The Verge – the beautiful & awesome app for up to date Tech News!
by Paul Wilks
Aug 10, 2012 12:35 PM –
Install
The Verge is a comprehensive and frequently updated source for tech news. Launched only at the end of 2011, it covers everything from the latest Android headlines, Microsoft, Apple, through to photography, gadgets, gaming, culture and the Internet. While the site itself is still quite new, they recently released a slick mobile client that showcases their articles, videos and podcasts.
Price: Free
Tested on: HTC One X
Content Rating: Medium Maturity
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Beautifully designed!
- Constantly updated with news!
- Huge variety of content, both in terms of media and topics covered!
- ‘Following’ section!
- Account support!
Cons
Features:
The Verge app is a rich and impressive mobile news source. It features all the great design elements you can see in the main website itself, squeezed into a lush mobile interface. Users are initially met with four large tabs along the top of the screen which offer News, Sections, Media and Following. News gathers The Verge’s latest stories, reviews and features. Sections allows you to explore the wealth of topics discussed- everything from Android through to video cameras. This section has three further tabs at the bottom of the screen for Hubs, Brands and Categories, so looking for and finding the articles you’re interested in is ridiculously simple. The Media section hosts all the videos, photos and podcasts, from their daily 90 second news round up to galleries of unreleased games. Then there’s the Following section…
The Following section is probably the most intuitive and innovative feature I’ve seen in a news app for, like, ages. If there’s a story that particularly interests you- say, for example, the Samsung vs Apple courtroom drama, simply tapping the ‘Follow’ tab means all related stories will be stored in this section. When you next go into the Verge app, the Following section will have a notification number which tells you how many stories have been posted for you to catch up on. You can follow as many stories as you like, and they’re all hosted in this easy-to-find section.
The Verge release loads of content, very many articles every day, plus video content and much longer podcasts. All this is easily accessible within the app. Another great feature is the ability to log into your own Verge account- meaning you can view comments and comment yourself, all while mobile and ‘on the go’. While there are very many great news apps out there, few offer this interactive feature in their mobile clients, so this is great to see. I think the only thing missing from the app is the existence of a nice little homescreen widget. It should be stressed though, the app is still very new, so hopefully this might be something introduced in the future.
-
-
The Verge – Features
-
-
The Verge – Media
-
-
The Verge – News
-
-
The Verge – Reviews
-
-
The Verge – In-story view
-
-
The Verge – Follow specific story streams
-
-
The Verge – Sections
-
-
The Verge – Android section
-
-
The Verge – Comments
Usefulness:
For keeping up to date with practically every tech story, release, announcement or rumour under the sun, The Verge, despite it’s young age, is pretty much unrivalled. The app is brilliantly designed and packed full of great content and is constantly updated (seriously, they generate so much content it’s like a Twitter stream sometimes!)
Ease of Use:
The app is very simple to use and the various tabs make it easy to navigate. While there’s no search function, it’s still very straight forward and intuitive to find just what you’re looking for.
Frequently Used:
Content is updated regularly so there’s nearly always something new to check out, even if you open the app several times per day. For people who just want to quickly consume the day’s news, I would recommend the 90 second daily round up video.
Interface:
The interface is beautifully designed, looks superb and follows closely the full website’s theme. The content is simple to find, easy to read and the app includes plenty of user-friendly features.