Magazines, what do you prefer iOS vs Android

[PhoenixMac]

So after messing around with my Nexus 7 for a few days I am absolutely in love with it. This is coming from someone who owns an iPad 2 and 3 and iPhone 5.

This is the perfect size and weight of a tablet, for me anyways. Now for a tablet my uses are pretty simple; YouTube, Tedtalks, tapatalk and finally Magazines.

When the iPad originally came out I was excited to get it to replace my heavy stack of magazines with digital versions. Well no dice, there were only a few options to choose from and none of them were ones I read. Fast forward a few years and I am revisiting the thought. I look through the iOS offerings vs Android and I notice a difference, iOS offers a lot of videos and interaction while only a few mags on android offer that. Another thing I notice is the file sizes the typical iPad mag is about 300mb vs a very smaller size on Android roughly 50mb.

Before deciding on investing on magazines for an OS since they do not offer transferring which do you prefer? I'm leaning towards Android as I do not need all the extra magazine frills and usually just read the articles but was wondering if there was anything else better on iOS that I was missing.

 

[rafarataneneces]

So after messing around with my Nexus 7 for a few days I am absolutely in love with it. This is coming from someone who owns an iPad 2 and 3 and iPhone 5.

This is the perfect size and weight of a tablet, for me anyways. Now for a tablet my uses are pretty simple; YouTube, Tedtalks, tapatalk and finally Magazines.

When the iPad originally came out I was excited to get it to replace my heavy stack of magazines with digital versions. Well no dice, there were only a few options to choose from and none of them were ones I read. Fast forward a few years and I am revisiting the thought. I look through the iOS offerings vs Android and I notice a difference, iOS offers a lot of videos and interaction while only a few mags on android offer that. Another thing I notice is the file sizes the typical iPad mag is about 300mb vs a very smaller size on Android roughly 50mb.

Before deciding on investing on magazines for an OS since they do not offer transferring which do you prefer? I'm leaning towards Android as I do not need all the extra magazine frills and usually just read the articles but was wondering if there was anything else better on iOS that I was missing.

I am subscribed to about 20 magazines

I would love to know if there is a way to download/read those magazines with Google Play

Personally I LOVE the magazines on the iPad 3 with Retina Display

but the iPad is a little too big sometimes

the iPad Mini is great but again it's not HD and I was expecting something to fit very comfortable in one hand

At the moment, I hope I can read many of my favorite magazines on Android

Let me know if you were able to find some and where

 

[onthecouchagain]

iBooks rock. It's my favorite thing on iOS.

Wish things would load faster though. That's the only thing I can complain about it. Otherwise, it rules.

 

[rafarataneneces]

iBooks rock. It's my favorite thing on iOS.

Wish things would load faster though. That's the only thing I can complain about it. Otherwise, it rules.

But I mean is there something similar to the Magazines app for Android?

 

[hallux]

There is a Google Play Magazines (referred to later as GPMag) app on Android. There's also Zinio, which is cross-platform. Each has its pros and cons.

Zinio -
Prevents device from sleeping (Pro in my book)
Subscriptions are subject to currency conversion as they process the subscription and are not US-based. The prices were listed in USD but I had to pay exchange rates on my CC bill. (Con in my book)
Cross-platform (Android and iOS anyway)

GPMag -
Device sleeps based on device-wide settings
NOT subject to currency exchange rates
not cross-platform, as far as I can tell

I had one sub on each, moving the Zinio sub to GPMag when it expires on Zinio. I can deal with the lack of cross-platform support (my iOS device is my work device anyway and my personal, Android, tablet goes with me to work anyway). Zinio on iOS offers some features that it doesn't offer on Android, and there was no way to bookmark a spot on one device and load to that bookmark on another, at least as far as I could tell in my limited attempts.

 

[rafarataneneces]

There is a Google Play Magazines (referred to later as GPMag) app on Android. There's also Zinio, which is cross-platform. Each has its pros and cons.

Zinio -
Prevents device from sleeping (Pro in my book)
Subscriptions are subject to currency conversion as they process the subscription and are not US-based. The prices were listed in USD but I had to pay exchange rates on my CC bill. (Con in my book)
Cross-platform (Android and iOS anyway)

GPMag -
Device sleeps based on device-wide settings
NOT subject to currency exchange rates
not cross-platform, as far as I can tell

I had one sub on each, moving the Zinio sub to GPMag when it expires on Zinio. I can deal with the lack of cross-platform support (my iOS device is my work device anyway and my personal, Android, tablet goes with me to work anyway). Zinio on iOS offers some features that it doesn't offer on Android, and there was no way to bookmark a spot on one device and load to that bookmark on another, at least as far as I could tell in my limited attempts.

Well Zinio looks amazing then

However I LOVE magazines on my iPad, they are built for iOS

I guess the best thing would be
1) The best magazines on both iPad (native apps) and Android
2) The rest of the magazines on Zinio

I haven't tried Zinio

For example, the Magazine MacLife, if I use the native magazine app, or I use the Zinio Magazine, is it the same experience?

Some magazines have videos, scroll up to down to read article, then swipe left to switch pages... they are pretty cool on iOS

 

[ucfgrad93]

People still read magazines?

 

[hallux]

The problem with Newsstand on iOS for me is that there's no SEARCH! I can't find it anyway. OK, that's not the reason I don't use, but it's VERY difficult to use.

Unfortunately, I can't compare the experience on iOS to GPMag as I don't have the same issues on both (I have a single trial mag on Newsstand). What I CAN tell you is that it doesn't appear that Magazines on Google are interactive. It appears as though magazines published to Newsstand are more like apps than magazines, Google is just the magazine.

It comes down to what is most important for you. If the videos are that important to you, stick with Newsstand.

 

[Jessica Lares]

I use Zinio and Newsstand. I like Zinio because I can open it up and read pretty much on anything, Android, iOS, PC, Mac. Plus, you can easily send pages to your printer, Evernote, and the like. The iOS apps have text view too.

Pretty much Newsstand is used for the times I get $2/yr subscriptions and the iPad version just happens to come with it.