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Nexus 7 size right for reading pdf's or should I wait for 10" alternative?

Hello guys, I am very excited about this tablet and didn't believed it was possible to actually offer such great specs at this price point, I take my hat off to google. I am currently looking to buy an android tablet basically for college book reading since most of the books (Science) are sent to us through pdf and reading them with the laptop is very impractical... These books are the typical 7.4" x 9.1" physical book size and my main concern is that the pages will not fit properly on the 7" screen or maybe wont be legible having to use zoom the pages in which is basically what I want to avoid.
So basically do you guys think this tablet could suit me for reading pdf books naturally without having to zoom the pages? or should I wait for the rumored nexus 10 to suit my needs?
Oscar

PDFs are a print format; they look great at 8.5x11.
Every smaller device I have seen has been a compromise; the smaller they get the worse it is.
Pick a commonly available textbook and see how it looks in the Apple store on a 10" IPad. Then drop by Barnes and Nobel and see how it looks on the Nook Tablet at 7". It will look very much the same on the Nexus 7 as on the Nook Tablet.
I won't do PDFs on my readers for that reason; my entire library is EPubs, with changeable font sizes and good text reflow.

It obviously depends on the font size used in the PDFs you intend to view. In general, if you're looking for a reading device, the consensus is that the 7" format is perfect.

I have a number of mags that I use in PDF format. It completely depends on how much text the book/mag printer is trying to squeeze on the page. Some look great, others require a little pinch.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Send us the pdfs (once we get the tablet, of course) and we can try it out for you.

>do you guys think this tablet could suit me for reading pdf books naturally without having to zoom the pages?
This is my main concern as well. Reading PDFs on a Nook is doable, but not optimal. The problem isn't the 7" size so much as the insufficient width of the Nook's 1.7 aspect. I find that if I manually crop the margins (done once per book), then I can read most texts OK in portrait. But it's not comfortable for extended reading. BTW, when reading long-form, the last thing you want to do is zooming in/out per page.
I can of course read in landscape, but again the "widescreen" aspect is suboptimal, necessitating excessive scrolling.
N7 is slightly better with its 1.6 aspect + higher res. Its actual screen is physically about 5mm wider than the Nook's. The higher-res display should improve readability, although I'm not sure how much.
An optimal device for reading PDFs for me would be in 4:3 format. For one-handed use, a 7'ish size is best. The rumored 7.85" mini iPad would be perfect.
If reading PDF textbooks is your main use, the best device is the iPad. It has the optimal 4:3 aspect, and its display is the best hands down. When you're reading books for long periods, the extra space of a 10" is much more important than the portability from a 7". For extended reading, 10" is best used in a stand, though.
>should I wait for the rumored nexus 10
It's futile to chase after gadget rumors. Although I will say that the iPad mini is on my list, if it becomes true.
Edit: I'm looking at the Lenovo IdeaTab S2109 which just hit the retail shelves. Basically a value tab, but it has a 4:3 IPS and good sized battery, important for a reader. SoC is last-gen OMAP4430, same as KF, so not the fastest. But that's good, because it means it'll hit the discount bins sooner than later. Hopefully it'll come up in a BF sale.
http://androidcommunity.com/lenovo-ideatab-s2109-budget-ics-tablet-hands-on-20120702/

There's no doubt that a 10" device is better for viewing most PDFs, but you can get by with a 7", especially if you're able to crop the PDF down before sending it to your device. For a free utility to crop PDFs just search for Briss.
But frankly if you're looking for something to use with textbook PDFs you'll spare yourself a lot of grief if you wait and save up for an iPad2.

Well, after having both 7" (Nexus 7 16GB) and 10" (Ainol Hero 1) - I ended up using almost exclusively the larger one. Its not that neat/cute nor easy to carry every day, but I finally started reading PDF books and PC manuals Ive intended to read for ages ... Debian Handbook for example - great at 10 inches, sucks at 7 inches. Also other stuff like Flipboard is great when using the tablet in vertical position.

