Zinio for Android is Here!
- May 31st, 2011
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I’ve been patiently waiting for Zinio to release their app for Android and the day has finally come! Zinio isn’t your average reader. Why because they have more magazines than Kindle and Nook “…choose from thousands of issues from 41 countries in 23 different languages.” I’ve also downloaded a magazine on both Kindle and Nook and neither can compare to the clarity and quality of Zinio’s digital magazines. I’ve had the desktop app for windows for a while and liked it a lot. So when I got my XOOM I was pretty disappointed to find they hadn’t released their Android version yet. Now that’s changed and it’s been released today. I’ve already got it downloaded and have briefly run through some free magazines and I have to say it looks GREAT! The app is now available in the market and is supported on Honeycomb. If you download before June 15th you’ll get 24 free magazines! So get over to the Android Market and download your Zinio App today! –Greg
Zinio’s Android App in the Market
**Update – So after some regular usage last night I have some more comments. First, it takes way to long to download a single magazine. I’m running 18M download at home and was using WiFi only which still seem to take around 5-10 minutes. Second, more than several times would I turn the page and wait for it to load completely so that the text would be clear and it never would. I would have to turn past the page a few and come back to get it to load correctly. Lastly, I feel that the experience was rather slow overall. It’s a great start and feel it only needs to improve the 3 previously mentioned items and it will be pretty solid. Looking forward that polished product.
So I’ve had my 
I’ve only owned the Xoom for a couple days now and can say without hesitation that it’s a sweet piece of hardware. I’m not going to get to deep, just a high level review. The hardware itself is of decent size and weight. Now its not going to fit in my pocket, nor do I want it too, but fits nicely in my hands. The weight isn’t overwhelming and gives you a nice sturdy, well built feel you want in any electronic device. The Honeycomb (Android 3.0) UI is pretty slick and works well with the hardware. I see no lag in moving around within the interface as I move from screen to screen and menu to menu. The amount of “real estate” that you have available to you is almost excessive when going from a smart phone to the tab. I’m sure that will change with the addition of widgets and apps. I spent probably over 5 hours just messing with the appearance and settings of my Xoom.. I don’t want to give you the wrong impression here. I didn’t spend that much time because I couldn’t figure it out. I spent hours because I wanted to learn about every setting I could change and adjust as well as I wanted to change and adjust everything I could to my liking. The stock browser works well, but I went over and grabbed Dolphin HD. I used Dolphin before on my phone, but felt it wasn’t a good match. Using a 10” screen I think using the extra neat features like gestures of Dolphin worked well. The speed of the 3G seems ok; however I have stuck to Wi-Fi and have been pretty happy. I’ve taken a few pictures with the rear camera with and with out the flash and they look as to be expected, great, but not drop dead awesome. I’ve messed with the front facing camera a little, but haven’t done anything neat yet. Typing on this nice size screen is a breeze, however will be looking to get Swype on here ASAP. The battery life has been good, I have had it off the charger since yesterday morning around 6AM-ish, I’ve used it a lot through out the day yesterday and evening and used it today, currently I’m sitting on about 50% life left. I think that’s pretty good considering that about 12 hours of use and the rest standby. The only downfall I currently see is the lack of widgets and apps that take advantage of the size of my Xoom. Overall I would give the Xoom a huge two thumbs up!! -Greg
