Padder iPad Magazine Arrives With Promise
July 6, 2011
The folks behind the UK’s popular MacUser magazine have cooked up something new exclusively for iPad users. Padder is a new e-magazine offering features, how-tos, and reviews of the latest iPad apps and third-party products. However, by the look of the publication’s first issue, it won’t be completely iPad-centric, for good and bad.
Padder, which is available exclusively for the iPad (no surprise there), includes many of the features you’d expect from a magazine about Apple’s tablet.
These include an “APP STORE HIGHLIGHTS” page, as well as a section entitled, "THIRTY." Here, we can assume, the publishers will offer a monthly list of the top 30 apps in a given category.
For its first issue, Padder offers its Top 30 games “money can buy for your iPad.”
Padder’s “HOW TO” section offers step-by-step instruction on how to accomplish a specific iPad task.
For example, this month’s “How To” includes steps to turn your iPad into a monitor.
Where Padder goes off-track, however, is when it moves away from the iPad and into the larger tech ecosystem.
"DISCOVER," for example, includes “awesome stuff.” Unfortunately, only two of the five items highlighted have anything to do with the iPad.
Finally, the magazine's "HARDWARE" section includes some cool items for your…iPhone?
Sure, iPhone owners may enjoy this, but that isn’t the point. An iPad magazine, especially its first issue, should include hardware exclusively made for the… iPad. To be fair, one of the five pieces of hardware mentioned in this first issue is iPad-centric, but that’s pretty poor, don’t you think?
One should consider Padder a work in progress and like all magazines will almost certainly get better over time. Besides, its first issue is free, so you have nothing to lose. We expect great things from Padder, and hope it becomes a must-have app very soon.
Padder is available in the App Store today; new issues should arrive each month.
Thoughts about Padder? Leave your comments below.
