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akosnitzky · 10-07-2008, 09:09 AM

This looks interesting.

BeamReader Native PDF Viewer Public Beta | BerryReview.com »

Shaun · 10-07-2008, 09:26 AM

A solid PDF reader is a must have ... good find.

I have been using BeamBerry for the past month with great success.

JSanders · 10-07-2008, 09:34 AM

Yes, BeamReader is good... I've been using it a few weeks and like it this new on-device page rendering.

visortgw · 10-07-2008, 11:10 AM

But it is HUGE -- 1.7 MB to be exact!

That being said, I have had an issue trying to register the app in order try it out (Is is really worth the bloat?). The registration repeatedly fails with a 503 error. I have yet to receive a satisfactory solution from BeamBerry support despite back and forth e-mail dialogue over the past couple of days. They admit that a "few customers have experienced this problem", but they haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet...

JSanders · 10-07-2008, 11:38 AM

BeamReader offers on-device PDF rendering | BlackBerryNews.com

zerog46 · 10-07-2008, 11:40 AM

Wirelessly posted (BB 8330)

I have tried it out and for me it takes so very long to open a file.

Deguello · 10-07-2008, 12:13 PM

I downloaded about 30 PDFs to my memory card, and it seems the files with alot of graphics can take 2-5 minutes to fully render!
On the other hand, those with modest amounts of pictures are loaded fasterand you can pan amazingly fast!

rivviepop · 10-07-2008, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zerog46

Wirelessly posted (BB 8330)

I have tried it out and for me it takes so very long to open a file.

I haven't loaded it yet (just getting to the forum today) but it would stand to reason why. PDF is a compressed format internally; there's a lot of CPU juice that's need to first decompress (think like unzipping) the PDF first into memory/cache, then it has to go through the actual process of rendering the content which can be very CPU intensive. On these little devices with limited CPU power, a complex PDF could easy take forever to load.

I haven't even tried it yet, but I know the PDF of the SF bus system (very, very graphic intense) is about to bring my BlackBerry to it's knees.

JSanders · 10-07-2008, 02:22 PM

We use some pretty graphic intense files in my business... and yes it is slow on the larger files. I just opened and view a 3MB file, I sometimes have larger.

But it did open and allow a good rendering of the PDF.

zerog46 · 10-07-2008, 03:17 PM

I agree it does open them well,it just takes to long for me. I hope the Storm will do better, because I use PDF's a lot in my line of work.

akosnitzky · 10-07-2008, 04:49 PM

I use pdf a lot as well. I appreciate the interaction on this.

zerog46 · 10-07-2008, 05:35 PM

I am dying for this to work I need something other than the native one, but it needs to be at least a bit faster.

visortgw · 10-07-2008, 09:54 PM

After BeamBerry Support resolved the registration issue that I mentioned in an earlier post, I took some time to compare BeamReader to RepliGo Reader (RepliGo Reader for BlackBerry - Native PDF Viewing - Beta) -- RepliGo Reader is a direct competitor to Beam Reader that has been in private beta for several months. I have been participating in the RepliGo Reader beta since mid-July. Here are some of my initial observations:

The BeamReader application is about three times the size of the RepliGo Reader application (i.e., roughly 1.7 MB vs. 600 KB). This is a HUGE difference given the limited memory on BlackBerry devices!
Performance (speed of opening and rendering a document) is about equal for the two apps for smaller files -- RepliGo Reader appears to be better with larger files.
RepliGo Reader appears to be much more feature rich -- it supports both bookmarks and text search as a couple of significant examples.
RepliGo Reader offers an optional Read view (simple toggle) that presents a single column of text and graphics, allowing a user to more quickly scan through a document.
Both applications have issues in rendering certain objects, but RepliGo Reader appears to have better error reporting -- it is interesting that both applications appear to have issues with the exact same objects in my testing so far.
There are currently no user settable options in BeamReader.
RepliGo Reader offers more flexible zooming (both wider range and much finer granularity).
IMO, navigation within RepliGo Reader is much more intuitive -- extensive implementation of keyboard shortcuts within RepliGo Reader helps even more.

Bottom line, I am impressed with how much more Cerience has been able to implement in a much smaller footprint. Watch for the public launch of RepliGo Reader soon, and compare for yourself!

Shaun · 10-08-2008, 08:11 AM

@visortgw - Good review, thanks for taking the time to post.

Does repligo display original fonts when it renders the PDF?

SMF · 10-08-2008, 08:46 AM

Does repligo do all it's processing on the device or does it use server side processing? For me the nice thing about beamreader is it's all on the device. My company wouldn't allow a third party server to process sensitive files.

Thanks,
SMF

dmacd · 10-08-2008, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SMF

Does repligo do all it's processing on the device or does it use server side processing? For me the nice thing about beamreader is it's all on the device. My company wouldn't allow a third party server to process sensitive files.

Thanks,
SMF

Repligo does all processing on the device - no server side processing.

visortgw · 10-08-2008, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaun

@visortgw - Good review, thanks for taking the time to post.

Does repligo display original fonts when it renders the PDF?

Currently, no -- RepliGo Reader uses substitute fonts. I have attached screenshots to illustrate a sample of the difference of the way in which the two applications display fonts. Yes, this appears to be a benefit of BeamReader, but, IMO, it is not worth the current bloat of the application -- for my usage, the other features of RepliGo Reader (especially Find [text search], Bookmarks, and Read view) far outweigh BeamReader's display of "original fonts". We'll just have to wait to see what Team Cerience has up their sleeves for the future.

rivviepop · 10-08-2008, 03:00 PM

Do we have an indication of what either solution will cost when released? Are they comparable/competitive to one another?

(thanks for all the reviews)

visortgw · 10-08-2008, 03:15 PM

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry 8830)

There have been no specifics with respect to pricing for either product, but I'm guessing that competition will definitely play into it! We should know shortly as it appears that the beta tests for both products are winding down...

BB8100 · 10-08-2008, 08:59 PM

Downloaded the repligo reader and am unable to open a 2 mb file. First page is fine and then all others have a big red X. Native BB reader was able to open. Any thoughts?