What is the best electronic device to view a PDF outside of a computer?
March 9, 2011 11:01 AM Subscribe
What is the best electronic device to view a PDF outside of a computer? I have a crapload of PDFs and am tired of reading them on my laptop. I'm thinking of getting an ebook reader or maybe a tablet? Are any ebook readers good at PDFs? Most of the PDFs are mostly text. But some have some maps and tables and what not.
Both the Kindle and Nook support PDF documents. I'm biased towards the Kindle since I own one, but the features on the Nook are also impressive. I would narrow it down to those two however as they're currently the best eReaders on the market. You also might want to consider an iPad as well, which would have a shorter battery life as its shortcoming.
posted by samsara at 11:07 AM on March 9, 2011
posted by samsara at 11:07 AM on March 9, 2011
iPad with iBooks for reading, iAnnotate for editing, and a stylus, Pogo makes a good stylus.
posted by limited slip at 11:07 AM on March 9, 2011
posted by limited slip at 11:07 AM on March 9, 2011
I don't think it is the best ereader out there, but the Sony Touch does well with PDFs.
posted by bearwife at 11:07 AM on March 9, 2011
posted by bearwife at 11:07 AM on March 9, 2011
I was going to recommend the Kindle. Most PDFs look good on it, but you can also convert PDFs (I use Calibre) to .MOBI and view (most of) them in a native Kindle environment (which allows you to change the font, the text size, etc.). It's cheap, too: $139 WiFi Kindle.
posted by mattbucher at 11:11 AM on March 9, 2011
posted by mattbucher at 11:11 AM on March 9, 2011
I have a B&W Nook, which is shit for the pdfs which I would like to read on it (scientific journal articles). (And yes, I tried Calibre. The fundamental problem is that a lot of the articles tend to be poorly formatted in the first place.)
The Nook Color (my husband has one) does very well.
posted by endless_forms at 11:14 AM on March 9, 2011
The Nook Color (my husband has one) does very well.
posted by endless_forms at 11:14 AM on March 9, 2011
iPad + PDF Reader Pro ($1.99 app, if I recall correctly).
posted by kuanes at 11:23 AM on March 9, 2011
posted by kuanes at 11:23 AM on March 9, 2011
I use my iPad + GoodReader. I am a heavy user, and scan almost all of my client files, as well as various legal authorites, etc. I don't use annotation, but for reading, it works well, and the iPad offers lots of games other useful apps.
posted by Hylas at 11:29 AM on March 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Hylas at 11:29 AM on March 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
As a Kindle owner I can tell you that it's awful for reading pdfs especially ones that are two-column and have equations (basically academic pdfs). It's slow, unwieldy, and you cannot jump around pages or zoom without pushing a bunch of buttons.
However, it is excellent for reading books and long form articles (especially when paired with readability and instapaper).
posted by special-k at 11:34 AM on March 9, 2011
However, it is excellent for reading books and long form articles (especially when paired with readability and instapaper).
posted by special-k at 11:34 AM on March 9, 2011
Just got a nook color and it's great for PDF's. I've rooted it so I have my choice of alternate pdf viewing software (whatever is available for Android), and there are a few good options including an official Adobe Reader.
This is probably your cheapest path to viewing them well on a table. Kindle is cheaper, but not as good. iPad is as good, but much more expensive (unless you go for a refurb base model ipad 1, which is maybe $100 more than a new nook color).
posted by utsutsu at 11:42 AM on March 9, 2011
This is probably your cheapest path to viewing them well on a table. Kindle is cheaper, but not as good. iPad is as good, but much more expensive (unless you go for a refurb base model ipad 1, which is maybe $100 more than a new nook color).
posted by utsutsu at 11:42 AM on March 9, 2011
In my opinion there is no perfect device for viewing PDFs out yet, so your decision really is going to depend on what you want to optimize for. The Kindle for example (and e-ink readers generally) have fantastic screens for reading text and superb battery life but:
1) are slow to refresh the screen -- panning and zooming takes several hundred msec
2) don't have a touch screen, so you have to pan and zoom with a directional pad, which is more annoying than it sounds.
3) you pretty much have to zoom and pan because and 8.5x11 or A4 sized PDF will render text to small to easily read when viewed at full size (this may not be as big of a problem on the Kindle DX, I haven't personally tried one)
4) Provide essentially no way to organize your PDF files. You simply load them up on the Kindle via a usb cable, name them something intuitive and then it's a matter of scrolling until you find the right file. You can search for files by filename, but that's still pretty obnoxious.
