The perfect PDF Reader for 8 1/2 x 11" ???

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Some one please correct me if I am wrong, but I beleive that Amazon created its own proprietary book format becuase they wanted to have super fast page turns. Perhaps the Kindle 3 is the answer, I believe it can handle the required paper size. My readers can't handle the screen size so I will not talk about them.

No. Amazon bought French ebook publisher MobiPocket back in 2006, and the native Kindle format is based on the MobiPocket format, which is essentially an encapsulated subset of HTML. Amazon's main change to Mobi's work was a proprietary tweak on the DRM provided, whose intent was to lock you into Amazon as the vendor for purchased, DRM protected content. (You can get DRM protected content in Mobi format from other vendors, but must strip the DRM to read it on a Kindle. Content in Mobi format not encumbered with DRM may be side-loaded and read on a Kindle regardless of source.)

The Mobi viewer from MobiPocket is available for the PC, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Blackberry, and several other formats, and predates eInk.

It appears that Amazon bought MobiPocket because Adobe had ceased selling and supporting its own electronic publishing system, leaving Amazon with little choice but to find a different solution when they decided to get into ebooks.

Fast page turns are less a matter of the underlying ebook format than the display technology. eInk screens and display controllers controllers have seen development since the early devices, and page turns are faster.

If you use a device with an LCD display, the question is moot, as the eInk based limitations don't apply.
______
Dennis

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Some one please correct me if I am wrong, but I beleive that Amazon created its own proprietary book format becuase they wanted to have super fast page turns. Perhaps the Kindle 3 is the answer, I believe it can handle the required paper size. My readers can't handle the screen size so I will not talk about them.

Amazon bought Mobipocket (they didn't create it) to give themselves a ready-made DRM solution for their own bookstore. It had absolutely nothing to do with the speed of page turns.

[TheMafioso]

Originally Posted by ndorf

To all who have contributed to this particular thread. All really good contributions.

Lately, I have been thinking more about "workflow" and not just reader features. What do I mean by workflow?

Well, when I need to research information in one of my many 8 1/2 x 11" formatted manuals, all of the information I need to find is not necessarily in one manual or one chapter. I find many times that a section in one manual sends me over to another manual--or to a different page or chapter in the same manual--where I might also be referred again to yet a 3rd manual. Sounds cumbersome, yes, but it's real life for me. So at my desk, on occasion, I might have 2 or 3 manuals open at different pages, taking up the entire real estate of my desk!

My wife has a Kindle 3 and I played with it a little last night. As everyone knows, the pearl screen is phenomenal, but I did notice a little refresh flicker with every page turn. Page turns are plenty fast for sequential reading, such as would be the case reading a novel, but I could not visualize a scenario where I needed to quickly browse, back and forth between chapters, let alone opening closing different books.

I think having a touch screen with or without stylus would help some, since one would not have to sequentially press a D-Pad to move the cursor from link-to-link to make choices. But still, I'm coming to the conclusion that for technical reference kinds of work, fast document open and close times, and super fast page swipes would pretty much be a necessity. That probably means a device with a 1Ghz (or even dual core) processor such as iPad or one of the Android slates. And said device still would need to support hyperlinks, TOC, and all the other features we have been discussing here in this thread.

Yes, I would have to deal with the heavier weight. Many of the Android slates are coming out in 16:9 aspect ratio, which makes for less than desirable use as an e-reader. The 4:3 aspect ratio of the iPad is really ideal, but I am still skeptical about its closed platform--no USB (except for camera usage), no tethering over USB or bluetooth, no extendible storage. As as the other tablets go, I believe that the HP Touchpad will also be in this format, and in the Android world, the Viewsonic G Pad and maybe the Xoom is close. The Archos 101 unfortunately is a very narrow 16:9 screen otherwise from weight and cost standpoint I would give it close consideration. I haven't seen the forthcoming 10" version of the Samsung Galaxy yet. Does anyone here have any specific Android experience especially with respect to the field of available PDF readers for that platform?

Thanks again for posting to this thread; please keep the ideas flowing!

Neil

Well I have a HTC HD2 running Android, I just checked out Beam PDF Reader software, which is top rated Android PDF reader and it is handling PDF's quite well. It can show standard PDF, images, do table of contents, search, allows hyperlinks to be opened, and has a nice feature text view which formats the pdf text according to mobile display (similar to mobile view in Opera, if you're aware).Doesn't do annotations though.
Overall performance is quite smooth on my phone (snapdragon 1Ghz, 448MB RAM) guess it would only be better on more modern platforms...

I guess Viewsonic G tablet is a good alternative to nook and ipad...since its dual core procc and its Android, so it has immense development potential, not to mention it would be running Honeycomb soon too (unofficially don't know about official upgrade).
Only concern is screen is not as great as nook or IPAD IPS LCD, its a TN panel that's one thing you have to look out for...

[The Old Man]

From suggestions made so far I would go with the iPad and the GoodReader app.

But actually, there is no perfect solution for pdf files. Nothing will replace your briefcase loaded with paper. Anyway, not yet.

[ndorf]

Yes, the iPAD is in the lead on the inside track. Especially if I were to go out and buy today. Not necessarily the iPAD2, maybe the original one. At least I could jb with Spirit if I felt the need to after using it for some time.

