Facebook announces new iPhone app, Paper, coming to App Store next Monday

Facebook Paper (teaser 001)

The rumors were true: the social networking giant Facebook on Thursday officially announced its brand new social newsreader application for the iPhone. Called Paper (not to be confused with this), the app is scheduled to hit the App Store next Monday, February 3, 2014. The company has released a nice video walkthrough, embedded below the fold, which shows off really nicely done – gorgeously, dare I say – layout, fluidly animated interface and some familiar Flipboard-like gestures…

According to Facebook, Paper combines news articles, videos and photos your friends share on Facebook with human-curated content from traditional news outlets like The New York Times, TIME Magazine or The Huffington Post.

Here’s from Facebook:

Paper is the first product from Facebook Creative Labs, where we’re crafting new apps to support the diverse ways people want to connect and share.

The gestures are heavily reminiscent of Flipboard.

You can quickly swipe through articles left and right, pull down on an article to flip it open like in Flipboard. The beautiful edge-to-edge design ensures that stories take up the entire screen.

Facebook Paper (teaser 003)

Moreover, you can just tilt your device to explore high-resolution photos, scroll through photo albums, enjoy full-screen videos and more. The app also makes it easy to like stories, comment on them and even post your own stories straight to your Facebook Timeline from within the app.

Here, check out the video promo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhrbT9O6kW8

The Verge reported that former Apple designer Loren Brichter contributed to the app’s gorgeous interface. And Re/code sat down with Mike Matas, product design lead for Paper, who pitched the app as a cross between newsreaders and content creation tools.

As you start changing the way you’re displaying this content, we hope that it will change the way people think about posting content.

Because the two are obviously really connected. It’s no fun to make a bunch of great stuff if no one ever sees it.

As for curated stuff, you can pick the topics that interest you by browsing more than a dozen themed sections and dragging a desired topic into the main view.

These sections range from photography and sports to food, science and design, and each comes with a “rich mix of content from emerging voices and well-known publications”.

Facebook Paper (teaser 002)

If you’re not interested in reading curated articles, the app lets you just browse your Facebook News Feed instead.

Here, a few highlights:

  • Everything responds to your touch so you can pick up or thumb through stories with simple, natural movements
  • You can tilt your phone to explore high-resolution panoramic photos from corner to corner, and see faces and other important details up close
  • Fullscreen autoplay videos come to life and bring you deep into the action
  • Beautifully detailed covers make it easy to spot articles from trusted publishers and decide what to read or watch.· Articles unfold in the app and appear fullscreen for a focused reading experience
  • When you’re ready to tell your own story, you know exactly what your post or photo will look like because you see a live preview before you share it

You can learn more about Paper at Facebook’s mini-site.

How do you like the app so far?

Are you going to be giving Paper a whirl come next Monday?