I'd recommend the Google Nexus 7 as well.

Regarding text size and readability, you can adjust that and it is very readable. I think 7" is much better than 10" (as far as tablets go) is that when reading you want the lightest one possible. You really can't hold a 10" tablet like a book.

The only other factor is whether you like to read outside. In that case I would recommend an e-ink rather than LCD display. Your best option there is the Amazon PaperWhite e-reader. It is the best thing for reading (at least for reading books, rather than web or magazines which have lots of pictures).

transward (imported) wrote: Thu Oct 18, 2012 3:46 am I use the Kindle program constantly, but given the choice I would almost always prefer a real book. The pagination on the Kindle does not match that of the original book, which renders the index almost useless, which can make finding things a chore. The price for bestsellers on the Kindle is exorbitant, but you can get older stuff cheap, and most stuff out of copyright you can find for free either from Amazon or Project Guttenburg.

Transward

I use two tablets, asus eee note (ea800) for reading (and quick note taking). It is not E-ink, but it is a monochrome lcd, without backlight. Screen is a bit dark, but looks good in sunlight. Understands epub and pdf books (first ones better). Good for it's role as a reader, but a bit buggy and slow. The only problem with it, is that I forget to charge it regularly.

The second one I use is HP TouchPad, without cellular modem, with Kindle app. Good for web surfing from bed. But I agree with others - there are not so much apps for it.

I used fbreader app on android (before my phone died ), it is really good with searches in books and integration with dictionary. If book is properly formatted (index with links and so on, it can easily navigate the book).

PS. I can not really recommend anything, cause I am disillusioned enough in android. WebOS is dead currently... And Apple has a really good way of holding its users by the balls so to speak.

WOW, so its down to two, the Nexus 7 and Kindle fire.

I guess my next question is this, can I get or use Amazon prime (a yearly service) on any device or must it be for a Kindle?

The reason I say this is because the secondary device is the unit, its the apps and software and what you want on it that must be first on the list.

You have all been a great help with this for me and I think you all.

River

Riverwind (imported) wrote: Thu Oct 18, 2012 8:43 pm WOW, so its down to two, the Nexus 7 and Kindle fire.

I guess my next question is this, can I get or use Amazon prime (a yearly service) on any device or must it be for a Kindle?

The reason I say this is because the secondary device is the unit, its the apps and software and what you want on it that must be first on the list.

You have all been a great help with this for me and I think you all.

River

You can get access to Amazon Prime videos on the IPad through an app. I suppose there is one for the Nexus and other Android devices, but I haven't checked that out. If you want to "borrow" books using your Amazon Prime account, you need the Kindle Fire. You can only "borrow" books (1 each month) to a Kindle not to a Kindle app on another device.

If you want it primarily for Amazon, I recommend the Kindle Fire, although I'll agree the pure Android device, the Nexus, will give you access to more apps than you can get on the Kindle. If your main concern is access to Amazon and the Amazon Prime account, go with the Kindle Fire.

The Nexus 7 is going to be a lot more flexible with who you get your ebooks from. It will be more like my BlackBerry. Get them from wherever you want, and there will be free apps to let you read them.

Between the two, the Nexus seems the better choice.

A friend of mine has the Kindle, and he has been calling me to convert his ebooks for him, because he can't do it on the Kindle. The Nexus will do what you want it to do.

One note of warning though. The Nexus may have a slightly deeper learning curve than the Kindle. (minimally different but still different.) The Kindle is designed to simply be picked up and used, though it will be more limiting in what you can and cannot do with it. The Nexus 7 will be able to do a lot more, read more books, have more apps, and more freedom, but you will occasionally have to read the instruction manual, or read a website to figure out more complicated things you might want to do with it in the future.

At start-up though, both should be just as easy to use.

In the good news, River, you have time to decide. Personally, I wouldn't buy anything for about a month. The 32GB Nexus 7 has yet to be formally rolled out, and in something like a week, there's a new iPad mini getting launched that should also shake things up a bit. Round about the first week or two of Nov though, that's when we should be seeing how things are going.

As for books, I tend to use a program called Calibre on my PC to manage and organize them, and just manually transfer them over to the tablet as I want to read them. I don't get them all from Amazon though, which makes this a better solution for me.

Not a problem to wait, I wont be getting one until most likely Dec or Jan, I don't make snap decisions when it comes to spending money. I save, I look, I examine, then sleep on it, LOL I am such an old school guy and of course I will pay cash for it.

Again I thank you all, now I need to go to a store and find someone who actually knows what they are talking about and pick one up hold it, look at, it smell it. At least now I know what to ask.

Thanks again all,

River

This isn't a direct answer to the "which tablet" question, but it has some bearing on it.

I hate doing anything on a smart phone such as playing games, using apps, or surfing the web. Other than making calls, the only time I used it was for GPS navigation and for listening to books from Audible.com.

Because I always use one of my tablets for any of the normal smart phone functions when I'm out and about, I have a portable hotspot, which costs me $50/month for 6GB of data, more than I've ever used. I was paying another $80 for a smart phone with a data plan, which I never used.

As of yesterday, I got a $30/month non-smart phone with 200 minutes, more than I ever use. I still have my old smart phone, which I can use for everything except for making or receiving phone calls, connecting to it via WiFi through my portable hotspot. I make phone calls on my $30/month phone. The only real difference is now I pay $80/month for everything instead of $130/month.

I have had one of those $30 phones, were you buy your minutes. I love it, I no longer need to deal with cheating phone companies like AT&T - which is another story but it is so nice to have it. NO Hassle no bills 10cents a minute anywhere.

River

Whereas I do not have a "tablet" device in my collection of obsolete technology (if you can buy it, it is obsolete), I have used so-called smart phone technology and am now using an Android phone that is 4G and runs the Android "Ice Cream Sandwich" operating system. I rejected an iPhone because it was vastly too limited for my use, and I know people who got iPad tablets, only to find that there are things they want to do that are not possible using an iPad and are easy to do on a recent Android tablet.

The one person I do know who uses an Android tablet is a super-techie person who did a careful evaluation of everything on the market not long ago, and found, even with its limits, an Android tablet was the only thing on the market with a large enough user base and available software to do all the things the super-techie deemed likely to be useful.

I do not offer advice, however, were I to have a sufficient use for a tablet, in the present tablet market, I would only get a carefully chosen Android because it would be the system least likely to prevent my doing something useful.