If you want to read PDFs, get a Kindle. If you want a tablet device, get an iPad. Simple really.
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Just tested an iPad for reading scientific journal papers - bad news of iPad 2
- Thread starter thesmoth
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I'm talking about high res scientific papers with lots of complex graphs, charts, and pictures. A kindle would not do at all.
It isn't really that they are unreadable, but a higher-res screen would definitely make reading them more comfortable (on my eyes at least).
Read in landscape mode? I don't think I ever have the thing in portrait orientation. Landscape seems to be the perfect width.
You could probably try looking into better PDF readers in the App Store. I use Instapaper all the time, and I always think how much nicer college would have been if iPads were around a few years back, heh.
You could probably try looking into better PDF readers in the App Store. I use Instapaper all the time, and I always think how much nicer college would have been if iPads were around a few years back, heh.
Do you have a better option than the iPad?
Sure, I'd like a superhiresscreen. But at this moment, there is just no better thing than the ipad to read my PDF. (I don't pretend to be reading journals, but online newspapers and magazines are usually formatted for A4 or higher too)
At least the ipad is extremely smooth with zooming.
The humxn braxn is an amxzing thxng
The human brain is an amazing thing
OP
I find your complaint about not enough resolution somewhat odd.
The iPad screen is higher res than any Mac display except the 11.6" MacBook Air which is 135 (Air) VS 132 (iPad) DPI. If you can read comfortably on your laptop then the issue has nothing to do with resolution, but with the size of the text. Many magazines and newspapers are still printed with little more resolution than the iPad.
The human brain is not looking for smooth fonts or even individual letters in the words that you are reading. The brain recognizes patterns of letters which form words that your brain can even recognize without focusing on the individual letters.
Therefore, extra pixels are not necessarily the solution.
I think that the problem you had, was that you are zoomed out too far, which made reading the tiny text uncomfortable after a short period of time.
I suggest using GoodReader which only cost $0.99.
This app has a crop feature for pdf's which allows you get rid of the documents margins and enlarge the text while still viewing the full page.
The human brain is an amazing thing
OP
I find your complaint about not enough resolution somewhat odd.
The iPad screen is higher res than any Mac display except the 11.6" MacBook Air which is 135 (Air) VS 132 (iPad) DPI. If you can read comfortably on your laptop then the issue has nothing to do with resolution, but with the size of the text. Many magazines and newspapers are still printed with little more resolution than the iPad.
The human brain is not looking for smooth fonts or even individual letters in the words that you are reading. The brain recognizes patterns of letters which form words that your brain can even recognize without focusing on the individual letters.
Therefore, extra pixels are not necessarily the solution.
I think that the problem you had, was that you are zoomed out too far, which made reading the tiny text uncomfortable after a short period of time.
I suggest using GoodReader which only cost $0.99.
This app has a crop feature for pdf's which allows you get rid of the documents margins and enlarge the text while still viewing the full page.
Plus it has the ability to store documents in a hierarchy of folders, which is very useful.
I tried that one out when I started my PhD. Never managed to make it sync reliably or load my library on correctly. If I thought I stood a chance after four months of faffing, I'd ask for the £8.99 back.
OP, I know what you're talking about. I'm 28 and have perfect vision. I use Goodreader to start with as it's by far the best PDF viewer. I have most of them. iBooks is ok but I prefer the file system of good reader much more.
As far as everything being a little blurry and hard on the eyes. It is. There's no difference in the PDF quality from iBooks to goodreader on text. Images on the other hand good reader does very well at.
To your problem with viewing a full doc and being hard to read because the text is blurry. The way I have over come this is to open the file, turn my iPad to landscape and bring the document to full width. It provides very clear text and easy to read. You can also skim pretty fast to get to the section you want.
To change pages quickly you'll need to learn to swipe twice. This prevents you from having to resize everytime you want to go to another page.
Try that and see if it helps. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how well it works and although we all wish for a higher resolution this should get you by until then.
As far as everything being a little blurry and hard on the eyes. It is. There's no difference in the PDF quality from iBooks to goodreader on text. Images on the other hand good reader does very well at.
To your problem with viewing a full doc and being hard to read because the text is blurry. The way I have over come this is to open the file, turn my iPad to landscape and bring the document to full width. It provides very clear text and easy to read. You can also skim pretty fast to get to the section you want.
To change pages quickly you'll need to learn to swipe twice. This prevents you from having to resize everytime you want to go to another page.
Try that and see if it helps. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how well it works and although we all wish for a higher resolution this should get you by until then.
So I tested out the same paper in high and lower resolution and they looked identical.
After spending more time with it, it's not as bad as I first thought it was. It isn't super clear at full screen (the text size is so small that the text isn't super smooth) but it's still readable. It's not quite as blurry as I first thought, and although it would be much better with a retina display, I now thinks it's good enough to work.
My new statement is that it would be much better with a retina display, but it is good enough as it is.
