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View Poll Results: How do you read most of your PDF files?
On my PC 13 56.52%
On a Sony or any other ereader 11 47.83%
On my Palm or pocket PC/Smart Phone (other than iPhone) 3 13.04%
On my iPhone 1 4.35%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 23. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 10-23-2009, 05:38 PM   #1
prs700
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Cool PDF, my expereince Palm, Sony readers, iPhone and ipod touch

Hi all,
Most of the documents offered on most of the sites I visit are presented in PDF format.
I faced the same issues PDF you all face with PDF docs:

1. The need for a reasonable large screen to view the PDF files (converting is not an option)
2. The need to be able to zoom if the screen is small
3. The hardware must be capable of handling the demanding PDF documents (a color magazine that spans 200 or more pages, the 1000+ pages text book with diagrams)
4. maybe bookmarks and identification of document's table of contents

I used to use the Adobe PDF reader on a PALM TX device, it just butchers the document.
PalmPDF did a great job, it reads the native PDF files very well even the large ones
it crashes under the load of very large files with large color images, but you can always choose to read in grey scale (never use the black and white, it's terrible).
one advantage of palm is it can read other files (TXT, PRC, DOC, PPT, Excel, Mobi and palm ebooks) note that I have been looking for ePub reader or a CHM reader nothing did the job.
Palm is also a great platform to do other things (play music, videos and install other useful apps). the only problem that it is practical, too practical, it is boring and premitive.

Sony:
PRS 505 butchered PDFs, hardware couldn't cope, got rid of it in a month.
PRS 700 : tricky, it had a leaky battery, or I didn't bother removing the SD card or completely shutting it down. although I bought it direclty online from Sony, unlike the 505 when I unboxed it, the battery was 0%.
I think its the best Sony that handles PDFs, you can zoom, rotate the screen, search (only the current title) I tried searching a PDF dictionary once, I had to stop before the battery ran out, takes forever.

everybody complained about the reflections and the light, I had no choice it was the only thing (Kindle DX does not zoom, or so I heard, Irex had the worest customer support, or so I heard). besides what glare? what reflection? how many hours do you spend in front of a computer screen?
I think eye strain is eye strain no matter what you are looking at.

The iPhone : I would've said it is the greatest, it has everything support (PRC i think is only supported by isilo it is for about $10, maybe other book readers can do PRC and PDB formats, I am new to iPhones) Stanza is great it is like having a Kindle or a connected sony
I didn't mind the small sceeen,
I didn't mind that I am forever attached to itunes, but what is really bugging me is the lack of native folder storage for PDF!
if you want to store and read PDFs you need to download an app that act like a server on your iPhone, you have to type in the URL of your iPhone on the browser's address to get into the phone via wi-fi to transfer the books to the phone (which works sometimes! but never for large books, at least for me , until now).

the iPhone interface is the most appealing, but transferring the books is a nightmare.

still looking!
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Old 10-23-2009, 10:04 PM   #2
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Sony, I run it through calibre and then put it on my Sony - No problems.
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Old 10-23-2009, 10:14 PM   #3
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WinCE can read tagged PDFs adequately. The regular A-size page untagged PDF is unusable for any but the most cursory reading on a 2.8-5" screen (my experience range).

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Old 10-23-2009, 11:54 PM   #4
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I use my Sony 505 for almost nothing but PDFs. Even if I get a book in another format, I'll convert it to PDF. A well made PDF is better than pretty much everything else. Of course, the ideal one is one I made especially for my Sony, but even when it isn't made for my Sony, I can make it work.

I've yet to find a book or even technical journal article, so long as it is professionally made, I can't make work. (Magazines might be a different story, but who wants to read a large color magazine on a small black and white screen even with ideal zoom functionality and controls?)

