Although the following is a sponsored review, as always I strive to provide an honest opinion of the product reviewed.

One of the advantages of having an iPhone or iPad is the ability to enjoy all forms of media in one device. From videos to photos to ebooks, every base is covered. Apple’s iBooks software did a great job of bringing ebooks to the iPhone and iPad, but apparently, something was missing because FutureMedia Studio built and released an app that they’ve boldly named Perfect Reader. With a name like that, I was anxious to dive in and see just how close to perfect they got.

A PDF Reader App That Works

Before any app can be called a Perfect Reader it should at least provide all the basics I’ve come to expect in any app designed as a book reader. At the very least, I need to be able to load and delete my own files. Done. What about the navigation? Can I thumb through pages or do I need to navigate with interface buttons? Perfect Reader actually has several ways to navigate.

Not only could I thumb through pages, but there were left and right buttons and a slider for faster navigation through long documents. Orientation locking is a must and was included in this app. There’s nothing worse than lying in bed on your side, trying to read and fighting to keep your iPhone from changing the orientation. My last basic requirement is the ability to zoom in and out. This is not as important on an iPad, but it’s necessary when trying to read a book on an iPhone, as is full screen support, which Perfect Reader also delivers. So far, this app has all the basics taken care of, but what about all the bells and whistles?

A Reader With A Lot Of Features

With “Perfect” in your name, you have a lot to live up to. Although I am hesitant to call this reader perfect, it gets pretty close. The vast array of additional features is proof enough that FutureMedia Studio really is trying to deliver the perfect PDF reader for your iDevices.

Among the features I found in this app are:

• Folders – Create and manage folders and move your PDFs among them
• Easy Importing – Transfer your PDFs into PerfectReader in three ways: Using iTunes, Wifi Transferring and using Open In feature – Open PDFs from other applications such as Safari, DropBox, MobileMe, Box.Net, GoodReader, ReaddleDocs, etc..
• Renaming – Rename your documents from within the app
• Text-To-Speech – The included Text re-flow engine reads your PDF to you
• Search – Search all documents or from within the one you’re reading, including highlighting
• Dictionary/Wikipedia – Look up any text without leaving the reader
• Encrypted PDF support – I haven’t tried this
• PDF Outlines and Hyperlinks – Support for Adobe’s outlines and hyperlinks is built in, which is nice for those huge technical manuals
• Bookmarks – Bookmark any page for reading later
• Printing – Print to a printer on your network

A full set of screenshots showing many of the features can be found here.

With all these features, Perfect Reader is already worth the purchase price, but it could use just a bit more.

Not Quite Perfect

Loaded with features already, this reader really is perfect… almost. FutureMedia Studio didn’t really leave me a lot of room for complaints. In fact, there was only one existing feature that fell short for me and that’s the text re-flow. It did a decent job of reading the words correctly, but I doubt I could listen to more than a page of it. It’s not ready to replace actual reading for me. The good news is that FutureMedia is promising new text re-flow engine, so we’ll have to wait and see. The navigation was another space I saw room to improve, but only just slightly. The existing navigation is great, but it needs the ability to jump to a specific page number. That feature is invaluable in Adobe’s desktop reader and would be a big bonus here as well.

The last thing on my Perfect Reader wish list (and this is kind of a biggie) is epub support. I’m aware that Perfect Reader is designed as a PDF reader, but if I could have this thing read epub ebooks, too, it would eliminate my ebooks reader. For now, I can always just use ConvertFiles.com to convert my documents to PDF, though.

Conclusions

Perfect? Really, incredibly close. In the world of iPhone apps, the real question is “Is it worth the cost of the app?” If you have a lot of PDFs to read, there’s no doubt about the value of this app. At $3.99, it’s worth every penny. It’s only a couple tweaks away from perfect, as far as I’m concerned. If you’re curious, but not ready to spend a couple bucks, try out the Perfect Reader Mini first, but either way, your iPhone or iPad is incomplete without Perfect Reader.