Which device as a pdf viewer?

First, I want to thank the people who run this very helpful site, I wouldn't know where to start without it.

So here is my problem: I already have a ppc-phone that does a beautiful job in organizing my life daily, keeping me connected and entertained to the point where I seldom carry my laptop outside home anymore. There is, however one limitation (for me anyway...) that forces me to consider a handheld.

I need to be able to read technical pdf documents (involving mathematical expressions) and adobe (as well as all other pdf readers) does a poor job when trying to reflow documents of this type (basically all math expressions get seriously distorted). The only option is not to use reflow, in which case one needs to do extensive scrolling over the poor 3.5 screen. This quickly becomes intolerable.

I was considering either mp790 or j720 with the hope that their wider screens would eliminate my need for horizontal scrolling. Do you think this is feasible? Does any of you have personal experience? Which choice you think is more appropriate?

I understand that there is a trade-off between screen size versus quality between the two devices and also there is an issue of how reflective these screens are.

If there is no clear winner I would rather go with j720 due to portability as I am not planning to use it for much typing (unless I can use Latex...)

I would appreciate if you could help me here

JG4

I think you might want a device with a tft screen...

I did hear in reviews that the wider screens were easier to read, but if the resolution is the same, you will probably run into the same problems again. What about the Sig 3?

The 720 would be the better of the two devices you have named, mainly because of the ARM processor, meaning you can run the Acrobta v2 redist on it. There is also a hack of the CE4 PDF viewer that can run on it - al be it slowly.

A CE4.2 device would give you the optimised CE4 PDF viewer - however there is a trade off here in its own right, and it may be better for you to practically view some of your PDF's on all avaialble readers (Including Primer http://www.hpcfactor.com/qlink/?linkID=43 )

I've gotta plug the BSquare Power Handheld here . It has an excellent screen (640x480x16 TFT) with hardware accellerated graphics. It also has an integrated GSM/GPRS module so it can be used to browse the web or take phone calls. Theyre selling really cheap on ebay at the moment. I managed to pick mine up for just over £100. The only downside is that the battery life isn't great...

ah well did i say the cenet viewer is slower on SA?
1) its not really slower in opening a pdf, i was wrong (i tested with not the same document)
2) scrolling is the same, i.e. faaast. (and you don't have to wait for the next page!!)

anyway there's a fourth option, repligo can be hacked. and i heard it's fast ...
not sure if its as compatible with everything as acrobat reader. acrobat reader is unbeatable with that.

or fifth... sigmarion's picselviewer (or the PHH's fileviewer but it isnt great)

Edited by cmonex 2005-11-05 7:52 AM

i think the J270's and MP's screen res is good for PDF. of course the bsquare PHH's screen is even better and it's tft
i dont mind that the J720 isn't tft though...

Hey guys, thank you very much for the suggestions

Concerning the other pdf readers, I have already used repligo and something called clearvew pdf, that came with my hp 6315, and they suffer from the same problem : distort all kinds of math expressions and symbols (try to save a document like that as a txt file and you will see what I mean). I am sure primer does the same, although I haven't used it yet (and it costs $50! ). I will give it a try though...

The best solution in terms of software is to use acrobat at full mode (not reflow) and try to utilize the screen as much as possible so that to avoid horizontal scrolling. The only features I need from acrobat is compatibility and to zoom in/out ( I guess both 1.0 an 2.0 can do that, right?)

I also checked the two devices that you suggested me. Sig 3 seems to have the larger screen (5in if I am correct), but I can barely find anything about it in english. Nothing on ebay either, which makes me worry about where to find spare parts or tech advice in case I mange to find a used one and encounter a problem (frankly, it also seems to cost more than I can afford ). Anyway, if I could find it on ebay at a reasonable price I would definitely consider it.

BSquare is nice (what I would like my h6315 to be in terms of screen), but it is just 4 inches (although much higher resolution). You think it would make a noticeable difference for my purpose? By the way, I cannot find anything on ebay either.

Any ideas would be much appreciated. The screenshots in the link of c:amie are very informative. I could read the text relatively comfortably and there seems to be plenty of room for zoom-in. So, maybe j720 would be enough?

yes, j720 would be enough but the PHH has higher res but both of them can display pdf's fine! the bsquare's 4" is ok if you zoom in a little. and you still have more room than on a pocketpc.

i have both of these and sig3 also.. sig3 is converted to english in 80-90%. you're right its not really supported officially outside of japan...
so, my final (and personal) opinion is that all three are good for pdf viewing in general. want screenshots with pdf's displaying that math stuff? i can make some for you.

we mentioned repligo and primer in the context of HPC's.
though i don't recommend primer because it's slow and you'd have a hard time trying to buy it... (and it costs a LOT.. 80$ iirc)
no personal experience with repligo.
i use acrobat reader 2.0 and sometimes the ce.net pdf viewer (it might be similar to clearvue btw..)

Edited by cmonex 2005-11-05 4:15 PM

Cmonex, I would very much appreciate a screenshot of a document in each of your handhelds. You could use this site as a source

http://www.ams.org/online_bks/online_subject.html

In any case, thanks for the reply

i downloaded a pdf from there, it was 8-9 mbyte, and acrobat reader opened it within a sec on the sig3 wasn't more than 1-2 secs on my strongarm devices either.
i couldn't test it on the bsquare now (now thats xscale, opening should be less than one sec), but to compensate for that, i tested on another VGA 4" device (PC ephone-II).

scrolling speed isnt bad on xscale at all!, and strongarm is acceptable too. (but the difference is bigger than in the case of the cenet viewer... speaking of which, that viewer miserably failed at compatibility. no surprise!!)

so there are 800x480, 640x480 and 640x240 pics.
i think the pdf looked fine on all machines but it is up to you to decide
oh and tft is better. maybe the winner is the bsquare (ephone is hard to find). if you're worried about the smallish screen, then J720... sig3 is the best but it is expensive for just pdf reading

http://izemize.fw.hu/pdf.zip

Edited by cmonex 2005-11-05 7:27 PM

Wow, cmonex thank you so much!

Sig 3 is stellar, but your j728 isn't bad at all!

So my next question: is this a good deal (190+shipping)

http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-Jornada-720-Handheld-PC-F1816A-AC-Adapter-Cradle_W0QQitemZ5825648763QQcategoryZ38331QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

heh yeah glad if i could help

yes, it is a good deal imo! and it is a BIN price... nice! and doa warranty..

Edited by cmonex 2005-11-05 8:29 PM

Thanks cmonex

It seems I am getting it

Can you post on your experience if you get a J720 from Techsmartz? It does look like a good deal. I may pick one up.

Thanks!

Rainer Keuchel has already ported a version of LaTeX to Windows CE. You can find it here:

http://www.rainer-keuchel.de/wince/texce.html