iAnnotate for The iPad: Ultimate Reading Utensil?: "
By Steve Beyer:
This app really launched to the forefront last month with a press release from Aji, LLC the makers of iAnnotate.
I will quote a portion of the press release dated August 12, 2010
Aji, LLC has just announced that their popular iPad app iAnnotate PDF will be part of the required course materials for first-year medical school students at Stanford. Apple recently announced that educational institutions will be able to buy apps in bulk through iTunes, and as part of a trial program to integrate the iPad into academics, Stanford School of Medicine will now be providing all of their first-year students with iPads. Recently updated to include full Dropbox and VGA support, iAnnotate is optimized to be the ideal tool to improve the student learning experience.
Stanford also had a press release Aug 5th. They also have a provided a Google Docs summary of the iPad apps they have been reviewing at med.stanford.edu/estudent/apps.html.
Well enough press releases here is my first take.
iAnnotate highlights and underlines text as you would expect. It also provides the ability to add notes with a simple tap and review. Once the annotations are made, you can further edit them in place. You can also add annotations while reading the PDF’s in full screen mode.
One of the cool features I really like is a free form tool which allows you to draw right on the pdf and even add your signature to the document. All directly with your finger. iAnnotate has a customizable toolbar which allows you to show your most used commands. An integrated browser provides direct access to web available PDFs. Email and itunes file sharing provides a way transfer PDF’s from your computer. A Free windows or mac desktop companion provides a more direct means to move documents back and forth between your computer.
The couple of real killer features in this app are tabbed PDF Reading and a comprehensive search function. You can search by just about anything including tags, favorites, and new or recently read docs. My favorite feature is that the annotations are fully integrated right into the PDF. This means most standard PDF readers view the entire document, annotations and all. This includes Adobe’s Reader and Snow Leopard’s Preview.
Price for the app is currently $9.99. This seems a little high, but iPad apps are still priced at a premium over iPhone apps. I also tried out some of the competitors to make my final review.