Big disappointment on the PDF ability

[brianm]

I must say first that the PDF reader does work, you can see pdf files.............. however, I took 3 random books from different authors and sent them to Kindle for conversion. Then I loaded the original pdf files along with the converted and moved to my Kindle DX. Each native pdf had some type of problem............ie; print VERY light, super small etc......the converted books all looked good. Have no idea why they can't get the Kindle to read the pdf files exactly like the converted files. I hope in the future they will correct this............. however, I guess I will still need to do the conversion process. U G H ! ! !    

              Brian

PS: Yes, the converted files look better than the native pdf's

[Rasputina]

Are you saying the converted files look better than the native pdf files on the DX?

[angelad]

Are you saying the converted files look better than the native pdf files on the DX?

I can't agree with that fully.  May be some do, but not all.

[Greg Banks]

It really does depend on the PDF. Some are much better suited to display on this screen size than others.

[cheerio]

It really does depend on the PDF. Some are much better suited to display on this screen size than others.

very true

[artsandhistoryfan]

I must say first that the PDF reader does work, you can see pdf files.............. however, I took 3 random books from different authors and sent them to Kindle for conversion. Then I loaded the original pdf files along with the converted and moved to my Kindle DX. Each native pdf had some type of problem............ie; print VERY light

  Very light print happens when the PDF is in color and the Kindle tries to  map colors to the various 16 shades of gray.  A color that's vivid on a color monitor will be barely visible in a gray-shaded screen and some gray background will be much too dark, in fact, to read some lighter foreground lettering on it.  This happens with the Web too.

  The Kindle 1, just for example, with its limited 4 shades of gray has more 'contrast' because it can't render in-between shades and gives only the more-dark and the more-light.

  The conversion process tends to avoid "translating" the most extreme colors, or it translates them into less shades, but I've had Word Documents converted with mostly b&w translations and then used CutePdf to 'print' a web article in PDF format, which is then converted by Amazon or my MobiPocket Creator for use with my Kindle 2 and the shades of gray do come through.

  I have many converted PDF documents and, for my material (normal PDFs formatted for express layout purposes, and not books put into PDF format), they are much better in PDF format on the DX probably because they are multicolumnar. with rows of text running across outside table headers and footers, which the converters don't often interpret correctly.

  If you read some of the text in a conversion from a complex PDF, it often won't make sense because it is picking up the wrong text from the wrong column.

  Since you're happier with the text-reflowed conversions (bigger, normal text re-flowed to fit the space), you are probably converting simple (free?) books with just lines running across the page and no special layout or formatting and no tables, maps, or diagrams.  The latter 3 are horrific on converted PDFs.

  As for the small fonts -- yes, because the screen is smaller than an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.  For that reason we have the option to turn the DX sideways and the fonts then enlarge to fill the width of the screen, but we have only the top half or so of the page that way and must "NextPage" to get the bottom of the page.  Turn it sideways and you get quite an improvement usually.  Be sure to hold it vertically when doing auto-rotation.  When held parallel to the floor, changing the orientation doesn't cause an auto-rotation.

  See some of the differences between vertical and landscape mode at my
http://www.pbase.com/andrys/kindleplus

[karlm]

As long as I can get the document displayed and don't get angry in the process it's fine for me.

[mlewis78]

I bought my DX for reading books and not for using PDF files particularly, but I did put some PDFs on it a couple of days ago and was disappointed in the small size of the print and how light most of it was.

After I thought about why this would be, I realized that since the PDF page originals were 8-1/2 x 11 inches and the kindle screen is smaller, it had to be reduced in size.  One of them was a full magazine.  The ads looked good because the images were large and much of the type was dark.  The articles were hard to read because the font was reduced from the original.  Some of the other files were probably originally Word files either converted or scanned to PDF.  They had tips for using native Word.  I will find it much easier to use those if I just print them out on 8-1/2 x 11 paper than to read on my DX.  It's mostly legible but hard to read -- actually a strain to read.

