What device to read PDF files for long hours (tablet or e-reader)

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ukknifer

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Jan 30, 2010
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I have no knowledge of this so bare with me.

I have many books in PDF format and I need to study them for long hours. I find the computer screen irritating to my eyes and gives me headache. I need a device than I can take with me to have all these PDFs with me and read on the go.

What are my options?
1- Will e-readers take pdf files? and will they display them like e-books? easy on the eye?
2- Will tablets make pdfs easy on the eye?
What about charge time?
 
There is this thing called paper. A bonus perk is the lack of multitasking. Keeps you focused on your studies. When you are reading hundreds or thousands of pages accept no substitute.

Archiving stuff electronically works. For quickly looking over archived pdf's I like a 24 inch 16:10 monitor with an anti-glare finish. Or a smaller 4:3 monitor again with anti-glare.

For reading pdf's on the go a phablet will work in a pinch. You will suffer because of the small screen size and screen glare (all touch screens have horrible glare). For actually reading pdf's with any kind of success for hours on end on a mobile platform you need a fast tablet that is at least 10 inches large with an aspect ratio that is not 16:9. Look for something in 16:10 (some android tablets) or 4:3 (the new surface pro, or ipad). Glare will still be a problem.

E-readers are useless for pdf. (Edit: e-ink e-readers)

PDF is a horrible format. Use epub instead.
 
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I also have this problem and I have tried several things, including a full size iPad and an iPad mini and a kindle. One of the problems with PDF documents on electronic devices is the lack of text reformatting. On most devices you end up having to squint at tiny text, or zoom in / out of pages to make it readable. Bigger is probably better to help with that, but then the weight of the device increases and it becomes uncomfortable to hold long term, as I found with the full size iPad.

As already pointed out the glare is also a big problem unless you are reading in a fairly dimly lit room.

If you cant print PDF out I have found the best device to read on the go is a laptop with a high quality matt finish anti glare screen. At a desk its a large widescreen monitor with anti glare finish.
 
Thanks you very much for the input guys. What is anti glare finish? is it a setting you choose? a feature that comes with the device? or like the screen protector you put on your phone?
 
ukknifer said:
Thanks you very much for the input guys. What is anti glare finish? is it a setting you choose? a feature that comes with the device? or like the screen protector you put on your phone?
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Antiglare finish can be a film applied to the glass or the finish of the glass itself. As far as recommending one product over another, you need to get yourself to a store that has these items in stock so you can see them in person. What works for one doesn't work for all. The convenience of a tablet is nice, but doesn't compare to actual paper or a regular computer, especially when you are talking "long hours of study". I would not devote long hours of study with an iPad or other tablet if I had the option for paper or a regular computer. Just me though.
 
One thing to look into is yellow tint glasses, like Gunnar computer glasses. That can help a lot with the eye strain. Any kind of backlit screen is going to be bad for long use. Some people tolerate it better than others, but in the end they are going to cause a problem eventually. A tablet won't help, and may be worse, since you will be more likely in glarey conditions. You may just have to get a bunch of it printed so you can go back and forth. Also, get your eyes checked, you may need a prescription change.
The PDF format is just not that compatible with ereaders, since you are looking at a fully formatted page. It wants to be the size it is. if your PDFs are mostly text, you could try OCRing them and then converting to Epub, but I doubt it would work, and you'd end up having to read it for errors first anyway. Kinda defeats the purpose.
 
Paper keeps you fit. :D
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Seriously though... A large computer screen and a reasonably powerful computer is as good as it gets for reading pdf's unless you need to be super mobile.
 
gadgetgeek said:
One thing to look into is yellow tint glasses, like Gunnar computer glasses. That can help a lot with the eye strain.
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I personally have both Yellow and Rose colored glasses and find Rose level 3 works best, especially around fluorescent tube lighting with a laptop. Yellow is best for contrast and driving under overcast skies or at night.
 
Also, as far as your eyes are concerned a tablet = eReader. Basically the same thing, same eye strain, same relative size, same power consumption, etc.
 
sideways said:
Seriously though... A large computer screen and a reasonably powerful computer is as good as it gets for reading pdf's unless you need to be super mobile.
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Be sure you get an IPS monitor. IPS monitors are much better than previous generation technology and the premium price for them has come down as production has increased.
 
e-ink readers have longer battery life than tablets and can be read in bright sunlight with little glare. For your use, I would recommend one of these instead of a tablet.
 
stargawker said:
e-ink readers have longer battery life than tablets and can be read in bright sunlight with little glare. For your use, I would recommend one of these instead of a tablet.
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E-ink readers can't display pdf files so the sunlight visibility is irrelevant. The month long battery life figures shown in sales material for e-ink readers are lies as well based on some "1 hour a day reading" small print.
 
sideways said:
E-ink readers can't display pdf files so the sunlight visibility is irrelevant. The month long battery life figures shown in sales material for e-ink readers are lies as well based on some "1 hour a day reading" small print.
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I've got a KOBO glo e reader and it reads pdf just fine.
 
LX_Emergency said:
I've got a KOBO glo e reader and it reads pdf just fine.
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Interesting. How well does it work? I am doubtful... Take a document formatted for A4/A3 size paper and try to view it on a 6 inch screen. Neither the processor or the e-ink itself reacts very quickly so lots of slow scrolling/e-ink refreshing or painfully small text would be my guess.

Then there are pictures, graphs and equations that no software can shrink or reflow with any accuracy.
 
That 13.3 inch e-ink thing looks interesting. I have not tried that one. You'll want to test it in real life with some of your own files. Not what the store has preloaded on it.

The true test for any reader is to take some old article that was scanned in with a poor quality scanner years ago and see how it handles them. Old academic journal articles are a fine example.

Heh I just saw the price on that 13.3 inch sony. 1100$. Pass.
 
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1100$:foot:
Sidways what do you recommend? and what do you think of the Galaxy note 10.1 or Microsoft surface ?

Thanks Everyone for your input.
 
For long hours of reading

Paper (when you want the best reading experience) > 1920 x1200 matte ips screen (mine is an old hp zr24w, the models that took its place are the zr2440w and z24i. Other manufacturers also make these kind of screens dell ultrasharpe etc) > laptop (when you want good value for money multifunction device) > surface pro 3 > any large retina ipad > laptop (when you want a good reading experience) > paper (when you value portability)

I was not impressed with the 10 inch galaxy notes when I tried them a few generations ago. My info is out of date though so go try it for yourself.
 
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