Vancouver, Canada, April 25, 2012—NewspaperDirect has released a major update of PressReader, one of the most popular apps for Android devices. PressReader for Android delivers a highly engaging reading experience of more than 2,000 titles—the world’s widest selection of news media—on Android handsets and tablets. And, unlike other news aggregation apps, which provide just snippets of articles from around the Web, PressReader presents entire publication editions in super-high resolution, just as they were originally printed.
The just-released 4.0 version of PressReader for Android sets a new benchmark for news reading apps by including an advanced, integrated rendering engine that delivers high-performance zooming capabilities never seen before on native Android-based apps. Also new is NewspaperDirect’s innovative SmartFlow technology. A simple touch gesture switches from Replica View (preferred by more traditional newspaper readers) to SmartFlow mode, designed for digital natives who value the content of the publication, but want a more fluid presentation of it. SmartFlow presents complete stories and pages in a continuous, engaging flow that maximizes readability and invites exploration of related content.
“PressReader 4.0 for Android is our biggest update ever. It debuts advanced rendering technology that, for the first time, brings fast, high-resolution imaging to the Android platform. Users love the incredibly crisp text and high-definition pictures, and our SmartEdition publishers now have a compelling and flexible Android platform to showcase their content,” said Alex Kroogman, CEO of NewspaperDirect. “Another great addition is our new SmartFlow technology, which takes the replica experience to a whole new level – enhancing it with intelligent and intuitive content presentation that compels subscribers to read more of their favorite publications.”
Game-changing features place Android PressReader on parity with its iPad cousin.
■ High-performance rendering. PressReader now includes a completely new rendering engine that’s optimized for newspapers and magazines. PressReader users on Android now have the fastest PDF-rendering technology available anywhere, which displays high-resolution images and PDFs with maximum fidelity, no matter what zoom level is specified.
■ SmartFlow advanced reading technology – a major innovation that led to PressReader being voted the “Best Newspaper App Ever for iOS.” SmartFlow goes beyond the traditional replica newspaper presentation by displaying articles as a continuous, horizontal stream of stories that flow across the Android tablet, which completely transforms the reading experience. Visual cues indicate the relative importance of individual stories, and SmartFlow surfaces related content that might otherwise be missed.
