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Need buying advice on a new Android device

Hello everyone.
Just skimmed through separate forums for Asus Nexus 7 2013 and LG Optimus G Pro on XDA. I had my eyes set on the Nexus 7 2 tablet considering its big, full HD display, awesome gaming performance and high end battery. However, upon reading about a number of software issues that new Google updates have incurred AND some talk about defective units here on XDA forums (apparently, many have been having serious hardware issues out of the box) I have been made to think twice about purchasing this. I also began thinking that messaging (only using thumb like on a smartphone) in landscape would be a bit of a hassle for such a big screen and the portability might well be an issue.
LG Optimus G Pro, on the other hand, seems to sport the exact same screen quality but a smaller size instead. Do you believe this phone is an excellent alternate to the tablet and that the 5.5 inch screen isn't a BIG difference compared to new Nexus 7's display (considering the screen estate isn't exactly 7 inch with that really thick bezel)? Is the battery better and is the gaming performance and other performance related areas equally excellent in your honest opinion? Finally, do you feel that the build quality is such that makes the phone slip in the hand and that home button feels cheap (as some reviewers say so)? If there are any known issues that I should be aware of, kindly do let me know.
Just so that it's out there, I am looking for a device that is anywhere between 5 and 7 inches, has a FullHD display, excellent, lag-free performance, 2GB RAM and really long lasting battery. My primary use with the phone would be to check email, FB, Twitter, read e-books and occasional gaming. I did consider SONY Xperia Z but it seems to have washed out colours and the screen and battery timing is easily trumped by that of LG Optimus G Pro.
So then, enlighten me folks.

I got an amazing deal for my optimus g pro. Almost in new condition, got it for $300. N boy m loving it. Moved on from my galaxy nexus whose battery sucked. Really wanted a phone with a larger screen and a powerful battery. Best deal n the best phone I've owned.
Stock rom ain't bad, rooted n all the stuff i need just works.
2GB ram n the Snapdragon 600 makes multi tasking a breeze. Home button is fine and yea i don't think ill be using my nexus 7 as often as i used to. Go for it :thumbup:
Sent from my LG-E988 using xda app-developers app

[Q] Lg g pad 8.3 or google nexus 7 2013

I m looking to buy a tablet, but torn between the two. I play with both device in Best Buy, they both look awesome. I do like the LG for the bigger screen, thin design, look good, and sd card, read about it people stating battery is not very good about 6-7 hours, and dpi is only 273. I like Nexus cuz it come with google pure 4.3 and 4.4 is coming, no bloat ware, the screen is nicer brighter, 323dpi, but smaller screen, one thing I don't like cuz it doesn't have sd card expansion, and heard GPS is a problem. LG 16gb/w microsd slot for $349. And Nexus 32Gb/no slot for $269. Which one is the right one to buy here......Or Nexus 8 rumor coming....

I had the nexus 7, but v will never go back, after playing with the G PAD. IT,s so great on many things. Clever progs, great screen and a little bigger screen. And it,s Damn fast too ?
Sent from my LG-V500 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Drakh1 said:
I had the nexus 7, but v will never go back, after playing with the G PAD. IT,s so great on many things. Clever progs, great screen and a little bigger screen. And it,s Damn fast too ?
Sent from my LG-V500 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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Agreed. I love mine. It's rooted, sat at 100% since this afternoon 12, and it's 12:45 am right now, and still sitting at 100%. So, the idle battery doesn't even die much unless you're letting useless programs run. I use Advanced Task Killer. Have always used it for my Note 1, Note 2, Note 3, and now my LG G Pad. Works wonders and keeps battery levels great. Just make sure you don't kill any random apps that keep opening up. Also, it's good to freeze useless apps with Titanium if you're rooted. It's super smooth. I've had zero issues with it.

I had the '13 Nexus 7, and while it's a great device (love wireless charging) I found the screen size too small.
I absolutely love the G Pad. I think the 8.3 screen is just about perfect, and the the LG stock rom is very good.
Unlike some people, the battery life has been exceptional for me, and the brightness doesn't bother me much since I usually use the device in bed to read.

I was set on getting the 32gb nexus 7 but then the best buy pre-order popped up for the G Pad. The added screen size, overall design/ build and expand doable memory moved me this way. Loving this thing.

