Review: The New York Times for iPad

Oct

2010

By Derek Walter, iPadNewsDaily Contributor
10:22 PM ET

The New York Times was one of the first major news organizations to release an iPhone app when the App Store launched in 2008. With steady improvements, it grew over time to be among the best news apps.

The Gray Lady now has its sights set on the iPad. This is not just another app for the company – presence on the iPad is a major component for a new online strategy. Beginning in 2011 The Times will begin charging for its content. While the specifics of the paywall are to be determined, it means no more perusing all of The Times articles free.

Unlike the Editors’ Choice iPad app (which has been removed), this version offers the entire contents of the Times. However, it unfortunately is very buggy and prone to frequent crashes. This is a similar experience as to when the original iPhone app launched; it was too unstable at first until making improvement.

The New York Times app tries to blend the traditional viewing experience of reading a newspaper onto the tablet form factor. In some ways, it works well, like swiping through pages and tapping once to open a story. Other iPad-centric features enhance the experience. For example, tapping once on the page brings up a scrollable navigation bar featuring additional articles in that section. Discovering each section is easy from within a specific popup menu. A push alert option is available for frequent updates on breaking or critical news stories (a feature not available in the iPhone version).

However, pinch-to-zoom is currently not available. While the text size is expandable by tapping on an icon, it is not as natural an experience as pinching and pulling on the screen. In addition, the app is loaded with ads, which makes its “free” status a relative term. They have been crammed into many spaces, including squeezed into the bottom of a small sharing menu.

While this app has potential, the best way to read the Times on the iPad is through the web site. Hopefully this will change and the app will become the superior portal, especially since the content’s free days are running short.

Price: Free

File Size: 2.2 MB

Developer: The New York Times Company

Platform: iPad

iPadNewsDaily Rating (out of 4): ★★★