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iPad mini How are PDFs on the Mini?

kas23

kas23

macrumors 603
Original poster
Oct 28, 2007
5,629
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And by PDFs, I mean scientific articles. Do they read well on the Mini's dimensions? Do you have to scroll around a lot? And don't mention the resolution. I have an iPad 2 so know what the text is going to look like, but I've always thought my iPad was too big and clunky to be a truly portable device.
 
kas23 said:
And by PDFs, I mean scientific articles. Do they read well on the Mini's dimensions? Do you have to scroll around a lot? And don't mention the resolution. I have an iPad 2 so know what the text is going to look like, but I've always thought my iPad was too big and clunky to be a truly portable device.
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Depends almost entirely on the text size in the PDF. Apps can assist. I'm using Comicglass to read PDFs. It has lots of zoom options.
 
xtalicious said:
I'm curious to hear opinions on this as well. I might head to an Apple Store this week to view a few PDFs through Mobile Safari to get an idea of the mini's capabilities.

This thread has a few notes regarding PDFs on the mini, but it's largely about e-reading on the mini:

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=16225281
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Yes, I saw this thread as well, but eBook PDFs are different. They don't have multiple columns that an article would have. I could see this as a plus though. It may look good if the Mini zooms in on each column alone.

I should have checked it on this morning when I was at the Apple Store, but my judgement was clouded (no pun intended) by the lack of Retina. But, if I sell my current iPad 2, this could be seen as a lateral move, one that I may consider, especially since I hardly use my iPad 2 anymore.
 
Hundreds of pdf in good reader, so far no problems
 

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This was my major reason for buying a mini, and I can say it's fantastic.

The university programme I'm studying is all about reading, articles, scans of books and PDF ebooks, and I'm tired of the printing of reams to simply be able to sit comfortably and read something, because I hate reading stuff on my computer or laptop.

Well, the mini has exceeded my hugely high expectations. I even considered a non-iOS device simply for the screen resolution, but I can tell you that was silly of me. The mini's screen is gorgeous. I don't own an iPad 3 (I'm a former gen 1 owner) so I'm not *as* disappointed it doesn't sport a retina display, but I'll tell you, this device is exciting.

Send me a PM if you have more specific questions. Love this device!
 
PDFs aren't too bad on the mini. I was just looking at one using PDF Notes and they look pretty good. One of mine I had to zoom a little bit. But it wasn't bad. I went from an iPad 2 to the mini. I also think txt looks fine on this device. I've seen the iPad 3 and yes retina is great and all but it really is not a deal breaker for the mini. The lightness and portability of this device is just awesome. When the get the full size iPad this thin that device will be astounding. I've learned over the weekend I carry the mini around more than the iPad. But maybe cause its new time will tell. So far no complaints. I find games are easier to play on the mini as well.
 
When I had the iPad 2 earlier this year I needed to zoom in for most of the PDF textbooks I have in GoodReader. That's why I bought an iPad 3 right on the release date and can't be happier since then. I can't imagine going back to a low PPI screen for reading PDFs.
 
The technical manuals, articles and such are a perfect fit on the mini. All my Cisco documentation is easily readable without scrolling and it contains columns, charts, images, etc. On a 7" device it is just too small so I was worried that the mini wouldn't cut it but it does. The extra inch makes a world of difference. Also all my viewing is through GoodReader.
 
I use Goodreader to read my PDFs in my Minipad. And I have no problem with this at all. Love the mini!
 
HabSonic said:
I asked Gruber on Twitter and he said it's feeling "a bit cramped".
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Hmmm, what he actually said in his article is, "If the Mini had a retina display, I’d switch from the iPad 3 in a heartbeat. As it stands, I’m going to switch anyway. Going non-retina is a particularly bitter pill for me, but I like the iPad Mini’s size and weight so much that I’m going to swallow it."

Regardless what he told you "on Twitter" regarding viewing PDFs, it can't be nearly as bad as you (and others) make out, but continue to misrepresent people who've actually used this device, and you'll find a willing and loyal fan club in the troll room, just down the hall.
 