I went through 3 32gb 2013 Nexus 7s. They each had the multi-touch bug, even after the last 4.3 update (JSS15Q?). They were beyond unusable. Couldn't play games, couldn't use Google Maps, could barely use Chrome. I won't be trying any other Asus made Nexus devices for a while, it's clear they cut too many corners trying to keep costs down. I'm probably going to get a G Pad 8.3 but I'm waiting to see if any development is going to come to it. Been a bit slow so far.

I have a nexus flo and a g2...love my g2 ...nexus is plain and dull..screen is great but the stock os takes zero advantage of it, and some apps look worse then they do on my g2... I don't get people's fascination with stock android. I'm guessing the g pad would be close ui wise to the phone, and, had it been out before I bought my nexus it'd be g pad hands down.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Have them Both
My Nexus 7 (2013) has hardware issues.
I've had the G Pad 8.3 for 2 weeks now. My Nexus 7 has been to the repair center and soon I'll be sending it to a landfill and not looking back.
The G Pad rocks.

I think that the only advantages of the nexus are that it's smoother, lighter and the screen is brighter. Only had the gpad two days so I guess I still have to really make my mind about it.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

i'll probably buy one, but waiting to see if anyone starts working on some custom roms for it first

Hard to compare with the size difference... I find the 7 to be too small and have crazy large bezels. I am very happy to be getting the G Pad with the 8.3. With newegg's price they are almost the same (I got mine for 260... only a 30 dollar difference)
The nexus will get more updates but I find stripped android to be boring unless you have custom roms with Mods. The G Pad will have little to no updates so you get what you get. Still excited!

well good news, looks like we'll see something eventually. dalingrin just bought one http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=47958836&postcount=26
i have a lot to thank him for, especially since he did work on the hp touchpad

For me, GPad has better aspect ratio then N7 - it's better for daily use

I have both on the way right now and will only keep one... I will post impressions here if you think it would help
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

I know this isn't what some will want to hear since this is the G Pad forum after all, but I had the G Pad for about a week. It wasn't a bad tablet, but I returned it to Best Buy and decided to wait for either hard evidence of a Nexus 8 or a good deal on a Nexus 7. I got the N7 32gb last week for $229 and haven't looked back. Even if an N8 was announced today I'd think long and hard about keeping the N7 assuming there'd be a significant price difference.
The N7 is as fast as I could want it to be. I wouldn't say it's noticeably slower than my Nexus 5. Where the N5 has pretty much zero lag, the N7 will lag occasionally, but that's the only difference. Otherwise it is buttery smooth. I was skeptical about whether or not the N7 would work for me b/c I thought the 7 inch screen would be too small, but after having it for a week, I'm totally satisfied with it. It's great for reading and browsing and even works well for comics. As for the bezels...I see people use this as a knock on the N7 and I used to think the same way, but after having the G Pad for a week I realized that you need to have some bezel if you want to be able to hold the thing comfortably. With the G Pad I kept accidentally touching the edge of the screen while trying to hold it and it was really irritating.
One of my biggest complaints about the G Pad was the dim screen -- seriously, it's ridiculously dim...by comparison I was able to read a book on the N7 at under 50% brightness with the sun coming in through a window behind me, whereas the G Pad was almost unusable in any conditions under 50% brightness. I also had the blue line which it seems to me every G Pad has. I know it's hard to notice, but I don't like that it appears when the thing heats up...speaks to possible greater quality control/reliability issues.
Anyway a summary of why I prefer the N7:
Better battery life observed (I get closer to 7 or 8 hours of screen time on the N7 where I got around 5-6 on the G Pad)
Brighter screen on the N7...like Waaaay brighter
More comfortable to hold, both b/c of the bezels and because of the grippy back -- found the G Pad to be too slippery
Stock android (got Kit Kat already)
I have had no issues at all with the N7...I know some have touchscreen issues but mine has worked flawlessly.
B/c I have an N4 and N5 in the household I am getting wireless chargers for all 3 devices.
The G Pad is not bad and I would probably say if you absolutely positively must have 8+ inches then you should get it if you can find a deal, but if I was holding out for that particular size still I would wait to see exactly what the LG V510 is first (i believe it is a Nexus 8, but don't think it is necessarily imminent). For me, the 7 inch screen is working out just fine, so if you think you'd be satisfied with that size then I would say get a Nexus 7.

