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Best iPad newspaper apps

Thanks to the abundance of free news on the internet and the rise in popularity of smartphones, newspapers have seen a huge drop in sales over the last decade. But since the launch and huge success of the iPad, papers  have been thrown a lifeline and the ability to charge subscriptions for iPad editions.
Creating for the iPad brings challenges, particularly at the design stage, where every page has to be designed twice to suit dual reading formats: landscape and portrait. But the beauty of creating a digital version of a newspaper is that as each story can be accompanied by a full-resolution pictures and video to create a rich experience.
Here’s a look at the best newspaper apps for the Apple iPad.

The Guardian iPad app screens

The Guardian iPad edition

One month free, £9.99 a month

When you fire up the Guardian’s iPad edition it doesn’t look like anything a newspaper. The bright and colourful homepage is split into boxes with news stories, sections and highlights you tap to read.
Navigate by scrolling right to glide between the paper’s sections each with its own front page (right pic) or use the static menu bar in the corner. 

‘In Pictures’ contains some of The Guardian’s renowned photography and video content is available if you are online.

But it’s not just the layout and gorgeous imagery that make The Guardian so enjoyable to use, there are really useful features missing from the other apps. Next to each story are links you can click through to read related articles on the website and you can connect the app to your Facebook account to share news to your personal page, as well as by email, Twitter or Instapaper. It’s a shame you can’t buy individual issues though.

We say: The Guardian is the boldest and bravest of the newspaper apps with a great mix of content, features and an intuitive interface perfect for the tablet format. Perhaps the future of newspapers?

Compatible with Newsstand: Yes
Cross platform subscription: No
Social networking: Yes

Independent iPad app screens


The Independent

Limited free content, £9.99 a month

The Independent iPad app follows the traditional newspaper format (much like The Telegraph) with clickable news with pictures. It’s simple to use with some nice extras like font size adjustment and the ability to share stories via email, Facebook or Twitter and a decent search facility. There’s even a weather indicator. However it lacks the visual draw of high-res images and video seen on other newspaper apps.

Instead of a free trial, The Independent lets you read news on the homepage, after which you have to subscribe and there’s no option to buy individual issues.

We say: Easy to use and clearly designed with intuitive, but could do with more multimedia content


Compatible with Newsstand: Yes
Cross platform subscription: n/a
Social networking: Yes


The Sun iPad app screens  

The Sun for   iPad

30-day trial, £4.99 a month

Launch The Sun’s iPad edition and you can choose between two reading options. iEdition is the paper’s digital version or back issues is the digital format, if you like your digital Sun to look like the Sun newspaper.
In iEdition navigation is very simple, five top stories are displayed along the top in a carousel you swipe through. Underneath are two news tickers, one contains breaking news and the other you can change to other genres: including: News, Sport, Showbiz, TV Biz, Woman and Comic.
Back issues are literally scanned pages of the current issue. Swipe through the pages like an old-fashioned newspaper, pinch to zoom to get a closer look, or hit the Text key to view a basic text version. Download previous editions of the paper going back two months, accessed in My Library.
Disappointingly there’s no option to share content via Facebook or Twitter and if you leave the app and relaunch it, it doesn’t remember your place.

We say: The Sun’s iPad edition is probably the easiest to use, but doesn’t really offer much in the way of enhanced content or extra features like social networking.

Compatible with Newsstand: No
Cross platform: TBC
Social networking: No

 

The Telegraph iPad app

 

The Telegraph for iPad

69p an issue, £9.99 a month

What’s great about The Telegraph iPad edition is that you can don’t have to sign up to a subscription, you can buy individual issues for 69p. Subscribe though and you can access it on Android and iPhone smartphones and newspapers subscribers can get it free.
Tap on a story to read it and scroll right to move on. The Menu icon in the left bar brings up the paper’s sections, including: News, World News, Comment and Features, a quick tap of each brings up a list of clickable headlines.
Elsewhere there are few photos galleries, which look amazing on the new iPad’s Retina Display and you can even play Sudoku by dragging the letters on screen.
The accessibility features are the best of the newspaper apps. Pinch to zoom and you can enlarge the text through a wide range of sizes, while night reading swaps the text to white and the background to black, for reading in the dark.

We say: A well-executed app, with some great extra features and the best subscription options

Compatible with Newsstand: No
Cross platform: Yes
Social Networking: No

The Times iPad app

The Times

30-day trial

The Times iPad edition combines the design of a traditional newspaper with elements like video, infographics and photography. On the day we used it, there was a stunning photo gallery showing Thai tigers, which looked fantastic on the new iPad’s screen.
Navigation options are located along the bottom. Editions lets you view back issues and Stories lets you swap between sections of the paper, including Opinion, World, Business, Times2 and Fashion.
But while there’s a fine selection of content here, The Times iPad app just isn’t as usable as The Guardian lacking the adjustable font sizes and subscription offerings of The Telegraph.


Compatible with Newsstand: No
Cross platform subscription: No
Social networking: No

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