Ask HN: What device do you use to read academic papers with?

Notes & tracking: emacs + org-mode. Not ideal, but I can have it and it does 60% of the job out of the box.

Storing: filesystem (notes include where I stored it).

Reading: E-ink.

I started with Pocketbook 622 (a 6", 800x600 display). Worked very well. Can open many formats _natively_ (doc, rtf, djvu etc, check specs for full list). One of the first docs was anatomy atlas from 19century via archive. Rendered only decently, required huge magnification/landscape mode/margin cutting to be of any use. I had varying experience with other pdf/djvu documents - depending how they were created. Some djvus rendered excellently on 6", despite being meant for bigger (close to a4) page size. No problem with rtf/epub and other such formats. Magazines in pdf (a4) very hard to read, not worth it really. Arxiv's pdfs looked good/very good, sometimes they could be reflowed or put into column view, which helped a lot but with reflow I learned math not always shows up properly. Old computer manuals (my hobby, they are just scaned typewritten books) - not good enough.

Next model was Inkpad 840 (a 8", 1600x1200 display). What looks good on Pb622, looks good too on Ip840. Magazines look better, but they require a good light for really comfortably reading. Otherwise, I can go with dim night light. This model has backlight, but I don't like the idea of shining into my eyes.

Huge plus: sd card slot. I go on for months airgapped. Huge minus: maybe it is just me, but reading html docs almost always sucks one way or another. What to look for: external hard case so I don't have to be oh so wary. It was a PITA trying to find case for Ip840 thanks to its nonstandard dimensions. I settled down with some oversized tablet case. Ip840 feels a bit slow and awkward (compared to Pb622) but I got used to it. If I had to buy again, I would have had a closer look on Kobo models too. Kindle does not cut it for me - requires too big commitment.

All of this just MHO, of course.

Me too, but god the UI is buggy! Shamefully so for the price.

Combining the mendeley plugin with the automatic .bib generator and LyX means I can cite stuff pretty much as quickly as looking at the page.

I use an iPad 1. The very first one.

Apps don't support its completely obsolete iOS version any more, but the device itself works perfectly well.

I only use it to read academic papers, but it's still fine for that task.

I agree on distance but there is a massive difference between an 8" device with 300+ PPI and one that's 224~ PPI, and if I'm getting a slightly larger device I'm going to want it as sharp as possible, it's a bit like having a 27" monitor - they look dreadful at 1080P, and I think they're only just good enough at 2160p which is generally 163 PPI - now you can really see the difference between that and a 27" 5K display at 218 PPI which lots a lot clearer.