Windows 8 App Review: Tom's Hardware

Overview    

      In all of my searching for a good solid tech news app that was simple to use and covers all the latest news Tom's Hardware fits the bill. It is a good, easy to use, and works great in Windows 8. Some qualms are when I want to scroll inside of the article and not the sidebar it will not work. Also it does follow the same design rules as other Windows 8 news since the articles flow from top to bottom not left to right. It feels very industrial, but it works very well and it still looks metro enough with a great live tile that works. Also the app is not designed to work in snapped mode which is not good when you are looking something up on the internet and want to read it from your favorite app but can't even though how the app with the already top to bottom approach should fit right into snapped mode. 

Functionality

     The app loads in 2 seconds and brings you to the home screen which has reviews and news right there. If you want to see all of the reviews you simply click on the reviews ribbon and it will display all of the reviews in a metro tile like formation. I was pretty happy with the snappiness of the app itself and it overall had a lot of good content in both their news and reviews and it did not feel like a "white box" app. They did not conform to what the other big names are reviewing like Engadget or The Verge. I did try Ubergizmo but it felt really ugly and did not provide what I was looking for in an app and if I did a review on it it would get a 2 at least. It really shined in every way except for a couple of things. 1 Scrolling in the app with a keyboard is useless. You have to use the scroll bar to go down in the app which really shows that going side to side is a lot better and more easier to use.

Conclusion

     I saw the Tom's Hardware app and was very satisfied with its performance and surprisingly it provides a lot of content that is enough for me to use without a website which is rare for Windows 8 apps. I am very happy with the overall performance of the app except for a few quirks which I expected in a pre release app. I highly suggest this app which provides unparalleled performance from other apps like Appy Geek or Ubergizmo.

Rating// 4/5