Reading scientific papers on an iPad

[marc99]

Hi everybody,
I am considering getting an iPad for my studies. I would love to have something were I can read my assignment scientific papers on, but I am just not sure if the iPad will be suitable for this. Is it practical for reading A4 formatted pdf files? Is it tiring on the eyes, after a while?

Thanks for any feedback!

 

[ipaddeveloper888]

I read technical documents all the time in the iPad. Usually PDF files are very good. you can zoom into certain areas to see detail if you need to.

 

[lkilgore]

I think the iPad is an excellent tool for reading pdf's. I use a wide variety of pdf's on mine, including some 100 plus page books. I haven't experienced eye strain yet. For traditional books, where I might read for several hours at a sitting, I still rely on my Kindle.

 

[Tuttle]

Hi,

I use the iPad every day, most of the day, in my scientific work.

I use Good Reader most of the time because I can annotate the pdf I am reading.

As an oldster, my eyes aren't good---and are getting worse. But I can easily take care of vision problems by expanding the screen. You can get any magnification you like with good resolution. If I were reading an A5 document I would probably mostly use that mode for better word size, but it works very well.

I use Notetaker HD for handwriting notes.

And, bottom line, you can't beat the iPad for this type of work. After all, you have your entire library and work desk in your hand and it can go everywhere with you.

Marvelous! (But you do have to learn to use it effectively.)

 

[mlaurencg4]

The fact that Apple provides an open market for competing components is one of the great advantages of the app store model. Innovation by myriad excellent and talented developers is encouraged, and you and I are advantaged. Dion Hinchcliffe gives us an excellent overview of such models:

The app store: The new "must-have" digital business model | ZDNet

Does "Apple's walled garden directly threaten" developer innovation?

More from Timothy Lee at Ars Technica:

How I learned to stop worrying and love the App Store

 

[lkilgore]

I agree. The concept of "apps" is what makes the iPad such a dynamic device. It creates innovation and offers us an endless supply of programs and capabilities. I suspect even Apple can't predict all the ways the iPad will be used, because of human inventiveness via the app concept.

 

[IMPlantain]

Most PDFs of scientific journals work great.
Just ran into a few that had some sort of DRM feature that required Adobe Reader that I could not open.

 

[mlaurencg4]

BlueFire Reader can enable reading of Adobe DRM pubs, however the app can be a bit wonky.

http://www.bluefirereader.com/bfr-user-guide.html

Note that there isn't a legal way to remove the Adobe Digital editions DRM from ePubs ...

 

[Marabou Muddler]

The iPad has become my only method of reading scientific journals. I go into the university's library site b/c of the free access to numerous journals in my field (university ID required), and download the PDF version. Then, I use Goodreader to file and read them. Goodreader allows you to highlight and make notes on the text.

 

[ipaddeveloper888]

It would be better if iPad have some better inbuilt fuction, instead of dowloading Apps for it

well, the apps, like goodreader are pretty cheap.

 

[ipaddeveloper888]

another real plus is the ipad is LIGHTED. So you can read in the dark.

 

[Tuttle]

And---by the way---the latest update of Good Reader has a very significantly improved handwritten annotation interface. A good app just became even better.

 

[dcphoto]

Thank you for the info.

 

[locard56a]

I bought an iPad to use with my PhD, predominantly to access and build a database of journal articles. I have been massively let down by the fact that Athens access does not exist through ipad2. Needless to say I cannot access half the journals I could through a PC and so has rendered the iPad useless for journal article searching! Very very disappointed!!!

 

[Horatius78]

I am also looking for app that will help me with literature search, save, read and organise research papers. I have not bought any app yet but reading in this forum I have heard about a few apps like iAnnotate, Goodreader, papers etc. I also use Athens for searching papers, does this mean that I will not be able to save any research papers and organise them in the iPad?