Forum Discussion
Edge on Android isn't available for opening PDFs
They can easily make the .apk file size smaller starting by getting rid of the useless components such as Newsguard and adblock plus, and then maybe after years, update the Chromium from 77 to 87.
if the file size gets slightly bigger it will be worth it's the same as installing a separate app that occupies space.
Yes, there are lots of apps on Android for PDF but the same goes for Desktop, even more actually, Windows store and Win32 programs, paid and open source.
not all phones have Google drive preinstalled, especially Samsung devices that are the most popular ones and have deals with Microsoft to install Microsoft Launcher, OneDrive, Your Phone etc.
Huawei devices are another popular brand that don't have good relationship with Google and no reason to advertise for Google apps. but these are only 2 companies out of many that make Android phones.
I think Microsoft can push this to Chromium if they want to, just like they contributed lots of code in the past 2 years to Chromium project.
or, fork the Chromium Android.
lots of possibilities
By mentioning that Google Drive is preinstalled on the most of devices I mean Edge PDF viewer demand will be low. Talking about Samsung devices, there's Samsung Notes which have ability to Ink on PDFs is preinstalled side by side with Drive.
I'm sure embedding PDF viewer into Chromium Android tab is a fundamental and hard work, so I don't think there's a reason to shift their attention from adding new features an fixing bugs to that.
In addition to that, very little people view PDFs on their phones, because it doesn't support normal zooming. So there's a little chance Edge could compete with Android PDF editing apps, of which there are a lot, compared to PC.
adblock plus isn't even comparable to ublock origin. it barely blocks anything if at all. they also take money from advertisement companies to let their ads come through. no ability to add filters etc.
adding PDF viewer to Edge Android is itself a new feature that is worth spending time on.
there is no concrete data to show there are more Android apps than PC, I don't know why you keep saying that lol
- > adblock plus isn't even comparable to ublock origin. it barely blocks anything if at all. they also take money from advertisement companies to let their ads come through. no ability to add filters etc.
There's not so much browsers developed by companies I can trust, it's Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. Chrome doesn't have AdBlocker at all, when Firefox on Android is much slower than Chromium. So something is better than nothing.
>adding PDF viewer to Edge Android is itself a new feature that is worth spending time on.
I hate reading PDF on phone, because it's very inconvenient, so I always have to switch to my PC.
So there will not a large popularity for Android Edge PDF viewer.
It can be useful only on tablets, but tablets market share is very low.
> there is no concrete data to show there are more Android apps than PC, I don't know why you keep saying that lol
I said a little wrong, there's two points:
*Adobe Acrobat is paid, so we don't talk about it
1) It's much easier to install PDF viewer app on Android, than on Windows: you don't need to find the official binaries (+ the risks to download malware is lower because of (a little bit) Play Store app moderation and Android's permission control), you can see the app reputation (downloads, reviews) right in the store
2) I think if Acrobat were developing today, it will not be paid - it would just contain a lot of ads in free version. I know it's easier and more profitable to have ads on Android app, than on desktop, so there's definitely more PDF apps on Android, than on Windows.
So if I need to Ink on PDF and I don't have Adobe Acrobat (or I don't like it), I will not download paid or suspicious software and will use Edge's reader (+ Edge is preinstalled on Windows).
If I'm on Android, I most like will not read PDF. If I will, I would simply download an app specially designed for PDF editing, or open it in Android stock reader, if I don't need to edit it.
And I need to point that Edge is de-facto Windows default PDF reader, which should be useful, because if you're a regular, not tech-savvy user, you just click on PDF file and it opens in Edge - you don't need to search for PDF reader. If you're on Android, you *firstly* need to install Edge.- You hate reading PDF on phone, but we are not talking only about you.
and because you hate, you conclude that "So there will not a large popularity" ...
i know people that like to read books and novels on phone because it's mobile and you can carry it anywhere.
OneDrive PDF reader in Android (or maybe mobile in general since I don't use IOS), is great. it has PDF annotation and everything.
I don't know what's preinstalled on Iphones for PDF, but if Edge could at least have the same PDF functionalities as OneDrive it would suffice.
they need to overhaul the whole app anyway since it's using a very old Chromium version and it's missing lots of functionalities. it's more than 1 year old. so maybe they could throw PDF support in while doing it.