Even though Conde Nast reported that they were unhappy with how well their iPad applications have generated for them in late April, they decided to bring more of their magazines to Apple’s tablet including Vanity Fair, GQ, Wired, Glamour, Golf Digest, Allure and Self.

Being a long-time GQ reader and a current subscriber, I received this news with mixed feelings: Will I still want my print subscription? Will it be worth taking up space on my 16gb iPad? What features can the iPad version bring to the table?

I’m still trying to work out some the questions above but I’ve adapted relatively quickly to the phenomenon of e-ink. I think that the Internet is great for instantly updating news but, reading a magazine is a completely different experience. Although it doesn’t warrant the dedication that a novel or work of non-fiction does, it is definitely a more lax experience than reading the news – mainly for enjoyment and entertainment; strictly informing isn’t the main intention. So, can technology enhance this experience?

The Up Side

Navigation is so easy; it makes you depressed to read a magazine. Where it might take up to 20 pages of advertisements to get to the table of contents, it’s instantly accessible with just a few gestures of the screen or, better yet, click on the cover page’s article descriptions - it’ll take you exactly where you want to go. Whether you want to read a one-sentence introduction or you want so scroll right through the magazine, the application allows you to do both in the navigation mode where you can see a zoomed-out version of the magazine.

This is the instructional video for The New Yorker but the format is exactly the same for GQ:

[click here for mobile friendly viewing]

Besides this, the digital edition has a catalog of perks – extended slideshows, video interviews and quick interaction with facebook and Twitter. Most experiences that you can get from the magazine are enhanced – from forgettable ads made interestingly interactive, to a solution to the problem of low light. There’s even a solution to the sometimes-cluttered pages with interactive spots that reveal and hide text. All of these things can be experienced in both landscape and portrait orientation; some pictures are actually hidden in the screen’s orientation, potentially doubling the amount of pictures.

In the current issue, it’s somewhat outrageous that a person who is paying for the print issue (which costs more) is missing out on so much content. One of the features in this issue is a photo gallery and interview with actress Rashida Jones. The print issue gives the same article as the digital edition but only has one picture of the humble beauty, while the magazine has over 10!

The Down Side

There’s not much to say here, except that the magazine does take a fair chunk of space – nearly 700MB. For someone with the 16GB iPad, like myself, it’s a big hit to take. The application has an “Archive” feature, which allows you to free up space and re-download the issue later at no further cost but it’s a little disheartening that you need to go through that process every time you want to download new issues and don’t have enough space.

Digital Makes Better

There’s not much that technology can’t enhance, and here is another great example. I hope Conde Nast is happy with how the application has sold with these new titles this time around because it’s an amazing experience to have. I would have hoped they had foresight to make these issues cloud-accessible but, I can only hope that that will come further down the road.

Download the GQ iPad App via the App Store here