Daniel Ionescu

It finally here: the Guardian has launched its long-overdue iPhone app (iTunes link). As expected, it’s not free, but it’s not cheap either — £2.39 ($3.88). To put into perspective, CNN’s iPhone app is $1.99 (unavailable in the UK) and the New York Times’ app is free.

I had a quick wander through the app, and I was quite impressed: it single-handedly puts to shame the counterparts from the Independent or Telegraph — though credit goes to the latter two for putting their apps out there months before the Guardian.

The Guardian app keeps the same graphic identity with the website, including colour codes and I like how you can customise the front page (similar to Thomson Reuters’ News Pro app). You can choose which categories and how many items from each category appear on the home tab, and the image gallery section is quite sleek. You can also easily browse through articles by the same author and through tags (keywords) at the end of articles.

There are a few issues with the Guardian iPhone app though. I find the trending tab on the home page a bit confusing, and the podcast integration is nice, but when you actually listen to the file, there is no cover art. The most notable downside is the lack of landscape reading mode (they could learn a lesson from the Financial Times’ app here). Also, the only way I got around for updating the content was to close and reopen the app .

Overall though, I’m impressed with the Guardian iPhone app, especially as this the the first version. The lack of advertising is welcome, but you pay a premium for that. Perhaps there should be a free, ad-supported version alongside. Landscape reading should be a must for the next update.

If you’re not willing to pay £2.39 for the Guardian iPhone app, you can still read all the content for free from Safari.

– Later edit: I used the app a bit more and I also noticed the lack of video content and comment facilities. And here’s a little video from the Guardian introducing their app (the voice over in the video sounds like the Guardian’s Head of Audio, Matt Wells).