Mobile Apptitude

The New York Times app for the Android phone is a great way to keep up on all the news that’s fit to print.  The interface is straightforward.  The app opens on the Latest News tab (or on the last article or section you’ve viewed), with other sections selectable by pulling down the menu “curtain” -  including a Latest Video section that makes great use of the Hero’s media capability.  And once you’re reading an article in a section, you can swipe left or right to move to the previous or next article in that section.

When you open a section, the app will update the latest articles and download them to your phone.  This is a great feature, since it means I can read articles even when I don’t have a data connection (for example, if I’m on BART or the Muni Metro).  One of my quibbles though is that there is no way to save an article to the phone for future reading – when articles are refreshed, you’ll lose any you haven’t read.  A “save” feature would be really useful, especially for some of the Times’ longer articles.

One of the best features for me is that the font size of the articles is adjustable – meaning I can read the news while on a crowded bus without having to dig out my reading glasses. You can also share articles a bunch of different ways – via email or SMS, on Twitter or Facebook.  All in all, a well-designed app that I use every day.