The Independent’s new app does the job, but feels more like a beta. Hopefully there’s more to come.
Love
It’s great to get access to The Independent’s content, available offline and quick to access. If you’ve not read a story, it’s available in bold, if you have it’s not. The sections are also clear and it’s an easy way to catch up with their news stories. In addition, it’s free(-ish with ads).
Don’t love
The background design looks like it was taken off clipart and when an ad is not being shown there is an odd looking space as the scrolling stories disappear into nothing.
The labeling is confusing whereby you can save an article (why not bookmark and use standard icons?) and then a ‘delete’ style button appears which suggests you may be removing the article from your
device, with no additional notification to let you know what you’ve just done.
It also lacks some magic beyond the design, not making full use of the phone’s functionality through the use of audio or video, let alone more innovative ideas using the likes of maps, games and infographics.
Overall
It’s no bad thing when apps do one thing and do it well and it’s handy to have the stories available on and offline, but this app could do so much more and falls behind competitors such as The Guardian and even the Daily Mail.
Want more?
Fanboy store review: “Great to see The Independent has got its act together with this cracking little app. Never even kept the old one due to its dreadful user interface, but this has really brought it up to scratch and puts the paper at the top with the Guardian app…”
Meh store review: “Adverts are too annoying and distracting. Deleted this app within two minutes of downloading it. Really poor in comparison to The Guardian or The Times.”
From the publisher: “Read articles and view the photographs on the go. The App has been created so you can continue reading offline, even when your mobile signal is intermittent or not available. …”
Get it: here.
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