The knight in shining armour the publishing world has waited for?

If I got a ?1 for the amount of times I’ve heard that the iPad is the shining white knight ready to save the magazine industry, I’d be a rich man.

We’ve had our fair share of attempts; The Wired app and Zinio for example.? But for every good offering there is an equally bad one, I mean have you seen the iPad version of Men’s Health? It shows you everything that you shouldn’t do for example.

In steps Popular Mechanics and its efforts but it is enough?

Popular Mechanics

Format

iPad

Price

?1.19

Where

iTunes

?

Rather than starting out as a monthly magazine that you’re going to be subscribing to, this is a best of the last year’s features in a teaser for what is possible.

That means a good range of features to justify the ?1.19 price tag and plenty to read when you’re bored on the train.

But it’s not just about recreating the magazine in a format that is suitable for the iPad. Oh no. The designers of this interactive magazine have taken those words to heart and so every so often (and lucky that is more often than not) you get buttons to press that show you more detail in only a way that a futurist interactive magazine could. The earthquake illustration is very good for example.

But it also means that a pick of the best gadgets around can be displayed on one page. Or a box out detailing instructions on how to make the ultimate tool rack for your shed a scrollable infographic to make regular how-to illustrations, well just dull.

This being digital you can of course pull up the contents page whenever you want, flick your way through the page viewer or even, as long as you’ve internet connection, call up the latest news the magazine is creating thanks to the News Feed element. There are bookmark options and sharing buttons and the all important feedback button so you can tell them what you love or hate.

At just over a quid this is well worth a peek, and if they turn it into a regular monthly subscription offering we’re in.

Tags:
Hardware iPad iPad apps Popular Mechanics App of the day

APP OF THE DAY – Popular Mechanics (iPad) originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:30:18 +0100