Reading PDF books on iPad Mini

[denismo]

Hello,

I've got iPad Mini and I'm trying to read book on it, mostly PDF books. The problem with those is that they are usually A4 sized, and have ridiculous margin around text. So in result the text font is very small. Tried some readers where you can zoom in but it's very inconvenient.

So does anyone read PDFs on iPad Mini? And how do you deal with similar problems?

Thanks.

Denis

[Faterson]

Hi,

The first principle is, PDF is not a suitable format for reading books, period. Especially because, as you say, you cannot easily reflow pages and font sizes the way you wish. Whenever you can, avoid PDF and get the book in EPUB or MOBI instead. You can also easily convert other formats into EPUB in free software such as Calibre. PDF is a pesky format, so it's not easy to convert from it. I've had better results converting from PDF to EPUB/MOBI using Mobipocket Reader than Calibre. Once you have a book in EPUB, read it in Marvin.

If you absolutely cannot avoid reading a book in the PDF format, then you need the best software that there is in iOS for handling PDFs, to mitigate your suffering as you read the file, as much as possible. In my experience, the best software for handling PDFs on your iPad/iPhone is GoodReader or neu.Annotate.

[Trauma Doll]

Seconding goodreader. It's got some fairly robust tools for applying a 'crop' throughout the whole document to get rid of some of the weird aspect ratio/wasted real estate issues.

[denismo]

Thanks, I've tried GoodReader - impressive app, but it does not seem to be geared towards simple reading, at least I don't feel it's convenient enough for that. But thanks for suggestions.

I'm really looking for something that can read PDFs natively, without conversion - it's very difficult to convert scientific papers, and even basic books that I read loose something or look strange after conversion. And I don't want to have an extra step for every book I read.

I'm thinking of developing an app myself for that, as I can see there are not many like this. Anyone interested in trying?

[Faterson]

Keep it real, though -- reading scientific papers on iPad mini? I'm in the same pickle as you are: I hate PDFs and how they display on the iPads, but for scholarly purposes, you just can't avoid PDFs in many instances, no matter how hard you try.

Apart from developing your own app (and good luck in doing that -- GoodReader will be tough to beat), you have few choices other than mitigating your suffering. The first step in that direction is to get a full-sized iPad instead of the iPad mini. It's still not A4-sized, but reading PDFs on it isn't as painful as on 7-inch readers. For the same reason, I still prefer my old-fashioned Kindle DX over the modern Kindle devices -- especially for reading PDFs, the larger Kindle display wins over the smaller display every time, despite lower contrast, resolution, etc., on the older Kindle.

PS: On the Android platform, I read praise about Repligo.

[denismo]

Good point, not many would probably buy iPad Mini "for" reading but since it's more mobile than iPad I tend to read more frequently on it because it happens to be with me while I'm waiting for something and I want to fill the time with something useful. And it just happens that many useful (and interesting) books are still available only in PDFs... And so are many research papers.

With the app, I'm not trying to compete with GoodReader, just provide enough for comfortable reading of PDFs.

[DaleDe]

Any body tried the Adobe PDF reader?

[Faterson]

Years ago, and it was awful. Has it got any better? Judging from praise heaped on GoodReader, I was assuming Adobe's reader was still of no use today.

[denismo]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Any body tried the Adobe PDF reader?

I tried but did not like the taste. May be I'm not cooking it correctly?

Hey Faterson
Adobe has been trying hard to make the app better but they are not getting success.

denismo
Give a try to GoodReader for iPad, you will like this app.

[denismo]

Originally Posted by Daniel Jones

Hey Faterson
Adobe has been trying hard to make the app better but they are not getting success.

denismo
Give a try to GoodReader for iPad, you will like this app.

Thanks, Daniel, I'm using GoodReader and quite like it, but I think it's main purpose is not just for reading PDFs, it's much more powerful than that.

[Valkrider]

For the few pdf's that I read on my mini I find the Adobe app sufficient, not great but OK. If you want to read lots of pdf's then I could not recommend it.

[denismo]

So what are the problems with Adobe PDF reader, if you don't mind me asking?

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Any body tried the Adobe PDF reader?

Yes, it is good to have around, especially if you need to work with PDF forms and annotation workflows or all of the various kinds of PDF encryption. And it is free.

But it doesn't include any cropping tools, and I think good cropping tools are the sine qua non of a general purpose PDF reader. Even on a 10" screen. Margins are a waste of screen space, where bezels (even mini's) provide the same function of 'isolation' from background.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by denismo

Hello,

I've got iPad Mini and I'm trying to read book on it, mostly PDF books. The problem with those is that they are usually A4 sized, and have ridiculous margin around text. So in result the text font is very small. Tried some readers where you can zoom in but it's very inconvenient.

So does anyone read PDFs on iPad Mini? And how do you deal with similar problems?

Thanks.

Denis

Gave my iPad 3 to my wife and bought a mini. Love it!

I use Good Reader and landscape orientation. If you try portrait, may be too small.

You can cut or edit the margins with GoodReader but in my case, not necessary.