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"Consumers have more digital options for reading the news than ever before. From pithy, one-line updates on Twitter, to RSS feed readers with customizable content, to dedicated apps from newspapers on mobile devices \u2014 choices are endless. \nBut it's the on-the-go mobile apps we are interested in here, with a hands-on look at four popular apps for the iPad platform, from traditional newspaper companies offering both free content and that which lives behind the paywall. \nWhen it launched, the iPad was hyped as the lifeline for a dying industry. But do newspapers work well enough on the iPad to be the savior so many hope it will be?\nCheck out the reviews below for a look at iPad apps from The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Financial Times and The New York Times and let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments. \n1. The Wall Street Journal\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Wall Street Journal's iPad app is a free download, but in order to access all the content you need to subscribe at a cost of $17.29 per month. \n\n\n\n\nThe first page you'll see as you load the app is the start screen, and it's great, unlike other apps we checked out. Not only does it give you a central place to start exploring from \u2014 and return back to \u2014 but it gives you the option to quickly access saved stories.\nAnother feature that we really like from the WSJ's start page is the differentiation from the \"Today\" edition (the app version of that day's paper) and the \"Now\" edition, containing even more up-to-date news. It's nice to have the option of multiple editions released throughout the day, staying true to its printed roots, but still providing readers with up-to-the-second news.\n\n\n\n\nStories aren't that easy to read on WSJ's page layout, but with time, you'll likely to get used to it. The font and closeness of the paragraphs, which is quite noticeable on a story with no images, can produce an off-putting solid wall of text. \n\n\n\n\nOverall, it's not the best example of navigation in a newspaper app, but the drop-down menu does the job. And, as we've previously mentioned, the start screen is a great feature. From there, you can also access your portfolio \"Watchlist\" and view the the past week's editions.\n\n\n\n\nThe saved articles function is fantastic \u2014 simply hit the \"tools\" menu, select \"save article\" and your stories will be saved as a tidy little list, complete with thumbnail where available, that you can access from your start screen. \n2. USA Today for iPad\n\n\n\n\n\nThe USA Today for iPad app is a free download, and offers continually updated highlights of the publication in a nicely laid out, easy-to-navigate format that won't challenge \u2014 or for that matter inspire \u2014 a reader too much.\n\n\n\n\nNews stories are clean and easy to read, and you have the option to share the news via Twitter, Facebook or e-mail.\n\n\n\n\nThere are four main sections to the USA Today app: News and headlines, Money, Sports and Life. Navigating between the sections is simple \u2014 you just tap the USA Today icon from the main page to bring up the four tap-able icons. Or when in a story,  tap the newspaper-shaped icon on the top right that takes you back to that section's main page. USA Today occupies middle-ground in terms of newspaper design for the iPad. It adds a few (but perhaps not nearly enough) nice touches to take advantage of the platform.\n\n\n\n\nBy all accounts, the photo galleries are popular on this app, but our favorite highlight has to be the quality, free crosswords in the Life section. There is a nice selection to choose from, and the app saves your progress. Other highlights include personalized sports scores and weather, the option to view and take part in USA Today's \"Snapshots\" polls, and the ability to easily update some or all sections for offline reading.\nDisclosure: Mashable is a syndication partner of USA TODAY\n3. Financial Times iPad Edition\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Financial Times iPad app (reassuringly the same salmon hue as the print version) is free to download, but, as with its website, you'll need to first register and pay a subscription fee to access all the content. The charging structure and what's included with each option is complicated \u2014 more so than need be. Registered users will enjoy free access to 10 articles per month, the standard subscription gives you all-you-can-view access for $22 per month, and the premium option, costing $32 per month, throws in extras like newsletters and other exclusive content.\n\n\n\n\nThe stories are laid out as you might expect from a traditional newspaper, with little flourish other than the option to share via e-mail, Twitter or Facebook. As is perhaps fitting for a business title, images are few and far between, but there is a well populated video section if you're looking for something visual.\n\n\n\n\nThis is a well designed app with some excellent navigation. Hit the top of the display and the virtual page you're on will shuffle down to reveal a menu covering the main areas of the paper. The great thing is that you can re-order these to make the sections you are most interested in appear first, just by grabbing and dragging the tabs around. When inside a story, you have to use an arrow to go back to the main page to navigate again, or follow the \"more\" suggested links you'll find at the right of each article.\n\n\n\n\nThe search ability that the FT app offers is great and surprisingly rare in the world of newspaper apps. Another nice feature is a \"recently viewed\" list, and anyone who has set up a portfolio on FT's website can view a summary of it from within the app.\n\n\n\n\nAlthough the other apps we've looked at allow for offline access, FT's offline options \u2014 the ability to download that day's edition to your iPad at the press of one virtual button \u2014 is very well done indeed. From the navigation menu you simply hit the \"Download Edition\" button, and minutes later you'll have the entire day's paper ready to view in all its salmon glory on your iPad's glossy display. This is something that we'd imagine has become a daily habit for a lot of commuting business types.\n4. The New York Times - Editors' Choice\n\n\n\n\n\nThe free Editors' Choice iPad app is made up of a small portion of curated content from The New York Times, updated daily, giving readers a kind of \"best of\" across news, business, technology, opinion, arts, features and video.\n\n\n\n\nStories are displayed in a simple newspaper column layout, and often, as our example above shows, with no image. The design could be described as sparse or minimalist, depending on which side of the fence you're on. Sharing options come in with the ability to e-mail, tweet or post the article to Facebook, as well as copy the link.\n\n\n\n\nAn icon-based navigation bar across the bottom of the screen offers access to the different sections. When inside a story, you get the option to navigate back to the section's main page. This app does not take advantage of the digital platform, other than with its video section.\n\n\n\n\nThis app's content is severely limited, reportedly due to a deal done with Amazon for the Kindle, but the App Store description promises \"more features and functionality to come later this year.\" Because of the limited nature of the app, it's hard to pin down a highlight, other than the quality of the content, and some great features, opinion and video. As a stand-alone newspaper app, this one is not quite up to snuff, but it's worth the free download for when you're bored on the bus.\nConclusion\nIf we could take different elements from all these apps, we could build a great newspaper for the iPad. We'd take the WSJ's start screen, USA Today's layout, the FT's search, download options and navigation, then we'd finish it off with the NYT's content.\nIn the real world, your choice of newspaper varies depending on your politics, interests and even social standing, mixed in with more complicated aspects that vary from cost to conspicuous consumerism to geographical availability. Will the mobile digitization of newspapers, which brings global reach and confidentiality of choice, change that?\nOnly time will tell if the iPad or tablet format will re-energize the newspaper industry.  But from what we've seen in these apps, the real bonus with a mobile newspaper app is the instant access, rather than any stunning design or interface improvements over a standard online publication. \nMore iPad Resources from Mashable:\n- How the iPad Is Transforming Web Design- 3 iPad Apps that Reinvent News Reading- 10 Awesome Apple-Inspired iPad Wallpapers [PICS]- 10 Awesome Apple iPad Cases- 5 iPhone Games You Should Supersize on Your iPad"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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