i've been spoiled on 10 inch tablets and its hard to 'upgrade' to a new 7 inch one. 8.3 seems like a compromise, still small but not too small as a 7. hopefully that rumor would be true. it looks like the specs are near identical to the gpad though, maybe google will just rebrand the gpad as a nexus?

x000x said:
i've been spoiled on 10 inch tablets and its hard to 'upgrade' to a new 7 inch one. 8.3 seems like a compromise, still small but not too small as a 7. hopefully that rumor would be true. it looks like the specs are near identical to the gpad though, maybe google will just rebrand the gpad as a nexus?
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The V510 could be a Nexus 8 or it could be a G Pad LTE. Either is possible.

yeah, i'm hoping for a nexus version b/c i do like nexus devices, but who knows at this point. i read up on the leaked manual today. not much more info to be gleaned from it however =/
the gpad is on sale for $249 at newegg today with promo code CYBERMND16. thursday there was a flash sale for $179, which i sadly missed. tempting prices.

x000x said:
i've been spoiled on 10 inch tablets and its hard to 'upgrade' to a new 7 inch one. 8.3 seems like a compromise, still small but not too small as a 7. hopefully that rumor would be true. it looks like the specs are near identical to the gpad though, maybe google will just rebrand the gpad as a nexus?
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for me, 7 and 10 inches are almost not even comparable. I have a 10 inch tablet, and specifically wanted something smaller so it was easier to hold while reading and such. The 7 is filling that niche nicely for me.

G pad has been in the drawer for a while now. Nexus 7 is just so much better to use for me. G pad screen is too dark, sound is crap and it feels like it weighs twice as much as the Nexus. Yes for some things it might be better than the Nexus, but the Nexus is so nice to use overall.
Probably sell it or give it to my mom next time I visit her.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Q] Screen Brightness

I have a nexus 7 2013 and I'm thinking of selling it because the screen is too small for me. I'm looking at buying a gpad but there are two things holding me back:
The battery life - I regularly get 10+ hours of screen time with 2 days total usage on my nexus 7, does the gpad have a similar battery life?
The screen brightness - I keep hearing that the screen brightness on this tablet is pretty low, what do you guys think?
Thanks for your help.

JJbdoggg said:
I have a nexus 7 2013 and I'm thinking of selling it because the screen is too small for me. I'm looking at buying a gpad but there are two things holding me back:
The battery life - I regularly get 10+ hours of screen time with 2 days total usage on my nexus 7, does the gpad have a similar battery life?
The screen brightness - I keep hearing that the screen brightness on this tablet is pretty low, what do you guys think?
Thanks for your help.
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I also have a Nexus 7 2013 and just purchased the G Pad. To be fair the G Pad is a very good device but so far the Nexus 7 is by far the better device. Screen is much better on Nexus. Its more of an auto brightness problem on the G Pad, if you manually turn it up its bright, but the auto function does not keep it bright enough. I have a yellow area at the top of the G Pad and Its making me contimplate exchanging it, or returning it altogether, because of the many stories of faulty screens with this thing. If you search further into the Ipad Air forums you will see that they have terrible yellowing issues with there screens and guess who makes those screens for Apple. Some Ipads have an entire side that is yellow.
I have only charged mine twice, but for me the Nexus 7 wins hands down for battery. I have both devices set up exactly the same, except I share the 7 with the wife who has an account on it. I get an easy 6 hours screen time over several days and still have 20% remaining. The G pad I have gotten 5 hours out of it and its been below 10%.
Hope this helps.

If you need the screen size, get the gpad. The fact the bezel is small, fools most people into thinking they are the same size.
To your questions:
Screen is bright enough, auto brightness lacks, but since you are in xda you can find a rom that allows you to correct it.
As for the battery, they have similar mahs, so any difference comes down to screen size/brightness and android version. Maybe the Google edition is closer to your needs?
Not exactly relevant,but have a look at this review: it might address your concerns about the screen
http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/LG-G-Pad-8.3-vs-Apple-iPad-mini-2-with-Retina-Display_id3527
Ps:I had the old nexus 7, I have spent some time with the new one, and I own the lg gpad. Gpad is in a different category.
Sent from my LG-D802 using Tapatalk

G Pad 8.3 looks like its display brightness is turned down all the way.

