Which is the best tablet for reading?

Nomad doesn't want an e-reader but he would like to buy a tablet for long hours of reading, particularly PDF files. Which one would be best?
Google Nexus 10 tablet
Google's Nexus 10 tablet, made by Samsung. Photograph: PR

Tablets are becoming popular as e-readers, for books, documents, PDFs etc. I'm wondering if there is an ideal screen resolution for long hours of reading text. Will the difference in ppi of the Google Nexus 10 and Apple iPad 4 produce a different reading experience? In particular, can the lower resolution Atom-based tablets with detachable keyboards such as the Lenovo ThinkPad 2 (with stylus!) compete with them for reading PDFs?
I'd like to reproduce a paper-based reading experience, though I don't want an e-reader. I'm not an Apple fan, but I'm willing to buy an iPad if it offers the best reading experience.


There is no "best" tablet for all kinds of reading in all kinds of situations, which can range from sitting out in the midday sun to reading in bed. Also, people have different responses to different types and sizes of screen, especially when reading for long periods. For example, I find very bright screens look really impressive for the first 10 or 15 minutes, but they soon become tiring, whereas I can comfortably read a dimmer, less-contrasty screen for longer. Others may find the opposite applies.

In general, I think that e-readers provide the most book-like experience when reading for longer periods, and the front-lit Amazon Paperwhite Kindle (which I reviewed in Technophile) is by some distance the best of the bunch. However, I didn't find it that much better than my Google Nexus 7 for casual reading. Also, its small monochrome screen is not the best for every type of material. For example, if I wanted to read an illustrated magazine or a travel book then I'd prefer a bigger colour screen, like the one on the Apple iPad 4.

When it comes to PDF files, it depends on the content. You can read PDF's that are mostly text on a Kindle, but PDFs that contain a lot of diagrams or colour illustrations will look better on a large, colour screen, especially if you need to jump backwards and forwards. The Kindle is designed for page-by-page reading.

The Kindle Paperwhite e-reader is better than tablets at handling a wide range of lighting situations. Tablets are hard or sometimes impossible to read in bright sunlight, and their glossy screens can pick up annoying reflections. The Paperwhite also wins for being as small and light as a book. Larger tablets are much more fatiguing to hold for long periods.

Tablet choices

If you'd still prefer a tablet, the Google Nexus 10 (made by Samsung) wins on its very high resolution display: 2560 x 1600 pixels, or 299 pixels per inch (ppi). Considered in isolation, this should give the best results when reading PDF files. Unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily mean you will find the difference significant at normal viewing distances, as opposed to peering at the screen from close range. The only way to find out is to try one.

The iPad 4 has a similar resolution – 2048 x 1536 pixels or 264ppi – and comes at a slightly higher price, but I can't see that it has any advantage over the Nexus 10 for reading PDF files. It does, of course, have a massively better supply of tablet apps, if you are happy to buy into the Apple ecosystem. Not many Android apps do a good job of exploiting 10in screens.

Otherwise, in terms of size, resolution and price, your best choice might be the Kindle Fire HD. Its 8.9in screen is not that much smaller than an iPad (9.7in), and it has a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels or 254ppi. You lose access to the Android marketplace, now called Google Play, and the user interface is somewhat dumbed down, but it's good value for £225.

By all means have a look at a Nexus 10: you may well find you love it. It was Kate Bevan's choice in her recent Technophile tablet comparison review, which includes a handy table of tablet specs. If not, you can get both a Kindle Paperwhite (£109) and an 8.9in Kindle Fire HD for about the same price as a Nexus 10.

Windows tablets

The main argument for buying a tablet such as the Atom-based Lenovo ThinkPad 2 is that it does double duty as both a touch-screen tablet and a Windows 8 laptop (or triple duty if you use the active digitising pen). I've not actually seen the ThinkPad 2, but I have had my hands on similar machines from Acer, Asus, Dell and Microsoft, and I've also tried other ThinkPads such as the Carbon X1, so I'm confident it will do the job. Although the resolution is limited to 1366 x 768 pixels (155ppi), this becomes a "retina screen" (you can't see individual pixels) at a viewing distance of 22in/56cm (see isthisretina.com). Text is very readable, thanks to Microsoft's ClearType, and you also get access to Windows' vast collection of good free software.

However, Windows PC screens vary a lot, so it would also be a good idea to try the ThinkPad 2 if you can. From the Windows8 tablets I've tried, the screen on the Microsoft Surface RT was exceptionally good for reading, while the screens on the others were average. If you wouldn't be happy reading PDFs on an ordinary £350-ish Windows 7 laptop, you won't be happy reading PDFs on one of these.

The drawback with most Windows 8 tablets is the Atom processor: usually the 1.8GHz dual-core Atom Z2670, code-named Cedar Trail. My first thought was that it's surprisingly nippy for an Atom, compared with the older versions found in most netbooks. My second thought was that it's still slower than I'd like for running real Windows programs. This is a somewhat unfair comparison, because you can't see how badly they'd run on Apple and Android tablets. Still, most people buying Windows 8 tablets expect them to run full Windows applications, not just "modern" (Metro-style) apps.

The Atom's advantages are that it's cheap and it provides long battery life. This makes it competitive with the ARM-based chips used in Android tablets. But if you don't need something now, it might be worth waiting for the next version, code-named Bay Trail. This should appear in time for Christmas.

Windows 8 works really well on touch-screen tablets, once you get the hang of the odd half-dozen swipes. They're obviously not as small as 7in tablets or 6in e-readers, but they're competitive with larger tablets: the ThinkPad 2, for example, weighs 585g (1.29lbs), which is less than a Nexus 10 (603g) or iPad 4 (652g). There's still a shortage of good touch-tablet apps in the Windows Store, but full-strength web access plus the wealth of old Windows software and peripherals make up for that. In sum, they're pretty good value if you don't need an iPad. However, if you don't really need a new laptop, the Nexus 10 and Kindle Fire HD are much cheaper options.