"Wargaming, tablets and PDF rules ?" Topic

What tablet do you use [or plan to use] to store and read your huge collection of PDF rules ?
Any specific issues with reading large multi-page 200+ [300+ ?] publications on specific applications ?
Do the publishers have any preferences on platforms ?

Personally, I am very inclined to purchase a RIM BlackBerry Playbook. Its currently very cheap and has a huge 64 GB disk.

Your opinions and views will be greatly appreciated. Thanks !

I use an iPad it works well with PDF rules.

I use an iPad as well. It's good as long as the rules are well organised, otherwise having to flick between two pages half a book apart is a real pain.

You can tap on the "filmstrip" at the bottom of the screen to jump to roughly the right place if you need to go from the front to the back and vice versa.

Badly-optimised PDFs are annoying; for example, the Infinity Human Sphere PDF is a needlessly massive file, and it takes ages to render the page images when you move from one page to the next.

I use a Kindle Fire. It works well with TFL rules. The smaller size of the Kindle is not an issue

I use a 10.1 Android tablet which is a nice size to view this sort of PDF without having to pan around the page.

EBookDroid is my reader of choice as it has managed to render every PDF I've thrown at it. The software also lets you build your own bookmarks which is useful if the publisher hasn't added any or if you have your own particular pages of interest.

I use my Ipad instead of the books, but a printed QRS is always more helpfull than a digital one.

None. My collection is far too massive for a tablet and during the game I want paper. I have a dedicated old laptop with cloud backup.

I have a Le-Pan TC-970. It is a android 2.3 tablet which can be found for roughly $100 USD used on ebay.

10.1 inch screen, reasonably fast, full app store access.

I use it for reading TFL and FFoT rules sets along with my Kindle and Nook books. It also handles Angry Birds quite well. The GPS app (Navfree) works reasonably well too.

Hi,
I use an Asus EE Pad Transformer. It's a very good Android tablet and takes micro SD cards, which means (if you have more than one card) you can store and access huge amounts of data without worrying about filling up the internal memory of the tablet.
All the best,
George.

10" Android

I only have the Dux Bellorum rules on it and frankly I wish I had bought the hard copy.

I have the Kindle version, so I can only read – not print out army lists or quick reference sheets etc. The PDF version would have been better in that regard.

I find the rules on the tablet good for browsing through for leisure and the graphics etc look great and the artwork can be enlarged on the screen. The word search function is very good.

However for the first few games of play, it does not compare that well against having a small paper book that you can flip through for fast access to various rule areas.

It is however going to be useful in my efforts to reduce shelf space from the physical aspect of books of all types.

iPad with a 1Tb Time Capsule to wirelessly access.

Second everyone's comments about badly organized PDFs. Among the traps:

Too much text to be read without zooming.
Related information spread across too many pages.
No internal hyperlinks — either between that related information, or the index, or the table of contents.
Not taking advantage of the format's bookmarks.
Way too many images, which bulk up your PDF.
And last, but not least: not checking how you file actually renders on the most popular devices.

I use an iPad, but as commented earlier, I find a printed QRS better than referring to it on the iPad. The search function is what makes going digital so useful.

Ipad, I look forward when I will be able to use it more. Hopefully rules publishers will make them more avaliable and better suited for users (easy navagation would help).

iPad, but I print the QRS like the others wrote above. And I prefer PDF that only uses images when necessary. I hate PDFs that uses an image as page background texture – it slows down the rendering time.

A good example of a good PDF version of a printed rules is the recent PDF release of Operation Squad. It includes both the full graphics version, and a reduced filesize version which has no background images for quicker loading time.

I use an iPad not only for the rules, but I have found that the camera takes good photos of the game in progress.

I have an just upgraded from a 7" android tablet to an 8" one, pauses for size does matter jokes, not because I felt a desperate need but because the upgrade was a free customer service gesture. I have been using mid price, £75.00 GBP+, tablets for nearly two years now. Any tablet with a decent system, ice cream sandwich or jellybean, can easily handle quite large files in PDF format. As Bong67 says Micro SD cards are your friend. My A1CS Fusion takes them up to 32GB and a couple of those holds all I will ever need, wargames, history and fiction books, music and videos and enough photos of my baby granddaughter to bore the backside of half the country. ;-p

Fatman

I have a nook color. I only keep a handful of rulebooks on it at a time. Even though I could fill 32gb, I don't want to take the time to organize or have to flip through that many files.

The nook has trouble with some files. Some particularly big or graphics intensive files do not load, but other files of those types do load. So, I have not figured out a way to predict what will or will not load. I have also run into a few files where the text does not display. I wonder if this has to do with the font used, but I don't know.

I use a Kindle Fire first generation. It works fine. Not much in space but I have not filled even half the 5GB of disk space yet.

I pretty much only load up those PDFs that I think I might want to play. Also load e-books (Amazon format) when i can.