I have the G Pad, and trust me when I say this, it is bright enough. Outdoor use & direct sunlight will be a problem, but indoors - Max brightness is almost always too much

EdenGottlieb said:
I have the G Pad, and trust me when I say this, it is bright enough. Outdoor use & direct sunlight will be a problem, but indoors - Max brightness is almost always too much
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I completely agree. On my Nexus 4 the brightness is never more than 60% for me. The same for my Note 10.1. At night, in bed I often put the brightness to minimum, and it still feels to much. With the G Pad... Wow, I love the minimum. On sunny days, i do max out the brightness, but I find it perfectly good enough.
I have to say, i absolutely love the auto brightness on the G Pad. You can configure the auto brightness.... Fantastic.

Indoors I run mine at 30% brightness in daylight and 20% with room lights after dark. I have tested outdoors, but never actually used it seriously outdoors, but it seems to cope. I accept that it could be brighter, but it is OK.

tdodd said:
Indoors I run mine at 30% brightness in daylight and 20% with room lights after dark. I have tested outdoors, but never actually used it seriously outdoors, but it seems to cope. I accept that it could be brighter, but it is OK.
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Same here - I run at 35% indoors and down to 20% in the dark, and oftentimes the latter is too bright for me. Also, I have a matte screen protector which dims it a smidge further... No problems for me.
Mark

note sure if you already bought the tablet but here is a comparision between my g pad and tab 3 8.0. Tab 3 is on the bottom and you can see the brightness is higher on it but images look washed out. If you see the g pad, you can see a bit dimmer but the picture is amazing. The tab is only 800 by 1280 but I just wanted to show you the brightness at 100%.

Impromark said:
Same here - I run at 35% indoors and down to 20% in the dark, and oftentimes the latter is too bright for me. Also, I have a matte screen protector which dims it a smidge further... No problems for me.
Mark
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tdodd said:
Indoors I run mine at 30% brightness in daylight and 20% with room lights after dark. I have tested outdoors, but never actually used it seriously outdoors, but it seems to cope. I accept that it could be brighter, but it is OK.
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NJ_RAMS_FAN said:
note sure if you already bought the tablet but here is a comparision between my g pad and tab 3 8.0. Tab 3 is on the bottom and you can see the brightness is higher on it but images look washed out. If you see the g pad, you can see a bit dimmer but the picture is amazing. The tab is only 800 by 1280 but I just wanted to show you the brightness at 100%.
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I had mine before I had to RMA and I was shocked it was really bright for me. From all the complaints people get I thought it would be really dim but it was just fine. I never use my electronics outside but yeah direct sunlight will probably greatly reduce visibility. Anyway I found it was pretty bright for me.

Brightness is very low. Bad screen. How to fix?

gppsoft said:
Brightness is very low. Bad screen. How to fix?
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You have it set to 100% brightness and it still isn't bright enough? Better get another tablet.

I had one for a few days. I really like some aspects of the pad, but I found it very difficult to watch a video with dark scenes even with the brightness at 100%. I got a 2013 N7 at the same time. It won out, but it is my fifth google device so I'm biased. I did not think the google edition gpad worth the extra cost. I was hoping it would be closer to iPad mini retina. Yeah, I really considered throwing an apple in the basket.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

ritchea said:
I had one for a few days. I really like some aspects of the pad, but I found it very difficult to watch a video with dark scenes even with the brightness at 100%. I got a 2013 N7 at the same time. It won out, but it is my fifth google device so I'm biased. I did not think the google edition gpad worth the extra cost. I was hoping it would be closer to iPad mini retina. Yeah, I really considered throwing an apple in the basket.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
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My wife has a mini retina. IMO, it's really boring compared to my G Pad. And crippled in many ways.

woody1 said:
My wife has a mini retina. IMO, it's really boring compared to my G Pad. And crippled in many ways.
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I can see the "boring" part although I was looking forward to eventually trying a jailbreak. Hubby's ALL Apple, sons are mixed, and I'm PC/Android. They will let me do anything to their Androids, but no one will let me "play" with Iphones or Ipads. :'(
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

ritchea said:
I had one for a few days. I really like some aspects of the pad, but I found it very difficult to watch a video with dark scenes even with the brightness at 100%. I got a 2013 N7 at the same time. It won out, but it is my fifth google device so I'm biased. I did not think the google edition gpad worth the extra cost. I was hoping it would be closer to iPad mini retina. Yeah, I really considered throwing an apple in the basket.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
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yea, it is definitely dim compared to others. I like both the n7 and this one but reason I like lg pad is the 8.3" screen. If nexus comes out with something like that soon, I would buy it..

