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TUAW's Daily App: Articles

We've talked about Articles here on the site before. Out of all of the apps that won Apple Design Awards this year, I would say it's probably the most underrated and most useful. It's a Wikipedia reader, which doesn't sound like much since the mobile version of Wikipedia is pretty good already. Having a dedicated app for the open source encyclopedia makes a surprising difference, though, and it allows you to consume all of that content in a really focused way. There are integrated maps and photos and lots of different ways to browse information, including shaking the iPhone to see a random page.

The new update doesn't hurt either; version 1.3 adds a language picker, a new Table of Contents sheet, and an orientation lock that even works on the iPhone (a previous update already made the app all ready for iOS 4.0 and the Retina Display). Articles is US$2.99, which might seem pricey to browse content that you can already read for free. However, if you've participated in a few marathon Wikipedia sessions just by following a few random reference links, it's well worth the purchase.

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We've talked about Articles here on the site before. Out of all of the apps that won Apple Design Awards this year, I would say it's...
 

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Mitch Olson

Very nice looking app. Marred only by very poor implementation of TableOfContents access which requires you lose your current position in article - dumb design decision.

July 20 2010 at 6:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mark W

I guess I'm a little confused. The mobile version of Wikipedia seems to already allow you to do what you describe as the best feature of the application.

"However, if you've participated in a few marathon Wikipedia sessions just by following a few random reference links, it's well worth the purchase."

Sure, it's only $3, but why clutter up your iPhone with an app that simply re-invents the wheel?

July 20 2010 at 9:27 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chase Emory

Wikipanion is free, and seems to do the same thing

July 20 2010 at 8:37 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Chase Emory's comment
Kleinias

I would just echo your comment and say that while (I've never tried it) "Articles" probably provides some additional features, I would definitely suggest trying out the free Wikipanion application first. I've been using Wikipanion for at least a year now, and It appears to have all the features any causal user of Wikipedia would usually need. The free Wikipanion application is also regularly updated and new features are added every so often.

July 20 2010 at 4:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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