BUT, I am going to try and put off the decision until the HP TouchPad comes out. Yes, I know it will be even little heavier than the original iPAD but the screen aspect ratio is also 1024x768, and after reading HP's launch materials about WebOS 3 for the TouchPad, it may be ideal for what I want to do. The multitasking "cards" system looks promising. I don't own a Palm Pre phone simply because I don't want to pay Sprint for the higher-cost service plan that is required for data. But the phone capabilities look great, and presumably HP has invested into WebOS to make it a great tablet using experience.

Will also have to wait and see what PDF reader applications become available on the TouchPad.

[Filark]

The big enTourage eDGe doesn't do it for you?

I know it's not the newest, and the company may not be around for long, but it is supposed to be excellent for pdfs. (I don't know from personal experience as I read mostly epubs on my Pocket eDGe.)

If you're interested, check what people say in the forum here or at http://www.entourageedge.com/forums/forum.php

[ZombieEatsYou]

Originally Posted by Filark

The big enTourage eDGe doesn't do it for you?

I know it's not the newest, and the company may not be around for long, but it is supposed to be excellent for pdfs. (I don't know from personal experience as I read mostly epubs on my Pocket eDGe.)

If you're interested, check what people say in the forum here or at http://www.entourageedge.com/forums/forum.php

I was going to suggest the same thing. Just got mine yesterday.

[ndorf]

Many thanks to all who contributed to this thread, and particularly to "The Old Man" who prompted me to reconsider the Apple iPad.

I did some research on GoodReader as well as some "inking" applications, then I went back into Best Buy to look at the Motorola Xoom, the IPad, and anything else they carry.

In a weak moment, I purchased a new 32Gb ipad wifi-only for $450, and have not looked back. Well, sort of. I was about to leave for a 1 week business trip with a 5 hour coast-to-coast flight and really got the "bug" to have something before I left to work with on the flight(s). I might have ponied-up for the 16 ipad2 wifi if any were availalble, but any stores were only taking orders with no committment dates for delivery. Best Buy and the ipad and ipad2 side by side for me to lift (to compare feel of the weight and thickness) and also responsiveness. To me, the difference was not enough to warrant the wait or extra $150. People I have talked to who have the ipad2 attest to it's being "faster" but as far as opening documents, flicking pages, etc, fast is relative. I am experiencing that even the origninal ipad is still a much more brisk page turning experience when comparing the same large PDF on both my wife's kindle 3 and my ipad. Maybe it's not a fair comparison since the K3 screen is smaller, but the K3 also might have a faster processor than the DX that I was considering. I just love the bright and crisp display of the ipad as well. I personally find that 8 1/2 x 11" inch pages are quite readable when cropped and sized to the ipad's crisp display.

Also, I had been underestimating the value of color in the PDF documents in my library. I am finding that color does truly increase comprehension for me. I also was, in my own mind, playing down the value of multitouch pinch and zoom, but I have to say it too also enhances the usability experience.

So on to the applictions. I purchased GoodReader and it truly has become the "killer app" for me that justifies the ipad hardware. Not only does it display a crisp page that it easily readable (indoors), but yes, hyperlinks, table of contents, annotations, and all PDF features I need are built-in. The "crop" feature to minimize page white space (globally across pages) works great. But there's more. One truly negative point of the ipad is its lack of a true filesystem. There's no global folder structure in which to organize documents. Well, this is another shining light of Goodreader. Its "manage files" mode has allowed me to create a hierarchical folder filing system for all my PDF, PowerPoint, Word, and Excel documents so I can logically organize everything. Yes, it reads (but does not write to) MS Office formats. All I need.

And I can also attest to its ability to handle a 1,200 page manual--about 40Mb in file size--easily and without crashing. It has the ability to pre-cache some pages (you can switch this on or off) and this really helps page turns. Yes, ever now and then I get the checkerboard instead of a page display, that lasts for maybe 1/2 second at the most. I can live with that, and I suspect that this would not even happen with the dual-core iPad 2.

Another nice feature is it's many methods of supporting getting documents onto the ipad. It supports FTP, email, Dropbox, Evernote, and USB transfer via the Apps folder in iTunes. It is integrated with the email app such that with attachments you can choose "Open in Goodreader" and then your document can be managed in GoodReader's folder tree.

The other app that I find extremely useful is NoteShelf. I purchased a Targus capacative stylus and in my meetings last week captured 20 pages of handwritten notes, never once reverting back to paper. No, I don't care about OCR or converting to text. I wouldn't have that feature with paper anyway. The "inking" experience with NoteShelf was a pleasant surprise. There are many other inking apps available for the ipad and which one you would choose is a matter of personal preference. it seems that the most popular ones for which I found reviews include:

Penultimate
Notes Plus
Note Taker HD
NoteShelf

To close, and respond to those who chimed-in about the Edge, well it looks powerful and it does look like it would have met my application requirements, but I would not have chosen any device that exceeds 2lbs and 1/2 inch. The Edge is a 3lb device and 1" thick. My briefcase is already bulging at the seams.

Thanks again to all that contributed. I encourage keeping this thread alive and especially as the the new crop of ereaders surface (and the HP touchpad) I'll be interested to see and hear what direction you all take and which ones you choose.

Neil

[Filark]

Wow! Nice to hear back on how successful your choice was, Neil!

It sounds like you will be very happy with your iPad: It does what you want it to do, in a form factor you like, and with good support and all the apps you need! That's about all we can ask from our electronic devices, and more than we sometimes get.

Enjoy!