Today I wanted to talk about a really amazing application for the iPhone/iPad that will not only give you an added application but it will totally revolutionize the way you do things and this application is called GoodReader. Now GoodReader is known for a really high-powered application to do a few things with PDF’s including viewing massive sized PDF’s. To me I look at it as an all-in-one tool that does almost everything with the added extreme PDF capabilities it has.
Now I am a fan of the Cloud or the Cloud being my server per se and I love the ability to access things remotely. I also love the fact of having file management on my iPhone/iPad where I can go anywhere download files, access remote files, store files locally, and being able to “open in” that application. I also love to download movies and music and store them on my iPhone/iPad without having to search through a rainforest full of deadly animals to find a computer in order to sync some media files over. So these are all “things” or capabilities I would love to have on my iPad and iPhone (not necessarily needing to Jailbreak)
So I was searching for a FTP application to use on my devices and I came across GoodReader. The main purpose of GoodReader was to be able to open up massive sized PDF’s with some capabilities of FTP and a few other remote services. I was pretty disturbed on how it was announced as basically a PDF reader. It made me think not to buy it because if I wanted a PDF Reader I would have downloaded “PDF Reader” – Yes, it is an application that can read PDF’s. I also read other reviews whereas it was a good FTP application. So I made up my mind and downloaded it. After using it for sometime I have really starting to adjust to it and its entire cool “hidden features” they don’t tell you about. Later on I have decided to look for a better FTP application because of two things; 1) I am the best so I want the best. 2) GoodReader seems like it’s not the best FTP application when it is. So enough with the introduction and lets talk about the amazing fascination that I am having with this application before you say I am crazy.
GoodReader: Not Just A PDF Reader
There are so many things you can do with GoodReader like viewing PDF’s and using it as an FTP application. But is this all it does? Or are there “hidden features” in this marvelous device? Well lets start by talking about what it can do to the “hidden features” so we can get you on your path to success. GoodReader is a well-known application for viewing and modifying large PDF files. You can open large PDF files and annotate notes or whatever else you wanted to do. So if your college sent you a large book you had to read by the next day you could simply just open it in GoodReader and doodle all over it rather than reading it. Since PDF’s are located all over the place including email or wherever; GoodReader has FTP, SFTP, iDisk, email, etc. access. So it gives you the capabilities of accessing those PDF’s from wherever you are. Whether you are in your car, on the plane, in your office, or hiding under your bed; GoodReader is there to get you the access to your PDF’s. Being said that, the amazing developers of GoodReader just didn’t want to leave you with that (A massive PDF opener). They gave us so many other features. The abilities to open any office document, music, video, text file, or basically any file makes GoodReader a little more interesting. Also, the feature where you cannot only access FTP servers; you can move files, edit them, and create folders (basically a file manager.) It also allows you to download and upload files, Sync Folders, and keep files stored in the documents folder locally on your iPhone/iPad. Any email you receive or any file you receive can be opened into GoodReader and managed. It also allows you to surf the web within GoodReader and download any file (including movies and music) and view them within GoodReader (in order to view within GoodReader it has to be a supported file which a lot of them are supported). This is what makes GoodReader so magnificent. Now moving on to the “hidden features”.
There are a few “hidden features” or useful ideas in GoodReader that many people don’t know. The ability to download files from an FTP server helps out in being able to backup certain files from your FTP server. This also allows you to modify the files and place them back on. And for web development if your trying to recover from a disaster and this still doesn’t fix the solution you could always place the file back and start over from your original to bring your services back online. There are also other things where you can store all your music and movies to an FTP server or whatever services you have. What that means is you can have terabytes of media stored on a remote server and you can access those media files at anytime for your entertainment. That means if you have 100GB of media and you can’t slap all that on your iPhone/iPad; you can still access it remotely. Other features with this are any file you want to download you can open up the GoodReader browser and download them. There are some websites where you can download music, movies, books, etc. that you may not find in iTunes and get those files. You may say well I will download it elsewhere from my computer. But what if you are not near your computer, you are in a remote location that it just wont work out that way, and you just have to watch the last episode of House right now? Well that’s where GoodReader comes handy. It is a great application even for managing your files.
In conclusion, I find GoodReader one of the major “must haves” for your iPhone/iPad. I take it anywhere and get my work done at the touch of GoodReader. From allowing me to connect to remote servers to downloading files, managing files, viewing PDF’s, etc. to watching my last episode of House. GoodReader: Not Just A PDF Reader.
References:
Image From: Just Another Mobile Monday
GoodReader for iPad: iTunes-GoodReader
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Michael J Brancato
Making the world a better place one step at a time.
