I’m writing this post from the newly-released WordPress for iPhone 2 app. I haven’t given the app a full run-through, but these are my first impressions.
Improved blog setup
A big complaint I had about version 1 was adding a blog to maintain. If the addition failed, your entered data was lost and you had to fettle everything. This seems to be fixed in version 2. You’re now returned to the input page with a “Try Again” button in the top right to use once you correct the information.
Annoyances
Unfortunately, the first blog I attempted to add continually failed, claiming I entered the wrong username and/or password, popping up with an alert message several times. Once is enough, guys. After several attempts with the same username and password, the blog was verified and synced.
I had problems adding this blog to the app, being told that my XML-RPC for remote publishing was not activated or present (though it was). I was pretty sure it was, and it took a quick look at the WPiPhone forums to find an answer. I simply deleted the “http://www.” from the blog setup and it worked. (Thanks, codewrangler.)
I was just asked several times by a pop-up display if I wanted to make that http reference a link. A neat feature, but I had to touch “Cancel” several times. The app also has problems with rotating back and forth to landscape, and implementation of landscape mode doesn’t seem to be in every menu. I tried rotating to landscape view in the posts listing, but nothing happened.
Adding tags to posts is horrible. The app doesn’t call your tags up as you type, so you’re left with trying to remember your tags. If the developers implemented a UI like Tags for Delicious has, it would be much better. When I click in the tags field, give me my tags to touch.
Conclusion
Those are just a few first impressions of WordPress for iPhone 2. It’s a whole new app, so you have to manually download it from the App Store, then delete the old one. Your information has to be re-entered, as well.
As I find more niceties and annoyances, I’ll update this post, from my computer. This app is only good for short posts or small acts of desperation, and not meant for tutorial-length posts.