A reader wants advice on the best tablet. “I am an avid reader and am not sure I am getting the best tablet for reading and maybe playing games Any suggestions?”
Truthfully, most tablets will work pretty well for both purposes. The absolute best devices for reading are dedicated eReaders with an eInk display such as a Kindle Paperwhite. These type of tablets are much easier on the eyes and really do make you feel like you’re reading from paper. But you can’t play games or surf the Internet.
If you’re a really dedicated gamer who plays games that need a lot of memory, you’ll probably want to shell out for a tablet with a top-of-the-line processor. But if it’s only casual gaming, most tablets will work for you. If there’s a particular game you want to play, you’ll want to make sure that app is available for your tablet. Android tablets use the Google Play Store, iPads the Apple App Store, Windows Tablets the Windows store, and Amazon Fire Tablets use the Amazon App store.
If most of your books are through Amazon, you might enjoy a Fire tablet, since your books will be front and center without having to bother opening an app to look for them. Fire tablets run on a heavily customized version of Android that limits your purchases to Amazon books.
Nook tablets are similar, but you can download an Amazon app and read your Amazon books plus access apps from the Google Play Store.
Nearly any tablet will allow you to download eReader apps from Amazon, Nook, and more. The best tablet depends on your price range. iPads are great, but expensive. Samsung makes som great Android tablets, but you can also find decent generic tablets for around the $50 mark. And yes, the $300 tablet is going to be nicer than the cheap one. It’s like the difference between a Chevy Spark and a Mercedes. They’ll both get you there, but the more expensive one does it in better style.
~ Cynthia
I have an ancient Kindle eReader (keyboard), and I agree a dedicated reader is easy on the eyes. I also have the cheapest tablet money can buy, a small Fire that was on sale. (I use it only for passing the time while waiting in doctors’ offices, waiting for for car repairs, etc., so it doesn’t have to do much.) I don’t have it to hand right now, but on my model, buried in the unpublicized settings options is a choice to run apps from sources other than Amazon. You don’t have to root it or whatever is the expression for unlocking. If you elect another supplier, you will get many nasty warning boxes when you install the app, but if you’re sure it’s OK, then by all means proceed. Also buried in the settings somewhere is your Android OS number and build, so you can check for system requirements for your proposed app. For instance, I run Firefox on my Fire, which, at least when I got it, was not available from Amazon. If I want to, I can sync my Fire to my laptop and desktop, browser-wise, plus I don’t like the supplied Silk browser. I don’t routinely read on the tablet, but I could, of course. And if I want to, I can sync it to my eReader. Doubtless if you subscribe to a publication that relies heavily on photos, such as Nat Geo or Travel, you would want to read those on a tablet for the color.
Is a dedicated eReader really easier on the eyes than say the Kindle app which uses black on white type on a good quality android tablet?
Having used a Kindle Whitepaper for years, I still insist ‘WiFi and 3G/4G connectivity’ is the most convenient, whatever the cost.