AOL recently released an iPad magazine app called “Editions.” The iPad-only magazine is similar to apps like Zite and Flipboard. It aggregates news from various sources and presents it to you in a format that looks more like a magazine.
When I first heard of the release of Editions I almost dismissed it out of hand just because it was an AOL offering. But although it’s not perfect, Editions is better than I thought it would be.
You’ll notice right off that the app is gorgeous, and it looks like a magazine that you’d get in the mail. It might seem odd, but I really like that part of the app. Editions also allows you to link your Facebook account so you can get Events and Birthdays from Facebook right on the first page, along with the weather.
One of the nice features of Editions is the ability for the app to learn your reading habits. You can tell the app which topics you want to see more of, and which topics you’d like less of. You can even tell the apps which news sources you want to stay away from. For example, if the app presents you with an article from The Huffington Post (an AOL property), you can elect to keep it or block it by simply tapping a Check or and X above the article. Editions will learn from your reading habits.
Interestingly, AOL content and non-AOL content are rated the same when you start the app, so you don’t have to be an AOL’er to use Editions.
On the downside, Editions seems slow to me. It takes awhile to update when you launch the app so you can’t just get right into your content. In my opinion, Flipboard and Zite do a better job in the speed department. You can set a time that you want Editions to be “delivered” to you, but I haven’t found that it helps a whole lot in the speed department. Even though I tell it to update at 3 AM, when I launch the app I still have to wait.
Editions is not as straight forward as Zite. It’s not overly complicated but they could do a better job of allowing you to choose your content no matter where you are in the app. They do have a little popup menu at the bottom of the screen which can take you to different sections of the magazine, but it can’t take you to the actual Table of Contents page. You can get to the same content through the popup menu, but it would be much better to be able to go back to the actual TOC page with one or 2 taps.
Editions is a surprisingly decent app that could be a replacement for Flipboard or Zite. If AOL continues to make improvements to the app it will be a serious competitor to other news aggregating apps. Give it a try by downloading your copy in the App Store, and let me know what you think in the comments.
When I first heard of the release of Editions I almost dismissed it out of hand just because it was an AOL offering. But although it’s not perfect, Editions is better than I thought it would be.
You’ll notice right off that the app is gorgeous, and it looks like a magazine that you’d get in the mail. It might seem odd, but I really like that part of the app. Editions also allows you to link your Facebook account so you can get Events and Birthdays from Facebook right on the first page, along with the weather.
One of the nice features of Editions is the ability for the app to learn your reading habits. You can tell the app which topics you want to see more of, and which topics you’d like less of. You can even tell the apps which news sources you want to stay away from. For example, if the app presents you with an article from The Huffington Post (an AOL property), you can elect to keep it or block it by simply tapping a Check or and X above the article. Editions will learn from your reading habits.
Interestingly, AOL content and non-AOL content are rated the same when you start the app, so you don’t have to be an AOL’er to use Editions.
On the downside, Editions seems slow to me. It takes awhile to update when you launch the app so you can’t just get right into your content. In my opinion, Flipboard and Zite do a better job in the speed department. You can set a time that you want Editions to be “delivered” to you, but I haven’t found that it helps a whole lot in the speed department. Even though I tell it to update at 3 AM, when I launch the app I still have to wait.
Editions is not as straight forward as Zite. It’s not overly complicated but they could do a better job of allowing you to choose your content no matter where you are in the app. They do have a little popup menu at the bottom of the screen which can take you to different sections of the magazine, but it can’t take you to the actual Table of Contents page. You can get to the same content through the popup menu, but it would be much better to be able to go back to the actual TOC page with one or 2 taps.
Editions is a surprisingly decent app that could be a replacement for Flipboard or Zite. If AOL continues to make improvements to the app it will be a serious competitor to other news aggregating apps. Give it a try by downloading your copy in the App Store, and let me know what you think in the comments.
