threedogfarm Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I would like to read long PDFs without printing them out. I'd like the entire page displayed at once (with it's page number!) and I do not want to have to zoom in to read it. I'd like it to look exactly as it would if I had printed it out but without having to print it of course. I'll be reading for long periods of time so I'd love for it to be like an e-reader. Am I asking for too much? Does such a device exisit and I'm just not looking in the right place for it? I know that a tablet or iPad could probably do this but how are they for reading for an extended period of time? What are the pros and cons for going this route? I hoping the hive would have some suggestions. Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I read pdfs just fine on my ipad. It really depends on whether you can read the print when the page is shrunk to the size of your reader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yucabird Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Santa brought me a Kindle Fire, and I love it because I can read PDFs. On my earlier Kindles, the fonts was too small -- I'd resize and reorient (to landscape), but some PDFs were still unreadable. This has made HSing --on the road and in general -- much nicer. I can now pick-and-choose what print (e.g., sections of workbooks), rather than having to print everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Victoria~ Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I have a kindle keyboard and PDFs on it are awful :/ I tried out a pdf (mr.q) on a friend's 7" kindle fire and the font wasn't as big as I want. I am now thinking of getting a kindle fire 8.9". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threedogfarm Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 Thank you to everyone for the suggestions! I'm glad to hear that some people are happy with the larger Kindles. I'd look at a Nook but we already have a couple of Kindles in the family. I'm looking into the Kindle Dx which is almost (but not quite) the size of a piece of paper. I think that might work. I really don't want to have to zoom in or out. I saw that Sony has come out with EXACTLY what I'm looking for. But with a ridiculous price tag of $1000. Oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 My iPad will show the whole page... but most of the pdf reader apps only show about 2/3 of the page as the default. Even with the iPad's nice sized screen, you're still looking at a page that's shrunk if you look at the full page. Depending on the size of the type, it's not a great reading experience, though it can be better for paging through and finding things. I know some people worry about reading on a screen, but I do it a lot and have not really had an issue with it. An iPad is a great tool for all kinds of things, not just pdfs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 The ipad in landscape mode is the only tablet I have that can fit a page width of a textbook.in pdf format. My kids would still need to scroll down to read a page but they don't need to zoom. I also have a Kindle Fire 8.9 and the screen is slightly smaller so it really depends on your comfort level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Dh's iPad is nice to read PDFs on. I have an iPad mini, which will also show a full page, but the font is smaller. For reading actual books, I prefer my Kindle. If I have a book-size PDF, Amazon has a free conversion service that I use. Each Kindle is assigned an email address, and you can just email the doc with "convert" in the subject line. This only works well if the PDF is mostly text, without sidebars and such. Once I tried converting my PDF copy of The Writer's Jungle (which has quotes and testimonials in the margins) and it was a disaster. The sidebar text was inserted in seemingly random places throughout the text. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 A possible workaround for the Kindle: .pdf is essentially a picture. If you can get your OCR program to recognize it, you can export it as .odt (.doc on Windows) and convert it to .mobi on Calibre. If that doesn't help, you might have better luck in Landscape mode than Portrait mode if your eyes aren't as bad as mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I would like to read long PDFs without printing them out. I'd like the entire page displayed at once (with it's page number!) and I do not want to have to zoom in to read it. I'd like it to look exactly as it would if I had printed it out but without having to print it of course. I'll be reading for long periods of time so I'd love for it to be like an e-reader. So you are looking for a device with e-ink type display (not backlit) with an 8.5x11 screen? Have you taken a look at 9.7 inch screen ereaders? Maybe see how you feel the Kindle DX can handle PDFs, or something like http://www.icarusreader.com/ or https://onyx-boox.com/productsinfo/onyx-boox-m92-black-pearl/ --> are these even sold in the US? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomandlorih Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Dh's iPad is nice to read PDFs on. I have an iPad mini, which will also show a full page, but the font is smaller. For reading actual books, I prefer my Kindle. If I have a book-size PDF, Amazon has a free conversion service that I use. Each Kindle is assigned an email address, and you can just email the doc with "convert" in the subject line. This only works well if the PDF is mostly text, without sidebars and such. Once I tried converting my PDF copy of The Writer's Jungle (which has quotes and testimonials in the margins) and it was a disaster. The sidebar text was inserted in seemingly random places throughout the text. Not to hijack but I also have an iPad mini.. do you mind my asking what app you use to view your .pdf's on the mini? Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Korrale Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I am legally blind and I struggle with reading print over extended periods of time. I use my iPad to read a lot. I read PDFs in landscape mode and it is perfect. I just scroll through them like a webpage. I can view them on the default browser, safari. Or I can use iBooks or a kindle app. Until recently I had no idea that there were PDF viewing apps as I didn't know that one was needed. I personally use Dropbox to read most of my PDFs because I keep them in the Dropbox so that they are synced to the computer and my phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Not to hijack but I also have an iPad mini.. do you mind my asking what app you use to view your .pdf's on the mini? Thank you I view PDFs on my regular iPad via Notability. It's the most wonderful app ever. ;). I would assume it works on the iPad mini as well. I use Notability for reading PDFs, writing on them, making grocery lists, doing math problems like on a whiteboard, you name it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Not to hijack but I also have an iPad mini.. do you mind my asking what app you use to view your .pdf's on the mini? Thank youWhichever app seems most convenient at the time. iBooks or Notability or Dropbox or the Kindle app. Probably iBooks is my default, unless I have the document saved in dropbox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I view PDFs on my regular iPad via Notability. It's the most wonderful app ever. ;). I would assume it works on the iPad mini as well. I use Notability for reading PDFs, writing on them, making grocery lists, doing math problems like on a whiteboard, you name it. It does work on a mini. The only disadvantage of Notability is that I tend to leave stray marks on my doc when I'm just trying to scroll. So I don't use it for things I don't need to mark up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Korrale Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Notability is nice too because you can make notes on the PDF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Is there anything app on iPad where you can click on the embedded links in a PDF? I love Dropbox for reading PDFs but the links are unclickable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threedogfarm Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 So you are looking for a device with e-ink type display (not backlit) with an 8.5x11 screen? Have you taken a look at 9.7 inch screen ereaders? Maybe see how you feel the Kindle DX can handle PDFs, or something like http://www.icarusreader.com/ or https://onyx-boox.com/productsinfo/onyx-boox-m92-black-pearl/ --> are these even sold in the US? Thank you Stripe! Yes, these are what I am looking for. Much better specs (and reviews!) than the Kindle DX. Thanks for bringing them to my attention. They're not sold in the U.S. (I've searched) except for on ebay. I'll spend some time tomorrow afternoon looking at my options. I knew the Hive would have some great suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 There are rumors that Samsung is developing a 12 or 13 inch tablet for the education market, for release sometime in 2014. I would love to see this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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