Best tablet for reading (non iOS)?

Hello

Im going to go for the CCNA exam and Ill to read some ebooks so im looking for a tablet. Im not intrested in a iPad.

Im looking at either a Android device or Microsoft's Surface Pro. Some will say the Nexus 7 but no SD card and no pen (to hightlight stuff easier for example) is a bit of a turn off.........The HTC Flyer looked pretty ok but has no support. The Galaxy Note is weird in the sense it that it doesnt have the size of a phone or a tablet and would be pretty hard to read.

Right now the Surface Pro is my perfered choice even if it is not on the market.

Suggestions? Thank you.

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Comments

tpatt100

Does Microsoft Surface even have a beta? I thought nobody has actually used/touched the device/OS in the public yet. I would be cautious to purchase new tech right at release.

I have the iPad2 for the family and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and for reading I prefer the iPad easily. The Tab is a little bit wider so portrait mode feels a bit "off" and typing in landscape is more difficult to reach the middle keys due to the wideness.

Kindle of iPad and Android is the same "now", the Android version finally got upgraded and is caught up feature wise to iOS.

What makes the iPad my preferred reading tablet is pretty much GoodReader. That app is the best pdf reader imo, I keep seeing posts begging for an Android port but I haven't seen much interest (last I heard).

I have tried a few pdf readers for Android and they seem pretty clunky compared to GoodReader.

Based on what you are looking for and you don't want an iPad I would just wait for Microsoft Surface, I learned a few times now to wait after the public beta aka the first version and see what Microsoft improves/fixes with the second hardware release.

Iristheangel

I bought an HP Touchpad for about $150 and installed Android 4.0 on it. Works perfectly and a good price for a 10 inch dual-core tablet. I've seen the prices on Craigslist and Ebay still going for around $200.

If you want a 7inch, I would recommend the new Nexus tablet. A few of my friends picked these up and love them

I'm also waiting for the Surface Pro so if you can deal with the wait, you might as well go for it.

the_Grinch

Whoa didn't know I would be able to put Android on my Touchpad! Maybe my $500 bucks hasn't been wasted!

Iristheangel

@The_Grinch - It's super easy: How to install Android 4.0 on the HP TouchPad (CyanogenMod 9 Alpha) - Liliputing

the_Grinch

Excellent...off on Friday so this will give me something to do with my day! Thanks for that!

steve13ad

+1 for the Touchpad. I didn't really use it until I loaded CyanogenMod but now I use it all of the time. It's a little rough but you can find a work a rounds for everything.

demonfurbie

on the nexus you can use a thumb drive for extra storage, just have to get an adapter

and there is no price on a surface pro yet

Roguetadhg

surface might be the first tablet I keep. It's definitely interesting enough for me to want to wait to see how it handles... not to mention the chance to run real programs on it - too good to pass up.

tpatt100

I am not even sure why Microsoft even announced Surface already, they demoed it and would not let anybody touch/use it. I figure if you are going to announce it at a major event, like most vendors have a working model available for the media to use and report on.

Roguetadhg

they had the persons use it before

Hands-on with Microsoft Surface for Windows RT, Touch Cover and Type Cover (update: video!) -- Engadget

tpatt100

Roguetadhg wrote: »

they had the persons use it before

Hands-on with Microsoft Surface for Windows RT, Touch Cover and Type Cover (update: video!) -- Engadget

As for performance, we'll be honest: tech press were treated to about two minutes at each of several stations, some of which demoed design, and not so much the power that lies inside that thin frame.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see a working demo of the keyboards. As in, we weren't permitted to type sample sentences and feel what it's like to hammer out characters on a flat keyboard, or on keys that have just 1.5mm of travel.

Ok that was what I had heard, they didn't really let anybody do much with it. I think most of the stuff was probably placeholders that might not even work. Will be interesting to see how this OS turns out.

Devilry

Hearing lots of good things about the Nexus 7, I am planning to pick one of these up in the coming weeks. Can't beat it for the price.

tpatt100

I ordered my wife a Nexus 7, she wanted a reader, bank apps, facebook, etc. Came in today and this is a really, really, nice tablet. Not laggy like my Samsung, which I got rid of most of the lag when I replaced the rom with AOKP.

It is a nice size for reading and using apps, not like a big tablet.

I seriously think Google should just do an Apple and really limit which manufacturers get Android. This is actually a really nice tablet.

paul78

Good thread

I dropped my Samsung Galaxy 10.1 in the hot-tub this evening and so I'm was actually online looking for a new one.

demonfurbie

paul78 wrote: »

Good thread I dropped my Samsung Galaxy 10.1 in the hot-tub this evening and so I'm was actually online looking for a new one.

yea ... totally accidental

tpatt100

paul78 wrote: »

Good thread I dropped my Samsung Galaxy 10.1 in the hot-tub this evening and so I'm was actually online looking for a new one.

Mine might fall into the street and get hit by a dozen cars, or my cat might jump on my keyboard and list it on Ebay.

paul78

tpatt100 wrote: »

Mine might fall into the street...

