Artie Beaty/ZDNET
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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Android Auto now has a PDF app.
- The app is audio-only and doesn’t show any text.
- It’s perfect for catching up on notes or dense documents.
Android Auto has a number of surprising apps, including ones for finding a parking spot, ones for tracking storms, and even games. One of the most recent additions, though, may just be the most surprising of all.
Google’s smart driving companion recently added support for the Adobe Acrobat app. When I first saw it, I had the same question many other people did… why? Trying to read a PDF on a small car screen doesn’t seem ideal, and I’m obviously not trying to read or sign anything while on the road.
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When I opened the app, I was more confused. It doesn’t display PDFs, even if you’re parked. After spending some time with it, though, I found it more useful than I expected.
Why does Android Auto need an Adobe Acrobat app?
Since your car’s screen doesn’t display your PDF’s contents, the app’s usefulness comes from the “Read Aloud” feature, which does exactly what it says: reads a document aloud at the tap of a button. It has basic play, pause, and skip controls, all of which you can control with your screen or steering wheel buttons.
To start, I tried the app with a PDF of a book I’m currently reading on my Kindle. The read-aloud feature used a typical text-to-speech voice and wasn’t audiobook-quality, but it was good enough that I’d feel fine knocking out some chapters on the road. If you’re the type of person who listens to books in the car, I suspect you’d much rather choose an actual audiobook, but this option is there in a pinch.
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Where I think this feature would be really useful is when the voice doesn’t matter. If you want to catch up on meeting notes, review an important document, study before a class, or listen to an industry report on the way to work, this could be a fantastic productivity boost.
I’m helping a local non-profit apply for a grant, and since it involves the government, there’s an immense amount of information to wade through. I was able to pull up the guidebook on a drive this morning, and while it wasn’t riveting reading, it did help me get through a few sections.
The Adobe Acrobat app definitely won’t make my daily rotation on Android Auto, but it’s a sneakily useful app when I need it.
