Best webOS Magazine Apps 9
Magazines…we have seen them come and go, having a short shelf life on the TouchPad. Premium magazine apps like People, Time and Sport Illustrated have all left the webOS app catalog blaming too low subscription rates to really stay on the platform. Does that mean we have to settle for just RSS feeds or what we find on the web? NO! Fear not, your friends at webOS Nation have found the perfect magazine apps to feed the itch you feel to read.
Stuff.TV
Free, by Chapter Media (for the TouchPad)
Well we don’t have the Verge or Mashable apps like our friends with iPads or Android tablets, but we have found something comparable. Stuff.TV is an all tech, all consumer digital magazine that hails from UK. Mostly known for their video podcasts and tech blog journalism, Stuff.TV has everything you wanted to know about mobile technology, media, design, and the automobile industry. All wrapped up in high definition video and photographs. Its eye candy for geeks like you and me who want to know what's new and hot. Specifically made for the TouchPad, which is rare to say, you will enjoy flipping through it day by day; and month by month. We think it’s one of the best magazine apps for tech available on the TouchPad.
Ebooker Explorer
Free, by Flightbooker, LTD (for the TouchPad)
If your thing is travel, we have got you covered there as well. Want to know more about the streets of New York, or the ruins in Rome? Perhaps gaze at the French Rivera, or see the rugged terrain down under? Ebooker Explorer has the most breath taking photographs and video seen anywhere on a tablet. Thus, giving you relevant and interesting information about the places you want to see from around the world. Ebooker Explorer even posts real tweets from people who have actually visited the places you are interested in so its a real world review. You even get virtual tours of hotels in the area as well. The big bonus is that after you have taken a gander at a place you’d like visit, you can actually book the hotel in that city right from your TouchPad. No travel agent required and no added pressure to sign the dotted line to make plans, you do it at your leisure. So lie in your hammock, pour yourself a fresh glass of iced tea and enjoy the world treasures thanks to Ebooker Explorer.
Andoni Canela
Free, by N02, mobile and web applications (for webOS smartphones)
Remember when you were young and your parents had National Geographic and you would be mesmerized by all the pictures from exotic locations around the world? What does this have to do with magazines? Andoni Canela, a photographer famous for National Geographic brings those photos directly to your webOS smartphone. There are only 10 photos in all, but he’s captured the beauty of the landscape, the snow caps of the mountains, and each petal of every flower. Sounds like an exaggeration, but it’s not. The best part of this app you can use the photos as wallpaper for your phone. Artists' of this caliber have their work frames in the finest museums of the world; and you’d expect to pay a premium to own their work. Luckily it’s free for all to enjoy and add beauty to your phone.
Zite
Free by Zite (for the TouchPad)
One of the things we love about the TouchPad is the great community that surrounds it. So fantastic and brave that they will pull together to get the apps they love on the platform. We know that iOS and Android have Flipboard, well we have Zite. Zite is defined as a word meaning Zeitgeist or the “spirit of the times". What’s great about this app is the fact you can customize it to the things that interest YOU. You sign on and begin choosing categories like art, tech, religion or food. Each time you use it, the app gets better and better about picking articles and videos that you would enjoy. You have the option to connect via your favorite social network. Sometimes that doesn’t always work and you'll receive an error message. You'll always have the option to share information within the app to any social network that you prefer. Oh did we tell you it plays video too? It’s just fantastic! So we recommend you sit back and enjoy the magnificent digital magazine that is Zite.
Zinio
Free, by Zinio Publishing (for the TouchPad)
With magazines like People, Sports Illustrated and Time which all flew the coop a few months ago, where can the lover of design, music and world events find a cure for their literary addictions? The answer is Zinio my friends! A full subscription library filled with almost every popular magazine known to man. Known as an iOS app that made its way into the webOS app catalog, and we are just pleased as punch it did. You have the option to browse selected monthly articles, shop via category different magazines or use the search feature. You can read magazines, from Wired, Elle Decor, Rolling Stone or Newsweek and many more. Catch up on the latest gossip reading US magazine or study the latest in fashion by reading Harper’s Bazaar. The Choices are absolutley endless.
You can buy one magazine at a time or buy a yearly subscription. You know those little cards for special deals that fall out of the magazine? Gone! Because you can opt in to get special deals via email; and sometimes they are cheaper than offers you get online. Every magazine is stored in the cloud so whatever device you have if you have the Zinio app, it will show in your library. You can also look at your library anytime online via your laptop or PC. Now that you have found where to get your magazines, what’s stopping you? Download the Zinio app for the TouchPad and enjoy your favorite magazines anywhere.
9 Comments
Thanks for the article... Absolutely love ZITE and Zinio
Zite is fantastic but Zinio needs polishing. Zoom does not alway work and not all magazines are available. I want to be able to read my Smithsonian subscription on the touchapad! arrg!
Sharon, you have been a huge addition to webOS nation. Your articles rock! Thanks. Keep them coming!
Not only have some people had some issues with Zinio in the forums recently, a large number of their magazines are starting to add interactive content, which pulls it from being subscribable by Touchpad users (because Zinio isn't supporting the Touchpad for interactive magazines). Many have even had their subscriptions abruptly ended when a magazine went interactive, and if you write to customer support about it, they send you a form letter containing empty promises that've gone on for months without any change at all.
Make it so it doesn't take up like 8 pages of screen real estate!
Put a short version on the front page like all the other articles, and full version after the break!
Zinio on WebOS is clearly half baked. Can't say I really blame them, but it's frustrating that the experience is so much better when I boot in to Cyanogenmod.
I love webOS, I prefer it by a large margin to ICS, but I find myself in ICS more, because the apps that I use just work better. Can't blame the developers for that, though. Android development is sustainable.
I don't know why webOSNation bothers with these articles half-full of half-baked and abandoned apps instead of putting its resources toward attracting new developers instead.
Stuff.tv most often carries electronics and tech that the U.S. will never see, and others are so far behind in features that it just makes webOS look seriously pathetic next to every other platform. To list them out one category at a time is akin to displaying just how weak webOS is in every conceivable area compared to even Blackberry and WP7 every time one of these desperate posts comes out. It's just...sad.
Get some muscle behind doing something proactive toward resparking development for webOS instead of promoting half-arsed applications that are clearly phoned-in, half-baked, have no relevance to the U.S. market, or worse, have been abandoned (like many of the recent "promoted" apps around here have been). It does nothing for the webOS brand other than further embarrassing it.
"have no relevance to the U.S. market" - actually, it's the opposite. Most of the stuff usually brought up here either has no relevance outside of it, or is centric. Go figure.
Embracing diversity and being aware what's happening outside of your culture/market is a good thing (retaining a somewhat global view); if all is balanced. Maybe one day even North Americans will "get" this.
Ok thse who are complaining about their Zinio subscriptions not working, have you contacted them? Because I have contacted for you and they have told me for you to tweet your email addresses/issues to them @ZinioCS
Also every app I review I live with that app, play with it, then review it. If you are particular issues for your magazine or app contact the developer. thanks :)