Articles ? The Wikipedia App ? Review
By App Type: Uncategorized
Our rating: 
By: Sophiestication Software
Version #: 2.0
Date Released: 2011-02-08
Developer:
Price: 2.99
User Rating:
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Wikipedia is arguably the best source for info on the web, but why can’t it be beautiful? With Articles for iPhone it can be.
Type in any topic that Wikipedia covers and this app will suggest the article which you are searching for, allowing easy, beautiful access to The Free Encyclopedia’s entirety.
There is one problem with long articles on the iPhone: there’s always too much text for the little screen, resulting in painstakingly slow navigation. Articles attempts to solve this problem with a double-tap-to-quickly-scroll scrolling or, if you’re more of a conventional type, you can select which subsection to read with the Title of Contents located in the left portion of the search bar.
Articles displays photos at full resolution while maintaining its quick, beautiful interface. What makes this different from the other Wikipedia viewers? It doesn’t crash when it’s loading these high resolution photos!
Another nice feature of Articles: a pull-for-orientation-lock when at the top of the page. However this frequently has a cosmetic bug where it says "Pull down to lock orientation" even when the orientation is already locked.
Articles features a unique Read Later option for articles that you don’t have time to read at the moment. The app also features AirPrint support, along with a search function and tabbed browsing similar to Safari’s.
With an Apple Design Award, you know that this app must look good. If it’s worth paying for when there are free alternatives in the App Store is up to you.
Quick Take
Value:High.
Would I Buy Again:Yes.
Learning Curve:Low.
Who Is It For:Those who frequent Wikipedia and enjoy beautiful apps.
What I Like:Its beauty and fuss-free interface.
What I Don't Like:No offline reading (or even basic caching it seems). No social media sharing, although I'm not really sure if this would be useful or not.
Final Statement:Wikipedia has received a facelift.
– Articles features a one-of-a-kind presentation of Wikipedia articles, perfectly optimized for your iPhone and iPod touch
– A unique, chapter index control to skim through the whole article in an instant
– Search text in the currently open article
– Mark interesting entries you want to read in the future
– Switch between different Article translations with the Language Picker
– Find articles by title or content and select the Wikipedia language you are interested in
– Automatic spelling suggestions for your search text
– Use maps to learn more about nearby places
– Discover articles around the globe using maps
– "Surprise Me!" feature
– Tap on image previews to zoom in for more detail
– Rotate your device to see article photos in landscape and pinch to zoom in
– Easily share an article link by mail and copy photos to your Camera Roll or Clipboard
– Pull down the article view to lock the current screen orientation
– Pinch to increase and decrease the article text size
– Access recently viewed articles when offline
– Manage article bookmarks in folders and separate pages like in Safari
– Quickly lookup recently viewed articles by day
– Table of Contents sheet
– Automatic text hyphenation, available only on iOS 4.2 or later
– Print articles and images using AirPrint
– Articles is fully compatible with iOS 4 and the Retina display
TIPS
– Double-tap (and hold) on the article to display the Chapter Index control
– Tap the status bar to scroll back to the search bar
– Pinch the article view to increase or decrease the text size
– Pull down the article view to lock or unlock the current screen orientation
– Tap-and-hold a link to open an article in a new page
– Shake your device to open a random article
– Tap and hold on text to copy and paste article content
– Tap and hold on links and images to reveal more actions
What's New in Version 2.0
– Mark interesting entries you want to read in the future
– Search text in the currently open article
– Print articles and images using AirPrint
