Mashables has released a custom iPhone App to view their posts, tweets and events on the go. Despite the title of this post, overall it is a great little app, and potentially much better than browsing through the normal browser. Unfortunately it is still in need of some “polish” to make it really sparkle!
PROS:
The RSS feed list is responsive and easy to read, the Tweets list is cool too. The embedded browser starts-up straight away and drops down in a visor like fashion. The main page also sports a pleasant background image (it would be cool if this changed periodically). Overall the design plan was well executed.
CON: Offline Mode
Whilst all men were created equal, some men created 3G networks more equal than others. My carrier in Japan (Softbank) has terrible reception in subway stations. In between stations, don’t even bother (apparently only Seoul, Korea has this super-3G-ability). Admittedly the Mashable app isn’t the only culprit in failing to think of subway users, however, it does have it’s very own annoying “out of range” prompts. In fact, one for every RSS image it fails to load whilst out of range!
CON: Stability
Basically the in built browser loads quickly, but crashes the app pretty quickly too. I like the idea, I just want it to be more stable!
CON: Caching
It doesn’t seem to cache anything and will not load if you are not out of network range.
Conclusion
As a strategic move, the Mashable app is a great idea! It will certainly win a number of iPhone users away from competing sites like Tech Crunch, Read Write Web and similar. As for the Mashable app, I am keen to see a stability fix in the near future. Click here to get the app from the iTunes Store.
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