Good e-Reader

The latest news on Audiobooks, eBooks and eReaders

PDF File Viewing on the New Amazon Kindle 4

By 7 Comments

kindle 4

Welcome to another Good e-Reader Video Review! Today we look at the full PDF capabilities in the new Amazon Kindle 4th Generation.

We evaluate many different kinds of PDF files in our review. There are three different types of print we are looking at today; Magazines, Newspapers, and PDF eBooks. Witness the pros and the cons and the different settings in the e-reader to enhance the experience.


Michael Kozlowski

Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past ten years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and Verge.

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  • IronMac

    Yes, I do camp out on this site! 5:37 am EST and the video link is blank. No message on it. Guess I will come back later.  🙂

    Thanks!

  • IronMac

    3 hrs later, still nothing.  🙁

  • Lev

    So it looks like Kindle does not support pdf reflow at all – it is a bummer!  At the same time Sony readers do (at least older models, e.g. PRS-650, PRS-950 and etc.) though I am not quite sure about the new one (PRS-T1).  I believe the new Sony reader DOES support it  and that is why it was talking such a long time to change fonts and turn pages (in you review).  Of course, they need to improve/fix it otherwise it is not usable.
    But I would be really curious to see how both Kindle and new Sony reader (and event Nook Touch for that matter) handle a text based pdf with graphics context mixed in like formulas and diagrams – let’s loook at a popular science book or better yet a textbook (math, physics).   It is important to get a ebook sample that is a text based pdf with some formulas and diagrams and see how it behaviors when you change font or zoom in.  I believe most of the pdfs (if not all) you showed so far in your reviews are image based when a given physical book was scanned in as a series of images (e.g. converted from djvu format is a typical case, same for newspapers and magazines) – in other words each page is a separate image so to speak.  Obviously such a pdf can not be reflowed.  However, a text based pdf could be and should be reflowed properly when font size is changed and/or you zoom in.  And that is what I am really curious to see – how good of a job these readers do when reflowing a text based pdf (if they do it at all – again it does not seem like Kindle can do it at all)  – specifically, do they preserve graphics material inside the book including formulas and diagrams.   Maybe you can do a quick supplemental review covering this?  Thanks.

  • It’s working fine.

  • IronMac

    Ok, I had to use another browser to see this particular video. For some reason, all I get is a black or blue/gray page when I hover my cursor over the video box above when I am using Safari. Chrome worked fine.

    Ok, well, this is not as bad as the Sony but if I were to get the Kindle 4 I would wear out its navigation button just trying to read through the PDFs I have. Definitely readable but navigation would be a real bear.

    Thanks Goodereader for taking the time out to do these videos! Really appreciate it because it saved me from making a purchase I would have regretted. It looks like I now have to wait for another ereader to come along or go for tablet such as an Archos 70, Kindle Fire or Lenovo A1.

  • Saul7034

    Here is a free ebook conversion tool for you.
    You can easily convert your ebook from kindle to pdf.

    Free Online Ebook Converter
    http://www.ebookconverter.net/

    It provides you with the best kindle to pdf converting experience.

  • Keygirl

    In MOBI, I have to leave it all by itself. Same thing goes with pullquotes or little info boxes that you see sometimes in magazine articles. They can just be made more attractive in an EPUB. Just subtle things — like a drop cap at the beginning of a chapter. EPUBs understand a larger subset of CSS than MOBI files do.

    I took a look at a file known to be converted from EPUB to MOBI with calibre. The first two bytes were PK
    indicating that it was a ZIP file. I renamed it to .ZIP and opened it, and it had a bunch of HTML files inside that included Vibosoft in the file name. learn the differences between: PDF, ePub and iBook: http://www.vibosoft.com/ebook/convert-pdf-to-epub-mac-windows.html