u/Honest_Substance_501

i'm finally trying to move away from paper scores.

My budget is around $300-400.

Mainly for:

• Read PDF sheet music
• Use during rehearsals
• Make occasional annotations
• Potentially pair with a Bluetooth page turner

I don't care much about gaming, video editing, or other tablet-heavy tasks. This would mostly be a dedicated music device.

I've been looking at used iPads, Samsung tablets, and some larger Android tablets, but I'm struggling to figure out what actually offers the best value for musicians.

So tbh my back is completely dead from carrying those heavy binders and fake books to every single gig...

Been looking for a big digital stand alternative but i'm too broke for a $1k ipad pro. ended up grabbing this 14-inch tcl nxtpaper 14 tablet from their official site last week cuz they had a pretty wild sale ($100 off, so came down to like $369 with the pen and case bundled in).

Here’s my honest 1 week review, mostly just for sheet music:

The good stuff:

• screen is massive, ngl. 14.3 inches at 3:2 ratio... finally don't have to squint at complex jazz charts or tiny chords anymore.
• the matte paper-like display is crazy good. zero glare under those annoying blinding stage lights or super dim club corners. eyes don't feel fried after a 3-hour rehearsal.
• battery life is heavy. 10,000mah... charged to full 5 days ago and still sitting at 90% right now.
• mobilesheets runs perfectly, opening massive score pdfs is smooth.

The annoying stuff:

• it’s heavy af. like 760g... do not buy this if u wanna hold it in bed to read comics. it belongs strictly on a solid music stand.
• writing latency is kinda mid. around 30ms. if u need to crazily scribble annotations or chords during a live improvisation, this ain't it, buy an ipad. but for slow fingering marks, it gets the job done.
• privacy implementation is super weird. tcl removed the mic and camera access toggles from the standard android quick menu.

tldr: if u want a premium ipad pro killer or a fast sketchpad, skip this. but if u just want a huge, eye-friendly digital music stand that looks like real paper and won't break the bank