The problem I think is a lot of people expect to just put the PDF onto their machine and read. You need to tweak it first. My usual tools are sopdf and PDFLRF. Occasionally I just use the pdfcrop tool from the TeXlive LaTeX distribution. Between those I can handle most tweaks, and since they don't alter the PDF content, they just trim margins and cut it up into screen-size chunks, nothing gets lost.
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Old 10-24-2009, 11:05 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frabjous View Post
The problem I think is a lot of people expect to just put the PDF onto their machine and read.
Well, lawsy, imagine that. Whatever are those people thinkin'?

Regardlessly,
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Old 10-24-2009, 12:27 PM   #6
frabjous
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frabjous can solve quadratic equations while standing on his or her head reciting poetry in iambic pentameterfrabjous can solve quadratic equations while standing on his or her head reciting poetry in iambic pentameterfrabjous can solve quadratic equations while standing on his or her head reciting poetry in iambic pentameterfrabjous can solve quadratic equations while standing on his or her head reciting poetry in iambic pentameterfrabjous can solve quadratic equations while standing on his or her head reciting poetry in iambic pentameterfrabjous can solve quadratic equations while standing on his or her head reciting poetry in iambic pentameterfrabjous can solve quadratic equations while standing on his or her head reciting poetry in iambic pentameterfrabjous can solve quadratic equations while standing on his or her head reciting poetry in iambic pentameterfrabjous can solve quadratic equations while standing on his or her head reciting poetry in iambic pentameterfrabjous can solve quadratic equations while standing on his or her head reciting poetry in iambic pentameterfrabjous can solve quadratic equations while standing on his or her head reciting poetry in iambic pentameter
 
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Well, obviously it would be better if you could do that. I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice if that worked. I'm just saying that I've seen far too many people give up far too easily. The tools I mentioned are not hard to use. It adds 15 seconds to the process of putting them on your reader. Big deal.
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Old 10-24-2009, 12:36 PM   #7
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Old 10-26-2009, 05:55 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by prs700 View Post

the iPhone interface is the most appealing, but transferring the books is a nightmare.
Try the Good Reader app from goodiware, it lets you transfer PDFs via USB (no wi-fi needed), supports large PDFs, and reflows PDFs to iphone's screen.
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Old 10-26-2009, 07:32 AM   #9
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Old 11-12-2009, 05:47 AM   #10
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thanks all for your input,
let me say this: I owe Ilya239 a great deal, now I have the perfect PDF reading device, the GoodReader App works great! in colour!

I understand that most of the suggested software do good job with PDF, but for my use this is not an option.

Gideon : I hear Dx does not zoom, is this true, if so it is not, it is not for me, please confirm.

WillAdams: you are right, I did not include it because a friend described it as holding a hot noisy fan in your hand.

Thanks all again, got PDF books to read (in full color)!
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Old 01-03-2010, 01:50 AM   #11
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darn it!

I did an iTunes resotre, when I downloaded my app store apps (including goodreader) I got version 2.4, which does not support USB trnafer of PDF files into the Iphone/iPod , now I cnnot get the gigs of PDFs I have to show up at goodreader (although I think they have been transferred) the USB folder does not show at all at the app, no way those gigs and gigs of file will be transferred one byu one over flaky wifi.
goodreader website say it was Apple who imposed that on them!, but I paid for the 2.3 why do I get the 2.4 instead , you know ususally upgrades cost alot of money, thank you I do not need the free upgrade!!!
nothing yet from goodreader support NOTHING!

thanks just needed to vent and make sure that everybody knows that goodreader does not support USB transfer anymore
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Old 01-03-2010, 02:04 AM   #12
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Actually, when I reset my iTouch to factory state and needed to restore USB functionality, GoodReader support was able to help very quickly. It's doable. Write them again.

Good luck!

Quote:
Originally Posted by prs700 View Post
darn it!

