Sam Radford:
Then there’s the size though. For some reason—and I’m really not sure why—the larger screen makes reading the magazines a much more enjoyable experience for me. Perhaps it’s because the apps were originally designed for the larger size and then scaled down for the Mini. But, whatever the cause, having my magazines on my retina screen Air is a whole lot more desirable. I’m choosing to read there rather than picking up the physical copies lying around my house.
Interesting thoughts from Sam. Personally, I still like the reading experience on the iPad mini more than the physical copy.
Jim, do you read magazines on the mini? I normally prefer reading in the iPad mini too, but for magazines, I prefer the bigger iPad display. Like Sam Radford, it seems to me that the layout and text sizer are designed around the 10″ tablet in mind.
I like a big magazine with detailed illustrations. Smaller screens are for text-only content. That’s my use-case, not necessarily anyone else’s.
Yep, I found that the bigger size makes it a lot easier to read them. Too many magazines don’t let you change the font size.
I’ve always found magazines in general to be less than desirable reading on the iPad. I’ve not seen a magazine on the iPad that has really taken a unique approach, most seem to be digital representations of the physical pages, which don’t work well on the iPad (at least for me). Popular Science took a unique approach to presenting the content, but the navigation of it was overly complex. Newspapers suffer the same fate as well right now. But I think at some point, it’ll get better. And don’t cut out the ads, I look at this as much as I do the content (I read travel magazines a lot, so the ads are as relevant as the content normally).
Unfortunately some newsstand magazines (like Guitarworld..) have the character of “scan to pdf + just add something for the digital crowd” attitude.
I’m moving from an iPad3 to the retina iPad Mini. On the iPad3 the multi column layout wasn’t exactly a pleasure with constant zooming and panning. I know it will be worse on the Mini, but I fell in love with the size (got my wife a Mini last year and used it quite often, just couldn’t get over the low res fuzziness in text with my worsening eyes).
So far I believe publishers have not embraced the digital medium enough – it feels more like a “yeah let’s just sell it there too push it over with the least amount of porting work”.
I’m not demanding a digital magazine to be priced per year just like two issues. I’d pay more if they would adapt the magazines better for the iPad(s) of all sizes without going all balls to the wall crazy to create an app that defies the idea of reading cover to back.
It would also be helpful if Apple would let developers reliably detect the device type other than by screen resolution so the UI could get a proper layout. Something that works incredibly well on the iPad3-Air doesn’t necessarily scale down well to the Mini, even more so if the UI is already crammed on the larger iPad.
I know you can fish out the device type from the code, but Apple states it’s potentially subject to change which would break the detection code.
All this said I’d like to thank Apple, Amazon… for liberating my apartment from stashes of magazines and books, regaining a few cubicle feet here and there and everywhere. And I’d like to thank them for literally putting a library of joy, reference and song transcriptions into my pocket for travelling.
And while we’re at it – I’d also like to thank Apple and Netflix for that two large shelves which are now empty and stashed away in the basement so I can hang four guitars to that wall.
I fully agree with you, even on the ads.
Feel the same about magazines and even more when reading comics – the big screen is perfect for that!
Something that works incredibly well on the iPad3-Air doesn’t necessarily scale down well to the Mini, even more so if the UI is already crammed on the larger iPad.
Sounds like you’re talking about responsive design for something other than the Web. I agree.
In some way, yes. I know “tap targets” work fine when transitioning an interface from large to small iPad without further ado, but more often than not I’d prefer to develop an alternative interface for the iPad Mini. People have responded more positively when I scale up an iPad Mini interface to the large iPad rather the other way around.
It shouldn’t just be a glorified large thumbnail of the large iPad. It’s easy to offer different interfaces via user settings, but with 5 USD being the upper ceiling of app pricing a developer has to cut some corners. And an additional native interface for the iPad Mini is usually one of those corners rather than compromising functionality.
However, there’s upside in every downside – developers will come up with alternative interfaces and gain a competitive advantage by doing so.
I’m a mixed bag on this issue. Novels I tend to like paper still, especially classic ones. Newer stuff I might only read once I will perhaps rent the Ebook. Particularly if it’s a new author.
Non fiction I tend to like to make notes so I like the Ebook.
Magazines I tend to eread though I shy away from those that are just PDFs of the print. Give me a made for iPad experience with simple, clear navigation and I’m good.
Mini v. Full not really an issue for me.