The News

My Taptu review / Review Verdict

17/12/2010

Spanner Spencer

We review My Taptu, an iPhone app that puts your news, RSS feeds and social networks in one place
Published on Dec 15, 2010

There’s an RSS feed reader on iPad called Pulse, which has done extremely well not because of its robust programming, feature set or affordability, but simply because of its clever design. While My Taptu probably resents the inevitable comparisons between Pulse and My Taptu, it’s no criticism that the same superb navigation system is at the heart of both apps, and makes them equally practical.

And that design is the best place to begin with a review of My Taptu, as that’s its most prominent feature.

Rather than considering them to be RSS feeds, adopting My Taptu’s vernacular of “streams” makes a lot of sense. Each stream is built up of individual news items from a single source, or with a single focus, and is displayed horizontally across the screen. This row of news items is scrolled left and right with a slide of the finger, with new items (getting older as you move down the list) loading as you get closer to the end.

As many more streams can be added as you like, with rows being added further down the screen. You can scroll up and down through the streams vertically, and then simply slide the one you want to look at left and right as you get to it. While this might not sound especially clever in its description, it’s this up-and-down, left-to-right scrolling layout that makes My Taptu so incredibly useable.

A “stream store” is included, with a host of standard feeds from across the internet that can be added to the main page with a tap. Should you want to add custom streams, a quick search for a particular website or string will bring up stream options, which can then be added to the main page. You can also rearrange the streams into any order with a drag and drop interface.

On top of all this, social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can be added, and displayed just like any other feed. Each new entry is presented as its own item within the stream, which can then be expanded to read the summary, then opened fully within the app so you can read it.

In terms of organisation, there’s no cleaner or more accessible method than the one presented here in My Taptu. Undoubtedly it’ll be copied, cloned and mimicked over and over again, but that’s only a testament to how ergonomic it really is. And considering that My Taptu is free, there’s no reason anyone shouldn’t get it installed on their as soon as possible.