It’s hard to find an iOS application that you can view as a PDF. For the most part, applications for the iOS 4 have to be put through Mail to be looked at or through a third-party in general, but iBooks has one attached that makes life a whole lot easier. I had to compare iBooks with both Readdledocs and GoodReader, because as far as I knew, these were the top two best PDF reading apps.  iBooks has many functions and doesn’t have a priced attached so it’s looking like a great app from the start. It should be great for PDF use because it is compatible with iBookStore and ePUBS.

The Basics of iBooks

I really didn’t expect this to be the golden egg of apps. I didn’t expect a lot more than what I was given with the application. When you compare the PDF specs to the iDevices, the PDF spec seems to work a lot better. The iDevices don’t read important PDF things like the form fields and I was hoping to see a lot more than that. There are a couple ways to put PDF’s on iBooks. You can so through the Mail App or syncing through iTunes. The Mail app’s PDF’s can be accessed by hitting the Open-In button and then selecting iBooks. When you view the bookshelf, you can view an attractive image done magnificently by Apple. There are some features that aren’t allowed to be done on the PDF but you can read it, zoom in and out, and you can also bookmark certain pages of the PDF. It will show the PDF’s pages on the lower portion of the screen and it will allow you to also do a word search on the PDF’s as well. That’s about all it can really supply its users. It’s also not shareable and you also can’t select pieces of the text for highlighting. The things that iBooks doesn’t have, Readdledocs and GoodReader, do.

The Conclusion

You can’t really ignore the application because it’s free!  It offers a whole other way (besides using the Mail app) to look at PDF’s. It still also offers you one area on your iPads and iPhones to keep all your PDF’s. Readdledocs and GoodReader are good apps to look into if you want something more than just what iBooks can offer you.