Stop the press
The New Zealand Herald has launched an iPad app, just in time for the launch of the device here. I won’t beat about the bush: it’s fantastic, it’s beautiful, and it’s free. If you’ll forgive the obvious irony, words don’t really do this kind of app justice so we’ve gone hands-on with a video review and a gallery of screenshots. Hit the ‘read more’.
NZ Herald front page
News apps on the iPad really show off the strengths of this medium. Yes, newspapers have been on the web for some time now, but somewhere between the printed page and the interwebs there is a sense of connection to the publication that gets lost in translation.
Despite the processing power available in desktop and laptop computers, the web experience is often less than engaging: images are often smaller and less detailed than their news-print counterparts, text (particularly on Windows machines) is rendered in such a way that the feeling of ‘print’ is lost altogether, and the layouts are often confusing and unintuitive with obtrusive flash adverts and all sorts of distractions that take you away from the story.
Beautiful images (click for full-size image for breath-taking detail)
That sense of connection is restored with the iPad, and this app is a perfect example of getting it right. Suddenly images are large, text is rendered beautifully and physically holding the news in your hands is engaging again. In many ways, the experience is actually better than the newspaper – the layout is clean, free of distracting advertising, and the images are just sublime.
I’m not going to waffle on about how the app works – there’s nothing revolutionary or new in that, but it’s the execution of it here that is exceptional. I wanted you to actually see it rather than just read about it so I’ve made a quick video:
To see the app in all it’s glory, check out the gallery below. Needless to say, we’ve added this to our list of NZ App Store Essentials.
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- Stop the press
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- NZ Herald front page
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- Beautiful images (click for full-size image)
– NZ Herald for iPad
Got the app on your shiny new iPad? What do you think of it? Let us know in the comments.
This is an amazing app, I can’t believe they don’t charge for it!
(commsdelta has made 82 comments)
@ Paul:
Yes! iPhone app would be brilliant! I’ve got the old TVNZ one, and it’s OK, but not great. And One News is so ridiculously biased in some areas that it’s really turned me off using the app.
(Subject22 has made 10 comments)
cool app for the ipad but its missing a search bar
(alertdriving has made 8 comments)
I wonder when stuff are going to update their shitty mobile site, or introduce an app
(raab has made 24 comments)
I downloaded this app earlier today and agree with everything you say. I've looked at a number of newspaper apps (NYT, NPR etc) and this is the top of the pile. As one of the sites I keep in my google reader feeds this takes it to another level.
(cosmo has made 16 comments)
Awesome app, and great timing from NZ herald. iPhone app next Friday maybe?
Good job NZH.
(Paul has made 318 comments)
This is by far the best news app for iPad, it's just what I've been waiting for. Well done NZ Herald!!!
(nathstar has made 13 comments)
Strike the video comment, they appear to work.
(ClubmanGT has made 3 comments)
@ ClubmanGT:
Wow, someone took grumpy pills this morning! What a confusing ramble. First you agree with me (“The key here is the delivery” – yup, that’s exactly the point of the whole article), and then you go on to argue with me over things I haven’t even said. Nowhere in the review did I say the app is superior to the website. What I said is that it is “engaging” and that it “restores the sense of connection” with the newspaper publication. The only comparison I made to the website was in terms of the user experience and how true to the feel of the newspaper publication the iPad app feels compared to the website. That’s a fair comparison. It doesn’t mean that I think the website is better or worse than the app. You’re right, it doesn’t have customisation and classified ads, but then I never said it did, and I don’t think those are negative points anyway. I’m surprised you thought that the videos wouldn’t work given that this is an iPad-specific app – obviously you didn’t read / watch the review in full before climbing on your very high horse.
I did both, actually, just couldn’t make out the video footage on the iPhone I was watching it. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to point out that it misses some key aspects of the website and essentially just renders a table with some news stories. I didn’t think that was unreasonable, given your comments about the ‘excellent’ execution. I’m sorry I appear to have gotten up your nose Steve, but this is also a pet peeve of mine with the TVNZ OnDemand service for the PS3 and what I see from the TVNZ iPad app preview in the news last night: one opens a service in a browser, and the other appears to just be an aggregation of a news feed from the website. I can see the “not being able to see the flash ads” as an advantage if you’re on 3G, but if the iPad does what people seem to think it will for mobile computing, then expect there to be ads very quickly. Anywho, I don’t mean to distract you from your real task this week: finding out how much an iPhone 4 will set us back!
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(ClubmanGT has made 3 comments)
I not liking this app, there is no real hierarchy to the landing page content, everything is shouting out on the same level. The article pages aren’t appealing in layout, no styles for quotes, pull out text and what is the code to understand why the gradients behind titles are different colours, transparencies? Now, if you want a news that really looks good, go BBC.
(gregblack has made 3 comments)
gregblack wrote:
If you have a UK iTunes account yes the new iPad BBC news app released today is amazing. Shame it does not support streaming outside UK
(Paul has made 318 comments)
I'm not sure I agree with the logic here. Those images are a far higher resolution than the ones used on the full site. Of course they look better! The key here is the delivery: everyone with an iPad is either using wireless routers (implying Adsl) or 3G. Desktop users could be on dial-up, so the regular site is forced to use low-res images. You're not being fair in comparing two very different things here. Also, there is no optomisation by story type and there's no mention of being able to customize the front page ala Google News. I fail to see how a table of news stories is superiror to the website. Surprised to see
no mention of the employment section or classifieds. Finally, the lack if ads won't last, and I can't tell if the lack of flash means the Herald's videos will work. In that way, it's far inferior than the website, and defies the point of taking news online.
(ClubmanGT has made 3 comments)
I saw on the iTunes page people were complaining about a 30 second ad on the load up.
I couldn't see much advertising on the video above, nor much of a load time.
How long does it take to load (has it increased or something)? Also do you have to be online the whole time using it, or can you start it up at home on the wifi and then read it on the bus if you have a non 3g iPad?
(oratoris has made 21 comments)