I don't know about everyone else but I get a pretty much perfect conversion when I use Adobe Reader, especially in Landscape Mode. The stock reader and a couple of other ones I tried didn't really do it for me

IntelligentAj said:
I don't know about everyone else but I get a pretty much perfect conversion when I use Adobe Reader, especially in Landscape Mode. The stock reader and a couple of other ones I tried didn't really do it for me
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Well, myself, I hate scrolling page when reading. Thats why I love to read it on 10inch tablet in vertical way. I read one page, click right side of the screen, read another page ... etc. ... Using Mantano reader btw.

Nexus 7 is very cool phablet for reading docs...
But you need to zoom a bit on any 7` tablet...
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

michalurban said:
Well, myself, I hate scrolling page when reading. Thats why I love to read it on 10inch tablet in vertical way. I read one page, click right side of the screen, read another page ... etc. ... Using Mantano reader btw.
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I actually don't mind the scrolling too much which is funny since I came over from a Kindle Touch. I'll try that app though. Do you have to zoom or does it do a good job of re-sizing the PDF?

IntelligentAj said:
I actually don't mind the scrolling too much which is funny since I came over from a Kindle Touch. I'll try that app though. Do you have to zoom or does it do a good job of re-sizing the PDF?
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Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesnt. Dont know what it depends on. But on the 10-inch I dont zoom at all ...

michalurban said:
Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesnt. Dont know what it depends on. But on the 10-inch I dont zoom at all ...
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Alright I'll give it a try on my Nexus 7. I just don't want to deal with the hassle of converting my PDF files. My ebooks I use the kindle app and it works great

IntelligentAj said:
Alright I'll give it a try on my Nexus 7. I just don't want to deal with the hassle of converting my PDF files. My ebooks I use the kindle app and it works great
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Yes, me too. I managed to buy some books for Google Books even in my unsupported country, but now they really shut the access down for us so I moved to Amazon Kindle and its great.

Can anyone recommend the Nexus 7 for comics?

Planning on either getting the N7 or the ipad3 real soon but I'm really hesitant because of the better screen of the ipad. I'm getting a tablet mainly for light sufring, music, media and comic book reading.
Does anyone use their N7 for comics? What app do you use for CBR files? How's the screen and hows the usability and feel of reading from a much smaller screen? I'm guessing it can get annoying to read from such a small device because you'd constantly have to flick around just to read.
I'm all for the N7 but the only thing that's holding me back is that beautiful screen and itunes mp3 integration which is the best! Although I hate having to convert videos just to view them on my device.

I use ComicRack on my Nexus 7.
I am able to read comics in portrait mode without having to zoom in. The 1280x800 resolution is high enough for text to be displayed clearly. I don't need to zoom in and out.
The new iPad is still better for comics though. Reading comics on the Nexus 7 isn't bad, but sometimes you want a bigger screen (since comic text can be pretty small).

I'm pretty much using the N7 for email, texting and reading books and comics. I find that it works fine as a comic reader. After trying different comic apps, I've settled on two.
Comics by Comixology
This is great for buying and viewing comics. The guided view is superb. Try it out. They offer free comics so you'll be able to see how it works. I do still buy comics to offset all the ones that I download for free.
Perfect Viewer
This is the one I use for my cbr/cbz files. It works great and has a nice bookshelf feature to easily keep track of your comics and what's been read. There's plenty of customization available but not so much that it's overkill. I prefer reading in landscape with comic scaled to width. Tap the right side to scroll down a configurable amount. If you're at the bottom of the page it goes to the next page.

i love my nexus 7 for reading manga. it's great. i've always used jj comic viewer. 7 inch screen is way more convenient than 10. i can fit it in every single pair of pants pockets. i usually read them in landscape mode so you have to navigate your finger up and down to see the whole page, but it really isn't that bad. you just start from the top of the page and work your way down. it's what you would do anyways. potrait mode works too, but it gets kinda small. i think its perfect.