I have a samsung galaxy s3 and while it's not that bright ive never had any major issues and generally happy at home and out and about such as commute. I note that it has a brightness rating of 224 whereas the lg g pad is rated at 289 cd/m2. Wondering if this is a good comparison when thinking about buying g pad and brightness. This makes the g pad brighter?

jackster2010 said:
I have a samsung galaxy s3 and while it's not that bright ive never had any major issues and generally happy at home and out and about such as commute. I note that it has a brightness rating of 224 whereas the lg g pad is rated at 289 cd/m2. Wondering if this is a good comparison when thinking about buying g pad and brightness. This makes the g pad brighter?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Max brightness is difficult to assess on OLED screens like the one in your Galaxy S3 because they dynamically adapt the total output of the panel in order to stay within a power limit (like plasmas do, too), so that means that depending on the way the screen of the GS3 was measured it could produce whites much brighter than 224 cd/m² if the screen isn't entirely white, whereas LCDs max output don't vary depending on what content is displayed.

After about 2 months, I gave up on the G Pad due to its lack of brightness and clarity while viewing movies. Nexus 7 2013 blew it away. People will say there is no difference, but if you do actual side by side you will see what you are missing.
The screen is fine for webpages, but running it at 100% brightness to watch a movie, especially dark or night scenes is not worth the price given the alternatives.

Yeah it does have lower screen brightness but I use screen filter so often on my Atrix 2 to further darken the screen it's not a huge deal for me that this screen can't get super bright it would be nice of course for better visibility outside in the sun but I rarely if ever use my tablet like that but if your looking for that high level of brightness stay away very good tablet otherwise especially for the 284 I paid. The actual screen quality is very good the included HD time lapse videos in the gallery are breath taking to look at and really show off the tablets screen quality. There my go to videos when I show the tablet off to people. Its a shame a lot of the most common source of video streaming I use are so limited in quality on android that they don't do the screen justice but I can get around most of those limitations using a web browser.
Crunchyroll's android app is limited to there lowest quality sd video setting which looks ok on my Atrix 2 but really bad here. I can get around it by using a web browser to login in view the videos in Gorious 1080P and they look really nice on this tablet I actually don't mind watching anime on this over my 1080i Sony Trinitron CRT not as good blacks and overall picture quality but still it's good enough which compared to that t.v is quite a compliment. Also anime looks really sharp on this due to the high ppi and I can view it from real close. There are some compromises but it also does things better and I'm willing To make them before I really didn't like watching on any other screen feeling I was missing out in screen quality.
The YouTube app is also limited to 720p but again I use a browser to view to get around this when quality is a priority not as convenient and with plenty of high resolution tablets out even some above 1080p including Google's own nexus 10 you think Google would allow 1080p streaming if not 4K streaming through the app. Netflix app also seems to be locked at a lower bitrate and non HD and since its silver light no way to view through browser. But I think being only 4.2.2 limits me. Hopefully when the 4.4 updates comes out I can access higher video quality through the app this screen could really benefit from the all bitrate netflix could offer Super HD would look fantastic on this screen. I'm not sure if they offer that on 4.3+ android devices or if it's limited to there regular 1080p bitrate or 720p on android with even Google crippling there own YouTube app I wouldn't be surprised which is a shame.
Sent from my LG-V500 using Tapatalk

Reader?

What do you owners think about using the tab as a reader?
I'm thinking about investing in either the 8.4 or the 10.1 as the reader. Simply for things like news articles, blogs, and maybe even using the Amazon Kindle app to read books. How much stress would it put on the eyes?

It's not stress on the eyes I would worry about...it's the weight of the device. The screens are mostly the same on these devices but the extra weight of a full size tablet might making extended reading sessions difficult. I would suggest getting the 8.4. I just upgraded to one from an LG G Pad and use it mostly for reading Kindle, Feedly, and Play Magazines.

