When you first access the Yahoo! iPhone app, all the signs are good. The search engine’s signature plum purple color and expressive explanation point take you back to the ’90’s, a time when your memory-trained fingers were as likely to type Yahoo as they were to type Google.
The good memories stop there.
Across the bottom of the screen, the app features five sub-categories including Featured, Y! News, My Interests, Connect and More. I started with Featured, and tapped on the top three items. From there popped up a number of web browser screens so minuscule that my 25-year-old-eyes struggled to make out even the headline. Forget about the main text of any article, it was completely illegible.
Additional app features are somewhat more usable, including easy access to Yahoo! Messenger, Flickr, and digital maps (for the directionally challenged). Among the app’s other redeemable qualities is an extensive offering of news video clips (in this case, Associated Press), absent from other news-related iPhone apps.
The coolest feature is the voice activated search option, which allows you to state your query out loud. Saying “President Obama” produced a half dozen articles on everything from health care reform to how the President celebrated his 48th birthday.
Now, if only the font was big enough to read them.