An iPad 64GB and iBooks (standard, free). iBooks remembers and opens to the same page you last read. Bookmarks also help reduce "page flipping" in one book. With a few swipes it's easy to open another doc and flip between docs.

If the doc has a hyperlinked table of contents, then it's easier to jump in the doc. Otherwise, you are only left with the page scrubbing at the bottom of the app.

I use my iPad for RPGs, wargames, miniature games and boardgames. For RPGs, I would also recommend a few extra organizing tools if you are a GM that has to juggle rules, maps, character generation, combat tracking, etc.

Like someone mentioned, I also use the built-in camera to take pictures during the game. One caveat about iPad pictures: make sure the lighting is sufficiently bright and filled in (few shadows), because I noticed that the camera does not do well with low and medium light conditions. I think it was optimized for outside or very bright interior photos. If the light is not bright enough, pictures tend to be lack crispness to even grainy.

TeknoMerk

"For RPGs, I would also recommend a few extra organizing tools if you are a GM that has to juggle rules, maps, character generation, combat tracking, etc."

Could you share those recomemndations, perhaps vis PM?

I constantly use my iPad for RPGs. Bookmarking significant rules is the biggest plus to me from a tablet..

Thanks
Mike

An iPad 64GB and iBooks (standard, free). iBooks remembers and opens to the same page you last read.

GoodReader is my PDF tool of choice on the iPad. Does the usual stuff -- saves your place, adds your own bookmarks -- but also allows a great deal of note-taking in a layer on top of the PDF.

It also has a better built-in file manager, and better designed access to off-tablet disks.

I was looking at the iPad but how easy is it to transfer your pdfs to the reader and images as it would be handy to have when going to a friends to game or make scenery.

I was looking at the iPad but how easy is it to transfer your pdfs to the reader and images as it would be handy to have when going to a friends to game or make scenery.

Transfer your PDFs from where to where?

If you're talking about your computer, it depends a little bit on the app you're using. iTunes has a section where you can drop documents, so that the PDFs will transfer to the iPad when you sync it. It's the interface to bring them back to your computer, as well -- especially since you'll probably download to the iPad directly from the web.

It's part of the reason why I mentioned the Time Capsule -- if you're in a mostly-Apple family the way I am, the TC is your wireless network storage/backup/hub for every computer. If you drop your PDFs there, they're accessible by all your Macs, plus the iPads can download (and upload) to the drive.

Kind of pricey, but given what it does, I think it's well worth it.

iPad + Goodreader (for PDFs)

I was a sceptic until I was given an iPad. Laptops, etc, just aren't the same. Form factor makes a huge difference, and it keeps me "in the game" instead of buried in my laptop.

I use it for all tabletop games and RPGs now, something I wouldn't have thought just a few years ago.

I have a 10.1" Android tablet and it is fantastic for reading PDF rules.

I thought it would suck, but found it very easy to use.

I did try my kindle wifi for the same, but the text was too small and navigating wasn't as easy as my tablet.

I use my iPad and Goodreader for PDFs. One thing I have found is that my eyes don't get as tired with the iPad screen while reading text like they do with a PC or Macbook.

Mostly read on this cheap 7" Android tablet in ezPDFReader (or Fbreader when lucky enough to have a book in epub format). Have a similar 10" tablet and an iPad4 but find them much too big and heavy for comfortable reading.

The Nexus 7 looks like very good value (or Nexus 10 for someone insisting on a bigger screen).

Any more suggestions for specific brands/models, and where they're available in the UK? I've been looking through ebay for about three days now but it's very difficult for me to sort the wheat from the chaff. Basically I'm looking for one to carry rules about, and occasionally read a comic book, get on skype, check email etc. Ideally it'd be connectable to a bluetooth keyboard in case I need to take notes on something, but I'm sure that's a hurdle that's not too difficult to overcome?

Offhand I've been eyeballing the Transformer and Iconia – something in that 150-250 pound price range would be nice (though I'm perfectly happy going cheaper, of course, if it can still do the tasks I want it to do).

How about a brand new BLACKBERRY PlayBook 7" Tablet – 64 GB ?
Costs around 130 GBP or less on Ebay and the 64GB seems perfect for storing PDFs and Epubs I believe.

Look at the Toshiba AT300. The price has substantially reduced from the original £330.00 GBP It is a 10.1" and can take an SD card.

It is 16GB, the system uses 4GB so leavesyou with 12GB plus whatever you have on theSD card, which also makes file swapping and back up storage simple.

I've been using the PIPO M1 MAX ( link ) and I've been really, really happy with it.

Another one here for an iPad + GoodReader for PDFs. iBooks had issues with large and complex PDFs, but that was years ago and haven't tried it since. Don't have any issues with page rendering speed unless I try flipping through it at speed like a paper book I don't have any issues with images as background, I do have issues with PDFs that use a LOT of vector graphics in each page, that absolutely kills the render speed. The Heavy Gear Arena color book has this issue.