are in mobi format as well. Was just worried whether tablets would be able to do the job with loading and finding particular paragraphs with out too much trouble. I use adobe reader on the desktop, so if pdfs will read and search similarly on a tablet, then I'll be happy.

Do you know if it would it be able to play avi movies from isohunt, hope not a silly question.
Xoom has these PLAYABLE FORMATS
H.263, H.264, MP3, MPEG-4, AAC, AAC+, OGG, AAC+ Enhanced, MIDI, AMR NB,

As you can tell I'm not that tech savvy, so long as it can read, play movies and play music, i will be more than happy, what ever else a tablet can do, will be a bonus for me.

PS I have no idea what jailbreaking is, will have to go google it, am sure I should be able to do it though, lol Laughing

yeh right

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 5:35 am

My tablet works by getting different apps for whatever you need and i do believe that Adobe have an app, i am also looking to get it to read PDF's but i'm still struggling to get mine to connect to the web.

I think Calibre is a program which converts different E-book types, so you can convert on your computer then display on your tablet

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 5:54 am

no need to be shackled with Apple if you use an ipad. The other half has one and syncs with a PC and no itunes. Plenty of pretty decent PC software to use an ipad without hassle.
As for pdf's and 3000 pages with an index and fast access it works.
Next up is 700 bucks is not needed. the basic ipad 2 with wifi and no 3G and only 16gig is in fact plenty.
My other half has a series of books plus movies and a shitload of games.
And swapping out files with the PC is dead easy. She loads up on what she thinks she might need or want when we travel and on a return home justs deletes what she no longer needs and loads up new items. The wifi aspect of any tablet is a godsend also as it allows email downloads and just about everything a netbook can do. whilst the Apple ipad may not have the HZ speed of its competitiors what I and my lady love about it is the battery usage. it just goes on for several hours on a flight or train journey without any of the "Oh shit" where is the power socket.
Still at the entry price its quite a lot of money but I think its worth it. Not as a mac freak but the quality of the build is exceptional and it really is super thin and slides into just about any bag without taking up space. otherwise I think the xoom is a pretty good deal and pacino has one.
he started a thread on it somewhere........ maybe he can link to it if he see's this post...... I has to run as my dinner is calling to me. hahaha

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 8:33 am

No problem scotty123.. Smile

Those reads will give you proper idea I hope. As Johnno23 said you can't be shackled by apple. Just sync with or without itunes you're good to go. ipad2 has that edge when the GPU is concerned. Though Xoom claims a staggeringly 10 hours of video playback though my friend's stops at 5-6 hours maybe because it's overloaded by apps, books and music videos. I can't log in to "market android" because of my chrome problems otherwise I could have directed you to few great android video players. You can also search them or sort them according to the ratings and descriptions. But that's the later part. First get your hand on one of 'em. Wink

About the books and such I use "ezPDF Reader" on my ipod, ipad, iphone...I also use "eBookMobi" for both mobi and epub formats. They are designed to adjust and arrange the text as they are in the real books. You can turn them pages like you do in the book. I also use "Comiczeal" app which is excellent for reading comics. There are also other readers such as Kobo, Kindle, Nook for android..etc..loads of 'em. You can always bookmark your pages search contents, swirl through index and lots. You can get "PDF Viewer" from the official adobe site (guess it's pre-installed in xoom) and the pdf pages will simply fit your xoom screen. Like I said Xoom or ipad2 is worth your money as long as the app exploration is concerned. Today I gave my ipad2 to my dad because he loves playing and reading on it lol. He must be saying that my son gave me a ipad2 in some other forums lol. The best part is "multitasking" in tabs, just like PCs. Even a better feeling. About the movie formats you posted you can always download those format movies. or you can always convert to supported HDs if you're downloading a 700 MB .avi movie. Watching movies isn't a big issue there.
And hey I'm not that tech savvy either, it's the interest you'll buid eventually after you buy something interesting. You'll become an enthusiast like those kids who get their first gaming consoles in their birthdays.
You can google features, apps, pros and cons. Then take a step; this is advisable to all the future tab owners.. Wink

Asrai79 wrote:

My tablet works by getting different apps for whatever you need and i do believe that Adobe have an app, i am also looking to get it to read PDF's but i'm still struggling to get mine to connect to the web.

I think Calibre is a program which converts different E-book types, so you can convert on your computer then display on your tablet

You can also get a PC converter of pdf to mobi or mobi or epub to pdf. Simply convert 'em on PC and send it to your tab.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-book_readers

Or simply get the suitable app for your android 2.3.

Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 2:50 am

Thanks for the replies guys, will go check them out tomorrow and have a play around, one of the tech guys will be there so he should be able to help, the guy i spoke to today didn't have much of an idea. Am still

probably leaning towards the xoom with the 3g, as my nearest wifi hot spot is 40 km away, will see t/m

@Asrai79

Did manage to find a few android pdf viewers today. There seems to be quite a few out there, each with different capabilities. I couldn't find any that support TOC, some supported bookmarks and could only find 3 which

had a search function. and ability to page jump. There are the obvious ones like adobe, repligo, PDFto go, and ezPDF, but also some more obscure ones like manato, aldiko and beam may be worth checking out once you

have your internet connection set up. Each has their good points, depends really on what type of pdfs your reading. Some are free and some are paid versions, Hope that helps Very Happy

Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:22 am

Ok so i checked the instructions for my tablet, checked the website and even phoned my isp and still it won't hold a stable connection and according to the website this is a fault with the tablet.

So i'm returning it and getting a refund. Will purchase a different tablet and see what happens then.