It's actually very good for comics.
http://www.techhive.com/article/2000315/what-s-the-best-way-to-read-comics-on-your-nexus-7.html

I found the screen way too small for comic reading, but that is just personal preference. I couldn't condone the price of the Ipad3 for what I use tablets for so I got the Asus TF300. It is great, a lot of great development going on, and great screen for comics.

I personally use manga watcher app for my manga needs. I think the n7 is a perfect size for manga. The reason being, the n7's screen size is pretty close to your average takobon volume, whereas American comics tend to be printed on bigger paper size.
I don't really read American comics that much, so I can't really comment much about it.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Makaijin said:
I personally use manga watcher app for my manga needs. I think the n7 is a perfect size for manga. The reason being, the n7's screen size is pretty close to your average takobon volume, whereas American comics tend to be printed on bigger paper size.
I don't really read American comics that much, so I can't really comment much about it.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
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Thanks guys! You have a new convert! I'm getting my unit tonight and hopefully it doesnt come with issues!

My mate is on the stand-up circuit and he loves his.
I don't read comics on mine but I do subscribe to Wired! Magazine and read that. It's a little small when showing the full page on screen so you have to zoom in to read, then zoom out to turn the page. I'm used to reading it on an iPad so it took a little getting used to but it's not a huge problem.

I tried Perfect Viewer, but the user interface is too ... ugly. And it's quite annoying to have to click every time to go to next page.
Did you try "Challenger comics viewer" ?
It's a FREE comics viewer available on Android Market (no ads).
You don't have to click to go to next page, all pages are automatically loaded.
Try it in landscape mode, it's really awesome !
It support local files (cbr/cbz/pdf/jpg/png) and network files (Samba/CIFS/Webdav/Ftp/SFtp).
I also tried Comicrack, it's quite OK but you still have to click to go to next page.
Use "Challenger comics viewer" and you will be addict ! Really !
Here is a short video of "Challenger comics viewer" :

I bought my one just for reading comics and web/gaming,
Comicrack is a must have,
Comic reader mobi is also alright and work well

How easy is it to read .pdf and ebook files on this device?

I was thinking of getting an ipad 3 but while at bestbuy and playing with one I realized its still ios and left the store, screen is pretty though. Is this device better? Do you guys find yourself reading more, ebooks etc on this device or not great for that purpose?

SysAdmNj said:
I was thinking of getting an ipad 3 but while at bestbuy and playing with one I realized its still ios and left the store, screen is pretty though. Is this device better? Do you guys find yourself reading more, ebooks etc on this device or not great for that purpose?
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I've read about 2-3 books on the Nexus 7 thus far and it is very easy to read and follow along. The iPad is wonderful for reading. Don't get me wrong I love the iPad. But, it's form factor just isn't for me. It's hard to imagine it as if it were a real book because it's so big. I don't exactly enjoy typing or playing games on it either because of its form factor. The Nexus 7 is a perfect device for those of us with the not-so-big hands that don't like stretching our fingers to type. It's also even better for reading because its size/weight is about the same as todays paperbacks.

I read my studying guide text book on my nexus 7 and I love it. The 7in size is perfect for hand held, weight and size wise and the screen size is still big enough too.

My primary use for the N7 is reading. Tried several other tablets and this one is by far the best. PDFs are not great though; unless the text is condensed in the middle of the page (and your reader autozooms) it's not fun to read either tiny print or scrolling a lot in landscape. But resizable text can't be beat. Get mantano reader.

SysAdmNj said:
I was thinking of getting an ipad 3 but while at bestbuy and playing with one I realized its still ios and left the store, screen is pretty though. Is this device better? Do you guys find yourself reading more, ebooks etc on this device or not great for that purpose?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I greatly enjoy reading books on the N7. Since I got mine at the end of July, I've re-read almost all the Sherlock Holmes mysteries on it. One thing that helps me with reading books on the N7 (especially at night) is changing the text in whatever app I'm reading in to white text on a black background.
I've played around with quite a few of my friends iPads and from what I've seen, the N7 is better suited for reading, while the iPad is better for watching videos.
Hope that helps.
Sent from my Paranoid Nexus 7