I'm pretty sure there was a setting I saw that said Reading mode or something to that effect.
Sent from my GT-I9505 converted SGH-i337 w/XDA Premium 4 mobile app

mattskr said:
It's not stress on the eyes I would worry about...it's the weight of the device.
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I second this. The NotePro 12.2 is amazing for reading, I really like the sharpness of the text. Been using the Newsweek app a lot, read some magazines, comics, etc. View angles are good and you can adjust brighness easily.
There is the "reading mode" indeed but so far I don't see any difference when I turn it on and off.. not all apps support it.
The weight is indeed the problem, don't expect to be holding it up for long, as you would with a very light e-reader or a paper magazine. It will have to rest on your lap (even that way it can tire wrists a bit) or a stand.

I've tried all of the current 8" tablets for extended periods of time for reading. I own (or owned) the mini, the mini retina, the LG G Pad, the Samsung Tab 3 8", the Samsung Note 8", thus Asus Memo HD 8" and currently have the Tab Pro 8.4 on order.
I also had other slightly smaller tablets like the 7.7" Toshiba AT270 and the Samsung 7.7"
They all work fine for reading. Weight with a thin 8" tablet is negligble. In fact if you compare any of these to the top end reader available, the Kobo Aura HD, they only weigh on average about 100 grams more. That is not a big weight delta.
The Samsung tablets (the tab 3 8") and the new Tab Pro all have a reading mode. I used the Tab 3 8" for about 6 months and left it on by default. Wasn't really sure how it helped (or if it did at all).
Two things are important for reading under various conditions, max brightness/dimness and DPI. Max brightness is important if you are reading outside (one of the main reasons I got rid of the LG G Pad), max dimness is handy if you are reading in bed in the dark and don't want to wake up the wife with an 8" flashlight...
DPI, the higher the better as it increases the sharpness of text. As a reference, the Kobo Aura HD is 1440x1080 (6.8") with a DPI of 259. The Tab Pro has a 359 DPI....

I think 10.1 is the best size now that they're so light. I had an iPad 3 (retina) and then went for the first mini. Loved it for reading books, but not so much for Zino magazines, various PDFs that I needed, even web pages. Oh, heck, the occasional comic too. Just too small. I went to the iPad Air to get the size back after it hit 1lb. Two weeks ago i decided I was sick of iPhones and their size (I have big hands) and got a Nexus 5. Loved it so much I just sold the air and got the Tab Pro 10.1. I think the sharpness of current screens nullifies some of the 'lcd' tired eyes syndrome, and I've preferred the ability to turn to night mode in books to something like a paperwhite when it gets dark out.

100% i won't go with the 12in.
Still cannot decide if i want the 10 or 8.

If you are reading primarily books (as I do), there is no real benefit to a 10" tablet. It has more surface area than a page in a hard cover book.
If as mentioned above you read comics or magazines, the bigger surface area is handy.
The benefit of an 8" tablet is that it is extremely portable. I can fit mine into a pocket inside my coat. Try doing that with a 10" tablet...

Love my 8.4 for reading.
Sent from Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4

