The New York Times announces version 2.0 of their Windows Phone app

The NY Times official app version 2.0 for Windows Phone

If you're a fan of the "Old Gray Lady" aka the New York Times (www.nytimes.com), you'll want to make sure to grab version 2.0 of the app which should be hitting the Marketplace soon. The official NY Times app for Windows Phone came out last July 1st and hasn't had an update until now.

The app has had a nice revamp with the latest version, bringing it up to date with some of the latest functionality in Windows Phone. We've been running it a couple of days now and really like the added performance, new scrolling and video feature which lets you watch special clips of certain news events and cultural pieces. Here's the full changelog of what's new:

  • Live Tile Integration - users can pin any of the sections and blogs as Live Tiles to quickly see the latest headlines at a glance
  • Pivot Navigation – users can see articles, videos and blogs in each section
  • Cloud Integration – users may save articles to the cloud for access from multiple devices
  • Updated and refreshed design
  • Improved performance and fast application switching

Of course the only downside is the "pay wall" for some articles--while you can get the latest headlines and videos for free the rest will require a NY Times membership. But even for free the app is worth taking a look at and a must-have if you already subscribe.

We'll have a more full-featured review coming up a bit later when the app hits the Marketplace.

Full press release after the break...

THE NEW YORK TIMES RELAUNCHES WINDOWS PHONE NEWS APPRedesign Introduces New Features, Including Live Tiles, Cloud Saving Capabilities and an Updated Look and Feel

NEW YORK, June 14, 2012 – The New York Times today unveiled a redesign of its Windows Phone news app, which delivers the latest news and award-winning journalism of The New York Times, designed and formatted for optimal reading on the latest version of Windows Phone.

The redesigned app follows on the heels of the launch of the Nokia Lumia 900 smartphone in April, which runs on Windows Phone software.

“We want to give our readers easy access to our content regardless of what platform they prefer,” said Denise Warren, senior vice president and chief advertising officer, The New York Times Media Group, and general manager, NYTimes.com. “Our new and improved Windows Phone app provides an optimal user experience that highlights The Times’s celebrated journalism, photography and multimedia.”

Features new to this updated release include:

  • Live Tile Integration - users can pin any of the sections and blogs as Live Tiles to quickly see the latest headlines at a glance
  • Pivot Navigation – users can see articles, videos and blogs in each section
  • Cloud Integration – users may save articles to the cloud for access from multiple devices
  • Updated and refreshed design
  • Improved performance and fast application switching

Like the previous version of the app, the redesigned Windows Phone app features more than 25 sections of New York Times news, information and opinion, including videos, slide shows and blogs. It also features the ability to read offline and a full set of share options on articles, videos and slide shows across social media and e-mail.

“Windows Phone is backed by a rich developer ecosystem that continues to create a variety of quality apps and games, like New York Times news, that take advantage of the phone’s unique features and design,” said Todd Brix, senior director, Windows Phone Marketplace, Microsoft Corp. “With its improved experience, complete with pivot navigation, the ability to save articles to the cloud for access from multiple devices and integration of Live Tiles, which let users add dynamically updated content to their phone’s Start Screen, New York Times news is a great example of the quality titles Windows Phone users will find  on Marketplace to get the most out of their phone.”

The NYTimes app is now available for download from the Windows Phone Marketplace. As with other New York Times news applications, the Top News section of the app is free. To access all sections of the app, a digital subscription is required. Details and pricing for these plans are available at www.NYTimes.com/Access.

About The New York Times Company

The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading global, multimedia news and information company with 2011 revenues of $2.3 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, NYTimes.com, BostonGlobe.com, Boston.com, About.com and related properties.  The Company’s core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.

Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.