Which eBook Reader is best for viewing .pdf game manuals?

Bison · June 04, 2012, 12:27:49 AM

Yeah tablets are becoming necessary as manuals become PDF exclusive. I have a laptop, but would never set it up next to my desktop just to read manuals. Plus I like to do my reading away from my computer.

airboy · June 04, 2012, 12:57:13 PM

I have a regular old Kindel - about two years old. It is marginal for reading pdf game manuals.

The big problem is print size, not graphics. With regular e-books, the Kindel enables you to change the print size. Unfortunately, with pdfs my Kindel does not allow me to increase print size.

So if the pdf has small print - Kindel becomes more difficult. Unless ipad allows you to adjust pdf size, it has the same basic problem but the screen is larger so it is not as acute.

I think this is the crux of the one page vs. two page pdf pages. If you generalize it really gets down to an inability to enlarge pdfs in a Kindel. Perhaps later generation Kindels address this problem - I would not know.

LongBlade · June 04, 2012, 02:35:06 PM

I just pulled up a .pdf on my Kindle Fire to see what it does.

The color display is great. No issues. Pages are easily zoomed in and out of. Pages turn, but go right to left as if you're turning a book; not up and down as on a PC display.

The only issue I saw was that they hyperlinks within the document don't work. So, for instance, trying to turn to the appendix on page 193, I can't click on the table of contents.

However, the Kindle has a page slider that quickly zipped to page 193 without issue.

I realize that paying $200 for only the .pdf function isn't a win. But piled on top of its other uses, I have to say it handles .pdfs fine. I emailed my .pdf to myself in order to get it as it was a game manual that installed with Battles from the Bulge. Given the size of the Kindle Fire, it's a great accompaniment to playing the game on my laptop and being accessible as a supplement.

MarkShot · June 04, 2012, 02:58:13 PM

Yes, the thing about general devices (does not apply to original non-Android Kindle) ... you end up doing things with it that you never even thought you would. In the end, it pays for itself.

So, I cannot imagine buying an iPad or Kindle Fire and not ending up using it for a lot more than PDFs.

Bison · June 04, 2012, 02:59:18 PM

The iPad is the greatest kid travel entertainment device ever invented.

LongBlade · June 04, 2012, 03:10:05 PM

Quote from: MarkShot on June 04, 2012, 02:58:13 PM
Yes, the thing about general devices (does not apply to original non-Android Kindle) ... you end up doing things with it that you never even thought you would. In the end, it pays for itself.

My kids are just old enough not to need an iPad for amusement - they use their iPhones.

QuoteSo, I cannot imagine buying an iPad or Kindle Fire and not ending up using it for a lot more than PDFs.

Agreed. Best platform for reading in bed in the dark and not waking OKW. Set the background to black with white letters and I'm good to go.

MarkShot · June 04, 2012, 03:21:32 PM

Quote from: Bison on June 04, 2012, 02:59:18 PM
The iPad is the greatest kid travel entertainment device ever invented.

What do mean kids!!! It does wonders for adults on a 36 hour trip to China from the East Coast. I surfed (in the airport lounges), read news/finance, played chess, did email, read novels, shot pool ... and this may be hard to believe, but I even put on some head phones and did some Real Racing 2 HD while everyone was sleeping after dinner service. (The one thing I didn't have with me was videos, but now I have about 30 hours of videos stored waiting for the inevitable Summer storm power outage; about 10 hours of TED lectures and 20 hours of Taiwanese soaps to practice my Mandarin.)

Bison · June 04, 2012, 03:29:39 PM

Quote from: MarkShot on June 04, 2012, 03:21:32 PM
Quote from: Bison on June 04, 2012, 02:59:18 PM
The iPad is the greatest kid travel entertainment device ever invented.

What do mean kids!!! It does wonders for adults on a 36 hour trip to China from the East Coast. I surfed (in the airport lounges), read news/finance, played chess, did email, read novels, shot pool ... and this may be hard to believe, but I even put on some head phones and did some Real Racing 2 HD while everyone was sleeping after dinner service. (The one thing I didn't have with me was videos, but now I have about 30 hours of videos stored waiting for the inevitable Summer storm power outage; about 10 hours of TED lectures and 20 hours of Taiwanese soaps to practice my Mandarin.)

