Thursday, 24 October 2013

PDF reader - iPad Premium



PDF file viewers are ten a penny. Do not confuse this App with one of those. 

The name "PDF Reader iPad" does not do it justice. It also includes the ability to annotate and/or scan documents, as well as a sophisticated file manager.

Now for the ACIDS test:

Aesthetics
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 (for PDF files)... 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.

In my opinion, the real differentiator 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 the saved as a PDF document and you can use all the creative and editing capabilities of the App listed above. The App does have a quirk in that, in order to complete this operation you need to tap an icon which looks like 'add a page'... obviously, this is what you are doing but, there is no evident way that you are creating a PDF document (remember the advice to look at the manual...).

Cost
The App is excellent value at $3.

Indispensability
There is no question that a PDF reader is indispensable if you make serious (as opposed to frivolous) use of your iPad.

Dependability
The App performed without errors.

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 more than a plain vanilla PDF Reader.

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


You can get PDF reader - iPad Premium here and support for the App here.


3 comments:

  1. The developer advises that there has been an update to version 2.4.1 of the App.

    This includes the following enhancements and alterations:

    + SugarSync service updated
    + In-app user manual updated
    + Enhanced self-recovery system
    + Minor bugs fixed

    ReplyDelete
  2. The developer advises that there has been an update to version 2.5 of the App.

    This includes the following enhancements and alterations:

    + Major update for PDF rendering engine
    *Double efficiency in rendering PDF pages
    *Double efficiency in reading and editing PDF pages
    *Strengthened stability in viewing and saving large files – For large files, the PDF engine automatically fixes the partly-damaged content

    + Enhanced PDF viewer & annotator
    *New feature added – Rotate PDF pages & extract PDF pages and save as a new file
    *Better gesture design for PDF annotation tools and PDF form-filling
    *Bookmarks inserted & saved within PDFs –Can be viewed in other reader apps
    *Improvement in text selection and page editor
    *Enhancement in PDF hyperlinks
    *Able to customize stamps comprised of text and image

    + Updated PDF scanner
    *New features added – folder management, sorting and mark as favorites
    *Enhanced camera module

    + Refreshed speed performance for iCloud
    + Able to send push notifications to users
    + Able to recommend the app to Facebook
    + Now you can download/upload files via Evernote or SkyDrive!
    + Supports encoding conversion for FTP file names
    + Streamline annotation process!
    + Bug fixed

    ReplyDelete
  3. The developer advises that there has been an update to version 2.6 of the App.

    This includes the following enhancements and alterations:

    Kdan Creative Cloud
    Unlock PDF Reader restrictions – Sign up for FREE
    + File storage - store 10+ files in PDF Reader.
    + Scanner - import scanned projects without limitation.
    + Stamp tool - make customized stamps out of text and images.
    + Kdan Cloud - get 500MB of free space.

    New Document Viewer
    + Clean & Intuitive - UI optimized for highlight, underline, strikethrough, and squiggly.
    + Media player - display video/audio files
    + Enhanced UX for annotation object selection.

    New Annotation Tools
    + New typewriter – adjust text style/font/size/color/opacity
    + Export your annotations via email
    + Retain last color selection for annotation.
    + Record & add audio files to PDFs (subscribed users)
    + Insert images in PDFs (subscribed user)
    + Add hyperlinks to PDFs (subscribed user)

    New Page Slider
    + Enhanced page navigation – preview & scroll through PDF pages with ease
    + New BOT”A” list– displays a list of your annotations.
    + Synchronize your annotation list once the PDF file is edited.

    ReplyDelete

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