iPad App Review
Type – Paid App
Category – News
Released May 1st, 2010

 

There have been a number of magazine apps popping up all over the app store in the last few weeks and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. MacUser was one of the first magazines to appear and as a starting point it’s not bad but it could certainly be improved. When you download the app you’ll see a bookshelf similar to that of iBooks and a choice of issues to choose from. You’ll see the front covers and by tapping one it will be downloaded at a price which is shown below each issue.

You can flick your finger from right to left to turn the pages as if reading a real magazine and there will be a page turning animation, although it’s nothing like the fantastic way iBooks work and its page turns. It’s a little slow to register and feels slightly sluggish but it’s not a deal breaker. You can double tap an article to zoom in but it never enlarges quite enough so you use the two finger pinch-out to zoom in further, this tends to be fast and works as nicely as any other app that uses this feature. You will find that if you zoom into a photo or image it won’t keep it’s resolution and it does start to pixelate which is a shame, it would be great to zoom in to an image to see the detail.

By tapping in the middle of a page, a navigation bar will appear at the top and bottom. The bottom shows thumbnails of the pages and allows you to visually see what might appeal to you and navigate to a particular page with ease. The top offers a ‘Content’ menu which allows you to quickly get to a section of the magazine whether that be reviews, news, tutorials etc. There are further options at the top which include a Bookmarking Feature, Search and an iPod menu that gives you the choice of listening to the music stored on your iPad.

The magazine can be read in both portrait and landscape modes. When viewing in portrait you’ll see just one page and in landscape you’ll see two pages. Both modes work well but you’ll probably find you’ll spend most of the time in portrait as it feels more natural.

Conclusion

MacUser is pretty good and it’s great to be able to download an issue whenever you feel like it and at a reasonable price. However there is still room for improvement, if the industry wants to save itself then Apple the iPad and the ‘App Store’ are providing them with the platform but they will need to think beyond a standard print publication in digital format. Make the magazine interactive, get some video in there and make the interface smooth and a delight to use. Irrespective of its problems the ‘iPad MacUser Magazine App’ is still recommended and very convenient.

 

 

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