Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

thelookingglass

macrumors 68020
Apr 27, 2005
2,138
633
Sorry I am not familiar with those form factor and aspect ratio terms. Could you please let me know how that could affect the reading?

Watcom offers some pen for the iPad. For example, the Bamboo Stylus series. How are they compared with the S-Pen?

Simply put, 16:10 screens are narrower while 4:3 screens roughly track the proportions of a printed page. The problem with reading on 16:10 screens is that the screen is just really narrow, so the flow of text isn't as natural as it would be on a 4:3 screen. That's why people enjoy reading on the iPad's 4:3 screen.
 

hajime

macrumors 604
Jul 23, 2007
7,747
1,220
Which apps do you guys recommend for reading journal papers and other pdf documents? I need to write notes, highlight some sentences, and perhaps also circle some parts of figures.
 

deeddawg

macrumors G5
Jun 14, 2010
12,245
6,393
US
My preference is for PDF Expert. Does all that and syncs to Dropbox and other places. Annotations are done as layers on the PDF so they're editable.across different sessions and platforms, but you can also flatten the document if needed (makes the annotations permanent)
 

hajime

macrumors 604
Jul 23, 2007
7,747
1,220
My preference is for PDF Expert. Does all that and syncs to Dropbox and other places. Annotations are done as layers on the PDF so they're editable.across different sessions and platforms, but you can also flatten the document if needed (makes the annotations permanent)

Thanks. So, it works like photoshop and illustrator?
 

red321red321

macrumors regular
Jun 3, 2013
153
1
Why?

The rMBP 15" is my main computer. I have a Galaxy Note 2. After hearing from advice from several people, if I get the iPad, I choose the Air over rMini. Now, I have to decide between the Air and whatever Samsung can offer.

Interesting. I also have a 15" rMBP as my main computer and a Galaxy Note 2 as my phone. I spend A LOT of time reading PDFs and ebooks on my tablet. I have several iPads. Here is why I recommend the Note:

- the high res display renders text extremely sharp and reduces eye strain
- I have not had any issues with the form factor, in fact I rather like it for reader in portrait view. In landscape view it also displays two pages side by side nicely
- the sPen is extremely useful for pdf annotation, nothing beats it or is even close
- SD card slot so you can load tons of books on easily. I currently use a 64 gb card. Plug it into computer, load books and movies, plug into tablet, good to go

People who say that Android pdf handling is not as good as iPad are only partially correct. With the correct apps, it can be just as good

- for regular reading of PDFs PDF Max is extremely fast and smooth
- for detailed annotation, ezpdf is the best, but it is not that smooth. At the same time, the annotations you make have no problem updating automatically in Dropbox or showing up in other PDF readers on your computer, like Acrobat. It's not like some iPAD annotation programs where
 

deeddawg

macrumors G5
Jun 14, 2010
12,245
6,393
US
Thanks. So, it works like photoshop and illustrator?

Depends a LOT on just what you mean by "works like"... :D Being familiar with photoshop my first answer is "no" so as not to set unfair expectations... Yet in a simplistic sense, the answer is "yes".

Probably the better way to think of it is that annotations (text/drawing/highlights/etc) act similar to objects in a Word document.
These sit in a layer (maybe more than one) above the base PDF document layer. You can then manipulate these objects (copy/paste/delete/move as well as change color/size/font/opacity/thickness) with the specifics of what you can do being dependent on the object (e.g. you can change font of text and thickness of a line but not the other way around). When saved, these objects/layers remain and can be manipulated in other sessions and (if supported) in other PDF manipulation applications (I believe, it's been a while since I've tried).

Unlike photoshop you cannot actually manipulate the layer(s) themselves, this is handled under the hood as you manipulate the annotation objects. There's no ability to create new layers, name them, turn visibility on/off, do layer masks, etc.

What you can do, because not everything supports PDF layers, is flatten the document which does behave similarly to the same action in photoshop. You'd typically do this when sending the PDF to someone via email just to ensure all your annotations convey properly.

PDF expert also allows you to fill in PDF forms, which is something I've found handy from time to time. Receive a PDF form, fill it out and sign it on the ipad before emailing it back.

Hope that helps.
 

dljor

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 3, 2013
292
32
I am having 2nd thought.

The mini looks great in landscape mode, even for double column papers.

Any thinks the same?

Maybe just get a 32gb mini.

Not sure why, but 500 sounds a lot cheaper than 600 for the air.

A 32gb nexus with lte is 350 ... The apple tax.
 

roop27

macrumors member
Mar 22, 2011
82
51
London, UK
I am having 2nd thought.

The mini looks great in landscape mode, even for double column papers.

Any thinks the same?

Maybe just get a 32gb mini.

Not sure why, but 500 sounds a lot cheaper than 600 for the air.

A 32gb nexus with lte is 350 ... The apple tax.

I went to the Apple store and pulled up a medical journal on both devices. I predominantly use my ipad in landscape which I found a perfectly good experience on the rMini. If you use it mostly in portrait the air was easier to read simply because the font was bigger. I have great vision and still found my self strainingon the ipad mini in portrait
 
Last edited:

RickTaylor

macrumors 6502a
Nov 9, 2013
801
315
Sorry I am not familiar with those form factor and aspect ratio terms. Could you please let me know how that could affect the reading?

Watcom offers some pen for the iPad. For example, the Bamboo Stylus series. How are they compared with the S-Pen?

The aspect ratio refers to the relative width and height of a device. In portrait mode, a 16:10 device is relatively taller and thinner than a 4:3 device. Some people, myself included, find the 4:3 aspect ratio more natural for reading books and viewing web pages, while widescreen movies work better on 16:10 or even 16:9.

I haven't used a stylus with a tablet myself, but from what I've heard, a third party stylus designed for a device that wasn't designed for one will never be as accurate as a device with something like the S-pen, designed to use it from the ground up.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.