Hynek Hampl Paper magazines? A survival for some. But e-magazines on your smartphone, tablet and computer? That's something else. There's definitely something to paper, but most people these days would rather have hundreds of magazines on one device than lug around paper versions. Apple realized this and presented Kiosk, which is really great, but it is limited to the iOS mobile system only and, with a few clear exceptions, English magazines prevail. And to this hole in the market came Publero. A multi-platform service selling the most interesting, and mainly Czech, magazines.
I've been using Publero since the first test versions and thanks to that I can see the big step that the service has made in that time. And the biggest one is the range of titles. Publero announced a few days ago availability of 500 titles on the menu. In addition to well-known magazines, Publero also offers several lesser-known newspapers along with catalogs and clearly surpasses the offer in the Kiosk.
Publero is available for desktop web browsers and as an app for mobile devices (iOS and Android). To use all Publer features, you need to site Create Account. Thanks to the account, your personal library becomes available, to which you can buy magazines and have them available from anywhere. Of course, you have to pay to buy magazines. Some magazines are free, and Publero also provides some older, sample issues, but you won't be able to read new magazines for free. You can pay in several ways. You can use a credit card (Visa, Visa Electron, MasterCard), bank transfer, PayPal, SMS payment and also online payments of some banks. You are only limited to a minimum amount of 7 crowns. There are really many options for topping up credit. I consider this to be a great advantage of Publer, anyone can top up credit. There is nothing worse than when customers want to pay and don't have enough suitable options. There is no danger of that with Publer.
After topping up your credit, nothing prevents you from buying magazines. You can buy a single issue or a straight subscription. The subscription period is set by the publisher of the magazine itself, sometimes an archive of older years is also available. Of course, older, single issues are also available, often at a reduced price. And what about magazine prices? It's about half and half, half of the titles are cheaper than in the traffic, half will come out at the same time when buying on the portal. This also applies to subscriptions. A smaller change occurs if you're not shopping through a web browser. You can also make purchases using a mobile device in the Publero application, but (specifically with the Apple App Store) the price must follow the rules. For example, the magazine Forbes CZ costs 89 crowns via the web interface, and via the Publero application and In-App purchases you pay 3,59 euros, i.e. 93 crowns. However, it is not a problem to open a browser on an iOS device and purchase the magazine through Publer's web interface.
Magazines purchased through the web interface are automatically added to the library under your account, which is an advantage. Thanks to synchronization, management on all devices is simple. In the web interface, the magazine is automatically uploaded as you view it. Purchased numbers are automatically displayed on the mobile device, which can then be downloaded and then viewed. A very handy feature is the automatic synchronization of the position in magazines, similar to iBooks from Apple. Unfortunately, synchronization only works between mobile devices, not on the web. In the web interface, it serves as a partial replacement for the bookmark function.
The mobile application can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play for free. After opening it, you log in to your account and your library is immediately displayed. Everything you want to read must be downloaded to your device first. So you have full control over what will be read on the device. Magazines are sorted into their "folders", similar to the web interface. The aforementioned synchronization between mobile devices is reliable and works almost instantly. Of course, this function requires an internet connection.
And how convenient is reading an electronic magazine if it is not a paper one? Much depends on the display of the device. Publero is available for computer, tablet and mobile phone displays. However, reading is not ideal on all these devices.
Computer web interface
On a computer, you are limited by the size and resolution of your monitor. Most of the time you will be zooming in on individual pages as the text will often be small to read. Publero allows you to quickly zoom in and out of parts of the magazine with a single click, including scrolling, so the drawback is partially erased. It's definitely not as comfortable as a paper magazine, but it's definitely enough for occasional reading. You will be pleased to be able to add bookmarks and notes while reading. Some magazines can even print a specific page. I also liked the text search function, which is not possible with a printed magazine. The navigation works flawlessly, but there is a noticeable load when going through pages quickly.
Rating: 4 out of 5
iPhone
Lots of zooming and lots of scrolling. That sums up browsing magazines on the iPhone. The small display is quite a problem in this situation. If you want to read magazines often and for a long time, the small display will probably bother you. However, even a small display will be enough to read an article on the bus and in your free time. You probably won't spend hours with a magazine. Fortunately, navigating between pages, zooming and scrolling in the app is handled well. It's just a shame that it doesn't recognize and automatically zoom in on text and paragraphs, like mobile Safari, for example. The experience would be a little better with this feature.
Rating: 3,5 out of 5
Of the interesting functions of the iOS application, I would, in addition to the synchronization of library pages. You can clearly see how much space each magazine takes up. Deleting them is done like icons in iOS. You hold your finger on the magazine, all the others click (probably afraid of being deleted) and use the cross to delete them. Tap next to jump out of deletion. You must also be interested in how much each magazine takes up. In my experience, they fit under 50MB, so even with a 16GB device you can download a lot.
Finally, I must not forget to mention at least the most interesting magazines that make Publero worth having. They are: Magazín FC (First Class), Forbes (CZ and SK), the Czech version of National Geographic, 21st century, 100+1, Epocha, Super Apple magazine and Computer (also available in the Kiosk). If we focus more on gender, women will be pleased with, for example: Maminka, Vlasta, Paní domu, Baječné recepty or Schikovná mama. For men there are, for example: Zbráné, ForMen, Playboy, AutoMobil or Hattrick. And that's not all, you can find other interesting magazines by category at Site Publer.
[app url=”https://itunes.apple.com/cz/app/publero/id507130430?mt=8″]
It seems to me that someone has discovered America, why aren't the titles available in the Kiosk instead of the publisher? I would definitely like more…
Hello, it bothers me too, but we have to realize that in the case of distribution through a kiosk, part of the payment goes to Apple. So I'm not surprised at some publishers. I recently asked the editor of SuperApple magazine and they de facto confirmed this argument. What can you do. It's a shame that publishers are so scattered. I always have magazines from Mlade Fronta from the kiosk. Publero is great, but it's just a PDF. Multimedia elements that can be kiosks would be suitable for many magazines.
Is it fast enough yet? In the beginning, I was completely put off by the app with its slow loading pages…..