5) Lacking color support (not a big deal for me, but perhaps if you have color figures).
The ipad on the other hand, has a much faster refresh, with a multi-touch screen, you still need to zoom, but it's a lot less annoying since the screen is more responsive and you can use your fingers, there are multiple apps available that can organize your pdfs (I'm partial to papers.app) and it has color. But the downsides are that the screen isn't e-ink and the battery life is a lot less (hours versus weeks). I can't stress enough how nice e-ink screens are for reading text.
Maybe wait until the next kindle refresh and then reassess?
posted by joeyo at 11:59 AM on March 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
1) are slow to refresh the screen -- panning and zooming takes several hundred msec
2) don't have a touch screen, so you have to pan and zoom with a directional pad, which is more annoying than it sounds.
3) you pretty much have to zoom and pan because and 8.5x11 or A4 sized PDF will render text to small to easily read when viewed at full size (this may not be as big of a problem on the Kindle DX, I haven't personally tried one)
4) Provide essentially no way to organize your PDF files. You simply load them up on the Kindle via a usb cable, name them something intuitive and then it's a matter of scrolling until you find the right file. You can search for files by filename, but that's still pretty obnoxious.
5) Lacking color support (not a big deal for me, but perhaps if you have color figures).
The ipad on the other hand, has a much faster refresh, with a multi-touch screen, you still need to zoom, but it's a lot less annoying since the screen is more responsive and you can use your fingers, there are multiple apps available that can organize your pdfs (I'm partial to papers.app) and it has color. But the downsides are that the screen isn't e-ink and the battery life is a lot less (hours versus weeks). I can't stress enough how nice e-ink screens are for reading text.
Maybe wait until the next kindle refresh and then reassess?
posted by joeyo at 11:59 AM on March 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
If you're trying to do this on the CHEAP, I almost bought the Sharper Image e-reader, I forget the actual name, when Bed Bath and Beyond had them for $30. It's not e-ink or anything, and it got pretty crap reviews, but I mean... $30!
posted by tremspeed at 11:59 AM on March 9, 2011
posted by tremspeed at 11:59 AM on March 9, 2011
If you don't mind lots of scrolling, get a kindle 3 (and view landscape and zoom in) or a nook color (using ezPDF and text reflow). I believe both of them have a good return policy if you don't like it. Amazon's is 30 days minus cost of shipping; Nook Color can be returned to Barnes and Nobles within 2 weeks with receipt.
The problem with most E-ink readers and small 7" tablets personally, is that I find that endless scrolling got tiresome quickly. (and even broken formatting sometimes). If you have a lot of PDFs I highly recommend getting at least a 9.8" screen, so it can display a full sized page at a time.
Right now the best buys in the large screen department are a refurbished Ipad (now selling for about $330) or if you prefer Android I'd wait for the motorola xoom wifi only version to come out ($600). It would also be a good time to buy a used ipad off ebay (people are selling theirs to upgrade to the new ipad 2.)
Whatever you do decide, I highly recommend trying out devices in person and seeing if you like them. Go test out a nook color or Ipad at your local store ^^'
posted by tachikoma_robot at 12:42 PM on March 9, 2011
The problem with most E-ink readers and small 7" tablets personally, is that I find that endless scrolling got tiresome quickly. (and even broken formatting sometimes). If you have a lot of PDFs I highly recommend getting at least a 9.8" screen, so it can display a full sized page at a time.
Right now the best buys in the large screen department are a refurbished Ipad (now selling for about $330) or if you prefer Android I'd wait for the motorola xoom wifi only version to come out ($600). It would also be a good time to buy a used ipad off ebay (people are selling theirs to upgrade to the new ipad 2.)
Whatever you do decide, I highly recommend trying out devices in person and seeing if you like them. Go test out a nook color or Ipad at your local store ^^'
posted by tachikoma_robot at 12:42 PM on March 9, 2011
Convert PDFs into ePub format with Calibre and read them on your iPhone/iPod touch/iPad via iBooks. No need for zooming (except for images) and you can re-size the font on your device.
posted by plokent at 12:46 PM on March 9, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by plokent at 12:46 PM on March 9, 2011 [2 favorites]
I've been looking for the same thing. For the moment, I'm using a rooted Nook Color, but have found the experience to be so-so. The big limitation will be how well your documents respond to text reflow. PDF, as a format, is not designed with the goal of making it easy for the viewer to rearrange the text, so all the devices/programs that do this are hacky, and work to varying extents. Documents that are really just plain, human-readable text in a single column will probably work okay, either on-the-fly on the device or pre-converted with Calibre or the like. My experience has been, though, that many reflow engines mangle font distinctions (losing italics, for example, which can make it hard to understand text where italics are used for emphasis, sarcasm, etc.), and nobody does a good job of reflowing technical content (program source code, equations, tables, etc.). Singe a lot of what I read is technical, the reflowing is usually not an option, and I usually find myself either reading tiny text, or pan-and-scanning it, which is suboptimal.
