Tablet for Reading .pdf and .doc Files

[jprobert1234]

To start, I do not know anything about tablets. I have several hundred pages of notes and various word documents, in addition to a couple hundred .pdf files that I would like to store on a tablet for reading purposes. I will not use the tablet for anything else. Would I be satisfied with purchasing a cheap $50 tablet on amazon, or should I spend more on a higher quality product?

 

[bazz2004]

PDFs are often difficult to read on my ereader. I have an iPad Air 2 and that's good for reading the files. Although the iPad is billed as dead easy to use I certainly didn't find that to be true with respect to transferring stuff across from my PC. If portability doesn't matter there's much to be said for leaving the files on your computer.

 

[DelJo63]

Hmm; My iPad Mini reads PDFs easily. Tablets are interesting in they change the association of the program and its files.
The PC has an association of

• files are opened by programs x,y,z

while tablets use the association of

• programs open files a,b,c

So, go to the Apple Store and download and install iBooks App. (use your iTunes to manage the tablet).
Then every time you load a PDF to the tablet, you'll get a prompt "Open With" and select the iBooks app.
Once you have several PDFs in iBooks, you can create Categories and move them so to make groups you can manage.


For x.DOC files, install Goodreader

For voice recordings, install iTalk

To organize your pictures as you wish, install Photo Manager Pro

 

[bazz2004]

That's a useful explanation of the way Apple and Microsoft work. Certainly a PC with Windows 10 is far more flexible, powerful and I now think easier to use. If you decide to find your own way in handling content on tablets it's far more involved than with a PC. Tablets like the iPad, Amazon Fire (and maybe Google tablets too of which I know nothing) are really a way to get buyers into the virtual stores to buy content. I think that some supermarkets are selling tablets too in an attempt to lock in customers. Foxit is the best app for me on the iPad to handle PDFs.

 

[DelJo63]

Just like a PC & Mac can have multiple file types associated with one application,
the tablet application can have multiple files.

iBooks handles the variations of pdfs: epubs, mobi, rtf, and notetaker.

 

[AnonymousSurfer]

To start, I do not know anything about tablets. I have several hundred pages of notes and various word documents, in addition to a couple hundred .pdf files that I would like to store on a tablet for reading purposes. I will not use the tablet for anything else. Would I be satisfied with purchasing a cheap $50 tablet on amazon, or should I spend more on a higher quality product?

What kind of tablet do you have in mind?

Pretty much any tablet that has an app store can read .pdf files just fine. When it comes down to spending more money, its really only about screen size, battery life, and storage/ram/gpu for other apps. But if all you plan on doing is reading documents with it, most tablets will work perfect.

Link us to a tablet you had in mind.

 

[nismo91]

I was on the same boat about 2 years ago. I decided to get a cheap windows 8.1 at the time, it was almost 10 inches which is good for reading but on the other side a little bit heavier than the more common 8" ones.

until today it runs windows 10 with no problems. I prefer windows because of the flexibility. also should I have chosen an android tab, it would likely be still stuck in say kitkat OS instead of the latest one today.

while specifications should be considered, the most important asset of a reading tablet is the display. my tablet cost almost 200$ in late 2014, it is by no means a superior tablet, but it has a respectable viewing angle from all 4 sides (which is very important for a reading tablet) and a 1366x768 screen resolution. for the same amount of money you will get a better tablet today. but im not sure how good a 50$ tablet would be for reading because the resolution seems to be at only 1024x600.

it's probably best if you could look for the tablets in retail stores instead of webstore, because only then you can judge the display quality of the tablet (resolution, color, viewing angle, etc). the newer ipad would likely be a winner in terms of display but it comes with a heftier pricetag.