Request tip for cheap tablet to read pdf and rtf

[Skybird]

I am not certain, but maybe I could be interested in having a reader- or tablet-style device for the mere purpose of easily, via PC-tablet-wire, loading pdf-manuals from PC onto it and reading them that way, with the layout/size freely scaling and zooming and in a quality comfortable for the eyes. Maybe word and rtf- and txt documents also.

I do not want to spend much money, certainly not the price of an iPad or Galaxy 10. Amazon Kindle or the Sony readers might be enough, but I read that they do not allow flexible zooming of pdf layout, or are complicated in how to get files from PC to tablet. There even seem to be tablets where you need to upload your PC-based pdfs to the web, where they get transformed and from there then need to get loaded onto the tablet in a changed data format. Well, good laugh that is! So... ergonomic!

Has anyone a cheap suggestion for my purposes, and available on the German market? Price, easy handling of data transfer PC->tablet, colour display, and good reading quality are key. Everything else is not important, I do not intend to use it for anything else. If I need to sit down and make a plan for the task of just exchnaging data, instead of just pushing in two plugs from one and the same wire, the whole idea to me is useless. It needs to handle as easy like an MP3 player to move over some new mp3 titles from HD to player, else it is a waste of money.

Oh, and payware e-books are of no interest for me. Any specialising for this task also is a waste of moneyand resources in my case. I am only about some thousand pages of manuals I would like to not needing to print out.

[CCIP]

As far as I know the new Kindles are relatively flexible - I don't have one myself, but I know several people who use them almost strictly as .pdf/text viewers and don't have issues with them. I would actually keep your search focused more on ebook readers rather than tablets for the moment, since the ebook market is pretty competitive and has features you want, while tablets proper are rather overpriced at the moment.

[Skybird]

I read the ebook readers and Kindle are black-white only, due to the electronic ink-display feature : no coloured illustration, therefore. I also read that it is not possible to upload pdfs from PC directly, you need to workaround somehow via the web. And finally the pages cannot be scaled satisfactory to the display size.

That'S what I read on randomly found sites. Cannoit judge if that is true, and to what degree. The e-ink displays produce good darkgrey-on-lightgrey quality, writtenm language looks good on them, but that does not help if you need to constantly fizzle with display controls due to unefficvient scaling of pdf document pages. Gadgets like this shoukld make things easier. I also do not like to upload from PC to the web and from their onto the reader.

If my info is outdated, anyone please enlighten me.

[Fincuan]

When looking at cheap tablets beware that the displays might be anything from crap to ok, but seldom good. Picking a crappy display is a convenient way to bring the price down. Galaxy Tabs, iPads and such aren't expensive solely because of the brand, but also partly because of the quality components involved.

[Skybird]

It seems my info on the kindle is about the first generation of kindles only!? USB-wire data transfer seems to be possible now. But scaling and zooming of pdfs - I still need to learn if they imporved that, too, or not.

With 100 Euros, the smallest kindle version would be acceptable, since it seems to create nice grey scale pictures as well.

[Skybird]

Or I'll wait until the Kindle DX maybe is available over here, too. The displays of these gadgets are pretty small, the Kindle 2 has a diagonal measure of 15 cm, the DX at least 24 cm.

That makes any pdf designed to be printed on a Din A4 page rather small.

Heck, maybe I skip the whole idea of getting a tablet or reader in total. Sounds like too much compromise, no matter how I look at it. And it's not as if I am rich.

[Skybird]

Hm, I maybe will not be the only one considering the sue of an e-reader fpr pdf, so this site and the videos might be of interest:

http://ireaderreview.com/2009/11/30/kindle-pdf-feature-kindle-vs-sony-pdf/

http://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2010/09/12/the-best-ereader-for-pdf-viewing/

Probpölem is b oth readers they introduce, the Sony and the amazon, do not handle pdf in a convincing manner. Especially the Kindle does not allow resizing the font size, what makes all pdfs almost unusuable (if you have no9 lasersharp hawk-eyes) that are formatted in Din A4. And in Europe, that might be quite many.

I'm out of this business, at least for the time being, until the screens have not become bigger, and pdf support is optimised. Right now it is too much an ill compromise over pdfs on PC, or printouts. At least for me, having over 5 dioptries on both eyes.

Edit.
2nd link above just added. Like some videos I meanwhile saw, they say that currently ereaders for pdf make little sense: they do not support it sufficiently, and are too small. Plenty of compromise needs to be accepted with reading Din A4 pdf. They say, that currently the ipad or a comparable good tablet with a good and bigger display is by far the best option for reading pdfs.

Gets too expensive for me, my needs are such that they do not justify such a substantial investement.

[AVGWarhawk]

Kindle Fire is a nice unit for reading. I got my wife a Acer 7 inch Iconia with the Android 3.2 Honeycomb OS. It is a fantastic tablet. Does it all. Paid $260.00. Looking to get one for myself.

[Skybird]

Like Kindle DX, Kindle Fire is not available in Germany, and anyhow, it is too small. Haviong been in town yesterday, i c hecked a local bookshops reader, and a tablet in anothert store, an ipad. It cools me down immediately when seeing how tiny these things' display in reality are.

A reader or tablet with a Din-A4 display, roughly 30x20 cm - for PDF, anything else is just a lame compromise where you need to "work" on pages to get them zoomed, and then moving on the same page. If they do not get their acts together with bigger display tablets/readers, a printed or PC-displayed PDF beats them hands down, every time.

And since we are at display sizes, it kills my nerves any time I get one of the selection boxes by sopftware and especially Wirndows, and they are formatted and miniaturised to the smallest possible box size and font size, and even when you need to make a long scrolling down a list of choices, they still cannot manage to make those #%&!#§ boxes bigger, with 90% or more of the screen being unused.