You just need to get Battlefronts Combat Mission touch and you are all set!

Staggerwing · June 04, 2012, 03:55:04 PM

Quote from: LongBlade on June 04, 2012, 02:35:06 PM. I emailed my .pdf to myself in order to get it as it was a game manual that installed with Battles from the Bulge.

LB, you should see if there is an Android app for Dropbox. You just drop the pdf in the Dropbox folder on your desktop and it synchronizes across all your devices with a Dropbox app. the iOS app even has a built in PDF reader so maybe the Android app has one too. Dropbox.com

LongBlade · June 04, 2012, 03:57:54 PM

Quote from: Staggerwing on June 04, 2012, 03:55:04 PM
Quote from: LongBlade on June 04, 2012, 02:35:06 PM. I emailed my .pdf to myself in order to get it as it was a game manual that installed with Battles from the Bulge.

LB, you should see if there is an Android app for Dropbox. You just drop the pdf in the Dropbox folder on your desktop and it synchronizes across all your devices with a Dropbox app. the iOS app even has a built in PDF reader so maybe the Android app has one too. Dropbox.com

Good suggestion, but I just email myself. I'm usually not far from my laptop - which has most of my stuff.

MarkShot · June 04, 2012, 04:11:53 PM

Did you email the PDF just to transfer it or to get it converted AZW (native Kindle format)? I remember that Amazon offered this as a service via WhisperNet.

DropBox is great for keeping files sync'ed between devices. I was using it between my PC (desktop trading) and the iPad. I could access my positions on the iPad (as a backup to the PC). However, think of being able to trade on the iPad as being able to issue combat orders with no idea of what the battle plan was/is. Since the entire plan (charts, XLS, text strategy) was formulated on the PC. Thus, DropBox would replicate this to the iPad from the cloud. So, if ever I was forced to use the iPad to place orders, I knew exactly what the game plan was. It worked pretty seamlessly.

The one short coming with DropBox was that all synced files must appear under the DropBox root folder. You cannot just identify folders like having a sync property similar to Windows sharing.

LongBlade · June 04, 2012, 05:13:05 PM

Quote from: MarkShot on June 04, 2012, 04:11:53 PM
Did you email the PDF just to transfer it or to get it converted AZW (native Kindle format)? I remember that Amazon offered this as a service via WhisperNet.

I emailed the .pdf directly. To my knowledge nothing was converted.

Bison · June 04, 2012, 05:34:14 PM

There is an option to send a pdf to Amazon to have it converted into the Kindle ebook format. It does cost a few bucks, but might be worth it if pages are an issue due to the pdf formating.

MarkShot · June 04, 2012, 06:25:08 PM

When you register Kindle, you get a Whispernet address. Anything you mail to that is converted and set to download to your Kindle. We never tried it.

MarkShot · June 04, 2012, 06:27:07 PM

Quote
Kindle Personal Documents Service

Fees for the Kindle Personal Documents Service via Whispernet are based on the size of the file submitted (before compression if you use a .zip file), your country, and where you're accessing Whispernet. Personal documents service fees will only be charged for documents that are successfully delivered to your Kindle device via Whispernet. Personal documents service fees are rounded up to the next whole MB and apply to each personal document delivered via Whispernet to each Kindle device.

For Kindle 2nd Generation users living in the United States, the Kindle Personal Documents Service fee via Whispernet is $ .15 per megabyte while inside the United States and $.99 per megabyte when traveling outside the United States.
For Kindle 2nd Generation users living outside the United States, the Kindle Personal Documents Service fee via Whispernet is $ .99 (USD) per megabyte.
Kindle Personal Documents Service is not available via Whispernet in Canada. Please see Transferring Personal Documents via USB for information about e-mailing personal documents to your computer for USB transfer to your Kindle device.

Note: You can also send your personal documents via e-mail as attachments to [name]@free.kindle.com. To have a document converted to Kindle format (.azw), the subject line should be "convert." Kindle Personal Documents Service will attempt to deliver your personal documents to the e-mail address associated with the Amazon account to which the device is registered. You can use the e-mail to download the file to your computer and transfer it to your Kindle device using a USB connection.

Detailed information on Kindle Personal Document service is available on our Kindle Personal Document Service help page.