PDF Expert releases version 5.1
Yesterday, Readdle updated PDF Expert 5, our pick for best PDF app on the iPad, adding numerous new features.
Universal App
With 5.1 you can install PDF Expert on any iOS device, not just your iPad. The iPhone version is a lovely design and stays true to it’s larger iPad sibling.
One thing we noticed right out of the gate is how exceptionally smooth the scrolling is on the iPhone (and iPad too). The iPhone version also lets you control the individual pages of a PDF, as you should be able to, with replace/extract/merge commands just like on the iPad. This is a full-featured PDF client, not just a dumbed down iPhone version.
Continuous Scrolling
Of particular delight to this reviewer is the addition of continuous scrolling for PDF documents. Before, you could only scroll through the page you were looking at, and then had to swipe left/right to move between pages. With version 5.1, you can now select continuous scrolling and scroll the entire PDF at once.
As noted above, the scrolling is buttery smooth.
Speed
Readdle also notes general speed improvements, which is surprising given how fast the app already was. I can confirm the app feels snappy when moving about and annotating documents.
(There is also a hint of some sort of sync engine — so we will keep our eyes peeled for that.)
Still The Fastest File Browser Out There
One thing that constantly blows me away about PDF Expert is just how fast it browses network folders — be it Dropbox or a generic WebDAV server — I have not seen another tool browse these folders this fast.
Using our corporate WebDAV server to peruse leases is a chore on my Mac, even with apps like Transmit boosting the speed. PDF Expert can browse that same server and make it feel like you are browsing a native file system. It is amazing to say the least. I’m happy to report the speed of this hasn’t changed at all.
If you own PDF Expert, this will be a free update for you. PDF Expert is on the App Store for $9.99 for the now universal app.
- Read our full review of PDF Expert, our pick for the best PDF app on the iPad
- Purchase PDF Expert 5.1