I have to admit, I don't often pull out my tablet. Just the rare cases.
Since Ice Cream Sandwich there hasn't been all that much of a difference between a tablet interface and a phone interface in an app. Personally, I like that.
But, it's true... we do use our devices differently and I'll admit in some cases apps could use a different layout.
+Boris Dubois suggested I look at his new app for the Toronto Star on my tablet, and I have to say, it's well done! Definitely a 'tablet app'.
First off, it is going to be in landscape ... a mode I haven't quite gotten used to using again after being in a nearly pure 'phone' world where it's mostly portrait.
The app is very richly designed to still make you feel somewhat like you're using a piece of paper. Each screen allows you to see the left and right page of the paper.
What I really loved was the way that it was meant to be like a piece of paper, yet has really embraced the digital realm with full interactivity.
Like some pages are ads (and they don't seem like obtrusive ads... it's funny, in a smaller app, a small banner we sometimes can freak over... this is a half page ad that we don't even balk at... just like in the regular paper) and there's some interactivity to it... like the car one, you can scrape away the ice to reveal the new car.
The articles themselves are very interactive. Whether the title image stays and you scroll the story, or you can swipe left and right to see other images for the article. It's well thought out, and something you wish the website felt like.
Best of all, you can set it up to download your daily article while on Wifi and then it'll notify you when it's ready for viewing (i.e. usually before you get up in the morning).Then there's the option that while you're viewing, there's always the little 'radar' button up top-right that sets up the most recent news window.
It'll pop out and show you the most timely bits of news that are coming in. Nothing quite as fancy as the rest of the daily issue, but still very cool option to have.
Best of all, it's free. Not being from Toronto, I don't know if there's a subscription to that service or not... but still, you get a lot out of the app, and being someone far removed from Toronto, I still felt I got a lot of information from it regardless.
You should check it out!
thestar.com – Android™ app
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