Australia Unlimited — Review — Awe-inspiring profiles from the land down under
By App Type: Uncategorized
Our rating: 
By: Hardie Grant Publishing Pty Ltd
Version #: 1.2.0
Date Released: 2011-12-13
Developer: Hardie Grant Publishing Pty Ltd
Price: Free
User Rating:
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If ever one requires further proof of the ingenuity and penchant for positive change fostered by Australians both world-famous and little-known, one need only refer to the Building Brand Australia Program. This program was commissioned just over a year ago by the Australian Government in hopes of extensively showcasing a clear global reputation that the rest of the world will want to aspire to. Among the strategies being executed toward the goal of the program is the promotion of a brand identity specially tailored to underscore the development of Australia as a nation of creative and proactive people. As if to emphasize the limitless energy emanating from the land down under, this identity is appropriately dubbed Australia Unlimited.
Australia Unlimited presents a wide array of talents and achievements of a great many Australians today, and one of the manners of presentation being employed by the program-runners is the hugely popular platform of the iPad. In order to disseminate information about the program to a wider global audience, a magazine app optimized for the iPad has been released and made available at the iTunes App Store.
The magazine app, also called Australia Unlimited, goes right into the Newsstand folder, as opposed to being installed like a regular native app. This allows for easy access, and it makes sense for an app that brings news—news of multidisciplinary individuals and groups bound by a common nationality and a common positive direction.
Content is delivered through monthly issues of the magazine. It should be noted that not only is downloading the app free, but downloading the issues therein is free as well. Once the free subscription (auto-renewable until cancelled) is confirmed upon launching the app for the first time, all available issues may already be downloaded by tapping the Downloads tab on the app’s menu. Subsequent issues will be automatically downloaded provided there’s Internet access. Downloading an issue may take quite a while even through a Wi-Fi connection since an issue of Australia Unlimited is typically laden with bytes of images and videos that are relevant to the content. All downloaded issues are collected in one place in the My Issues tab.
Although every issue of Australia Unlimited is free of charge, there’s no hint of its being a free publication in the way content is layouted and enchanced for presentation. In every issue, the cover is immediately followed by a contents page, which shows an overview of the articles contained in the issue, with article titles hyperlinked to their corresponding pages. Oddly, the contents page can only be viewed in portrait mode; it’s a limitation that requires the device to be tilted when in landscape mode just for the app to show the contents page properly. Beyond that the basic navigation scheme is fairly simple: swipe horizontally to go to the next or previous article and swipe vertically to scroll through the current article. Tapping anywhere on the screen brings up the page navigator, the app menu, and the bookmark icon. Moreover, a convenient article iconography is used to aid the reader in easily identifying the field of interest directly related to the subject of an article. Each article title is accompanied by a small icon indicating the article’s chief relevance with any of the following: the arts, business, environment, society, technology, or science.
The articles in Australia Unlimited are invariably well-written and the included photographs are well-composed, what with the award-winning writers and photographers who are involved in the process. Majority of the articles profile Australian citizens who have made their mark in their respective disciplines, ranging from young ones doing non-profit work to one of the recent Nobel Prize for Physics recipients. Such inspiring people being spotlighted in every issue make Australia Unlimited a must-have magazine app not only for Aussies but also for any discerning reader of any nationality.
And a new issue is coming out today! Pick it up!
Quick Take
Value:High
Would I Buy Again:Most certainly, mate. It's free.
Learning Curve:Very low
Who Is It For:Readers, of Australian descent or otherwise, interested in profiles of Australian citizens with exceptional contributions to various fields
What I Like:The rich content, easy navigation, free subscription, ad-free
What I Don't Like:No option to make videos available via an Internet connection, so as to decrease downloading time. Contents page is viewable only in portrait mode.
Final Statement:Australia Unlimited is further evidence that the land down under is brimming with talented persons whose combined achievements cannot be overstated.
australia Australia Unlimited is a free monthly magazine app that shares compelling stories of people changing the world for the better – through their art, business acumen, research or humanitarian efforts.
The common thread is Australia: whether it’s through a person’s place of birth or their experience of living, working or studying in the country, Australia Unlimited examines the contribution the nation’s people is making to global issues.
Fresh, engaging content is supported by stunning imagery by some of the world’s leading photographers, behind-the-scenes videos, interviews and podcasts.
There is one subscription available for the this application;
A free subscription - auto-renews until cancelled.
