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Robster3

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Dec 13, 2012
1,987
0
What is the note 8 like as a e-reader. Looking for something smaller not sure if i want a iPad mini as i have a iPad air and the s-pen looks useful. Now i have a S5 thought it would go together ok? $329 here v $479 mini retina.

Worth it or not?
 

kaielement

macrumors 65816
Dec 16, 2010
1,242
74
No tablet will make a good e-reader imo as the light from the screen will irritate them if you read for more then 20-30 mins a day. But as far as the note tablet goes the s-pen is kind of cool but after that wears off as a gimmick how cool is it really lol. I work for a company that sells tablets and I get a lot of customers that say they never use thee s-pen on there note tablet or note phone which you would think they would lol. I would go play with one in store and see if you like it and the s-pen. I know best buy has many stores with a samsung experience areas and apple areas. And they are staffed by apple and samsung not best buy so you can get the pros and cons of both sides and see what you like. Now that being said if you are just looking for an e-reader the kindle paperwhite is petty awesome and runs really well and emulates a book pretty good, and we won't have the back like issue you get from a tablet. Hope this helps in some way.
 

Robster3

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Dec 13, 2012
1,987
0
No tablet will make a good e-reader imo as the light from the screen will irritate them if you read for more then 20-30 mins a day. But as far as the note tablet goes the s-pen is kind of cool but after that wears off as a gimmick how cool is it really lol. I work for a company that sells tablets and I get a lot of customers that say they never use thee s-pen on there note tablet or note phone which you would think they would lol. I would go play with one in store and see if you like it and the s-pen. I know best buy has many stores with a samsung experience areas and apple areas. And they are staffed by apple and samsung not best buy so you can get the pros and cons of both sides and see what you like. Now that being said if you are just looking for an e-reader the kindle paperwhite is petty awesome and runs really well and emulates a book pretty good, and we won't have the back like issue you get from a tablet. Hope this helps in some way.

Yes but you can only use kindles books, i use some other apps for books too. The s-pen is not really needed have tried it. Is reading mode no good on the note. Isn't the paperwhite buggy turning pages though? I could just use kindle i have 1000's of books on my mac. They are only $159 here.
 

AppleRobert

macrumors 603
Nov 12, 2012
5,726
1,132
What is the note 8 like as a e-reader. Looking for something smaller not sure if i want a iPad mini as i have a iPad air and the s-pen looks useful. Now i have a S5 thought it would go together ok? $329 here v $479 mini retina.

Worth it or not?

You will get a boatload of experiences using a device as an ereader here:

mobileread.com
 

tbayrgs

macrumors 604
Jul 5, 2009
7,346
4,869
Isn't the newer Tab Pro 8.4 about the same price in Australia? Unless you have specific needs for the stylus, the newer model is a much better piece of hardware. I'd personally choose it for the display alone--4X the pixels will yield much sharper text, especially important if your primary planned use is as an e-reader.
 

RickTaylor

macrumors 6502a
Nov 9, 2013
809
324
While I haven't used the note 8, I do use the mini retina extensively as an e-reader, and for me it works great for that purpose. In my opinion, the 4:3 aspect ratio of the mini is better for reading than the 16:10 of the note; although they both have something close to an 8 inch screen, the mini screen is nearly half an inch wider. Of course the retina mini has a higher resolution as well. The s-pen looks nice if you want a device for drawing or that will do hand writing recognition or store hand written notes. If all you want is a pointer to highlight text, you can get a pen for any touch device.
 

The Game 161

macrumors Nehalem
Dec 15, 2010
30,400
19,630
UK
I still use mine alot and I have a note 12.2 too yeah screen on it doesn't compare to what's out now but still has good features. S pen still very useful of course
 

rhinosrcool

macrumors 68000
Sep 5, 2009
1,752
688
MN
Isn't the newer Tab Pro 8.4 about the same price in Australia? Unless you have specific needs for the stylus, the newer model is a much better piece of hardware. I'd personally choose it for the display alone--4X the pixels will yield much sharper text, especially important if your primary planned use is as an e-reader.

Even though I have the Note 8 and use the s pen constantly, I agree that the Tab Pro 8.4 is a better ereader option. The 8.4 has a much clearer screen than the note and the sharper text is much nicer to read.

Also to consider, as of now, the Note 8 is easily had for less that $200 US. The Tab Pro can be had for @ $300 US.

If you really only want an ereader and read outside, the Kindle Paperwhite 2 is the best choice. For outside reading, e-ink is the best. What's great about the Paperwhite is that you can read on it under any lighting conditions. Both the note 8 and tab pro are less than ideal for reading outside.
 

ucfgrad93

macrumors Core
Aug 17, 2007
19,554
10,843
Colorado
The Note 8 and the Tab Pro 8.4 would be good ereaders. The main drawback of them is the battery life and weight as compared to an e-ink reader like the Paperwhite 2. Also, if you are reading PDFs then a tablet would be the better choice.

I also second what AppleRobert said, http://www.mobileread.com is an excellent resource.
 

kaielement

macrumors 65816
Dec 16, 2010
1,242
74
Yes but you can only use kindles books, i use some other apps for books too. The s-pen is not really needed have tried it. Is reading mode no good on the note. Isn't the paperwhite buggy turning pages though? I could just use kindle i have 1000's of books on my mac. They are only $159 here.

I still stand by my thought that no tablet would make a good e-reader no matter what any one says. From my experience the paperwhite is not buggy but I have heard a few have had that issue. But not wide spread. I do believe the kindle can do PDFs so you could just load it up with PDFs. Any way just my opinion. You take it how ever you want.
 

Robster3

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Dec 13, 2012
1,987
0
Isn't the newer Tab Pro 8.4 about the same price in Australia? Unless you have specific needs for the stylus, the newer model is a much better piece of hardware. I'd personally choose it for the display alone--4X the pixels will yield much sharper text, especially important if your primary planned use is as an e-reader.

You can't buy the Tab Pro 8.4 in Australia (thanks Samsung), everyone is getting them out go Hong Kong for around the $350 plus. The reviews are good apparently the LTE model can be used as a phone not sure how that works?
 
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