I recently saw the ad in the superbowl for the new iPad app "The Daily." This is supposed to be a new platform for people to get their news updates from. It comes with a free two week trial and then they will need to pay per week. I'm not totally sure on the price but I think I saw 1$ ($0.99) per week. I think this is a pretty fair price, but there are also free apps that do the same basic thing... CNN, USA Today, New York Post... hell, there's a whole "news" category in the app store.
However, I couldn't resist the urge to try it. After all, it's free, right?
First impressions: Well, it's not bad. Seems predictable enough to navigate with all the stories broken down by type just like any other news platform. To be honest, I actually enjoy reading the news on my iPad. I also hate reading it on paper so that might be part of the reason. It has a nice size screen and is light enough that I can hold it and pop-tart while I read. But back to The Daily...
Finding your area of news is very easy. You get your choice of: News, Gossip, Opinion, Arts & Life, Apps & Games, Sports. In my opinion, this is nowhere near the appropriate "news" sectioning. What about US? World? Finance? Health? I don't know, might just be me but it seems more like a magazine than a legitimate news platform.
Navigating around the different sections is particularly clunky. There is the idea of a table of contents, but it is difficult to use. Finding the story you want relies mostly on you ability to find its picture as it flies past on your swipe. And worst of all, it doesn't have some of the stories that headline MOST other news programs. This problem meas you'll be completely out of the loop if this is your primary news source.
I like the concept behind this app and service. I might even consider subscribing one day. That'll have to wait until I can no longer get the other major news apps for free. It'll also wait until it is a more polished app. In its current state, it is trying to do too much, too soon.
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