Quick App Review: Flipboard for iPad
Flipboard for iPad is an app that I had heard about a long time ago, when it was being released for Android. At the time, I didn’t have my iPad, and the Android version was nothing special. After I got my iPad, I completely forgot about Flipboard. Then, this last week, I was browsing through Apple’s top apps in the App Store, came across it again, and decided to give it a try.
I have tried a few different apps that are similar to Flipboard and found them to be nothing special. The basic idea behind this genre of apps is a one-stop shop for all your news feeds and social networks. However, with others, I’ve typically found that either the layout of the app is not appealing to me, or some basic functionality is missing. Flipboard is a little different.
First, I really like the layout of Flipboard. Usually when an app has an idea of what looks good in a layout that is different from a native app, it is very much a crap shoot regarding whether the end user will find it attractive or not. I find the Flipboard layout to be very attractive, as well as functional. You might completely disagree with me and hate it, and that’s OK. Like I said earlier, there are quite a few apps that try to fill this genre.
You can see below the grid format that Flipboard uses.
On your first launch of Flipboard, it will take a few minutes to get it setup the way you want it. You will need to give your social networks permission for Flipboard to access your data. You will also need to choose which other categories you would like Flipboard to display. Like most news feed apps, Flipboard has a list of feeds that it pulls from for the different categories. The app will then take your chosen categories and your social networks and display them for you in a book format.
Tap on any article or post, and you will instantly get a full page view of that item. You can then scroll to read the entire article, without leaving that page. A simple intuitive pinch gesture on the screen, and you are back to your feed. Want to update your Facebook or Twitter while you are in the app? No problem! Just tap the icon in the bottom right corner and instantly type a new status. Even when you are in a different category, you can instantly add a new tweet.
I’ve found that Flipboard actually makes me check my social networks more often. Because of the way that it lays my feeds out, I can easily see anything important that is going on in my friend’s lives, and also any new cute photos of my nieces or nephews. Give Flipboard a try if you are looking for a new way to check out what’s going on in the world around you.
Download: iTunes