I have ES File Explorer installed and was chuffed to find out that it supported PDF when I downloaded the user manual for my new camera. It works really well.
As for ebooks I haven't used any other han the N7 guidebook but the missus is glued to 50 shades of try on hers, so I guess it must work well enough.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app

I'm not completely happy with any PDF reader on android. For example, I like to zoom in as much as possible without having to scroll left and right. I often zoom in so that the margins are off screen and text is almost edge-to-edge, but invariably I end up scrolling left or right a bit while trying to scroll vertically. How about an option to lock the horizontal position? I'm much happier reading a native mobi format book in the Kindle reader. Maybe I'm just weird.

The part about the pdf files worry me as I know I have some material I need to read that are in pdf format. Is it really that bad?

I agree with Opcow. Reading PDF's can be a challenge because it doesn't reposition text when you zoom in like an eBook does. So, if you need larger fonts you will have to scroll left and right as well as up and down.
For ebooks though, its awesome. I like it better than the Kindle Fire which I owned for a while. Yet, for long reading sessions, I still use my Kindle Touch...but, I digress...
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

It hasn't replaced my kindle, but it is a very suitable size/weight for reading. I'm just not a fan of reading on a backlit display.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Your mileage will vary with pdf files I think. I tried to read a magazine pdf (lots of graphics as you'd imagine) and it would stutter/freeze for as long as 10 seconds when trying to scroll. I think this was in Aldiko book reader.
And then in Adobe Reader, I read a PDF file that was light on graphics, but Adobe would take a while to render the text clearly after going to next page. It's annoying.

opcow said:
I'm not completely happy with any PDF reader on android. For example, I like to zoom in as much as possible without having to scroll left and right. I often zoom in so that the margins are off screen and text is almost edge-to-edge, but invariably I end up scrolling left or right a bit while trying to scroll vertically. How about an option to lock the horizontal position? I'm much happier reading a native mobi format book in the Kindle reader. Maybe I'm just weird.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For pdf's Mantano lets you set for each book the R & L margins and the headers & footers. I use calibre on a PC to store, index etc. ebooks It also does some pretty powerful format conversions.

Here's my opinion. If you are going to be reading a lot of PDFs then go for the iPad 3. That screen is awesome. However, I like the 7 inch screen much better for eBooks.

Would you guys think it would be smart to wait for the ipad mini announcement?
If I was to go for the ipad 3, I dont know why I would feel locked down.
Yes, I already have some pdf's I would start with.

SysAdmNj said:
Would you guys think it would be smart to wait for the ipad mini announcement?
If I was to go for the ipad 3, I dont know why I would feel locked down.
Yes, I already have some pdf's I would start with.
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Lol becuase iOS is terrible when it comes to customization. Its a 4x4 grid of block icons.. its not hard to screw up :S. Honestly i wouldnt ever suggest any apple product. This screen is subpar to the ipad's retina its not as good but its definetly up there. Our screen density is like 226 and the ipad is like ~260 but that thing is a honker.. if all your doing is reading PDF's i would go with the Nexus 7 its much lighter and text is clear as day.
Also.. this might persuade you.. if you ever drop your tablet.. look what 600$ gets you compared to 250$

Definitely not all I'm doing, would like to think of it as entertaining as well whether viewing movies or games here and there. Another thing that made me think about the ipad was that there is this cable app from my provider that is especially made for the ipad/iphone and you can view your subscribed cable channels right on your device where it doesnt work on android like that. There is even a pc app that you can do the same thing, and I tried to use my sgn to remote connect to my pc to view the channels but it was pretty messy as you could imagine. Not sure why they cater to ipad/iphone so much and leave out android. I'm sure this app looks pretty good on the ipad/iphone. Not sure if anyone has been able to use the optimum cable app on their nexus 7 yet. It would be pretty cool to be away somewhere with wifi and view some NFL games. Also, can you tether undetected with the nexus 7 and the samsung galaxy nexus?

more questions, how to I check if its the c80 model by just looking at the box? I'm thinking of going to gamestop after work.
Also, is it easy to tether to you samsung galaxy nexus?

