Now showing in Inquirer: Video content

INQSNAP LOGO: This page comes with video. Try it!

Video comes to print. Also: audio clips, photo galleries, scanned documents, even zoomable maps.

With the public launch of the upgraded Inquirer Mobile app on Wednesday, readers of the Inquirer can add to their reading experience by viewing multimedia content right off the printed page.

Wednesday’s front page, for example, hosts a five-minute video, showing highlights of the 1st Inquirer Senate Forum. By using the INQSnap function in the app, a reader can view the video on his or her smartphone or tablet while reading the paper. INQSnap also allows the printed edition to “carry” other kinds of content, such as PDFs of court documents, albums of related photos, audio excerpts of key interviews, music in the news, detailed recipes, animated cartoons—as well as movie trailers, TV news reports and other forms of video.

To enjoy the regular schedule of multimedia content, which starts next week, all a reader needs is a smartphone or tablet using the iOS or Android systems. The Inquirer Mobile app itself is free, as are all content viewed on INQSnap.

The readers take only three steps to access the extra content. First, look for an Inquirer page with the INQSnap logo. Second, point the camera of the smartphone or tablet at the page with the logo, and wait for the icons to appear. Third, click on the icons to view video, flip through galleries or listen to audio—or share the content on Facebook and Twitter.

INQSnap is an augmented-reality software that has just started to come into use in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Unlike other AR products that require 100-percent “capture,” INQSnap by Knorex of Singapore needs to “recognize” only 30 or so percent of the page with multimedia content for the links to work. With the technical support of MegaMobile, the Inquirer owns the exclusive rights to use INQSnap in the Philippines.