The new Digg app for the iPhone has got a fair amount of attention this week, not least because the folks behind it are running a promotion to celebrate its launch, giving away a customized Digg-branded iPad every day for two weeks.
I have to admit, it’s been a while since I’ve used Digg much on my laptop – but I was keen to take a look at what their iPhone app has to offer, so I grabbed it last night and have been giving it a look.
Thus far, I like the app. It’s been a nice way to get a little re-acquainted with Digg – and that’s a good thing I think.
So here’s a little look at what you’ll find in the Digg app:
You can browse for top stories by topic – my two favorites are Technology and Offbeat (shocker eh?)
You can also browse through the Top, Recent, and Upcoming sections
Within the listing view in any of the app’s sections, you can click on an item title to view it in the inline browser, or tap on the little blue arrow to the right of the title to expand or collapse the summary view. You can digg or bury an item from within the summary view (as well as in the main inline browser view).
*** You need to login to an existing Digg account or create one to be able to digg stories.
The first item with video content I tried to look at had a lovely Flash hole in it
When you’re viewing an item in the inline browser, you can tap to share it via email, Twitter or Facebook. or copy it to the clipboard for use in an SMS message or similar.
You can also save items to a Saved Stories folder. This does not appear to be saving items within the app though – as I found I couldn’t access these if I put my iPhone into Airplane mode, and it is a bit flaky even when I do have connectivity. Sometimes showing all the items I’ve added to it, and sometimes not doing so.
A few other drawbacks I’ve noticed:
- Items load quite slowly at times in the inline browser.
- And there is no ability (that I’ve spotted yet) to load items in Safari
- You can view comments on articles, but not add any of your own.
- Links you share via email and Twitter etc. are to the page within Digg, not the site that contains the item you’re sharing.
I’m not keen on the lack of ability to open items in Safari, especially given the frequent slowness of the inline browser.
I do like the app overall though, as it’s got me looking at Digg again – and you can’t beat Digg for items like my favorite headline of the day so far. You’ve gotta love a dog who is a pub regular. 🙂
You can find the Digg app in the App Store now, and it’s a free app.
Just as a side note here, I was surprised at how many folks on our JAiB team do not currently use Digg at all. So I’m curious – how about you all, are you still using Digg much?
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TAGS: Digg, iphone apps, iPhone news apps
