Nexus 7 sufficient enough for viewing large PDFs?

[kylera]

I'm thinking about getting a Nexus 7 for carrying around PDFs of articles and textbooks. I won't be annotating on them, just viewing them for convenience's sake. Even so, is it powerful enough to load them relatively quickly without too much lag? I was able to play around with one at a nearby store, and I liked the screen well enough - small print was definitely readable, but I couldn't download any sample PDF files.

 

[Griff88]

You'll be fine. I regularly use my Nexus to view 90MB/100pages and above PDF's with no issue at all. I use Mantano for what it's worth.

 

[Eduardo06sp]

I used the default PDF file viewer, and it's pretty fine. If you can't read the text, just enable "reading view". Reading view is just a bit choppy, though the normal view can get a bit slow.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[renehasekamp]

I view small pdf's with Adobe reader. I have some large ones (100+pages). I prefer to view them in Moon+ Reader Pro. Works perfectly.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Android Central Forums

 

[TomsAndroid]

I have read large PDF's on mine, 200-300 pages, and found that the default viewer gets pretty laggy when scrolling. This doesn't really effect it though. I also rotate to landscape so small text isn't such an issue although reading view is another solution.
All in all, it's absolutely fine and I'm sure a 3rd party app would make it better

Tom

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[natehoy]

I have a few 600-700 page PDFs (all text, so the files aren't huge) and they pretty much load instantly. (*) I'm going to go out on a limb and say that, unless you have the attention span of a hyperthyroid Jack Russel Terrier who has just downed a gallon of espresso, the Nexus 7 isn't going to have "too much lag" on much of anything that's stored locally. Most of what little lag I see is when I try to access large files over WiFi.

Of course, you can always pick yours up at a store with a reasonable return policy (I generally buy stuff like this from Staples, for example, because they have a 14-day no-questions-asked full refund policy on hardware). Load your PDFs on day one and run it through its paces. That will also allow you to see if the screen is large enough to view what you really want to view, and upgrade to a Nexus 10 if it isn't.

(*) EDIT: I noticed that someone else mentioned using the built-in PDF viewer, so in the interests of full disclosure I should mention that I use the Kindle app to read PDFs that I'm going to read often because it's good about keeping my place in the document, etc. These are not Kindle books, they are PDFs I have of documentation, etc. I don't generally load large PDFs into Adobe's viewer, so I couldn't tell you much about that.

 

[TomsAndroid]

I have a few 600-700 page PDFs (all text, so the files aren't huge) and they pretty much load instantly. (*) I'm going to go out on a limb and say that, unless you have the attention span of a hyperthyroid Jack Russel Terrier who has just downed a gallon of espresso, the Nexus 7 isn't going to have "too much lag" on much of anything that's stored locally. Most of what little lag I see is when I try to access large files over WiFi.

Of course, you can always pick yours up at a store with a reasonable return policy (I generally buy stuff like this from Staples, for example, because they have a 14-day no-questions-asked full refund policy on hardware). Load your PDFs on day one and run it through its paces. That will also allow you to see if the screen is large enough to view what you really want to view, and upgrade to a Nexus 10 if it isn't.

(*) EDIT: I noticed that someone else mentioned using the built-in PDF viewer, so in the interests of full disclosure I should mention that I use the Kindle app to read PDFs that I'm going to read often because it's good about keeping my place in the document, etc. These are not Kindle books, they are PDFs I have of documentation, etc. I don't generally load large PDFs into Adobe's viewer, so I couldn't tell you much about that.

Sorry, if didn't mention that the PDF content that I read is mostly about getting my pilots license and therefore has a ton of pictures and diagrams, on almost every page. This is where it's TOO laggy. I haven't read many (or any) plain text PDF's so I can't speak about them.

Do you recommend the Kindle app as a better alternative?

Tom

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[ChromeJob]

EZpdfReader FTW. I use it to read the 300+ page manual for my car, no problemo.

// Tapatalk HD for Android - Nexus 7 //

 

[HerrDeacon]

I have all my motorcycle manuals on mine (quite large) in case I break down on the side of the road, or for working out in the garage. I find it perfect. The files are quite large with lots of pictures and diagrams and I haven't had any lagging or anything. Worse part is making sure my fingers are clean before touching the screen