I did an iTunes resotre, when I downloaded my app store apps (including goodreader) I got version 2.4, which does not support USB trnafer of PDF files into the Iphone/iPod , now I cnnot get the gigs of PDFs I have to show up at goodreader (although I think they have been transferred) the USB folder does not show at all at the app, no way those gigs and gigs of file will be transferred one byu one over flaky wifi.
goodreader website say it was Apple who imposed that on them!, but I paid for the 2.3 why do I get the 2.4 instead , you know ususally upgrades cost alot of money, thank you I do not need the free upgrade!!!
nothing yet from goodreader support NOTHING!

thanks just needed to vent and make sure that everybody knows that goodreader does not support USB transfer anymore
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Old 01-04-2010, 05:24 PM   #13
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my encounter with their support left me with the same feeling I get when the worker at McDonalds upsizes my meal without me asking
It left with the impression that the whole thing was a bate and switch
lured me in to buy version 2.3 only to force 2.4 down my throat, they must've known all the time, but decided to make as many bucks they can make.

and the attitude!
"you answer my question first or I will not help you!...."
"As fascinating this conversation is becoming ...."
"here we go again..."

yes that's a customer service rep writing after his company screwed up big time!

total no go for me, never again.

PRS700
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Old 01-04-2010, 05:33 PM   #14
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i think you guys misunderstood each other.
the developer's native language is russian and he sometimes misses the nuances of english, so don't read from the tone.

the USB problem was forced on him by Apple -- they said he must remove the USB function or they'll remove the app from the store. he had no choice.

i have good rapport with the developer; how about, you send me your questions, and i'll forward it to him? i'm sure this misunderstanding can be resolved in a good way.

best,

ilya

Last edited by ilya239; 01-04-2010 at 05:41 PM.
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Old 02-13-2010, 10:45 AM   #15
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Well, I admit it, I judged tablet PCs without actually trying one.
But now .........!

I never thought I would use something running Win XP to read my PDF files, but with the attention the iPad got , I looked at couple of posts in mobileread that describe a variety of low end tablets, those include the Archos , and many other by China/Taiwan based manufacturers (by the way many now run on Windows 7 , Android/Linux and a Windows CE - you heard me right CE which looks almost like windoes 95/98)

But again what operating system can run all books formats, yep, Windows XP.
I resisted the temptation of getting something "small and mobile" because my iPod is, didn't want to get 5", 7" , 9.7" or even 10" (I already have this on my netbook and it is not good enough) my iPod provide pocketibilty , I want something that displays a full A4 page comfortably.

I tried to avoid anything new and unheard of , so i went with .... motion computing , a company built by engineers from HP or Dell I can't remember in 2001, it only makes high grade tablet PCs, for businesses and professionals.

got a great bargain on one from ebay, have no problem mentioning his user name (he knows what he is doing and his advice saved my life) his handle on ebay is fun13bobby.

the tablet I got is an older model , rugged, is quiet, less than an inch thick, bluetooth , wireless and all, most importantly it got 12" screen. AMAAAZZIINGG when it is in portrait mode. like seteve jobbs says, you can see the whole website, I can see the whole page!

battery life is 2 hours but I do most of the reading at home or on my desk.

One thing, I think a bump bag is very important, being that big it's easy to drop!

I have a big collection of books, so the tablets being sold with 2GB hard drives are not for me, no one SD card reasonably priced today can hold all my collections + Audio + video.

uptil now the only devices I have that do not choke on large PDFs are my iPod/iPhone and my tablet, mind you that iPod choked on one 27MB plain text file, so it seems the trick is in the Goodreader App (it) loads one page at a time from the document, not the whole document.

There are also a No. of applications for tablet PC, that I will have to explore for annotation on documents.

I would of liked my tablet to weigh less, I am not sure if I prefer this screen or a touch screen, myabe because I am just used to my iPod that I find learning to use a digitizer stylus/pen a chore.

in all I got what I was looking for a large screen to display my PDFs and a stable and familiar platform.

The website for Motion Computing is
http://www.motioncomputing.com/products/index.asp

PRS700
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