So, what it boils down to: if you think your text is reflow-able, get whatever you want. If all you're doing is reading, you may as well get an e-Ink device, since they're easier on the eyes and WiFi Kindles are cheap. If not, you're kinda screwed. My guess is that this particular use case will be better-served in a year or two when more e-Ink devices aimed at business users and the 8.5x11 or A4 form factor start to hit the market. Until then, the experience is mediocre, but the two things that will be of most benefit will be a bigger display and higher resolution, so the Xoom is probably worth a look, as is the Kindle DX.
posted by andrewpendleton at 1:26 PM on March 9, 2011
So, what it boils down to: if you think your text is reflow-able, get whatever you want. If all you're doing is reading, you may as well get an e-Ink device, since they're easier on the eyes and WiFi Kindles are cheap. If not, you're kinda screwed. My guess is that this particular use case will be better-served in a year or two when more e-Ink devices aimed at business users and the 8.5x11 or A4 form factor start to hit the market. Until then, the experience is mediocre, but the two things that will be of most benefit will be a bigger display and higher resolution, so the Xoom is probably worth a look, as is the Kindle DX.
posted by andrewpendleton at 1:26 PM on March 9, 2011
joeyo, I felt the same way about #4 until I figured out how to make "collections" on the Kindle, which really helps organize it.
OP, if you get a Kindle and want to view PDFs on it, you will most likely want to convert them to a format that allows text scaling rather than zooming. Amazon provides such a service for free, or you can use any number of free tools. None of these handle images particularly well, though.
posted by MonsieurBon at 1:32 PM on March 9, 2011
OP, if you get a Kindle and want to view PDFs on it, you will most likely want to convert them to a format that allows text scaling rather than zooming. Amazon provides such a service for free, or you can use any number of free tools. None of these handle images particularly well, though.
posted by MonsieurBon at 1:32 PM on March 9, 2011
Kindle DX's have enough screen space that it's not painful to read complex PDFs on them. The experience is not painful but it's not a pleasure either. Kindles have started to show up in retail stores so you should be able to get your hands on one to see if you like them.
posted by rdr at 2:00 PM on March 9, 2011
posted by rdr at 2:00 PM on March 9, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks everybody. Your comments have helped me nail down want I want.
I don't really care about e-ink as such as I've been reading stuff on a computer screen all my life and am used to it. I want something small that I can carry around easily and don't want to have to convert hundreds of files. And I'd like to spend somewhere around 200. Most of my PDFs are either text or have some tables but they are not really technical, so I don't think reflow is hugely important.
But unfortunately, what I would like doesn't currently exist. Clearly, I need to do some prioritization. Thanks.
posted by nooneyouknow at 2:20 PM on March 9, 2011
I don't really care about e-ink as such as I've been reading stuff on a computer screen all my life and am used to it. I want something small that I can carry around easily and don't want to have to convert hundreds of files. And I'd like to spend somewhere around 200. Most of my PDFs are either text or have some tables but they are not really technical, so I don't think reflow is hugely important.
But unfortunately, what I would like doesn't currently exist. Clearly, I need to do some prioritization. Thanks.
posted by nooneyouknow at 2:20 PM on March 9, 2011
I've been searching for this for years, to no avail. There are a huge number of us in the market for this nonexistent device. I'm crossing my fingers that the PDF conversion on the NoteSlate will end up being really good (but I'm trying not to get my hopes up).
posted by paul! at 5:58 AM on March 16, 2011
posted by paul! at 5:58 AM on March 16, 2011
Yeah, I work on a related project and we've been waiting for such a device for over two years, no luck yet. For a while, I thought the Notion Ink Adam might be it, but it's not. However, the current trend toward high PPI screens seems to be leading in the right direction - I suspect it's just around the corner.
posted by fake at 11:49 AM on May 25, 2011
posted by fake at 11:49 AM on May 25, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by libraryhead at 11:06 AM on March 9, 2011