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With the preponderance of electronic book options these days (yes, that includes PDFs!), I'm considering purchasing a tablet for viewing said electronics.

Due to my current ecosystems, I'm only interested in Android tablets (the Surface is too pricey, and Apple's simply not for me). I want something large enough to be easy to read, and have a good battery life.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

I'm currently using a lenovo tab2 - decent features, reads the epub 1-3 that I have as well as assorted pdfs. Picked it up on sale for $149 (AUD). Can probably get something similar cheaper in the US/Ebay. Mine is the no-sim version, but even the proprietary apps that usually regard non-sim units as "jailbroken" run fine on it.
Currently running 6.something (manufacturer update from 5.1 that it came default with).

My windows computer loves it for file transfer (plug and play, drag and drop) and my epub reader on pc (calibre 64bit) auto syncs with it, too.
Battery life in e-reader mode is good - 3-5 days. If I'm using wifi and or watching video, the battery life gets sucked away, but I don't tend to do those when gaming.

I have a samsung Galaxy and really enjoy it. Super light, lighter than HC game book, can do 2-3 days without charging, longer if I put it in airplane mode.

iPad for me. Fuss free viewing, if probably more expensive than the kit needs to be.

I haven't bought one for a while, but the iPad versions of GW publications were way better than the epub version (the epub version sucked and was vastly inferior to just using a book). Is that still the case or have they picked up their game with the epub versions?

I own a Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2 that I use for (among other things) downloading and reading ebook versions of rule books from GW, FOW and other game companies. The screen is big enough to easily read books that retain their print version page lay out, which can be difficult on smaller screens without constant zooming and scrolling.

My tablet is about a year old, so their may be a newer version available by now.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
I haven't bought one for a while, but the iPad versions of GW publications were way better than the epub version (the epub version sucked and was vastly inferior to just using a book). Is that still the case or have they picked up their game with the epub versions?

This is still true from having tried both the newer FW "books" in epub and enhanced edition formats.

*Shuffle* I've been using an Amazon Kindle Fire - because it is inexpensive enough that my wife and I could each get our own, for less than buying a better tablet.

That said... for PDFs, we have both been pretty happy with the Fire, the biggest downside is battery life, but we both keep chargers for use during games.

The Auld Grump - sometimes cheap is good....

I really wish they'd make a larger screen super-charged Kindle. I like the easy to read format, and battery life, but they're not powerful enough to whizz through PDFs or even normal book files, etc. and the screen size is relatively small.

I know Sony and a few other companies make ridiculously high-end readers for architects etc., but I wish there was an option between tablets and ereaders since tablets burn soooo much battery.

iPad all the way. More expensive, but worth it for a better quality, better built product.

Android devices can only use very simple, stripped down versions of the GW Digital products - they're nothing more than a featureless PDF.

The enhanced versions, only available on the iPad have loads more to offer in content, quality and usability.

 oni wrote:
iPad all the way. More expensive, but worth it for a better quality, better built product.

Android devices can only use very simple, stripped down versions of the GW Digital products - they're nothing more than a featureless PDF.

The enhanced versions, only available on the iPad have loads more to offer in content, quality and usability.

PDF loads/runs better on android then the epub3 readers has been my experience.

 oni wrote:
iPad all the way. More expensive, but worth it for a better quality, better built product.

Android devices can only use very simple, stripped down versions of the GW Digital products - they're nothing more than a featureless PDF.

The enhanced versions, only available on the iPad have loads more to offer in content, quality and usability.

Uhm, you did read the first post, didn't you - where he specified Android?

I really hate to tell you this - but the iPad isn't Android compatible....

And, like GW, there are excellent reasons not to want to support Apple.

The Auld Grump

 TheAuldGrump wrote:

 oni wrote:
iPad all the way. More expensive, but worth it for a better quality, better built product.

Android devices can only use very simple, stripped down versions of the GW Digital products - they're nothing more than a featureless PDF.

The enhanced versions, only available on the iPad have loads more to offer in content, quality and usability.

Uhm, you did read the first post, didn't you - where he specified Android?

I really hate to tell you this - but the iPad isn't Android compatible....

And, like GW, there are excellent reasons not to want to support Apple.

The Auld Grump

True,

I am not sure about the better built, better quality claim either, its pretty much subjective as there are plenty of well made, top quality android devices nowadays, and they have better more customisable software.

Plus, a lot of people will not touch apple products at all, and thats the only choice you get with an Ipad.

Hmmm. I'm starting to think I should stick with physical books. That's disappointing, but seems like the best choice for me at this point.

Thanks for the input!

I use the iPad for the enhanced edition with quick rules references and glossary links.

I also like the kindle fire because Amazon keeps giving me wife free books with the lending library and 1 free new release each month and Alexa can be used to turn up or down temp in my house or turn on and off lights from her tablet.

Although Samsung galaxy tablet is pretty good according to my. Brother in law. I know he uses it or his phone to stream movies and then show it on his Samsung tv.

Saying all this I went back to physical books for all the main rulebooks and use an old iPad mini to download the small quick reference books that only contains handful of rules. This is the best of both worlds in my opinion because you don't have to lug around 10 books to play your army list but can get by carry 1-3 books and a bunch of small digital books like "imperial agents" or stronghold assault.

 Lorek wrote:


Due to my current ecosystems, I'm only interested in Android tablets (the Surface is too pricey, and Apple's simply not for me). I want something large enough to be easy to read, and have a good battery life.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Heh!

 Lorek wrote:
Hmmm. I'm starting to think I should stick with physical books. That's disappointing, but seems like the best choice for me at this point.

Thanks for the input!

