PDF Documents in Smartphone

The PDF format is a great way to share documents on a variety of devices. Adobe Reader (http://www.adobe.com/) exists for desktop computers and Palm OS devices. You can view PDF files on a Series 60 device by using Pdf+ from mBrain (http://www.mbrainsoftware.com/Pdf/Pdf.htm).

Installation is a snap, of course, and you can open PDF documents right from the Inbox of your handset's Messaging program. You can also store a PDF document on the MMC or Memory Stick and open it up for viewing.

Nokia 6680 users can get Acrobat Reader directly from Adobe. Visit Adobe's site at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readerforsymbian.html to learn more.

Pdf+ costs $25 from Handango (http://www.handango.com/) and is a great way to view PDF documents on your mobile phone. I have experienced a couple of instances in which Pdf+ certainly earned its keep.

MapQuest (http://www.mapquest.com/) has "printable" directions that print easily to PDF files from Mac OS X (or via other means on Windows PCs), and scale well in most circumstances to the display on a Nokia 6600. I get the directions, save them as a PDF, and send them to my mobile phone using Bluetooth, and I'm out the door with directions to my destination.

Documentation for your mobile phone might be available in PDF format, and what's better to read than the manual while you're waiting for your stop on the subway or bus? You might learn something cool about your phone while you're at it. You can also save various eBooks to the PDF format however you desire, and stash a copy on your MMC card for reading later.

PDF is not the only format for electronic books. Some older books are available in plain-text format. Or, you can save your Word documents to plain text as well. To view long text files on a mobile phone, try the open source Mobile Bookshelf at http://bookshelf.sourceforge.net. It parses the long text into multiple pages for easy viewing, and it supports the full-screen reading mode. Mobile Bookshelf is a Java program that runs on both Series 40 and Series 60 phones.