All The News? New York Times versus Wall Street Journal iPad Apps – Review
WHAT DOESN’T WORK IN THE APPS – BUT SHOULD
A significant problem with both apps is that, unlike on the Web, there is no search function, making it virtually impossible to find something specific (of course, print newspapers lack search functionality as well, but the newspapers’ Web sites do incorporate it, albeit imperfectly). I see this omission as a major flaw.
Because search didn’t seem to be available in any of the newspaper apps I looked at, I checked with Apple to find out whether there was any sort of technical limitation that would preclude having search in newspapers. This turned out not to be the case.
A spokesman for the Wall Street Journal told me to expect search in the not-to-distant future. Over at the Times, a spokesman told me that search is “one of many opportunities we see for enhancing the app in the future,” but declined to specify when it might become available.
Another problem is the fact that neither app uses live links to referenced articles – even when the text of the article specifically seems to point to an article. This makes it rather frustrating at times, as such links are the very essence of the Web.
Both apps offer multitasking support. 
The Times has had this since multitasking was introduced in the iPad’s operating system, while the Journal added this functionality in May of this year.
One of my gripes about the Times app was fixed a few days ago, when the Times released version 2.0.7, which introduced article-to-article swipe. This is a small improvement, although navigation remains hindered since there is still no “main” page. Another problem with the Times app is that every so often it seems to forget who I am and asks me to either log in or create a new account. The Wall Street Journal only asked me for my login information when I first installed the app.
Apparently, the Times is having trouble abiding by its motto “All the news that’s fit to print” when it comes to the iPad. Not only does it seem as if a lot of news from the print edition is missing in the iPad edition, but it’s not possible to go back to past editions. The Wall Street Journal, on the other hand, allows the reader to go back a full seven days.
What users think is telling, to say the least.
In the Apple iTunes store, the Wall Street Journal app garnered a five-star rating (“it’s great”) overall, with 65.4% of users giving it that rating.
In contrast, users have given the Times’ app three out of five stars overall and more people (45.3%) gave it only one star – “hated it” – than any other rating. (This is a good rating compared to the Times’ iPhone app, which only garnered two stars. It’s worth noting that 65.3% of users who rated it gave it one star.)
Besides the Wall Street Journal, there are other excellent newspaper apps available including the Economist (which considers itself a newspaper, not a magazine) and Die Presse. If you glance at my iPad, you’ll find me bypassing the New York Times app in favor of apps from newspapers that see fit to print all the news—with an app to match.
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[...] topic has multiple stories: former New York Times food critic William Grimes writes about “Gastronomic Tales” from the fair, Henry Jenkins writes [...]
I’d disagree with the statement, “The Wall Street Journal chose to adopt iPad conventions in terms of the use of gestures.”
The pinch gesture is supposed to be “shrink this page”/”zoom out”.
It would be nice if there were a “go back” gesture in common use, but there doesn’t seem to be.
I dislike having to remember that “pinch” means something DIFFERENT in the WSJ iPad app.
I wish they’d just put in a “Back” button.