By Jeffrey L. Wilson, Jamie Lendino Flipboard reigns supreme as our favorite article aggregator. A continued presence in our 100 Best iPad Apps, Flipboard makes use of the iPad's Web-connectivity and large 9.7-inch display (or 7.9-inch display if you're using an iPad mini ) to transform blog posts, social networking feeds, images, video, and articles into an impressive layout that replicates the print reading experience—and essentially puts traditional RSS readers to shame.
The last major update, version 2.0, gave Flipboard users the ability create and share their own personalized magazines, but when those links were opened, recipients were prompted to download Flipboard to their iPads. That's still an option, but Flipboard now lets potential readers open those links in their web browsers—no Flipboard app required. It is, as the company puts it, the first step to "opening Flipboard on the Web." Flipboard continues to evolve, but it's still remains the best iPad newsreader.
The Basics and Content
Flipboard has new web-based features, but the entire experience begins with the iPad app. Flipboard's main page features boxes where you add content. You do this by tapping a blank, square pane, which opens the new Content Guide that lists Flipboard categories such as Art & Design, Business, Food & Design, and Tech. By default, the Featured category is highlighted, which showcases several popular brands such as Fast Company, Make, and Popular Science (as well as Flipboard-curated top stories, Flipboard tips, and Flipboard-related news). Bringing a finger to Sports revealed a Bill Simmons sub-category (one of my favorite writers), which I tapped to see a list of his stories, tweets, and stories he's shared. After deeming the Bill Simmons category worthy, I tapped the "Add" icon, which placed it in the blank square. Pressing and holding a square gives you the option to delete it.
There's an Audio category that features the likes of CMJ Network, Slate Internet Radio, and TWiT; a Video category lets you add Allrecipes.com, CollegeHumor, ESPN and others Both categories also have themed genre collections such as News FM and Gamer TV. Tapping the "+" icon adds that feed to your Flipboard library. Flipboard makes it incredible easy to discover new content. Once a feed is added, you simply launch the pane, and tap the play icon inside. Music and video streamed without a hitch, which made me supremely happy as the lack of audio support was Flipboard's one glaring omission in early versions of the app.
The panes are continually updated as the sources feed fresh content into their streams, so you'll see different images in each one when you launch the app and new stories are available. The first screen has enough real estate to house nine squares, as does the second page. You're limited to just two pane pages; the other saved article streams are seen when you tap the red "More..." icon. That's a definite improvement, but I'd still like more pane pages.
Layout and Performance
In testing, Flipboard performed admirably. Pages are extremely clean with excellent use of photos and whitespace, and I rarely waited more than a second or two for a story or Contents page to load. Pages turned quickly, too; Flipboard is generally faster than Google Currents, which suffers from occasional lag. Overall, Flipboard came the closest to feeling like a "live" magazine than anything I've tested on the iPad; even The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's failed iPad magazine, updated only a few times per day (unless breaking news occurred).
Flipboard now highlights popular stories with a red "Popular" icon, and you'll occasionally find an ad placed between content pages. By default you can't read articles without an internet connection, but you can save individual pages for offline reading if you have an Instapaper, Pocket, or Readability account. Google Currents lets you save articles without third-party apps.
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