SysAdmNj said:
more questions, how to I check if its the c80 model by just looking at the box? I'm thinking of going to gamestop after work.
Also, is it easy to tether to you samsung galaxy nexus?
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Yes should be under SSN:
And yes its easy to tether with

ÜBER™ said:
Yes should be under SSN:
And yes its easy to tether with
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So i should avoid c70 at all costs?

SysAdmNj said:
So i should avoid c70 at all costs?
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Not really but i would think the newer the better. I just returned my C80k and got a c60k with the same exact issue.. nothing different just a small little lift which is an adhesive issue.. and i have found a fix for it. Im done looking for a perfect model and just going to deal with the one i got now and fix it. I should have kept the one i had but its whatever.

Magazines on neXus 7?

I plan to get a neXus 7 soon. Now, my worry is how can I read magazines on it? I live in India and here, the playstore isn't even accessible.
My dad has an iPad 2 and I just love reading magz on it. I plan to replicate the experience on MY OWN neXus 7...
So without the Play Store being accessible, is there a way to read magazines? .pdfs or any other format?
Thanx!

R3ACTOR4 said:
I plan to get a neXus 7 soon. Now, my worry is how can I read magazines on it? I live in India and here, the playstore isn't even accessible.
My dad has an iPad 2 and I just love reading magz on it. I plan to replicate the experience on MY OWN neXus 7...
So without the Play Store being accessible, is there a way to read magazines? .pdfs or any other format?
Thanx!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The one thing a 10" tablet is better at is magazines.
The 7" form factor either shrinks the magazine a lot, or you scroll to see the whole page.
The Nexus 7 does PDFs - and magazines - fine, but for reading pleasure of magazines I would get a Nexus 10. Far better display than an IPad 2.
Getting back to your question - download PDFs to your 7. They will display fine with the pdf viewer.

rmm200 said:
The one thing a 10" tablet is better at is magazines.
The 7" form factor either shrinks the magazine a lot, or you scroll to see the whole page.
The Nexus 7 does PDFs - and magazines - fine, but for reading pleasure of magazines I would get a Nexus 10. Far better display than an IPad 2.
Getting back to your question - download PDFs to your 7. They will display fine with the pdf viewer.
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Thanx...I wasn't aware of that. Also, I saw a couple of videos of an app called EZ viewer or something. The pdf pages lagged and weren't as smooth as the iPad..honestly, that got me rethinking my decision.
Also, the Mini is almost the same price. So now wondering what to pick...can u suggest some good apps for the neXus 7?
Sent from my RaZr on MIUI.

Check out Zinio. I have a couple of subscriptions through them and it works great. It offers a text view of articles in addition to the normal page view. If you don't have the Play Store you will have to find the apk and sideload it.
In addition to Zinio at the top of my list are Netflix, TED, Evernote, StubleUpon, Eye In Sky, Yelp, Nook, ezPDF Reader, Acrobat Reader, Wattpad, and Pandora.
For Android maintenance, monitoring, and benchmarking my favorites are ROM Manager (along with CWM Recovery Touch), Android Assistant, ES File Explorer, Titanium Backup, CPU Spy, DiskUsage, & Better Battery Stats. Some of these require root access of course.
FWIW, tablet size comes down to personal preference. I had a TouchPad (10") that worked very well with Android ICS that I sold in favor of my Nexus 7. I have all of my technical manuals (programming) in PDF form and have no problem reading them with ezPDF Reader and as I mentioned I read magazines and surf the web and haven't found the size to be a problem. In fact, the portability and weight make me want to play with the N7 more than I should .
If you just want things to be simple and work then I suggest the iPad Mini but if you like to customize and tweak then you can't beat the N7.

[Q] Nexus 10 any good at scrolling and rendering PDFs?

