Color What's the best pdf viewer for a rooted NC?

[Avenarius]

I've tried most or all of the free apps and some of the paid apps, but none have been entirely satisfactory. Most of them have trouble opening my pdf files (all of which open fine on any pc or Mac). Here's a review of the apps I've tried so far...

built-in Quickoffice viewer - fails to open some pdfs

built-in Reader app (Adobe?) - fails to open some pdfs

(The above app can be used for items not purchased from B&N only after rooting.)

BeamReader - fails to open some pdfs

Adobe Reader - opens all of my pdfs, quick page turns, no goto page function, difficult file management

ezPDf Reader - first version downloaded opened most of my files, but page turns were slow, file management was difficult, and the app would freeze occasionally. Subsequent updates have made it totally unusable.

Aldiko - opens all of my pdfs, slow page turns compared to Adobe Reader, o.k. file management, remembers the page of a book only intermittently

RepliGo Reader -- fails to open some pdfs, easy file management


Out of all these, Aldiko would appear to be the best overall, but its inconsistency in remembering the page is annoying. I'm now considering some of the higher priced viewers, but I'm not sure if a higher price means better performance and compatibility. If anyone has tried any of those, please post a review here.

[volwrath]

Originally Posted by Avenarius

I've tried most or all of the free apps and some of the paid apps, but none have been entirely satisfactory. Most of them have trouble opening my pdf files (all of which open fine on any pc or Mac). Here's a review of the apps I've tried so far...

built-in Quickoffice viewer - fails to open some pdfs

built-in Reader app (Adobe?) - fails to open some pdfs

(The above app can be used for items not purchased from B&N only after rooting.)

BeamReader - fails to open some pdfs

Adobe Reader - opens all of my pdfs, quick page turns, no goto page function, difficult file management

ezPDf Reader - first version downloaded opened most of my files, but page turns were slow, file management was difficult, and the app would freeze occasionally. Subsequent updates have made it totally unusable.

Aldiko - opens all of my pdfs, slow page turns compared to Adobe Reader, o.k. file management, remembers the page of a book only intermittently

RepliGo Reader -- fails to open some pdfs, easy file management


Out of all these, Aldiko would appear to be the best overall, but its inconsistency in remembering the page is annoying. I'm now considering some of the higher priced viewers, but I'm not sure if a higher price means better performance and compatibility. If anyone has tried any of those, please post a review here.

To be honest with you, Repligo and ezPDF have been fine for me.

[debteb]

I mostly use ezPDF for the pinch and zoom functionality it offers for pdf. Aldiko doesn't offer that on my rooted NC, but it does allow night-mode. Adobe is so-so in terms of functionality.

[=X=]

Yes I have to echo what the others have mentioned RepliGo, ezPDF and Adobe really are the best readers and have met all my needs. RepliGo for me is the best as it offers the most features and is the fastest PDF render. Adobe has the best engine in terms of layout, there is no PDF it cannot open, but the feature set is horrible.

I would be hesitant to belive there are better PDF engines out there.

=X=

[Avenarius]

I still don't understand why most of these readers can't open my files. All of these pdfs open on any pc or Mac, even older machines with ancient versions of Adobe Reader.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by Avenarius

I still don't understand why most of these readers can't open my files. All of these pdfs open on any pc or Mac, even older machines with ancient versions of Adobe Reader.

Adobe Digital Editions (i.e. Aldiko) supports PDF/A with a few extensions, see Bill McCoy's Q&A: What PDF version for eBooks? He says "PDF/A (aka PDF 1.4 aka "Save As Acrobat 5 Compatible") can be safely employed". Note that PDF/A formally requires all fonts (even standard ones) be embedded in the document.

So, given that Aldiko works, I'm not sure why your PDFs are failing to open.

[jhempel24]

I'm a big fan right now of Mantano for PDF books, NOT text-books etc, but regular books.

[oppy]

I have a related question: I purchased ezPDF through the BN app store a while back and it works great. Is there a way to get it working from within CM7 without paying for it again?

[Avenarius]

I still can't find a completely satisfactory pdf reader for this device. Aldiko remains the best one out there - at least as far as my own needs go - but it still has no zoom function. ezPDF has improved a lot, but now the app puts buttons on the screen when you engage *horizontal scroll lock* and *tap for page turns.* (I suppose this is to show you those functions are engaged, but why exactly would you need to know that at all times?) There is a newer reader out there now - qPDf - and it would be perfect except for the fact that it doesn't have a full screen mode.

For what it's worth, here are the functions that should be standard on a pdf viewer for the NC:

- a full screen mode that eliminates the nook status bar at the bottom of the screen

- opens pdfs of scanned documents (Some of the paid apps won't do this!)

- tap for page turns

- page zooming [A function that automatically crops the left and right (and top and bottom) of a page would be nice as some documents have very large margins.]

- a zoom lock so you don't have to re-zoom after every page turn

Again, Aldiko meets all these requirements except for page zoom and zoom lock.

[taosaur]

For mostly text pdfs, ezPDF is much better just because of reflow. For anything with a stronger visual component (outlines, figures, graphs), nothing currently available is very satisfactory. I attribute that fact mostly to pdfs being a terrible, highly inflexible format for ebooks.

[edzard]

I have made the leap and rooted my nook touch, because I want to be able to export the notes that I take on my files. I have downloaded repligo because I heard you can easily take notes and export them. The only problem is, repligo always has a page-turn animation that turns out to be horrible on a Touch.

Do any of the other programs have an option to turn page animation off? I don't want to buy three or four different reader apps only to find out I can barely use them. I don't really care if it renders pdf's faithfully, as long as I can read and annotate the text, and it doesn't have strange page-turn animations.

Anyone any idea?

Sorry, wrong thread, don't have NC

[Karen qPDF]

Originally Posted by Avenarius

I still can't find a completely satisfactory pdf reader for this device. Aldiko remains the best one out there - at least as far as my own needs go - but it still has no zoom function. ezPDF has improved a lot, but now the app puts buttons on the screen when you engage *horizontal scroll lock* and *tap for page turns.* (I suppose this is to show you those functions are engaged, but why exactly would you need to know that at all times?) There is a newer reader out there now - qPDf - and it would be perfect except for the fact that it doesn't have a full screen mode.

For what it's worth, here are the functions that should be standard on a pdf viewer for the NC:

- a full screen mode that eliminates the nook status bar at the bottom of the screen

- opens pdfs of scanned documents (Some of the paid apps won't do this!)

- tap for page turns

- page zooming [A function that automatically crops the left and right (and top and bottom) of a page would be nice as some documents have very large margins.]

- a zoom lock so you don't have to re-zoom after every page turn

Again, Aldiko meets all these requirements except for page zoom and zoom lock.

hi Avenarius,
I'm the product manager for qPDF Notes and just popped in to ask for more details about "full screen mode". Do you just mean hiding the tool bar? If so, you can just tap anywhere on the screen to hide or show the toolbar in our application.

If that's not what you're looking for, let me know some more details and I'll see if we can do what you're wanting.

-Karen

[MyJewishSoul]

On my semi-rooted NC I use Adobe Reader. I have used ezPDF occasionally, but always return to Adobe, as it seems like the perfect reader.