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Bob Russell · 08-09-2005, 03:55 PM

I think it's time to summarize what we've learned about reading pdf files on a mobile device, and pool our resources to try to determine what are the best approaches on either Palm or Pocket PC.

Over the months and years, we've seen a lot of proposed methods for reading pdf (Acrobat Reader) documents. I'm not sure, though, if any of these are clean, reliable and relatively successful.

I think many of us would be very interested to hear if anyone has found a good solution at a reasonable price. Maybe there are even a few great solutions buried in our forums here that I've missed, and which deserve to be trumpeted again.

Some of the ideas I vaguely recall hearing about are:

Adobe Reader for Palm or PPC
This seems to be universally disliked, both due to the required document conversion step, and because the reader is slow and bulky. Here's one description with some of the negatives.
Conversion to "better" formats
I haven't yet seen a good, reasonably priced solution that handles the pdf files I've tried on it. Maybe I'm not trying the right ones? We recently heard about a free online converter, but it has a size limit that makes tech manuals, for example, out of reach.
Documents To Go (Palm only)
I think Docs To Go has a premium version that reads pdf files, but I don't know how well, and that's a lot to buy and install if you don't need the rest of the package.
Picsel File Viewer
Wasn't there something called Picsel File Viewer that could read pdf after a conversion step?
Repligo
Or how good/expensive are Repligo products?
Other solutions?
I wonder what they are...

My idea of a basic set of requirements (wishlist) for such a program would be:
1) If necessary, the conversion process can be done on a PC, but should not require Palm Desktop or hotsync. You should be able to just transfer to a storage card.
2) Reads just about any (non-DRM'd) pdf file adequately
3) Can turn pages and search reasonably fast
4) Works on smaller screens like a Treo or 240x320 standard resolution PPC
5) Can handle large documents.
6) Can read documents from storage cards
7) Bonus points if it costs less than $30
8) More bonus points for reasonable RAM memory requirements

Or.... maybe this is beyond our capabilities in the mobile world right now? Surely not!

08-09-2005, 03:55 PM	#1
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Reading PDF Documents on a PDA I think it's time to summarize what we've learned about reading pdf files on a mobile device, and pool our resources to try to determine what are the best approaches on either Palm or Pocket PC. Over the months and years, we've seen a lot of proposed methods for reading pdf (Acrobat Reader) documents. I'm not sure, though, if any of these are clean, reliable and relatively successful. I think many of us would be very interested to hear if anyone has found a good solution at a reasonable price. Maybe there are even a few great solutions buried in our forums here that I've missed, and which deserve to be trumpeted again. Some of the ideas I vaguely recall hearing about are: Adobe Reader for Palm or PPC This seems to be universally disliked, both due to the required document conversion step, and because the reader is slow and bulky. Here's one description with some of the negatives. Conversion to "better" formats I haven't yet seen a good, reasonably priced solution that handles the pdf files I've tried on it. Maybe I'm not trying the right ones? We recently heard about a free online converter, but it has a size limit that makes tech manuals, for example, out of reach. Documents To Go (Palm only) I think Docs To Go has a premium version that reads pdf files, but I don't know how well, and that's a lot to buy and install if you don't need the rest of the package. Picsel File Viewer Wasn't there something called Picsel File Viewer that could read pdf after a conversion step? Repligo Or how good/expensive are Repligo products? Other solutions? I wonder what they are... My idea of a basic set of requirements (wishlist) for such a program would be: 1) If necessary, the conversion process can be done on a PC, but should not require Palm Desktop or hotsync. You should be able to just transfer to a storage card. 2) Reads just about any (non-DRM'd) pdf file adequately 3) Can turn pages and search reasonably fast 4) Works on smaller screens like a Treo or 240x320 standard resolution PPC 5) Can handle large documents. 6) Can read documents from storage cards 7) Bonus points if it costs less than $30 8) More bonus points for reasonable RAM memory requirements Or.... maybe this is beyond our capabilities in the mobile world right now? Surely not!