Time to buy an eReader? Advice please!

[commandersasha]

£50, only 2 years after the last one, when I bought both a big book on release, and then DV for the small one, offends me.

Furthermore, I play non-40K lore proxy armies, so have little interest in fluff, and none in pictures of models by other people.

I just want the rules, so am considering buying an eReader, and getting the digital version. Please can you tell me what my experience will be like, and whether I will be frustrated?!

How easy to read are they? More importantly, how easy to flick back and forth? When you can't remember if the question should be in USRs, the Charging section, the unit type bit or the terrain chapter, are you having to scroll, scroll, scroll...or is it a linked jump?

I don't own a tablet, and don't want to invest over GBP100, so should I look at budget Android tablets, or dedicated eReaders?

I feel my phone would be too small (Sony Experia Z), and my wife's first generation Kindle might be too, would you recommend a big eReader, or a small tablet.

I think Black&White would be fine, but how well do the illuminated text boxes in GW's books come out (or are they just converted to text)?

I put a shareware ePub reader program on my laptop, for pirated codecii; I find it awful, everything has to be done by scrolling.

I would greatly value your opinions and experiences, both good and bad!

Thanks, Sasha

[Davor]

Well from the downloaded versions I saw before I bought the iPad versions, and from what I read from others, they are not that good. The non iPad versions are even worse than PDF versions. Have you saw a PDF version of the new data slates? If so, then you know what you might be dealing with. Lots of back and forth flipping because there is no hyper link (could be wrong, just going from what I am reading on the net) and not explanations if you have say a codex and want to know what the BRB rule is.

If anything, while it's pricey (and GW hobby is pricey) get the cheapest iPad version 2 and up or what ever iPad can read these versions and then get then interactive versions. So much helpful. While a bit pricey, I find it so much worth it.

Then again people are paying $100 for a 40K rule book (or close to it depending on where you live) so a bit more smaller investment just may be worth it for you. Only reason I have an iPad is my wife wanted one. Now at least for 40K wise, it was a great choice because now I can buy the iPad interactive versions which I find so great.

Non iPad verison, sorry can't help you. All I know is you will be unhappy since the editing is not that great, and a lot to desire for.

[Inquisitor Stingray]

Yeah, my experience with GW eBooks have been rather underwhelming as well. I believe the table of contents has one-way hyperlinks, but once you click on them you're in for a lot of scrolling and flipping. Depeneding on the reader you may be able to make some bookmarks and the like which will make the experience much better, but even so it pales in comparison to the iPad (heck, even the regular book) edition imo.

[Xantige]

Of course you'll be frustrated Sash! It's a new 40k rulebook! It'll frustrate everyone no matter the format. There's always going to be something that rubs us the wrong way.

I've only handled the ipad previews. If I gamed a lot, I might buy the edition made for digital (not the PDF, which is just the book pages but digital). When I fiddled with the previews, I found it much easier to find information then a solid book. Often you can just tap a rule on a unit entry and it'll pop up right there.

I don't know how b+w e-readers work, or if you can get the GW stuff on them, but I'd opt for a digital-made version if possible. Otherwise you'll be clicking or swiping for pages and pages, trying to find the index or the section... at least with a book you can grab it and estimate where the rule was, open it there and flip quickly, it's hard to have the same bearings in an ebook.

I don't know how much of a computer person you are, but I might suggest going for an old ipad or ipad mini honestly. Everyone I know who's gotten one and didn't think they'd use it has come to live off them despite having a computer. It can be quite handy to have something you can surf the web on anywhere in the house and put away and clean off quicker and easier than a laptop.

[Davor]

Watch out for older iPads. They may not be compatible for anything newly released.

*edit* Man just checked the prices. $400 with Retina display is the cheapest I could find. Canadian prices for course. Now I remember why I didn't buy one before, they are pricey but then again GW is pricey. Almost seems like GW and Apple go hand in hand eh? Pricey, good quality and keep everything secret. I wonder if this is where GW gets business practice from Apple.

Still OH SO Worth it. It all depends on how much you game, and how much you will be using the iPad. I am finding I am using the iPad more than I though I ever would. Plus I got an app now for the iPad on how to paint my minis. I mean it keeps a track of how to paint a certain mini. Can even take a pic of mini as well. Is it worth $200 more? Yes and No.

Put it this way. For me at least since I am not the smartest person, have a hard time memorizing a lot of stuff, only reason why I will be continuing playing 40K 7th edition now, is because of the interactive version of the iPad now. How much can you put speed of finding something, Using the Tyranid codex and pressing on the weapon and it explains the rule or Universal Special Rule. (Wait to see if GW will update the the edition Tyranid codex to see if it is updated.)

[Overread]

My view:

1) Dedicated e-readers like the Amazon Kindle are aimed at novels. They are utterly fantastic with the e-ink and in letting you read just like on a book, turning page after page. But they are not really any good at ally with reference material. You can't easily nor quickly flip through like a book - yes you can leave notations and bookmarks and such but the interface is just not fast enough nor really designed for this kind of use.

2) A tablet is going to cost you more and you don't get e-ink but you do tend to get more interactive features which makes their use as a reference item more suitable.


I suspect like many things its an element where you've got to think of combined uses so that you can justify a higher unit cost for the higher specifications so that you can get the best out of it. I can't recommend a specific tablet; that said you could probably get yourself a new army and rulebooks in paper (GW has broken the Big rule book into rules and fluff so whilst its one purchase you get several volumes within) for the cost of the tablet.

[Davor]

Just downloaded the 40K demo for iPad. Damn awesome looks like I will get it when I said I wouldn't. Argh shouldn't have downloaded it.

[Davor]

Got to say, I am loving the new edition on iPad. Clicking or touching the hyper links make it so much easier to navigate and learn the new edition. Only complain is the pages are not numbered like the paper versions so when discussing rules on the Net, and trying to give out page numbers, they don't match up.