If we're talking specifically about GW books, I bought the Tyranid codex as an epub and it suuuuuucks. It's laid out the same as the physical book but with no references and no page numbers and it's literally *hundreds* of pages of scrolling to find the rules you need. I ended up exporting it to a Word document using some free program, compleeeetely reformatting it in to something reasonable and then exporting it to a PDF, but some people aren't going to be happy with you using hacked and slashed rules in an actual game and it took me several hours to do which I much rather would have spent painting or just buying the physical copy and playing an actual game.

The cynic in me thinks GW made the epub versions suck so much because they're easy to pirate, but for us suckers who actually coughed up money for it, it's a bit of a kick in the balls.

Definitely do NOT recommend it over a print copy even though the print copy costs more $$$. A scanned copy of the print version in pdf form would be better than the epub version GW sold.

But, that was the Tyranid codex, maybe they've improved since then, which is why my previous post was asking if they've improved

And it's also talking specifically about GW epubs, a lot of other companies make digital versions of books that are probably fine (though honestly I haven't used a lot of them, in general I prefer print anyway, I just thought I'd give the Tyranid codex a go and ended up regretting it).

 TheAuldGrump wrote:
*Shuffle* I've been using an Amazon Kindle Fire - because it is inexpensive enough that my wife and I could each get our own, for less than buying a better tablet.

That said... for PDFs, we have both been pretty happy with the Fire, the biggest downside is battery life, but we both keep chargers for use during games.

The Auld Grump - sometimes cheap is good....

I've thought about trying a cheap Fire, but the only app I've found that can read the new GW books is the Kobo app which (from what I can tell) isn't available for the Fire. What do you use? Do you just stick to PDFs?

I stick with the PDFs, I'm afraid.

On the other hand, I also have BattleScribe on the tablets, so Megan and I can also keep our armies updated on the same tablets we have our books on.

The Auld Grump

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I have a samsung Galaxy and really enjoy it. Super light, lighter than HC game book, can do 2-3 days without charging, longer if I put it in airplane mode.

I've used a galaxy note 10.1 for the past couple of years and I've few complaints. The usual power saving features, fairly fast speed, great screen, sd card slot etc. It's all but replaced desktops and laptops for my everyday use, browsing, reading, editing pics for posting, and so on.
Can't say much of GW's epubs (been a looong time) but pdfs from Wargame Vault and the adobe acrobat app run without a hitch. Other epubs seem to run as well as other doc/book formats. I use the Moon+ Reader app for that.

It looks like it was one of Samsung's first and last note tablets (might be joined by their note phones...) but it was a bit redundant when they decided to stick the s-pen on galaxy tabs.

Another +1 for the Galaxy tab. You can get the A version very cheaply these days, has a stupendous battery life and you're not paying for things that it sounds like you're not going to use.

Very simple, no nonsense, use mine all the time for reading rules and reference for games, gets chucked in a box and never grumbles about it.

 Lorek wrote:
With the preponderance of electronic book options these days (yes, that includes PDFs!), I'm considering purchasing a tablet for viewing said electronics.

Due to my current ecosystems, I'm only interested in Android tablets (the Surface is too pricey, and Apple's simply not for me). I want something large enough to be easy to read, and have a good battery life.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

I have an Amazon Fire 8" that I got 3 years ago as a Christmas present. It's a clunky POS. I don't have the model number off hand. If you just want to read, it's OK. If you want to Dakka Dakka while you take a Dakka, typing on the POS is a pain in the rear. It often misses letter, jumps around and randomly highlights all your gak that you just typed and then deletes it when you didn't notice what it had done.

Frustrating.

Great for listening to pod casts, though. But then, so is my phone or desk top computer.

I bought a model called the Insignia Flex. 10.1" screen, not a lot of memory or anything but it works great for my books and board game apps. Its a cheap chinese brand x tablet but does what I need with a pretty large screen, as much as I would like a 12" one. Runs about $50-$70USD.

After hearing so many people complain about epubs and such I'm glad I just use the enhanced book editions on my iPad Pro. The Pro was fairly costly but the screen is huge (good for my worsening eye sight) and the screen is big enough for it to do their keyboard format as a standard qwerty keyboard.

The enhanced editions codexes for Apple are vastly superior to the regular ones. Being able to look up rules and weapon stats with a highlighted link is sooooo much easier. Also, I do enjoy the 360 degree pictures of minis you can view to get a good look from different angles.

Weren't there a bunch of Samsung Galaxy 7 or some such that kept catching fire? I'm sure you could find one for not too much money...

I believe they were "Galaxy note 7" phones, not tablets.

There haven't been any issues with their tablets that I know of.

 Vermis wrote:
It looks like it was one of Samsung's first and last note tablets (might be joined by their note phones...)

And even then it wouldn't be much good to get a cheap note 7. Most have been remotely deactivated by now.

 bomtek80 wrote:
After hearing so many people complain about epubs and such I'm glad I just use the enhanced book editions on my iPad Pro. The Pro was fairly costly but the screen is huge (good for my worsening eye sight) and the screen is big enough for it to do their keyboard format as a standard qwerty keyboard.

The enhanced editions codexes for Apple are vastly superior to the regular ones. Being able to look up rules and weapon stats with a highlighted link is sooooo much easier. Also, I do enjoy the 360 degree pictures of minis you can view to get a good look from different angles.

Bearing in mind that this is the 'elite' end of the scale.

If you're playing anything other than GW games and don't need the tablet for other things then you could spend the £5-600 you saved on other things!

Recently got a Kindle.
Is it any use for Gws books and codicies?

I havent really set it up / used it.