Gadgetory

hello again ladies and gentlemen I'm Joe Hindy the android authority app guy the New York Times have rereleased their application and we're going to take a closer look at it perhaps the most prominent change the new york times app is the user interface they have abandoned their prior design almost entirely in favor of a much newer far fresher interface that contains heaps of Android holo with a pinch of material design thrown in for good measure we can't emphasize enough how quick and smooth the new interface is and it's clear without resignation that a lot of work went into it upon starting the application you'll see categories lined up across the top of the screen you can swipe left and right between them to browse the various sections of the New York Times in the overflow or the three-dot menu in the top right you can customize which categories you see across the top of the screen in the hamburger menu in the top left you'll also see your top ten favorite categories along with a list of all categories and New York Times properties that you can engage with this new swiping functionality is consistently present across practically all screens you can easily swipe to the next article or back to the old one and some articles even have a comment section that you can swipe around as well at any point you can open the left menu by swiping in from the left side of the screen there are also dedicated phone and tablet interfaces so you can enjoy content no matter the size of the screen it is also worth mentioning that the articles themselves now follow a singular format with rich or media than before and that makes them more enjoyable the UI definitely took center stage but the application does contain a number of other useful features in the settings menu you can control things like notifications categories and your account settings if you decide to sign up for a new york time subscription you can use the app for free although you are limited to 10 articles per month whereas subscribers generally get full access you can expect two kinds of notifications from this application one is a breaking news notification that will pop up whenever big news is happening during my testing I received one when the NFL Draft started and a few others the second type of notification is called the morning brief that occurs every single morning this serves up the important news from overnight to get you caught up quickly there are also two kinds of widgets that you can use the first is a fairly standard widget that shows you the latest headlines you can scroll through the and tap on stories to launch the app and read them the second is a brand new widget that shows interesting photographs throughout the day tapping on the photographs will launch the relevant article in addition you also have a twilight mode to darken the screen for easier reading the ability to switch between the u.s. and international editions of the New York Times and multiple links to send feedback about the application if you have comments complaints or suggestions here's what we liked about the new New York Times application the new interface is simply stunning we've seen few news applications embrace the Android design guidelines and fewer still who have done it as well as the New York Times has here we especially enjoyed the consistent swipe controls on the main interface and articles as well as the grid layout for tablets it is one of the best performing Android news apps that we've ever used articles load quickly of course internet connection permitting swiping between categories and articles has a satisfying smoothness that just screams high class when combined with the simplistic elegance of the new interface the notifications are consistent enough to be useful but not so consistent that it becomes an annoyance the morning brief is an excellent way to get caught up on what's going on and we like that both types of notifications can be configured in the settings you have the ability to save articles and read them across multiple devices of course you do need a subscription to do that this means you can start reading a story on your phone and continue reading it on your tablet or computer later or vice versa the widgets included are simple but effective they can be resized to an extent to fit your home screen needs we'd like to talk for a moment about the subscriptions the New York Times offers more than half a dozen subscription options and three of them are for their online content subscriptions are generally an all-or-nothing proposition and we appreciate the ability to go for a cheaper or more specialized option for instance if you don't own a tablet you can get a smartphone only subscription and here's what wasn't so great about the new york times app the application as a whole is a total refresh that means many of the features from the old application are now gone this has perks some folks but the developers have been attentive in fixing issues and taking suggestions to reintegrate popular old features you can expect the application to change a great deal over the coming months when scrolling through the photo widget we noticed that there were only about a half a dozen photos we would have liked to have seen more photos there it does auto update over the course of the day so this really is a minor nitpick the new york times app developers clearly wanted to go in a new direction and they succeeded in their endeavor entirely the emphasis on quick loading and buttery smooth performance meshes well with the high standards of the publication's content and the two combined create one of the greatest news reading experiences available on Android today that said the app is still in its infancy and we expect more features to be rolled out over time to make up for the features lost in the transition overall it's a fantastic application you can read articles and test the app out for free before committing to a subscription so there's no actual harm in trying it out for yourself the download link is in the video description below if you're interested once again I'm Joe Hindy the android authority app guide don't forget to subscribe to our youtube channel and follow us on our various social media sites as always thanks for watching everybody and have a wonderful day