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?
