LIFE’s photo collection has come to the iPad at
never-before-seen resolution, via an ad-supported free-to-user app.
“Life on iPad” features high-definition photo galleries that
offer access to millions of archival images, as well as current news coverage
and special features not available elsewhere. The content is divided into
sections, such as news, celebrity, sports, travel, animals and editor’s picks. Most
images are organized in sets related to a particular topic or series, and the
app makes suggestions for related conent.
The app employs an interactive filmstrip mode and a
map-based explorer that allows to locate images based on their geographic origin.
The content is instantly shareable via email or Facebook and Twitter
integration.
The app also offers an interesting lesson in the
commercialization of photography in the iPad arena: it seems to be meeting with
rave user reviews—short of the ads, which make the free app commercially
viable. One
blogger writes: “The ads in the app are horrendous. They are full-screen, there
are often two of them within a single photo set, and, worst of all, it is very
awkward and hit-and-miss to swipe through them. So quite often when you try to
swipe past one to continue through the photos, instead you launch a popup ad
page.” The same blogger says a fee would be welcome as an alternative to
getting rid of advertising. “I happily paid up my $4.99 for… ‘LIFE Wonders of
the World’ iPad book.”