Hands-On With The Daily (Demo Video)

After today’s unveiling of The Daily at a press event at the Guggenheim museum in New York City, we were handed iPads loaded with the news app. I shot the video above with my iPhone to give a quick sense of what it looks like and the navigation.

It looks like a magazine more than a newspaper, with lush photography and the occasional interactive graphic or video in place of a photo. The first thing I noticed is that there are no links in any of the stories, although you can share stories via Facebook, Twitter, or email. But that is about the extent of the social features in the app. As I expected, it is does not (yet) offer any social reading features like Flipboard or the yet-to-launch News.me

To find your way around, there is atable of content, but that only lists the top ten stories. You can flip through chronologically or navigate by section (news, Gossip, Opinion, Arts & Life, Apps & Games, or Sports). When you are in a story, you can tap to expose a timeline with thumbnail images of each page up top. Finally, there is a carousel view that lets you go through the issue like you can with album covers in iTunes. It would be helpful if there were a content page that simply listed all the headlines in that issue with links.

The ads take up their own pages, just like in a magazine. I noticed that the ads take a lot longer to load than the news pages. That could be a problem if it is not fixed in terms of pleasing advertisers.

You can save stories for later reading, but apparently the app is loaded with new stories every day. So unless you read or save the stories you are interested in, for now you are out of luck. On stage, News corp indicated they are working on this issue.

Related:

Rupert Murdoch: “New Times Demand New Journalism”

The Daily Event Liveblog: Follow Along As The Newspaper Hits The Information Age

Murdoch: The Daily Will Cost $0.14 Per Day Or $0.99 Per Week

One-Click Subscriptions Come To the iPad

Who Is The Daily For?

What Are The Odds We’ll See An Android Version Of The Daily?

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Onkyo tablet roadmap shows a selection of Android and Windows devices in a variety of sizes

By Tim Stevens posted Feb 2nd 2011 12:39PM Onkyo is giving us a taste of what next, revealing its plans for future tablet onslaught that will leave no operating system untouched -- well, Android and Windows anyway. For Windows 7 lovers, the company's three SlatePC tablets, the TW317A5, TW217A5, and TW117A4 are all going to see updates through the year, including Oak Trail power from Intel sometime before June. Meanwhile, the 10-inch Android SlatePad TA117C1 and TA117C3 will receive built-in 3G and will be joined with a 7-inch, ARM-powered model later this year. Ruggedized tablets are mentioned too, but no plans for a US release for any of them. No surprise there.

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Samsung Teases Galaxy S Successor [VIDEO]

If this teaser video is any indication, Samsung will be showing off its Galaxy S2 phone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in less than two weeks.

Samsung has had great success with the Galaxy S series of phones, with 10 million units sold in just seven months.

Samsung’s strategy with the Galaxy S in the U.S. was to offer a different variation of the same device on each of the four major mobile operators. Samsung further augmented that strategy by partnering with Google on the Nexus S phone released in December 2010.

The teaser video is short on details, but the clip does insinuate that the Galaxy S2 will feature a very slight profile. Samsung will be streaming the unveiling of the new Galaxy S on February 13. Mashable will have staff on the ground at MWC and we will be bringing you our hands-on reports with the new device.

[via PocketLint]

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“Oregon Trail” Hits Facebook

Break out your snake bite kits — Oregon Trail is now on Facebook!

Oregon Trail for Facebook combines qualities of the original game (and its various incarnations) with popular social games like FarmVille and CityVille.

Users can add friends to their wagon parties and have the option to continue on a solitary journey or with an entourage. Supplies for the trail — items like food, antibiotics, wagon parts and clothing — can be procured using virtual currency. This currency can be purchased with Facebook Credits.

Aside from general trail activities, users can play mini games and complete tasks to earn more virtual currency and reach higher levels.

In our brief time with the game, we found it a little hard to use. The game is still in its early stages of development, but figuring out how to start or complete missions was less intuitive than we were expecting.

Nostalgia will undoubtedly bring throngs of users to Oregon Trail for Facebook, but it remains to be seen if the game can be addictive enough to keep users coming back.

The beauty of the original Apple II game, was that while educational, it was replayable. We fondly remember waiting patiently for our turn at the computer in second and third grade, if only to get a chance to hunt some buffalo.

Beyond Oregon Trail, The Learning Company plans to launch the Facebook version of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? on February 9. Carmen Sandiego may not have the same following as Oregon Trail, but we actually think the mechanics of the game and its structure makes it better suited for Facebook and other social platforms.

What do you think of Oregon Trail for Facebook? Are you ready to see a modernized “Zed died from Dysentery” message? Let us know.

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Zynga Brings Newtoy’s Crossword Game ‘Words With Friends’ To Android Phones

Zynga is continuing to roll out mobile versions of its games, announcing today that it will be bringing Words With Friends, a popular multiplayer crossword game for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, to Android phones later this month.

Words With Friends, which was developed recently acquired mobile game studio Newtoy, had over 10 million users on iOS devices. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Words With Friends, it’s similar to playing a Scrabble-like word game against one of your friends. The free Android app will include the same features as its iOS cousin, including in-game chat, push notifications and the ability to play 20 games at the same time.

All signs point to this app being a hit for Zynga. Back in December, Zynga Mobile head David Ko said that Farmville for the iPhone had seen 7 million downloads in only five months.

A paid version of Words With Friends (with no ads) will be rolled out in the next few months.

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