Scanner Pro v4.0 Provides Better Management, Higher Performance, And iPad Support
April 11, 2012
Readdle's Scanner Pro app is certainly a nifty tool for any mobile businessperson, turning an iDevice into a portable document and photo scanner. Today, Readdle has improved the performance, added more organization options, and finally made their handy business app iPad-native.
Some may be wondering why it took until now for Scanner Pro to go universal, since the second generation iPad has cameras. It's because the previous iPad's rear camera is only capable of capturing still images at a 960x720 resolution. However, the new iPad's iSight camera has a maximum resolution of 2592x1936, the same as the iPhone 4.
The significantly higher input image resolution results in much crisper and otherwise more desirable document conversion. Sure, Scanner Pro works on earlier iPad models, but the usefulness on second generation iPads is questionable. In fact, my demonstration screenshots in this article are from an iPad 2, and you can clearly see the results are disappointing.
Anyway, let's move onto the actual app changes. The iPad user interface is quite sleek, featuring input buttons along the bottom and file management controls across the top. Previous users will no doubt notice a few new choices for managing files: folders, sort, and search. As a note, the new options can be shown or hidden with an up or down swipe.
To create a new folder, simply tap on the icon at the top-left of the document gallery. At this point, tap and hold on any file, drag it over any folder, and then release. To remove documents from a folder, tap on the folder to view the contents, then perform the same file dragging gesture I just outlined.
Reasonably so, these folder and sort organization choices are also available on the iPhone. While supporting the drag-and-drop file move gesture, the iPhone UI contains a secondary move option due to the smaller screen. In the documents area, tap Edit in the top-right, choose the file(s) you want to relocate, tap Move in the bottom-right, and then select the destination folder.
Speaking of variations, there are a couple of differences when scanning documents using the iPad compared to the iPhone. Since it isn't necessary on the larger screen, border selection doesn't include a magnifying glass. In addition, the adjustment controls, such as contrast and brightness, are all displayed on-screen at once.
A change for all iDevices is performance. Readdle has upgraded the conversion engine in Scanner Pro to cut down on conversion time. Apple devices utilizing the A4 processor have notable boosts in processing efficiency, though iDevices with the A5 or A5X processor, such as the iPhone 4S and third generation iPad, were able to accomplish nearly instantaneous conversions.
Scanner Pro is a universal app compatible with iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch running iOS 4.3 or later, and available in the App Store for $6.99.
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