I'd often wondered why the DX was promoted as being good for reading PDFs and newspapers.  I cancelled my NY Times subscription a few days after I sampled it, because it wasn't so different than reading on my smaller kindle and reading it on the website is free with color pictures.

I sure hope for students that it works well for textbooks.  I won't be using it for textbooks at all.  I love it for reading books.

Marti

[kevindorsey]

As long as I can get the document displayed and don't get angry in the process it's fine for me.

Once you get used to it, it does become a bit easier.

[PhillipA82]

It really does depend on the PDF. Some are much better suited to display on this screen size than others.

x2

[loca]

PDF reader is considerably better on DX, so at least there is an improvement. 

[devilmafia]

agreed ..

[angelad]

I think they can still make improvements to the PDF reading ability on the new Kindle.

[artsandhistoryfan]

I think they can still make improvements to the PDF reading ability on the new Kindle.

  On the current new one?  They could institute a zoom mechanism but it doesn't seem
super likely while they're rushing to try to meet the iPad and the $15 pricing head on.
The latter (pricing) is a threat.

  What they CAN do is spend some money to make the PDF *editable* or academia
and businesses cannot use it as well as they can the upcoming models though the
latter will be quite expensive relative to the Kindle.   The Sony can edit PDFs.  But
viewing them on smaller than the 9.7" is difficult.

   Actually, when I use Landscape orientation, they tend to be super clear on mine.
Especially when they improved use of margins in landscape mode with updates 2.3.

   I have samples at http://bit.ly/kdxphotos of vertical vs Landscape mode displays.

[loca]

You still see some very inconsistent results going from one pdf to another. 

Plus the functionality of pdf viewing, and screen fitment itself can get considerably better.

  On the current new one?  They could institute a zoom mechanism but it doesn't seem
super likely while they're rushing to try to meet the iPad and the $15 pricing head on.
The latter (pricing) is a threat.

  What they CAN do is spend some money to make the PDF *editable* or academia
and businesses cannot use it as well as they can the upcoming models though the
latter will be quite expensive relative to the Kindle.   The Sony can edit PDFs.  But
viewing them on smaller than the 9.7" is difficult.

   Actually, when I use Landscape orientation, they tend to be super clear on mine.
Especially when they improved use of margins in landscape mode with updates 2.3.

   I have samples at http://bit.ly/kdxphotos of vertical vs Landscape mode displays.

[Lambert]

I agree that the converted PDFs do look better in most cases. Another benefit is that you can adjust the text size.

I notice lately when I send a file for converting that the converted file doesn't come back in my email. Hope they haven't stopped that service.

[artsandhistoryfan]

I agree that the converted PDFs do look better in most cases. Another benefit is that you can adjust the text size.

I notice lately when I send a file for converting that the converted file doesn't come back in my email. Hope they haven't stopped that service.

Saw this today, late, but wanted to explain to future readers that at the time Lambert wrote this post, PDFs were now made readable on smaller Kindles too, and Amazon started passing straight through, as-is, PDFs sent to Kindles.
 
  If we want a PDF to be converted to MOBI (the format for personal docs without the usual form of DRM), we need to put into the subject field "Convert" and then the Amazon servers will run the automated conversion program and send the normal Kindle-style version to the Kindle...

  If you want a personal doc to go to an older Kindle that has 3G only but don't want to pay the 15c per megabyte for 3G personal-doc delivery and have gone to the http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle page  to limit personal-doc sends to (free) WiFi  which an older 3G-only Kindle doesn't have, THEN you'd get an email about it being ready for download to your computer or network...

[Ann in Arlington]

FWIW, if you want a personal doc on a device that does not have WiFi, but you also have devices that DO have wifi, you can send the pers doc to one of them first via Amazon. . . I use the "send to kindle" application that makes it a right-click menu option.  PDF's will NOT convert this way, you'd have to use the email, subject "convert" method in that case.

Once it's in your Amazon archive, you can send it from MYK to any kindle, whether it's got WiFi or not.  It does work: I have successfully sent personal documents to my DX (no WiFi) without being charged by first sending them to one of my other Kindles.