With the announcement of iBooks and its 60,000+ in-app downloads, Apple set the standard for the iPad as an important reading device, and luckily, other developers heard the calling. Several worthwhile reading applications are now available, with many putting their paper counterparts to shame with vivid artwork, embedded video, and interactive elements. Still unsure of whether the iPad can kick some of your traditional print reading habits to the curb? We've already given iBooks its own full review, but here's a look at some of the other initial reading offerings on the iPad.
TIME Magazine's initial foray on the iPad is a stunning representation of the storied news magazine, offering fantastic photography and compelling feature articles in ways that are equally impressive in landscape and portrait orientations. It's easy to read and navigate, and unlike other iPad magazines that simply appear to be PDFs of the print pages, each TIME screen was clearly assembled for this device. Interactive ads and embedded videos further catch the eye, but the current approach seems unsustainable: each issue is a separate, $4.99 app with no subscription option. Give us a single TIME app and a yearly rate and we'll be back every week.
Time's print content is reimagined in striking ways for the iPad version.
TIME April 12, 2010 0.0.9
COMPANY: Time, Inc.
CONTACT: www.time.com
PRICE: $4.99
Marvel makes a sharp splash on the iPad with its digital comic reader, delivering many of its iconic heroes (including Spider-Man, The X-Men, and Hulk) for $1.99 per issue, plus a handful of free options. High-resolution page scans pop off the screen, and the option to snap between single, zoomed-in panels makes it easier to take in the detail and nuance of each sequence--though we're still hoping for an automated viewing feature in an update. More than 350 single issues are currently available, but we'd love to see more current issues, plus bundle pricing for series/story arcs and subscription options in the future.
Marvel's app includes a handful of free comics, including Hulk #1 (2008)
Marvel Comics 1.0
COMPANY: Marvel Entertainment
CONTACT: www.marvel.com
PRICE: Free
The New York Times' first stab at an iPad app is very clean and easy to read, presenting a variety of handpicked stories spread across categories like news, business, and features. Of the well-known newspaper readers available at launch, the Times offers the most user-friendly interface, but the Editor's Choice approach means you only get a selection of notable stories from the paper--in fact, you can read more by going to the New York Times website, which is optimized for iPad. Still, for a free first attempt, we're impressed by the ease of use, and hope that future updates expand the content and feature set.
New York Times' ad-supported app offers various handpicked articles.
NYT Editors' Choice 1.0
COMPANY: The New York Times Company
CONTACT: www.nytimes.com
PRICE: Free
Amazon's competitor to iBooks offers a largely similar reading experience, but delivers a couple of strong advantages, as well: Kindle has a much larger inventory--more than 450,000 available books--and books can be read on several other devices, including iPhone. But Kindle isn't a fully self-contained experience like iBooks, as browsing and purchasing books is all handled externally through Safari, and Kindle's reader also lacks some of iBooks' more helpful features, like dictionary look-up and various font styles. However, the reader has its own unique draws--including sepia and black background choices--and remains a very compelling, multiplatform alternative for serious readers.
Kindle lets you swap to a sepia or black background to aid with reading.
Kindle 2.0
COMPANY: Reinke LLC
CONTACT: www.amazon.com
PRICE: Free
USA TODAY isn't the prettiest of the newspaper apps on iPad, opting for a more functional and feature-rich approach over a traditional print-stylized layout, but what it offers at present is a large amount of free content. Each of the four familiar sections is outfitted with a full array of stories, plus interactive menus for things like weather, sports scores, and photo galleries. However, change is on the horizon--USA TODAY will only be free until July 4, at which point a subscription fee will apply. Whether it'll remain a worthwhile app at that point is unknown, though we'll certainly enjoy the free content while it lasts.
USA TODAY is free until July 4, when an unknown subscription fee will apply.
USA TODAY for iPad 1.0
COMPANY: USA TODAY
CONTACT: www.usatoday.com
PRICE: Free
ilikeimac
April 08, 2010 at 12:01am
I've heard a few different people express concerns about the apps for reading popular news publications. Besides getting a richer experience than available on the web (which is seldom the case), what's in it for readers? The concern is that these publications want to pull readers into a controlled environment without a bookmark menu or Google search prompt to lure them elsewhere. The lack of article comments (in all the ones I've looked at so far) and the ability to link to an article your reading are also drawbacks, only I'm not sure if the publishers see those as desirable or not.
