The Guardian's iPad Edition is now here. We order a Soya Latte and look for spelling mistakes.
We like the Guardian. Not just because we are lilly livered liberals or adore spelling mistakes, but because of all the 'quality' British newspapers it has done the most to embrace digital and the web. It has for long been one of the best websites of a newspaper since it decided to publish all of its content on there without a paywall. We loved its iPhone App, as it seemed to have as much care put into its design as its usability. The Guardian has long held design as an important part of its offering, even if its Berliner format is expensive to produce, it looks and feels great.
Newspapers and the iPad
Just like it seemed to take Facebook forever to build an iPad specific App, so it did with the Guardian. In this video, it's editor Alan Rusbridger (if you ever closed your eyes and imagined what a Guardian editor looked like, surely Alan fits the bill?) explains how they've had a good look around at what other titles have been doing on the iPad before releasing something. I suspect this is a shrewd move by them, as the iPad has never been an easy to define device - is it for content consumption? Is it for creating? can it replace your computer? - well thats for you the user to decide ultimately (we think it can do all three). The world of publishing have hoped it would be the first answer to our question and to their prayers. They have wanted the iPad to do for them what the iPod did for the music industry, with us all rushing to iTunes to subscribe to their papers and magazines on our iPad's. However we know of few people that stick with newspaper subscriptions after the free trial ends, often going back to simply reading news sites on Safari, or just sticking to the free BBC News App. Other recent attempts such as The Daily in the US have not proved as successful as hoped, with some complaining that the experience is trying too hard to be content rich leading to it being too slow to use.
The proof is in the reading
Newsstand: Giving publishers prime home screen real estate
So with some excitement and trepidation I loaded the Guardian App from the App Store. The first thing of note was that it landed itself in the Newsstand folder, the new home of Papers and Magazines purchased in iTunes within iOS 5. In fact the Newsstand folder has caused some annoyances for people, as they have tried to hide it away in a folder themselves and can't. The reason for this is it is simply an iOS folder itself, albeit with the appearance of a bookshelf. It simply contains Apps that have been designated Newsstand status. The Guardian iPad edition is still an actual App, even if Newsstand alters that perception. The crucial benefit of Newsstand though is it enables the Guardian to push out a new edition to your iPad without you having to remember to download it. This is the big difference to the Guardian's iPhone app: the iPhone app is all about reflecting the Guardian's constantly changing website, whereas the iPad app to give you a more (dare we say it) traditional newspaper experience, available to read when you wake up or first open your iPad.
Beautiful
The Guardian has always been a paper that takes design very seriously. It's easy for its detractors to say it probably puts form before function, but its part of the appeal it has to its more liberal and media savvy buyers. I personally loved the look and feel of its new Berliner edition when it decided to not go tabloid like its broadsheet rival The Times, when others felt they where just being snobbish about the tabloid format. So I was excited to learn that the development of the iPad edition drew on the experience of the team behind the Berliner paper. Boy it shows, it's a beautiful looking iPad App and for me the best attempt yet at bringing a print publication to a tablet computer.
Hold the front page
The front page is awash with great looking high res pictures to promote different stories. There was a time when this would of frustrated me, just as it has with previous redesigns of the Guardian website "just give me more headlines, not endless photos of bloody Charlie Brooker" (that's not to say I don't love Brooker, despite recent Lizard mentalness).
Headlines: No pun downs here just a gorgeous use of colour
On the iPad edition it just looks so vibrant! There is great use of colour too, just as the Guardian's iPhone app does to distinguish between sections. Tapping on a story takes you quickly to the item with another big illustration dominating the screen. They are using fabulous looking images though, which just make you feel good about looking at it on the iPad's screen.
Whilst all of this is going on, there is a sliding rule across the top of the page allowing you to jump between different sections such as National, International, Sport or Comment. This reinforces the feel that you are reading a paper (glass?) edition rather than simply surfing the website.
Mono-tasking
Initially I wondered if the 'delivered in the morning' approach would be frustrating: would it instantly feel like the content is out of date? Especially given that it's only a few button presses back to Safari and the Guardians own up to date and more importantly, free website. Then there is the social aspect: Would I want to see reader's comments? What about Twitter and Live Blogs?
In reality though I actually felt happier. I actually read the articles properly, rather than skimming them, without also getting distracted by some other opinion from another reader. Fans of iOS will often cite the concept of 'mono-tasking' as a plus of the iPad: you are forced to focus on what you are doing at the very moment, free of distractions such as Twitter or Instant Messaging. I remember being told once that for every short distraction it can take much longer to then get your concentration back to what you are doing. I know I have a terrible concentration span but I found myself enjoying staying within the Guardian iPad edition and forcing myself to get a more rounded look at the news, rather than just cherry pick what I want from Google.
How much?
Right now for a limited period it will cost you nothing. The Guardian are offering a trial period of a free subscription so you can get a good taste of the App. This is a good thing on their part, as it enables you to see how much difference the automatic download of editions makes to the experience. Why is this so good? Well you don't have to think about it. In the true Apple tradition it "just works". It's there and on your iPad for flicking through over the Weetabix. Even better, once downloaded it will all be readable without an Internet connection. Not all of us will be lucky enough to have 3G iPad's or if we did, any guarantee of signal coverage on our commute.
Morning Glory: Wake up the latest edition, automatically downloaded
Once the free trial period is up the subscription will cost £9.99 a month, with just a monthly commitment. As its a Guardian Edition, this gets you a paper 6 days a week from Monday to Saturday. We can only presume they have an Observer edition in the pipeline, or they are still trying to close it to form a Sunday Guardian. That makes it just over 40p an edition. Currently a weekday edition of the paper will set you back £1.20, rising to £2.10 for the Saturday Guardian. So a great incentive to save some trees.
Should you subscribe? Well if you already own an iPad and spend more than a tenner a month on the old Grauniad, then it makes perfect sense. Not a regular buyer? Well we recommend trying the current free trial to see if you enjoy it over a traditional paper. You then only have to commit to a tenner once to try it for a month.
This is easily the most readable and easy on the eye newspaper yet for the iPad. The Guardian's typeface and design have set the bar now for other newspapers attempting to conquer the tablet world. It perfectly complements the device and feels great to use. If your someone prepared to spend money on your news past the normal free websites and Apps, then this is the place to put your beer tokens.
