Update 1.3.2 of Paper Pile fixed a connection bug and introduced a little error which caused the app to set all article release dates to January 1st, 1970 which of course messed up the page layout. Luckily, I could fix this without creating an app update. So have fun with it now.
Major update 2.0 of News Wall for iPhone and iPad has been submitted to Apple’s review team. Even though it is the first update of the app it deserves being a major update. Here are the most important changes:
News Wall Free now runs both on the iPhone and the iPad. It displays ads and has some limitations when it comes to social sharing.
The update will hit the App Store during the next day. Feel free to contact me (you can do this directly in the app now).
Apple just approved Paper Pile’s update to version 1.3.2. Running on iOS 4.2 the app crashes when trying to fetch new stories. This update fixes the issue.
During the next weeks, Paper Pile will get a new feed fetching core which is incredible fast. It will debut as part of the next News Wall update in a few days.
I just submitted update 1.3 to Apple’s review team. Increasing just the minor version number is kinda understated since there are so many changes and new features. Let me introduce at least some of them.
First, I changed the app’s icon. One user mentioned the old icon might put the idea of a comic style in your mind. And he is right. Dave Day played a bit and came up with a great idea which I used to create the new icon. Dave, thank you. I changed startup images as well so they fit into the new style.
On the subject of style: Paper Pile produces its pages in three different styles called traditional, modern and magazine. I reckon there is no need to explain them in detail – enjoy the screenshots:
Update 1.3 showing page in traditional style
Update 1.3 showing page in magazine style
Maybe you noticed the little gray bar at the top of the screen. This part of the overview part called Dashboard now is always visible. This way you always have access to the refresh button and to the settings view. While refreshing you are now able to cancel the request. Once data was received a progress bar indicates the time until data processing and image downloading will be finished.
When you tap on an article the new article view will appear presenting you the content of the article as simple text, original feed content text and website. You can share the article per mail or send it to Instapaper for later reading. This feature was the most requested
Update 1.3 showing full text
The most important change, however, is the concept pages are displayed and managed. The pages are not arranged side by side anymore. There is only one page at a time which reduces memory consumption dramatically. Swiping to the left shows you older articles in the same section, swiping to the right newer articles. There are areas at the top of each page showing you the previous and next section. You just need to tap on these the jump to the section. Double-tapping on the left/right border works as well.
Besides these explained changed hundreds of little changes and bug fixes are included. So if the problems you experienced are now solved, please update your rating at the App Store. The user’s manual page will get updated once the update was approved by Apple.
I like to thank my testers which did a really great job spending hours reviewing more than 20 builds. So, Dave Day, Lukas, Ingo, Charles, Renaud and all the guys from ipadteam.de, thumbs up!
Feel free to comment these features or suggestions.
Just after midnight in Germany – I am proud to announce that today more than 1.000 requests from new users have been handled. All in all nearly 17.000 connections to Paper Pile’s backend server were logged in just one day. For comparison only, the best day so far had 4.000 requests.
The iPad’s arriving in Europe. So it’s time to celebrate. Paper Pile’s price has been shortened to $1.99 (USD) or 1,59€. This offer is limited until June, 5th – so don’t miss it.