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iPad Is iPad Air valid enough for reading comics without zooming?
- Thread starter Bromio
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I use my iPad 4 to read comics, scanned vintage magazines and catalogs... works perfectly without zooming. The Air should be even better.
For me, definitely yes. Heck, I usually read in 2-page spread landscape on the 9.7" iPads and even then I don't zoom.
The weight.
Isn't the iPad Air screen suppose to be slightly better than the 3 or 4 due to less glass between screen?
Like the iPhone 4S to the iPhone 5.
Definitely. I never need to zoom ever on my air. To be fair, I never needed to zoom on the mini I used to own either, so my eyes are probably different than yours.
I used to read on the mini with no zoom. I have the Air now and I never have an issue. Once in a great while you might have to zoom on a speech bubble that has a lot, but that's about it. The ipad Air is PERFECT for comics.
IPad screen ratio is worse than 16:10 android tabs for comics. Meaning more wasted space and black bars, and smaller images and words.
The ratio used by surface pro 3 is almost identical to that used in comics and the 12" screen makes it a pleasure to read. You'll find the $800 version competitively priced with a 64gb iPad. Meaning you pay more but get more.
Correct depends on the user. I find in a chair I rest tabs on my lap and in bed I lock it in portrait and rest it on the bed and read it laying down sideways. I did that with my iPad too.
For American comics read in portrait, sometimes. Just tried the DC 52 Sampler on the iPad Air and an Asus T100 and while the cover almost filled the entire display on the T100, the actual comic pages were roughly the same size on both - pillarboxed on the iPad, letterboxed on the T100.
Surface Pro 3 is not an option because of its weight and the use I want to give the tablet.
I was conscious of what you say about aspect ratio. However, by the original post I wanted to know if iPad screen is too bad and reading without zooming is impossible (though it would be better an Android 16:10 tablet).
That is highly dependent on what you are reading. I have found the iPad ratio near perfect for reading comics, vintage magazines and catalogs. I've tried 16:10 and it doesn't work well... In portrait mode the next page peeks out on the bottom of the screen (depending on software used), in landscape too much pillarboxing.
There's a ready supply from a variety of vendors these days. For more "mainstream" stuff, there's Comics Plus, iBooks, and ComiXology. For more unusual works, Sequential's got a great selection, especially graphic novels, and then there's Clickwheel for 2000AD, which sells issues in plain CBZ/PDF form, where all the others are locked down. (Though ComiXology did just start offering publishers the option of CBZ/PDF as well. Only a few publishers so far, hopefully to be joined by many more)
And then some artists sell their own compilations, like Chris Baldwin's "Spacetrawler" and Shaenon Garrity & Jeffrey Wells' "Skin Horse", again as plain PDFs, over on Gumroad.
It depends on your eyesight. Mine is so bad that both the 7.9" iPad mini (4.7 x 6.3") and 9.7" iPad Air (5.8 x 7.8") are too small unless I read in landscape, I'm considering a 13.3" Android tablet (7.1 x 11.3") instead.
It has a lower resolution than the iPad (800 x 1280 vs. 1536 x 2048) but seeing as badly as I do, physically larger trumps higher density unfortunately.
Or course a 12.9" iPad Maxi (7.7 x 10.3") with a resolution of 2304 x 3072 would be even better, but I don't think that's coming any time soon.
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Also, for reference, American comic book pages are usually around 6.6 x 10.25". So, in portrait orientation:
- iPad mini - limiting edge is 6.3" height, so page displayed at ~62% original size
- iPad Air - limiting edge is 7.8" height, so page displayed at ~76% original size
- 13.3" Android tablet - limiting edge is 7.1" width, so page displayed at ~106% original size
Manga often have more square aspect ratios, but those percentages give an idea of the difference between devices.
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@ Thread starter: I know enough people who read comics perfectly well without zooming on the Air, provided your eyesight is decent, you should have no problems.
This. I'm having that problem with my retina MBP too. The screen's gorgeous, but I'm finding I have to zoom every single thing into oblivion (I've zoomed on HD screens too, but nothing like this).
I'd also forgotten how hard glossy screens are on my eyes vs. the matte one I've come from.
This. I'm having that problem with my retina MBP too. The screen's gorgeous, but I'm finding I have to zoom every single thing into oblivion (I've zoomed on HD screens too, but nothing like this).
I'd also forgotten how hard glossy screens are on my eyes vs. the matte one I've come from.