Looking to buy tablet, Nexus 7?

[musiclover7]

I took a promotion recently at work, and suddenly have a ton of technical documentation to read through. These are a mix of epubs, and pdf's. I am getting sick of sitting in front of my computer screen, and really want to move downstairs onto the couch, where at least I am in proximity of the rest of my family. I also, would prefer a tablet that doubled as a toy, which is why I am not interested in just getting a plain old ereader.

Hence, I want to buy a tablet. I am familiar with Ipads, having had many chances to play some that friends own. I like the book reading app that comes with Ipad, and that it supports both epub and pdf out of the shoot.

That said, I don't like the locked down aspect of Apple products, and I like the open-ness of my wife's Galaxy s3 phone.

So, with all this in mind, I have begun looking at Android tablets, and am pretty much ready to go out this afternoon and purchase the Asus Nexus 7, 32gb, Tegra 3 model. I do have just a couple of questions...

1) Can anyone speak to the reading experience on this tablet, maybe as it compares to the reading experience on the ipad, or recommend some good ereader apps from play store?

2) Custom Roms on Nexus 7? What are your fav's? How tweakable is this thing?

3) If anyone has owned both the N7 and the ipad, how does this compare in your opinion?

That is about it. Any and all answers are appreciated, and thanks will be given!!

 

[Unforgiven]

I can only speak to number one. The N7 is great for reading. The size, shape, and weight are great as it doesn't get uncomfortable to hold after long periods of time. Oh, and the toy part of it is great too.

Congrats on the promotion BTW.

 

[n4zty]

Welcome to our subforum music lover oh by the way i like your name im also passionate about music Anyways concerning your questions i have not owned an ipad before but have used several versions from ipad first gen to 3rd gen with that being said in my opinion they are just an over sized ipod touch which is fine for most casual tablet users. now do you consider yourself an casual tablet user? or do you want to have the maximum tablet experience? if you answered yes to those question then yes im afraid the nexus 7 is for you and your suffering from condition called androiditis which i will add there is no cure for it only a treatment and thats to get yourself an awesome nexus 7 and make it call you master! lol i guess what you are really comparing at the end of the day is performance, functionality ,customization,affordability and games/app availability if we compare the n7 and the ipad to those necessities then the nexus 7 wins hands down. keep in mind the nexus 7 is a quad core tegra 3 beast with a nvidia on board video card. the ipad even the latest dosnt have much to impress under the hood cept for maybe the retina display that some people like others dont. anyways i hope i was sort of helpful in helping you decide whats the best bang for your bucks

 

[musiclover7]

Yes.. Both great replies. I will be buying one today. Thanks!!

 

[jhsrennie]

Yes.. Both great replies. I will be buying one today. Thanks!!

It's a bit late now, but I use my N7 mostly for reading and it is the best reading device I've ever used. The screen is amazingly sharp, and it's big enough to get a decent amount of text on the page but small enough to be light and easy to hold. I use Aldiko for reading epubs and ezPDF for reading pdfs.

The only limitation is when reading A4 pdf documents like magazines or comics. The page at a time view is just too small on the 7" screen, and it's a pain continually scrolling around. This isn't too bad with magazines but it's a problem with comics where the boxes aren't necessarily laid out in an even grid.

 

[musiclover7]

I went ahead and pulled the trigger, brought it home last night, and played with it for a few hours.. Seems like a great device so far..

Now the only question.. To root, or not to root..?

 

[El Presidente]

Now the only question.. To root, or not to root..?

I'd wait a couple of weeks, just to make sure there are no underlying hardware issues, but I'd definitely do it sooner rather than later.

It is ultra, mega, super easy and the toolkit backups apps and data before you start so you don't lose anything with the bootloader unlock.

 

[dan330]

yes.. root it...

then get yourself a OTG cable... $2 on Amazon.

The ROM i like so far... Dirty AOKP