I have checked out the eReaders such as Kobo and Kindle, and I don't like the screen displays. I find reading on an iPad pretty good except for the weight.
Can anyone suggest a smallish tablet with great battery life that is only going to be used for reading books? I think a 7" or 8" would be good size.
Slightly alleviated if one uses Twilight (similar to F.lux) and also use night reading mode (inverted colours).
Moon Reader+ app is great for this and it can also read PDF ebooks, and invert colours on them as well.
Anyway I read on my ASUS MeMOPad FHD 10 (ME302C) and while the tablet is kind of humoungous (big bezels) and a little heavy the high resolution LCD display is a pleasure to read on. Battery life is impressive too. If you have to travel around I recommend a tablet with a similarly high PPI display like the N1 or Xiaomi MiPad..
If you are considering getting tablet, here are my thoughts.
If you like iPad, iPad mini 4?
The improvement on screen (colour reproduction) alone made it worthwhile to consider it (if you want an iPad mini) in my opinion. If you want cheaper iPad mini, I think iPad Mini 2 would be nice as well.
If you want to grab something cheaper, go for a tablet with 4:3 or 3:2 ratio.
16:10 and 16:9 is too long in length and too short in width in portrait mode (you will get 'letterbox'. 4:3 or 3:2 in my opinion are better for books and pdfs.
Tab S2 might fit the bill (but they did reduce battery significantly from the older models for thickness, so battery life might not be impressive). Tab A, I think has too low of resolution. Amazon has their Fire tablets, don't they? I think they might be worth considering (though I have little clue on what they are like). I doubt you can get your hands on them now, but Nook tablets I've heard has amazing screen.
If I ignore screen ratio. Nexus 7, 2013, had really good screen as well. Tab Pro 8.4 has one of the best screen I've heard.
Or as scubacoles suggested, go for a dedicated ebook viewer (though you've expressed your dislike towards those, so I guess they are not an option for you).
Thanks. iPad mini was a consideration but my thought was just to get a dedicated tablet for reading and the cost wouldn't justify. But then again I know what I would be getting in terms of screen display. Shame about the battery life on most tablets aren't that impressive.
My dislike for dedicated eBook readers is that I couldn't get past the grey'ish screens after reading on an iPad.
Kindle Paperwhite HD? or Kobo Glo HD?
both have whiter background they're pretty close to reading a printed book, which is the whole point.
I used to use a Nexus 7 before upgrading to a paperwhite. It was pretty clear and lightweight
My nexus 7 2013 is great.
With the newer model Kindles, is it possible to improve the screen display so its more white and not the usual grey'ish?
The paperwhite is a bit less "grey" than previous models, particularly if you turn on the backlight. But that's as far as adjustment can go
I'm not a big fan of them, but have you looked at the Kindle Fire? It might be what you're looking for.
A followup - I revisited and checked out the current offering of dedicated eReaders and they still wasnt for me. In the end I got my hands on a Nexus 7 and as I don't run anything else on it other than reading books, I am quite happy with the battery life and the quality of display.
*BUMP
I am looking for one also, primarily for comics/ graphic novels. So would like 8" or maybe a 10" screen tablet, I am looking at this one: Teclast X98 Air III (https://youtu.be/jGqOFZmugN0). Looks appealing because has the 2048 x 1536 QXGA IPS Retina screen as the iPad. Any thoughts? It is comparable to a local Samsung Tab and still cheaper than Nexus or any Apple product..
Ended up buying the Teclast X89 model instead, was $113 from banggood (7.5" screen)
Maybe something with an AMOLED screen so you can invert the text white text on black background to minimise the glare.
LCD/AMOLED screens aren't very good for reading though, (cause you're looking directly at a light source - as I read somewhere, it's like trying to read a book while someone shines a torch in your face) that's why there's epaper screens on ereaders.