PDF Connoisseur for iPad - App Review

The guys at Kdan Mobile Software seem to have another PDF file viewer... not so! They do seem to specialise in taking a run of the mill App like a PDF viewer and then making something special and very unexpected.

If you're impatient and really can't wait, I'll spill the beans right now: the App speaks... but there's also another trick up its sleeve!

Now for the ACIDS test:

Aesthetics
PDF Connoisseur for iPad is perhaps best described as PDF reader - iPad Premium, on steroids. It picks up on the great tools there and adds to them... just like this review.

The App includes a comprehensive manual which you can download one section at a time. Although the App is intuitive, you might find a glance at the manual helpful as well.

The File Viewer allows you to do exactly that... but as for the rest of the App, it also includes other tools. This includes text reflowing, the ability to directly interrogate Wiki and Google about a word (not just the standard iOS dictionary).

The File Manager, unsurprisingly, allows you to move and rename files, as well as putting them into password protected folders. It also gives the ability to directly add tags.

Like other of the more powerful PDF editors, the App allows you to annotate documents with sticky notes, as well as text, shapes (arrow, line, circle, box), and a signature and stamps. You have the choice to save your document so that it can be re-edited, or in flattened style, so that all your alterations become part of the document and are not modifiable by third parties.

There are many options for moving files between systems. This can be done through Wi-Fi, USB linking (through iTunes), as well as a vast array of established cloud/off-line services (box, Dropbox, FTP, Google Docs, Google Drive, MyDisk, SugarSync, WebDAV) and, of course, email. As a genuine iOS 7 compliant App, AirDrop is also supported.

What already differentiates Kdan's PDF Reader (remember that Connoisseur is the big brother/sister) is that you can use your iPad camera to photograph anything, including documents. The resulting image can then be edited. The adjustments include brightness, contrast, automatic (re)focussing and the, so often missing, ability to crop the image (this is a simple but very effective way to get rid of extraneous information). The resulting image is then saved as a PDF document and you can use all the creative and editing capabilities of the App listed above.

And now (drum roll please) for two absolute knockout additions:

1. OCR
Perform Optical Character Recognition on your imported photographs. How many times have you seen a document and thought 'I'll take a picture of that and read it later'? The advent of smart phones made that part easy but, this goes one stage further. The document can be converted into text which can subsequently be edited and, of course, saved as text or PDF.

2. Speech
Close your eyes and imagine that, rather than read the document in front of you, someone could read it to you. Well, you can stop imagining because this App does exactly that, in a number of languages (American English, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Korean), in either male or female voices. All you need do is highlight the text you want spoken and then touch 'TTS Speak'.

There are clearly many practical uses to this, as evidenced by the fact that University of Michigan lists PDF Connoisseur for iPad on its Apps for Dyslexia and Learning Disabilities website.

My favourite is listening to the text with another voice. Those of you old enough to remember a television advertisement for Grand Marnier will know just what I mean... or maybe I just need to grow up.

Cost
The App sells for $10 on the App store. If you consider that this includes a PDF editor, that is considerably less than you would pay for that facility on a PC, never mind the OCR and Text to Speech.

Indispensability
There is no question that a PDF reader is indispensable if you make serious (as opposed to frivolous) use of your iPad. The additional tools to edit are just about essential as well.

Dependability
The App performed without errors. The speech recognition seems to hesitate at the end of a line... maybe it's just catching its breath!

Security
The big plus is that the App allows you to set a 'serious' password, not just the typical 4 digits. With all the information that you will no doubt allow the App to access, this is very important. There are a lot of sharing options so, you need to act responsibly, as ever.

ACIDS Test Rating:

Much, much, much, much more than a plain vanilla PDF Reader.

To find out how the ACIDS Test works, click here.

You can get PDF Connoisseur for iPad here and support for the App here.