RobilarOCN said:
I've tried all of the current 8" tablets for extended periods of time for reading. I own (or owned) the mini, the mini retina, the LG G Pad, the Samsung Tab 3 8", the Samsung Note 8", thus Asus Memo HD 8" and currently have the Tab Pro 8.4 on order.
I also had other slightly smaller tablets like the 7.7" Toshiba AT270 and the Samsung 7.7"
They all work fine for reading. Weight with a thin 8" tablet is negligble. In fact if you compare any of these to the top end reader available, the Kobo Aura HD, they only weigh on average about 100 grams more. That is not a big weight delta.
The Samsung tablets (the tab 3 8") and the new Tab Pro all have a reading mode. I used the Tab 3 8" for about 6 months and left it on by default. Wasn't really sure how it helped (or if it did at all).
Two things are important for reading under various conditions, max brightness/dimness and DPI. Max brightness is important if you are reading outside (one of the main reasons I got rid of the LG G Pad), max dimness is handy if you are reading in bed in the dark and don't want to wake up the wife with an 8" flashlight...
DPI, the higher the better as it increases the sharpness of text. As a reference, the Kobo Aura HD is 1440x1080 (6.8") with a DPI of 259. The Tab Pro has a 359 DPI....
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Click to collapse
I like using a tablet for reading but I think you've made some unfair comparisons. First, the Aura HD is a "premium" ereader but if you look at the mainstream model, the Aura, you drop the weight from 240g to 174g. That puts the Tab Pro 8.4 at nearly double the weight (174g vs 331g). I use a 2012 Nexus 7 (340g, only slightly heavier than the Tab Pro 8.4)) and a Kindle Paperwhite (206g) for reading. The Nexus 7 is fine, but I will say that for long periods of use the lighter weight of the Paperwhite is much more comfortable. I often find myself leaning the Nexus 7 on something while I never have to do that with the Kindle. And comparing the DPI of an eInk screen vs an LCD doesn't give you a good benchmark of the text quality since they're using two vastly different rendering methods. For text alone I would take the eInk screen at the lower PPI over the LCD at the higher PPI.
That said, a tablet is much more versatile and can even be better for reading if you're not talking about eBooks but various web content as well.I would say the ideal tablet for reading depends a lot on what you plan on reading. If you read a lot of magazines, I might have to recommend something like the iPad Air as the size and aspect ratio make it great for magazines. If it's mostly web content a 10" Android tablet like the Tab Pro would be good since it most closely mimics a laptop display. If it's primarily eBooks the 7" tablets like the 2013 Nexus 7 are great for the lighter weight. Lastly, if you view more of a mix of the above, 8.4" is a great compromise.

[Q] Pro 8.4 vs S 8.4. Worth the price difference?

I'm looking to buy 8.4 inch tablet. From what I read, both are very good tablet. The difference of price here is about 70 AUD.
I don't really care about AMOLED vs LCD- both are fine.
I'll most probably run it on custom ROM. Tab Pro already has official CM support and established community. I'm not sure about Tab S, it's is too early to tell at this stage. I also notice Tab S is slightly thinner and lighter. Tab S runs on 3GB ram compared to 2GB of Tab Pro.
Probably you guys can give an opinion whether the price difference is worth it. Is there any other factor that makes one better than the other?

In regards to custom ROM support, I would think the Tab Pro 8.4 would get more support because of the Snapdragon 800 processor. In America that processor is very popular and used by different manufacturers, so developer support is strong. The S 8.4 has a Exynos processor, which I'm not sure of developer support.
This video compares the Pro 8.4 vs. S 8.4

In addition to the above answer, if you are not going to root and will need Knox for security, go for the Tab pro. If you will root the device, get the Tab S because it has 3gb memory and it will certainly help.
I prefer the screen of the Tab Pro S. It is brighter and I have not had any problem with the 2 units I have used. I have also bought the Tab S 8.4 and the 10.5. Their screen were pinkish when viewing webpages with white background. I can also see purple fringing on top of icons and letters, while I see green fringing at the bottom.
I suggest go to a local store and try them both, only you can really make the best decision for yourself.
Good luck

If you actually don't care about the screen I would 100% get the tab pro 8.4. The snapdragon 800 is a better SOC than the exynos in the tab s. Your tablet will be quicker and developer support will always be more active with the snapdragon compared to the exynos. I currently have the tab pro 8.4 and it's perfect in every way except for the screen. I got spoiled with my note 3 and now I'm not sure I can stand reading off the tab pro in bed at night.
tl;dr if you don't care about the difference in screens, save your money and get the better performing tab pro 8.4

superkevx said:
If you actually don't care about the screen I would 100% get the tab pro 8.4. The snapdragon 800 is a better SOC than the exynos in the tab s. Your tablet will be quicker and developer support will always be more active with the snapdragon compared to the exynos. I currently have the tab pro 8.4 and it's perfect in every way except for the screen. I got spoiled with my note 3 and now I'm not sure I can stand reading off the tab pro in bed at night.
tl;dr if you don't care about the difference in screens, save your money and get the better performing tab pro 8.4
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I use lux lite from google play to reduce the brightness at night.

Thanks for the heads up regarding the Qualcomm vs Exynos thing, guys!
I love to customize my gadget and an active development community means a lot to me
I was leaning to tab S and now reconsidering my decision on tab pro.
If you own both device, I'd like to know your opinion about how it feels at your hand. I cannot try Tab Pro 8.4 at my local store (samsung decide not to sell it here) so I can only get it from grey imports. Does the difference in weight & dimension a significant one?