Many thanks to all those that have responded. If you're reading scientific or technical articles with multiple columns, are you using landscape orientation primarily?
 
I'm primarily a scientific paper reader and I mainly read in portrait where the whole page fits on the screen. The mini is really disappointing in this regard.
 
AzN1337c0d3r said:
I'm primarily a scientific paper reader and I mainly read in portrait where the whole page fits on the screen. The mini is really disappointing in this regard.
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I'm also wondering about how the mini fares with this in particular - I like to keep one whole page on the screen when I read scientific literature.
 
I have read a couple papers in two column format with lots of equations and graphs without a problem. I did need to zoom in on a graph which was small. I also double tap to zoom into a column.

PS: I wear glasses for reading. My 40 year old eyes are not as good :( as they were when I was 9.
 
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WilliamLondon said:
Hmmm, what he actually said in his article is, "If the Mini had a retina display, I’d switch from the iPad 3 in a heartbeat. As it stands, I’m going to switch anyway. Going non-retina is a particularly bitter pill for me, but I like the iPad Mini’s size and weight so much that I’m going to swallow it."

Regardless what he told you "on Twitter" regarding viewing PDFs, it can't be nearly as bad as you (and others) make out, but continue to misrepresent people who've actually used this device, and you'll find a willing and loyal fan club in the troll room, just down the hall.
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What are you talking about? Gruber didn't even tested PDF in his review. And I was asking about academic/scientific PDF, not "regular" PDF (most of them are fine, but ME, like the OP, I need to reed academic/scientific PDF). It's not about the screen pixel density, it's about the screen actual size. The regular iPad is much closer to a regular sheet of paper than the Mini. The Mini is still a wonderful device, but for ME, like many others, the regular iPad is a better buy. Stop talking about troll when we are just trying to find the better device for our needs. Stop the fanboy/troll attitude.
 
PDF with small fonts and graphs might be an issue. You can read it, but it is fuzzy.

If you don't mind zoom, scrolling, and panning, then the iPad Mini is great.
 
After looking at a couple two-column scientific papers on the Mini, I'd give it a thumbs up, but maybe with a caveat: a good pdf reader makes a difference.

I'm using GoodReader (which I just bought, so I'm still on the learning curve), and it has a global "crop" command that is quite useful. You can set this for all pages, or odd-even pages separately, and it'll crop the borders, making the difference between a full page being either difficult or comfortable to read.

If you read in landscape mode, and don't mind a quick flip to go from top to bottom of page as you transition columns, then you're good to go from the start with no zooming needed.

Then, when you do hit that graph that has way too much data, you'll just have to zoom in.

Regards,
Tom
 
xtalicious said:
Many thanks to all those that have responded. If you're reading scientific or technical articles with multiple columns, are you using landscape orientation primarily?
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I only read in portrait mode. Is there any example PDF you can link for us to look at and give you a more accurate review?
 
HabSonic said:
What are you talking about? Gruber didn't even tested PDF in his review. And I was asking about academic/scientific PDF, not "regular" PDF (most of them are fine, but ME, like the OP, I need to reed academic/scientific PDF). It's not about the screen pixel density, it's about the screen actual size. The regular iPad is much closer to a regular sheet of paper than the Mini. The Mini is still a wonderful device, but for ME, like many others, the regular iPad is a better buy. Stop talking about troll when we are just trying to find the better device for our needs. Stop the fanboy/troll attitude.
Click to expand...

Nice rant, hope you feel better.

Apologies that I assumed if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck, but it's simply not true that PDFs don't display well on this device.

I read academic PDFs, in fact today I read academic PDFs on my iPad mini - reading PDFs is the *main* reason I bought this device. It's not perfect, it can be improved, and hopefully we'll see that next gen but for this version it's pretty damn good (it surprised the hell out of me!).

There are people running around here saying the screen is so awful that it displays PDFs "horridly" - that is simply not true. Horrid? Talk about exaggeration! If the mini displays PDFs "horridly" what words would people use to describe how my (wonderful) Kindle displays PDFs??
 
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