Available on: iOS
Reviewed on: iPad
Price: Free
Introduction:
If you've been hankering for a magazine with content customized to your preferences, get Zite. Zite is a social feed aggregator and pulls customized content from one's own feeds and popular web based publications. It is very similar to Flipboard, which was named Apple's app of the year but there are many subtle differences.
Usability:
The user interface of Zite is reminiscent of a print publication. The whole design of the magazine is very neatly organized. While starting up, the app asked us to sync our Twitter and Google reader feeds. We were then diverted to a page with a whole host of options for customizing content. For example we could choose feeds exclusively related to technology. We could even further micro manage the feeds by selecting particular brands such as Google, Apple and Microsoft, so as to be able to see stories only related to those brands.
An impressive feature on Zite is that it displays all the content in its own windows. There are some exceptions, such as NYT related feeds, which open in a browser window similar to Flipboard. This gives the app an inherent print publication feel. This particular feature lends the app a very unique flavour but at the same time we believe it's a big copyright law no-no. Zite is already facing some flak from content generators for doing this.
The app also natively plays YouTube video but sometimes struggles with HTML 5 based content.
But the game-changer is Zite's learning feature. If the user likes a particular article, the app adapts and offers similar content. But this is a double edged sword as it may limit your reading.
Similar to other information aggregators, Zite provides the option to post articles the user likes on Twitter, Facebook, Instapaper, and Delicious. It also lets content be emailed to other.
This may sound very picky, but a cool page turning animation, like Flipboard's, would have been nice. Maybe Zite could go a step further in the next version and add an iBooks like animation.
Verdict:
As far as content aggregators go, Zite is right up there with Flipboard and Pulse, but what differentiates it from these apps is its ability to adapt to the reading habits of the user. It also provides greater customization options over the content viewed in comparison to Flipboard and Pulse. The only gripe might be the omission of a cool page turning animation. But perhaps that's asking for too much considering we get all this for free?
Rating - 4.5
Usability - 4
Price - 5
Wow factor - 4