I'm not sure if you're familiar with how well the Ipad renders pdfs. You can just stroke them and you can literally race through the PDF, at least that's what I saw in the store and in various youtube vids.
However, android devices seem to have an issue with pdf structure, and I don't want to convert them to mobi files, so I wanted to ask if the Nexus 10 is any good at rendering PDFs. I won't be buying it because it is fairly pricy and it's hard to find too, but it clearly has to be the closest thing to an IPad's retina display given its resolution and PPI.
Can they define the image super quickly, fastly scroll downwards (not sideways, none of that nonsense page flicking),

joaosplace said:
I'm not sure if you're familiar with how well the Ipad renders pdfs. You can just stroke them and you can literally race through the PDF, at least that's what I saw in the store and in various youtube vids.
However, android devices seem to have an issue with pdf structure, and I don't want to convert them to mobi files, so I wanted to ask if the Nexus 10 is any good at rendering PDFs. I won't be buying it because it is fairly pricy and it's hard to find too, but it clearly has to be the closest thing to an IPad's retina display given its resolution and PPI.
Can they define the image super quickly, fastly scroll downwards (not sideways, none of that nonsense page flicking),
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's no way you can render pdfs as fast as an ipad does. I've tried every single app, mantano, adobe, ezpdf, them all lag- Adobe reader doesn't really lag, but has an incredibly slow transition. Mantano strugles if you try to skip two pages in a row, and ezpdf and others lag like hell.

conspicuous tskyuni
Straf said:
There's no way you can render pdfs as fast as an ipad does. I've tried every single app, mantano, adobe, ezpdf, them all lag- Adobe reader doesn't really lag, but has an incredibly slow transition. Mantano strugles if you try to skip two pages in a row, and ezpdf and others lag like hell.
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This is what I was fearing from seeing youtube vids on the subject. Hopefully, for me, the Nexus 10 is faulty and too busy powering up the resolution, or your Nexus needs a rom, because, although I hate all of ipads restrictions I constantly have to keep considering them on account of pdf rendition...
Hopefully someone can come in and pitch in something that'll redeem pdf rendition on a droid, preferably cheap?

Try SmartQ Reader, it's fast and have an awesone feature that it's crop auto or manual.
Enviado desde mi Nexus 10 usando Tapatalk 2

joaosplace said:
I'm not sure if you're familiar with how well the Ipad renders pdfs. You can just stroke them and you can literally race through the PDF, at least that's what I saw in the store and in various youtube vids.
However, android devices seem to have an issue with pdf structure, and I don't want to convert them to mobi files, so I wanted to ask if the Nexus 10 is any good at rendering PDFs. I won't be buying it because it is fairly pricy and it's hard to find too, but it clearly has to be the closest thing to an IPad's retina display given its resolution and PPI.
Can they define the image super quickly, fastly scroll downwards (not sideways, none of that nonsense page flicking),
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I bought my Nexus 7 specifically for the purpose of reading books and I don't see how you say that the Nexus devices are slow at rendering pdf books.
I can swipe across many pages whipping fast. I am using the mantano pro reader right now and it works nicely. I also use the Adobe Reader with no problems either. I don't know how fast the ipad swipes pages but the Android Nexus is very fast too. I would highly recommend a Nexus 7 or 10 for reading books.

It's pretty laggy normally. Mantano seems to be the smoothest PDF reader on the market, but it can't handle large PDFs very well.
However, if you enable Developer Settings and check Force GPU Rendering, using the Adobe Reader app becomes very smooth. I haven't experienced any negative side effects (crashes, UI quirks, battery drain, etc) from having this enabled, so I've left it on, as this is my primary use for the Nexus 10.

Dr_Knickers said:
It's pretty laggy normally. Mantano seems to be the smoothest PDF reader on the market, but it can't handle large PDFs very well.
However, if you enable Developer Settings and check Force GPU Rendering, using the Adobe Reader app becomes very smooth. I haven't experienced any negative side effects (crashes, UI quirks, battery drain, etc) from having this enabled, so I've left it on, as this is my primary use for the Nexus 10.
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I have no problem at all reading PDFs on Repligo - and I read a lot of them on the Nexus 10. I can recommend that programme, if that helps?