Yeah - that happened to my smartphone this morning, it was a terrible experience. It fell out of my backpack as I was leaving for work and I ran over it with my truck so I'm in the market for a new smartphone too -

mapletune

tpatt100 wrote: »

I ordered my wife a Nexus 7,

I almost got confused there for a second. I thought, "You bought a Nexus 7000 ?!!" =O

TLeTourneau

I picked up the Asus Infinity TF700 32GB, so far I like it and the 1920*1200 resolution is nice. I wiil admit that there aren't a lot of apps that take advantage to the resolution right now but they will come.

onesaint

We have some 4 tablets in the house now between myself, the wife, and kids. Those are the Kindle Touch, Kindle Fire, Nook Color, and an iPad 2. I read on the Ipad 2 often and/or the Fire. I like the size of the fire, but find for the font that is most comfortable, the pages don't hold enough text. So, I end up on the iPad more often. I've found as of late, that I really need a device I can read in sunlight with and this really can only be done with the E-ink tablets. Maybe I'll sell the fire and get something for outdoor use or just start buying bound books again.

Also, tpatt is spot on with the Goodreader / PDF note. They are a pain to read when sized incorrectly and unfortunately Goodreader is the best app to read them in, bar none.

With regard to highlighting, I don't find it easy with any device. I used a Fujitsu T4210 convertible (wacom) tablet for a long time and never found highlighting particularly easy on it or any tablet I've used. Not from the hardware perspective, but the hurdles you need to go through to activate highlighting and marking particular text is just a pain on almost any device.

GAngel

tpatt100 wrote: »

I ordered my wife a Nexus 7, she wanted a reader, bank apps, facebook, etc. Came in today and this is a really, really, nice tablet. Not laggy like my Samsung, which I got rid of most of the lag when I replaced the rom with AOKP.

It is a nice size for reading and using apps, not like a big tablet.

I seriously think Google should just do an Apple and really limit which manufacturers get Android. This is actually a really nice tablet.

Except that google is a software company not withstanding motorola. The whole point of android has been to get there software onto as many devices as possible good or bad they make revenue.

Got my nexus yesterday does what it's supposed to also have a playbook which does what its supposed to. There is no one tablet that blows away the others anymore they're all running close to the same specs.

MiikeB

GAngel wrote: »

Except that google is a software company not withstanding motorola. The whole point of android has been to get there software onto as many devices as possible good or bad they make revenue.

Got my nexus yesterday does what it's supposed to also have a playbook which does what its supposed to. There is no one tablet that blows away the others anymore they're all running close to the same specs.

I agree. I think google should instead have a team that handles the porting of android to other devices and make the companies pay a license fee.

Consumers get driven away from Android by one bad phone experience. For example, if your first Android phone was an HTC Thunderbolt you would probably never want to look at Android phones again. Most consumers don't realize that the experience might be completely different on a droid3.

riahc3

Im not sure if Im going to use the tablet at all for reading so thats why I want to use it as a "smarttablet" as well with Android (again, not intrested in iOS). If I dont use it for reading, then at least I have a decent one for general usage. E-ink is the best but AFAIK there isnt any colored E-ink Android out there.

tpatt100

Samsung LFD Monitors

My company got these yesterday, why who knows? I have one sitting next to me that I tried out for a bit this morning.

Supposed to be testing some applications for a kiosk.

If you want to pretend you are Tony Stark designing a new Hulkbuster Iron Man suit this table is for you. I opened up maps through Bing, used my hand to spin the map, drag stuff around flip it to the side, etc. It is a bit laggy though. Probably will sell a bunch to executives for presentations so everybody can pretend they are Tony Stark I guess.

petedude

tpatt100 wrote: »

I am not even sure why Microsoft even announced Surface already, they demoed it and would not let anybody touch/use it. I figure if you are going to announce it at a major event, like most vendors have a working model available for the media to use and report on.

They wanted to keep people from buying iPads, and from the looks of the posts here, they may be succeeding.

tpatt100

petedude wrote: »

They wanted to keep people from buying iPads, and from the looks of the posts here, they may be succeeding.

They sold 17 million iPads though. And some of us already have one. I was listening to one of the Twit podcasts and they were discussing the problems with Surface was the Microsoft tax. It eats up the OEM profits and makes the tablets cost more than the competition. Different market maybe but still.

demonfurbie

i think the microsoft tab will be more of a professional tab if they can pull off nice active directory integration

thats whats really lacking in tabs now, domain integration

at the same time i think rim should stop making hardware and switch focus to ipad/andriod biz class apps

the_Grinch

At one point RIM was looking at moving further into the mobile device management space. So you could use BES to manage Blackberries, Android, and iPhone devices. Sadly, I don't think they moved on that and now they are where they are.

riahc3

Thanks for all the posts

I still dont know which tablet to go after though

Vik210

iPad is very good for reading but if you are not interested or waiting for surface pro, go for HP Touchpad.. Its worth a lot more than its available for and you can always get rid of it when you switch to another tablet. Its not going to go cheaper.