Lonely Planet Guides for 13 european cities free in App store (until tomorrow) | Hacker News Reader

Lonely Planet Guides for 13 european cities free in App store (until tomorrow)

inside-digital.blog.lonelyplanet.com

16 pointsnico_h11 comments

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The LP guides on iPhone are not good. They consist of the guidebook content shoved into a hard-to-navigate app.

I downloaded the Berlin guide, and the text is in need of serious editing.

* There are entries in the index with no corresponding content.

* The timeline is in a jumbled order.

* Anecdotes and descriptions are repeated in multiple places.

* The same paragraph appears twice in the introduction.

At least the dos and don’ts in the Berlin guide are good for some (I would guess unintentional) humor. Under don’ts: “Talk about WWII with a victor’s mentality.” Fans of Fawlty Towers[1]? :)

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xnNhzgcWTk&feature=relat...

Standard offer: if anyone happens by Padova, you can get the davidw guide to the city for free, with a "spritz" thrown in.

You should probably clarify the spritz part, I wouldn't want some kinky Dutchman showing up at your doorstep and expecting something entirely different :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spritz_%28alcoholic_beverage%29

If you don't have an iPhone but a recent Nokia instead, you can get Lonely Planet guides as part of the free Ovi Maps navigation package.

http://maps.nokia.com/ovi-services-and-apps/ovi-maps

Never felt the need for one of these guides. I think its much more fun to just show up in a city and get completely lost. If I need some tourist action then I just get to talking to a local in a cafe or bar, and ask for recommendations. Not knowing your way and not knowing every detail in advance is much more rewarding when you discover them on your own.

Very nice move for stranded travelers and very good marketing move, in my opinion.

The user reviews of the apps are quite bad...

They might be worth free.

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