Looks gorgeous, guys! Congrats on the release and the hunt :)
Haven't used Beam in a while but it's now one of four Reddit clients vying for "best Reddit client for iPhone" on my phone...popular category these days :P
Anyway, a few quick-fire impressions:
- The new UI looks superb
- The fact that tapping a post header does nothing is maddening
- Still getting used to comments being an entirely different view, and I think I'll probably be okay with it, but there are a few rough edges...not being able to collapse comment threads is a big sticking point, for example, and I don't like that exploring comments means jumping through several "levels" as each thread becomes its own separate view that you have to go back and forth through...makes comparing and scanning top-level comments basically impossible
- Not a fan of the current swipe implementation for the comment view; I'd prefer to have voting require no taps at all
My current favourite system is probably Narwhal's where swiping a bit is an upvote and swiping further is a downvote, then swiping the other way lets you reply and tapping a comment collapses the thread: it's really quick.
Just to quickly return to the comment view, I'm curious why you opted for a separate view rather than the usual split-view thing that seems to be the norm? Again, I'm still getting used to it so I'm not saying it's better or worse, but it does impact the immediacy of information, especially for self posts that aren't especially long...feels like a bunch of wasted space and an extra step to view the comments.
As an example, here's a screenshot showing one such post as viewed in all the current Reddit clients installed on my phone (at least I think this is all of them...) with Beam on the left, followed by Narwhal, Comet, and Submarine:
http://marius.work/17wAF
Anyway, just some preliminary feedback for you to consider! I'm really looking forward to spending more time with Beam, it's come a long way and feels much more mature now. :)
@mostlymarius wow thanks for the feedback, Marius! We are working hard on new issues, including some of yours. Tapping post headers is high on our to-do list and we are taking a fresh look at comments. We decided on this comment view because we wanted the experience to be a clean and clear one. Looking at your screenshot, we succeeded. However, you are right that it has its pros and cons. Again, thank you for your feedback and compliments!
@davidvanleeuwen Awesome, that's great to hear! I'm going to spend more time with the app to see if I can solidify my opinion on the comment thing. I understand the "clean and clear" priority, but I'm not sure how I feel about the trade-offs to interaction efficiency as to me that's pretty crucial in a mobile context. Looking forward to the ongoing improvements and refinements I'm sure you guys will be making :)
Hey hunters!
We are excited to introduce Beam 2. The first major update to the original Beam: a reddit client built to browse.
What’s changed since then?
- A brand new user interface.
- Multireddit support to create your own feed.
- Night mode for comfortable reading at low-light.
- Mediaview for browsing quickly through different types of media.
- Access to your reddit inbox to keep track of your personal messages.
- The subreddit search option to help you find what you’re looking for.
- Our share service — beam.wtf — got some serious improvements.
We’d like to invite you to join us :)
Follow Beam on /r/beamreddit, Twitter and Facebook for more information and updates.
Love everything about this except the Icon. The app icon needs some simplification. It's so much more detailed than any other icon on my home screen. Great job!
Beam for reddit
Beam for reddit
1Password
Beam for reddit
Mammoth 2