Hey I'm in the same position, can't decide what Tablet to get, I have however tried both of them in the shop and can say the Faux Leather plastic of the TabPro is not nice however won't we all be having a case on it anyway? As for the size difference is noticeable however in daily use I doubt it'd really effect anybody.
The price difference is £100 so that also plays a part idk how much cheaper the TabPro is for you. I'm also looking at the Nvidia Shield Tablet - let me know what you think to that compared to the Samsung tablets

acasserole said:
Hey I'm in the same position, can't decide what Tablet to get, I have however tried both of them in the shop and can say the Faux Leather plastic of the TabPro is not nice however won't we all be having a case on it anyway? As for the size difference is noticeable however in daily use I doubt it'd really effect anybody.
The price difference is £100 so that also plays a part idk how much cheaper the TabPro is for you. I'm also looking at the Nvidia Shield Tablet - let me know what you think to that compared to the Samsung tablets
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Nvidia shield is a gaming tablet and Samsung's tabs are casual tablet. It depends on your use case; for me, I'd rather play games on my pc instead of tablet.
What do you think about the weight? does Tab S feel more comfortable? It is very light for an 8.4 inch tablet.

Prokeke said:
Nvidia shield is a gaming tablet and Samsung's tabs are casual tablet. It depends on your use case; for me, I'd rather play games on my pc instead of tablet.
What do you think about the weight? does Tab S feel more comfortable? It is very light for an 8.4 inch tablet.
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The Nvidia shield is close to stock android and has the best chipset out atm? and at a competetive price, the only thing is the weight of it...
And The tab was lighter though it's hard to tell when they have the security attachment things on the back. I tried bending it and it felt pretty solid considering how thin and light it was

acasserole said:
The Nvidia shield is close to stock android and has the best chipset out atm? and at a competetive price, the only thing is the weight of it...
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EDIT: I thought it runs on Tegra 4. It turns out to be Tegra K1 which is a better processor.
I'm not sure about the best chipset. Snapdragon 800 has better clockspeed and only one less core. Exynos 5 has 8 core but a little less clockspeed.
While it might be true that it is close to stock android, Nvidia is famous to keep the source of their SoC, making it harder for devs to develop things. I own LG optimus 2x with nvidia tegra 2 chipset and familiar with frustated devs blaming nVidia for it. Also, You can see that there is little to no development going on Shield's forum.
Qualcomm on the other hand is more developer friendly.

Another difference to note is the finger print scanner on the Tab S

I tested the Pro 8.4 and S 8.4 at a store. The S is noticeably lighter and thinner, but it doesn't matter to me since I always uses cases that add some bulk. I really don't like the Pro's extra height, which makes it a little awkward to hold in portrait mode. Its also harder to find sleeve cases that fit the height, without resorting to a sleeve made for a 10" tablet. The Pro is modeled after the Galaxy Note 3, while the S is modeled after the Galaxy S5. The Pro/Note 3's faux leather back is just matte plastic. The S/S5's back has a rubber-like coating thats soft and grippy. Getting the Pro 8.4 was an easy decision, especially due to the lower price. I can't see the difference between LCD and AMOLED screens.

xdm9mm said:
I use lux lite from google play to reduce the brightness at night.
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Click to collapse
Yeah I have tried that. Looks like you have a note 3 also. Try reading something in the dark with the note 3 and black background with grey text. Like google play books with night mode turned on or any app with an amoled option. Then try the same with the gtab pro in the dark and you'll notice a huge difference!

I prefer the pro 8.4 against the s 8.4. Its cheaper by a lot and has a more widely used SoC hence more awesome ROMs to choose from.

superkevx said:
Yeah I have tried that. Looks like you have a note 3 also. Try reading something in the dark with the note 3 and black background with grey text. Like google play books with night mode turned on or any app with an amoled option. Then try the same with the gtab pro in the dark and you'll notice a huge difference!
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Yes I know what you mean. It (ASAmoled screen) is nicer when reading at night, but I can't stand looking at it during the day time. I have already returned the Note 3. I only have S4 and Tab pro 8.4 now.