The Daily for iPad [Video]

The Daily is finally here. It’s good all through, occasionally great, and it should certainly be a powerful feat (and a terrific value) if they’ll keep churning it out like this each day. However’s no revolution.

What is it?

The Daily, iPad, $1 every week or $40 a year . If there’s a publication that has a shot at making a powerful case in your tablet replacing your newspaper, it’s the Daily. Bankrolled by News Corp , backed by Apple, and built from scratch expressly for the iPad, it’s sure to be a one-of-a-kind app for no less than it slow.

And the first edition, which went live inside the App Store earlier today, is in many respects one-of-a-kind. Overall, it’s probably the simplest iPad newspaper/magazine/multimedia experience/whatever to this point. There’s a staggering amount of top of the range content in numerous sections-News, Gossip, Opinion, Arts & Life, Apps & Games, and Sports-with sharp writing, beautiful photos, and well-produced video sprinkled throughout. Within the sports section, specifically , the Daily really shines. There’s a groovy, narrated visualization of one of several Steeler’s go-to plays; there’s a box score and highlight panel that you would be able to customize together with your favorite teams in every sport; and there are several interesting video pieces that may only make sense as videos-it’s not as fun to read about how the Harlem Globetrotters do their tricks.
You may jump around between all of these piece to piece with the carousel view or simply swipe through panel by panel. It’s a rich publication but accessibly so. And for 14 cents a day, or whatever a buck every week works out to, it’s definitely a fantastic value. Even supposing you don’t cancel your real newspaper subscription.

But its progress past the Wired and Time and Popular Mechanics apps before it’s evolutionary, not revolutionary. It’s nicely designed, however it’s at risk of lagging and crashing. The carousel navigation is painfully slow. Interactive elements, like the hot spot text blurbs, seem perfunctory, like they’re just there for the sake of having something be interactive. On occasion it sort of feels less like a single coherent publication and more like a group of distinct (but still well made) apps within apps. And the Daily’s scheme for sharing-sloppy web versions of some stories that may be linked to friend on Facebook or Twitter-is clearly an afterthought, something they cobbled together because someone sooner or later said, ‘hey you guys you may’t have these things JUST exist within the app.’

So where’s that leave us? It’s hard to claim. It’s got subscription billing going for it (finally!), that is essential if any of this stuff are gonna work. Rupert Murdoch is a stubborn man and he seems determined to peer this project through, so the Daily will probably recuperate technically-things will scroll smoother, the app will crash less-and we will hope it gets better conceptually, continuing to develop its sense for where multimedia and interactivity add to a bit and where they just distract from it. Nevertheless it’s off to an alright start, and although reading the scoop on these shiny tablets in these frenetic tablet apps feels sort of weird and possibly will continue to feel weird for it slow, it’s not impossible, observing the Daily, to look how this vague Newspaper of the longer term could come into focus.

Who’s it good for?

People who are occupied with the Newspaper of the longer term; media types; tech types. It’s free for two weeks, anyway, shouts to Verizon, so that you can check it out for yourself.

Why’s it better than alternatives?

More good content more often, owing to its huge bankroll and the indomitable Mr. Murdoch. Some moments of true multimedia transcendence; times if you think, ” oh I wish I may watch a video of this” and then there’s one looking forward to you. A badass sports section.

How could or not it’s even better?

It’s gonna must be smoother, faster, and more coherent to be anyone’s primary newspaper.

The Daily, iPad | iTunes

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Music by Kevin MacLeod