playbook as textbook reader

Do any of you have experience using the PB as a textbook reader? I would like one to view journal articles, which I'm sure would be no problem, but what about huge textbook PDF's?

I'm particularly worried about:

1.the size of the files...say 100+ mb....how will the lag be?

2.the screen size....especially for textbooks like say....biochemistry...(I'm sure a textbook with straight text would be fine) ....where there are a lot of diagrams, of varying size....some very large...with tiny captions at the bottom. I find these very hard to frame on my 11 inch laptop screen...so obviously I worry it will be a problem on a 10 inch screen, let alone a smaller screen...BUT my old laptop doesn't have multitouch, so having a touchscreen, if it's not laggy, would probably help a lot to move and resize the screen....though it may become claustrophobic at PB size anyways?

Thanks in advance....i did see one youtube vid where a med student talked about his experience with textbooks and the PB! Anymore feedback?

Sometimes I see used PB going here for 100$...given the quality of the hardware, it's very tempting!

I use it to view my car workshop manual, and it works fine. Pinch zoom allows me to zoom in on exploded diagrams easily, and there's little if any lag. It doesn't hold the whole thing in RAM but at the worst it'll be a second or so switching between sections.

Downside is that the pdf reader for PlayBook is the worst in the business - no ability to bookmark, doesn't open where you closed it last, no commenting or highlighting, it's just a very basic reader. I think an Android tablet would be much better overall.

I use the PB for Pdf manuals and procedure documents. It works great with pinch and zoom. There's very little lag. Although the native PDF app isn't the greatest, there are many other apps available in App World, such as qPdf and Pdf Reader (I use Pdf Reader) or you could sideload Repligo (ported android app).

I am happy with my choice of tablet :) Good luck with your choice.

While I don't read textbooks, I read some pretty big books in pdf format and use Pdf Reader. It's much better than the Adobe Reader that comes on the pb...which pretty much does nothing but let you read.

Originally Posted by richardat

Do any of you have experience using the PB as a textbook reader? I would like one to view journal articles, which I'm sure would be no problem, but what about huge textbook PDF's?

I'm particularly worried about:

1.the size of the files...say 100+ mb....how will the lag be?

2.the screen size....especially for textbooks like say....biochemistry...(I'm sure a textbook with straight text would be fine) ....where there are a lot of diagrams, of varying size....some very large...with tiny captions at the bottom. I find these very hard to frame on my 11 inch laptop screen...so obviously I worry it will be a problem on a 10 inch screen, let alone a smaller screen...BUT my old laptop doesn't have multitouch, so having a touchscreen, if it's not laggy, would probably help a lot to move and resize the screen....though it may become claustrophobic at PB size anyways?

Thanks in advance....i did see one youtube vid where a med student talked about his experience with textbooks and the PB! Anymore feedback?

Sometimes I see used PB going here for 100$...given the quality of the hardware, it's very tempting!

Richard here is a link to a thread on PDF Readers in May this year:

http://forums.crackberry.com/playboo...reader-718636/

Please see on Page 1 that Sporadic Software has a PDF Reader called Pdf Reader and he includes a link to it in PB App World within his initial post.

I have this app, as do many other people who post comments in that thread. The app writer/owner is very approachable as you will read.

It costs AUD $1

If the textbook is drm protected, you might have trouble using it on the pb.

While in medical school I used the Playbook extensively for reading textbooks and small PDF files. With regards to lag, it's kinda hit or miss. I had 150mb plus books which run smoothly and had 15mb files which lagged. I think it depends on quality of PDF file. I had legit copies from publishers and not scanned copies. Legit versions ran the best IMO.

While it is true that the PDF reader is rudimentary on the Playbook I have found it to be reliable and it opens 99 percent of my files without too much trouble. Obviously it's missing a few features from competing programs such as good reader.

Is there an android version of good reader and can it be side loaded? The the Playbook would be the ultimate study tool! So many of my classmates bought it when it went on sale.

I feel repligo pdf reader is best of the lot but its not available in appworld. search in forums and yiu should be able to find the bar file.

Sent from my BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps using Tapatalk 2

Thanks very much everyone for the feedback!

I was going to reply to each, but there's too many good posts here.

Yes, I imagined a 10 inch android or ipad would be much better suited to me (along with the better readers), but at ~100(!) dollars, you'd be looking at the REALLY-NO-NAME brands...lol. I've found that kind of stuff to be often good value FOR the money, but usually with a big flaw or two...ie terrible resistive touchscreen, or weak battery...etc. The PB hardware surely buries anything else at that price point, so it seems like a great way to go if it can serve my primary purpose!

It sounds like it definitely works for some of you, and if I see another used one locally, I will definitely be tempted! Of course even the new price is really low, but as a poor student, I'll wait.