App Review: ReaddleDocs for iPhone

ReaddleDocs Forum Review by msbaylor. (Visit the thread for video and more pics. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!) ReaddleDocs is a document viewer that basically covers all the ways of getting the document onto you iPhone – so there is no way that you cannot have your documents on hand. When [...]

ReaddleDocs Forum Review by msbaylor. (Visit the thread for video and more pics. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!)

ReaddleDocs is a document viewer that basically covers all the ways of getting the document onto you iPhone – so there is no way that you cannot have your documents on hand.

When you purchase ReaddleDocs, you also receive 512MB of storage space on their server. This allows you to upload any documents to the server via any browser and then sync them with you iPhone via any data connection (EDGE/3G/WIFI).

When you tap on the “Online” tab, you select the server you want to connect to and then you have the ability to sync with the server so that any new documents that you have retrieved via the iPhone will backup to your server and vice versa.

Besides using your Readdle Storage space, you can also connect to your MobileMe iDisk or connect to a WebDAV enabled server.

A second way of getting documents onto your iPhone is by forwarding your attached document in an e-mail to you ReaddleDocs e-mail address (given to you when you create your online account). Then, again, you sync you iPhone with your account.

A third way, is to use the built-in browser and navigate to a document then tap on a button to download the document to your iPhone.

A fourth and final way is to transfer the documents from your computer to your iPhone via WiFi.

When viewing your documents, you can edit them - delete, move, create folders, rename folders, rename documents, mail documents, and add a document to a zip achieve.

All documents that can normally be viewed on the iPhone can be viewed via this application as well.

I really like the icons that it uses to represent the type of file (red icon for pdf files, blue icon to doc files, etc.)

Interface

Within the app you can view all your documents, view your online documents (through whichever server,) use the browser, view recently opened files and adjust settings for the app.

I think for the most part those screen are self-explanatory.

I also like the document “reader” interface. When viewing files such as *.doc, *.rtf, the viewer is simple – you can scroll through your document like you would in the iPhone document viewer, however, you have and “add” button at the top, which allows you to insert bookmarks for that document. I find this incredibly convenient when reading a large document or e-book. The toolbar at the bottom of the screen allows you to view and edit bookmarks, e-mail the document, scroll through a document quickly using the slider and a full screen button.

If you turn the iPhone to the landscape position, it automatically goes to full-screen and rotates the document accordingly.

When viewing an *.xls document, you have all the same features as above. At the top of the document, you can change between the sheets. You might also notice that when switching between sheets, arrows will appear at the bottom of the screen. These arrows are much like the arrows you would use in the browser.

When viewing images, you can view them much like you would in your photo reel, just tap the arrows to move through the pictures within that folder. You can also mail the documents via this image viewer.

Besides viewing and retrieving documents, you can also view the device photos (which might prove a faster way of delete picture on your iPhone if you have to do it that way.)

Settings

In the setting screen, you have the ability to view or hide the “device photos” folder, setup mail settings – mail from and mail signature; allow WiFi network drive and apply username and password; several different viewing options including “view HTML as book”; you can also enable a passcode lock; and setup the document encoding.

Issues Encountered

There is no way to move the images to your iPhone photo reel or set as wallpaper functions, while the picture is on my iPhone in a sense, I cannot actually do anything with it unless I email it to myself and do it that way. I don't always have a data connection when I am traveling so it would be nice to move the images over to do what I wish with them. When viewing the a PowerPoint document, the slides seems to form one large “page” (see screen shot).

Conclusion

In my opinion the Pros out weigh the Cons and the price tag of $9.99 is completely worth it. To have the ability of getting my document on my hand held and having them at my finger tips is worth it. I was on a film set when I was asked to operate a Sony F900 camera. Luckily, I was able to go to a website using the browser interface and download the manual on my iPhone and had the ability to quickly skim through it and figure out how to use the camera.

Pros

Multiple ways of retrieving documents onto your iPhone
512MB of server storage
nice document viewer
document logos make finding documents easier
Ability to sync iPhone with server & vice versa
Book marking in documents

Cons

In doc viewer, tapping bottom of screen makes doc auto scroll, can be annoying at times
Can't handle large documents (over about 8MB)
Viewing *.xls (or of the like) documents doesn't always format correctly
Viewing *.ppt (or of the like) format into one long page