Is simpliest and most obvious ergonomics a dying science these days?

I also realise digital compat camera sizes, how incredibly small they have become. Some of them are really diofficult to hold them still, or to handle those microiscopically small buttons located so very very close to each other - and I am neither old, nor do I have big hands (in fact, my hands are rather small). Also, the inbuild betteries are so small now that often they storing capacity doies not last long - no comparison to a bigger camera where you can store a pair of Eneloop-AA batteries in the grip (and have better hold of the camera, too).

Small, small, small - there are more criterions for good product design and ergonomy than just to make it as small and tiny as possible. The camera that snuggled itself best into my hand and gave me the best options to hold it still and manipulate the options blindly, was an old, big and relatively heavy EOS-600 from 25 years ago!

[AVGWarhawk]

I don't think Windows is really ready for tablets yet. Windows is behind the 8 ball with Windows Mobile 7. My wife has it on here phone. It works but is not anywhere near were Google/Android is as far as applications. I run the Android 2.3 OS on my smart phone. It does all including reading PDF files without issue other than a small screen but purchasing a 10 inch tablet should make reading PDF easy. I can read them on my wife's 7 inch without issue. If anything, the tablets are getting bigger but a tablet is for sitting for reading/surfing. Having a 22 inch tablet on your lap is a bit cumbersome!

[Skybird]

Needing to have a pdf with many hundreds of pages to be printed out just to read it comfortably just one time, and later occasionally search for a word, that is a waste of money: especially in ink.

Resizing A4 to A5 already makes the fonts very small to read, and prints in two columns become a pain. I also do not like pdf, I prefer to have a rtf- document where I can reformat and resize fonts to my own needs easily. I never understood what pdf should really be superior in.

And when the text includes page-filling graphs with according text explanation in them, and you miniaturize that to match a 9" or 11" display, you cannot read it at all without using a microscope.

A reader/tablet the size of a magazine, with its weight and thickness also,m is fine, and comfortable, I think. And it allows you to read in original sizes, withiut needing to do a lot of side-splitting, zoom, moving. I'm sure that sooiner later these will appear on the market. I am just surprised that they still are not already there, for acceptable prises. Even the Kindle DX is clearly maller in display-size than A4 (and unavailable in europe anyway, and too expensive for being only a reader).

And smart phones, well, I simply wouldn't know what to do with that and why needing to carry it with me all the time. Am I born to be a phone-carrier? To me, it is a toy, nothing more, like a very expensive Tamagoochi. I never wanted a Tamagoochi, and I never wanted a smart phone. And into an app-junkey I do not wish to turn, too. :D

Just a combination of touchscreen and painting program - that is something I find fascinating if you cannot afford place or money for a real painting atelier! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NdZMTSBvVU
Due to the size maybe still not ideal, but a very clever combination of creativity and technology.

[AVGWarhawk]

Today I picked up the Acer A200 10.1 16GB tablet. Android 3.2 and can upgrade to Ice cream Sandwich. $350.00. Reading on this tablet is very easy. PDF files are very easily read. Smart phones are a toy for many but in my line of work its invaluable. Multiple email accounts all IMAP. It really is a computer that fits your hand. Tablets are smart phone on steroids. Everything your desktop does the tablet can do. Somethings a desktop does better and somethings the tablet does better.

[magicstix]

Kindle fire is $199, full color, and runs Android. I'm surprised nobody's mentioned it yet. ;>

[Skybird]

Kindle fire is $199, full color, and runs Android. I'm surprised nobody's mentioned it yet. ;>
Warhawk did two or three postings above.

It is unavailable in Europe, and small. Some of the channels for WiFi used in Germany and Europe, are natively locked on the Fire. 7" for the display is small indeed. Since the memory is small and cloud-computing is highly recommended for the Fire, using it in Europe makes little sense, since many of Amazon's services cannot be used with it over here. The display is very glossy and receives some criticism for that.

Told by product review in a German magazine.

[AVGWarhawk]

I played with the Kindle at the store. For what it is advertised as and what it can do leaves no questions for potential buyers. The glossy screen is inheriant to capacitive touch screen. At any rate Skybird, I believe the Kindle and Nook would not suit your needs. A tablet is what you should be investigating. The tablet is not advertised as readers. These are truly hand held computers that you can read a book with and a whole lot more. Also, Android OS has its own program to read every document MS can throw at it. Plus you may download the PDF program that works without issue. If you decide to go with a tablet make sure the Android OS version is 2.3 or better. And, like a desktop computer, the better the hardware the better the tablet will work.

[Skybird]

Well, my needs are Din A4 pdfs, and pretty much exlcusively. And the displays are too small to make these a comfortable read. As I said two days ago, I have said farewell to readers/tablets, for the forseeable time. Will not consider them again before an eye-friendly-quality display in roughly magazine-size is available, and for an affordable price, and an uncompromised ability to handle pdf's. While I like the e-ink displays by display-quality, these device's ability to handle pdf are a foul compromise currently.

And I do not like e-books, not at all, I would not read a novel as an e-book. I prefer a real book, that has a real feel, and a real smell. ;) I also want a hard copy on my shelf, not a cloud-stored somethign that can be deleted by Amazon or anyone by his own will, and beyond my control. I am no fan of this cloud-computing concept. And for companies, I think it simply is insane to expose themselves like that, unneeded.

[AVGWarhawk]

The tablets are getting larger and prices falling. Keep a eye them. The competition is getting stiff.

I too like a book in my hand or on my shelf. :up: