GoodReader is something you ‘ll want to consider if you spend a decent amount of time reading TXT or PDF files on your iPhone. Its attractive price tag, thorough design, and loaded feature list is sure to satisfy many different types of iPhone users.
The app accepts several different file types: PDF, TXT, pictures, and audio & video. With these file types, you ‘re able to access all of GoodReader ‘s features and options. It will also read iWork and Microsoft Office files, but won ‘t feature any of the options that the app affords to the first four file types I mentioned.
You have several different options when looking to transfer files into GoodReader for viewing. The method I used was Computer-to-iPhone: on your computer, you connect to a server (your phone) and drag & drop files into the app.
You also have several other options to choose from: adding ‘g ‘ before any web address in Safari will download that file into GoodReader; accessing your IMAP or POP3 E-mail accounts and downloading attachments (this feature will cost an extra $0.99 to add on); Dropbox; FTP and Google Docs (two different $0.99 add ons); WebDAV servers such as MobileMe; and more.
File organization is very robust and couldn ‘t be easier. You can create folders; move files between folders; E-mail, rename, and zip files; and more. Perhaps my favorite feature here is ability to password protect files, or even entire folders. The one drawback here is that you can only assign one password to everything, but that ‘s a minor gripe for an otherwise great feature.
The search feature within the app functions exactly how you would expect. When browsing your files, you can type and search for any folder or file you transferred over or created. When viewing the actual TXT or PDF files, you can also use this feature to search for specific words within the document.
With PDF documents, you can also use something called PDF reflow. With this, GoodReader will extract just the text from your PDF file and allow you to view that in plain text. You can then copy and paste this text into something else. Note that you have to copy the entire document with this feature. You can ‘t select certain parts, unfortunately.
An often overlooked feature within many apps is a robust help file that teaches you how to use the app. With GoodReader, that is not the case. The help file within the app is extremely informative and allows you to quickly find answers to the question(s) you ‘re looking for.
Another nice feature in GoodReader is a button at the bottom of the app that allows you to select your screen rotation position. Similar to the screen lock switch on the iPad, you press the button to switch from landscape to horizontal orientation, and the screen will stay in that position unless you tap the button again to switch.
There are also a number of settings you can change within the app. The most useful are the ones that let you change the font size and color of TXT files. There are also options for how you view photos and listen to music.
At the end of the day, GoodReader just feels like a well-built iPhone application. After playing around with it for a few days, I can tell the developers worked really hard on this and left no stone unturned. For viewing PDF and TXT files, it works like a charm. Aside from that, the app is loaded with other useful features. My favorite is the ability to store certain files only in this app and protect them with a password. That alone is worth the price of admission to me. When you add up everything else, this app becomes a no brainer.
GoodReader is available now in the App Store for $0.99.
*** Good.iWare provided a promo code to Just Another iPhone Blog for the review of GoodReader. For more information regarding our site ‘s review policies, please see the ‘About ‘ page. ***
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