After spending more time with it, it's not as bad as I first thought it was. It isn't super clear at full screen (the text size is so small that the text isn't super smooth) but it's still readable. It's not quite as blurry as I first thought, and although it would be much better with a retina display, I now thinks it's good enough to work.
My new statement is that it would be much better with a retina display, but it is good enough as it is.
Great thanks for the tips! See my post above for my slightly updated opinion. My general feeling is the same, but I now think after using it some more than it will work fine. I don't have an iPad right now, but now when the iPad 2 comes out i'll be more likely to get it even if it doesn't have a 'retina' display.
My experience is that PDF files take a few seconds to "focus" when you first open them. At first it looks very blurry, but after a few seconds the text becomes sharper.
I wonder :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_displays_by_pixel_density
Do you own any of these to try and compare? Ipad ppi isnt all that low compared to some screens. Do you experience simular problems with them?
Or is it a combination of a pdf with quit small text, resolution/size and the distance you hold the ipad?
I use my ipad to read articles everyday.
I use an app called Papers that syncs your library between your mac and your ipad/iphone.
I do zoom a bit but I find reading articles is just great.
You can also make notes and highlight text in different colours, and these changes sync back to your mac library if you want it to.
I use an app called Papers that syncs your library between your mac and your ipad/iphone.
I do zoom a bit but I find reading articles is just great.
You can also make notes and highlight text in different colours, and these changes sync back to your mac library if you want it to.
I find it funny how many people who respond here either do not read scientific papers at all or did not read or understand the OP's first post.
His (and my) problem is simply that we need to scan through tens of papers to look for certain key content. After that it's easy to zoom in and read the details.
Often we download 20 papers and read only 2% of the content after skimming through them in 10 min and identifying the descriptions of a specific method or such.
However the skimming through papers requires a full page overview and a good rendering of the fonts. That in turn is much better with a higher resolution screen.
All the suggestions of "buy a kindle" or "download good reader or any other pdf program" or "you know you can double tap to zoom in" do actually not address the problem at all.
I have shown the iPad (and other tablets and computers) to dozens of colleagues and they all have the same problem. We all still print out most of the papers and skim over them to identify whats relevant for us.
The only solution I can see is a higher resolution screen. On top of that it may even be better to have a 12" high res. screen but that is not going to happen anytime soon and I think a 9.7" high res. screen would be sufficient to go paperless.
His (and my) problem is simply that we need to scan through tens of papers to look for certain key content. After that it's easy to zoom in and read the details.
Often we download 20 papers and read only 2% of the content after skimming through them in 10 min and identifying the descriptions of a specific method or such.
However the skimming through papers requires a full page overview and a good rendering of the fonts. That in turn is much better with a higher resolution screen.
All the suggestions of "buy a kindle" or "download good reader or any other pdf program" or "you know you can double tap to zoom in" do actually not address the problem at all.
I have shown the iPad (and other tablets and computers) to dozens of colleagues and they all have the same problem. We all still print out most of the papers and skim over them to identify whats relevant for us.
The only solution I can see is a higher resolution screen. On top of that it may even be better to have a 12" high res. screen but that is not going to happen anytime soon and I think a 9.7" high res. screen would be sufficient to go paperless.
I'm using goodreader along with dropbox for my pdf viewing and I've not found any problems with the display.
I'm very pleased, and this was one of the major reasons buying the iPad. I needed a device that I could use to view PDFs while working on my desktop. This helps me as I handle upgrading applications and do server work. I don't have to keep swapping from a server to a PDF, I can keep the RDP window maximized on my desktop and read the PDF on my iPad
I'm very pleased, and this was one of the major reasons buying the iPad. I needed a device that I could use to view PDFs while working on my desktop. This helps me as I handle upgrading applications and do server work. I don't have to keep swapping from a server to a PDF, I can keep the RDP window maximized on my desktop and read the PDF on my iPad
Will toss in that GoodReader is a terrific PDF reading app that I use on my iPod 4G to read pdf's and comics in pdf form ahaha
Or maybe the methods different researchers have developed to read and scour significant numbers of scientific papers, are more varied than you think? I love my ipad for reading journal articles, it's my favorite use for the device. I downloaded one of the hi-res papers from the JotACS, and I didn't have trouble skimming the document, though it's not my field (I'm in CFD).
It's a tool like any other. If you're going to use an iPad for reading scientific journals, it may not integrate directly into your workflow. For me the benefits were outweighed the effort to change my workflow (including how I read/skim papers). In addition, finding the right app _is_ a big deal. I prefer iAnnotate over GoodReader-- for me it made a major difference.
I'm not saying that it's the right tool for you, but an iPad sure has been a great tool for me.
crackpip
And here we are talking about the iPad ...
PDFs are hit or miss with me. Mostly they're beautiful but then I tried what the OP is talking about and between him and andiwm2003, I can fully see what they're talking about. In their cases, or cases where you need to see the full page without zooming into one quadrant, a higher resolution screen would be useful and in some cases necessary.