The new NYTimes App for iPad will be free at the start. But once the metered paywall kicks in for NYTimes.com early next year, the app’s users will be required to pay a subscription for full access. In the meantime, registration is still required for most content.

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Full access: Readers will be able to access the entire app—more than 25 sections of NYT content and content from roughly 50 NYTimes.com blogs—only by logging in with an existing NYTimes.com account or by completing the free in-app registration. Unregistered users can view top news, most e-mailed, business and video. How much will it cost for full access? The company isn’t saying yet. However, as Yasmin Namini, SVP, marketing and circulation/GM, reader applications for the NYT Media Group, told me during a demo of the new iPad app, the company will probably offer a choice of monthly or annual subscriptions.

As the iPad goes, so does iPhone: The iPhone, too, will likely be covered by a similar type of subscription model as the iPad when the website paywall comes. That means total free access will soon be coming to an end for the iPhone as well. “When we go to the pay model, there will always be something you can access without having a paid subscription,” Namini said. “Whether it will be the free four sections you get without registering or something different, that’s to be determined later. But to access everything in full, a paid subscription will be required.”

Inventory sold out: For those who say that charging could diminish advertiser interest, Denise Warren, SVP/chief advertising officer for the NYT Media Group and the NYTimes.com’s GM, seemed confident that advertisers’ support of Editors’ Choice would carry over to the subscription-based app. “We have three advertisers lined up for the launch and we’re completely sold out for the rest of the year,” Warren said; two of the marketers are Microstrategy and Fox Searchlight, which began running ads on Editors’ Choice this past week. The newest one is Mercedes Benz, which unveiled a richly produced ad that includes a Quicktime video. “The range of advertisers we have for the rest of the year includes financial services, airline/travel, luxury.”

Getting in, getting out: The iPad app promises improved navigation. Users will be shown a “popover section” that lists news in other areas of the app. On article pages, a navigation bar beneath the article lets users swipe through and select other articles within the section. Even when the app is closed and a user is in another app, users can set “breaking news” alerts to pop up as well.

The new app also addresses some minor problems associated with Editors’ Choice, such as offering full-screen photos, Jennifer Brook, information architect for the NYTimes.com, pointed out. More features are coming, including the ability to save articles within the app, as the iPhone news app allows. “We really thought of this in terms of offering the best of both the existing iPad and iPhone news apps,” she said. There’s also an updating button designed to ease frustration for iPad users who don’t have the 3G version or are heading to place without wi-fi.

Sharing remains paramount: Since announcing the coming of the paywall, NYTCo executives have promised to keep sharing in place for Twitter, Facebook and other social media. In keeping with that, the app comes with a full set of the usual sharing options, including e-mail. There are no worries about whether the subscription format will hinder sharing with the iPad. “I don’t think it will be much of an issue,” Brook said. All article and slideshow links will be directed to the website as usual, and unless those users have hit the amount of articles that triggers the paywall, they won’t notice the subscription barrier. 

Editors’ Enhanced Choice: As for the Editors’ Choice iPad app in its original, limited form had a pretty good run. Since launching with the iPad in April, it has been downloaded more than 650,000 times (in comparison, the NYT’s iPhone news app has been downloaded more than 5 million times since its debut in July 2008). Still, NYT execs are clear that they don’t view this as an end of the Editors’ Choice, but as an upgrade for an early model.

“We knew that when the iPad launched, we wanted to be there immediately,” Namini said. “And we also knew at the time we were going to have a subscription model in place eventually. Having Editors’ Choice allowed us to have something dynamic up, while giving us the time to come up with a fuller version.”

More to come: With so much content on the iPad now, does the NYT foresee any introduction of a more customizable version at some point. I asked Warren about Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s recent prediction that all media will be tailored to users’ interests one day soon.

“You have to draw a line between personalization and customization,” Warren said. “People say they want custom content all the time. But the truth is, they don’t want to work too much to have it. But I do think that html5 technology [which is the approved multimedia software that powers the iPad’s content], we’re going to see an explosion of what you’ll be able to do. Of course, we’re exploring html5 not just for apps, but for the the website as well. So the short answer [on personalization] is stay tuned.”

First take: It’s about time. That’s the initial reaction of someone used to the NYT’s limited Editors Choice app. Aside from the breadth of the number of stories and sections, which alone constitutes a vast improvement over the old version of the app, the presentation is noticeably better. The sections list is clearly found at the bottom left of each of the 19 news categories on a given day. Unlike Editors’ Choice, each section contains at least five “pages” of article abstracts. The articles themselves make it quick to get into and out of, thanks to a navigation bar that lets you swipe through other posts within a section.

Overall, this is the ideal culmination of all the various digital offerings the NYT has been working on the past few years, such as the Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) Air-based Times Reader PC app and the largely under-appreciated Twitter-like Times Wire.

While the layout of the NYTimes App for iPad feels like an approximation of the newspaper, it’s not; it’s the website in a much more readable format. But you can’t be blamed for not seeing the difference. It’s hard to imagine readers spending an evening after a day at work sitting at their computer to peruse the Styles or Science section, but it’s easy to see yourself doing it with this app. But for all intents and purposes, this is what most people who’ve been wanting a full digital newspaper to look like.

My sole nitpick: It would be nice to be able to access a different section while in the middle of an article, as opposed to having to go back to the main category first. But the half second it takes to make one additional click of the navigator button is a small price to pay.

Speaking of price, the best part is that the app is free, even though you know it’s just a tease until the paywall comes down. As someone who subscribes to the NYT Kindle edition, which is simply the morning paper and nothing more, the iPad app is more appealing for having more articles than I can read in a day, with bold photos and video as an added bonus. But ultimately, it will depend on the price.

iPad vs. Kindle: Talking about the iPad and the Kindle has often seemed like comparing apples and oranges (or perhaps apples and pomegranates). But with this full NYT version, it’s hard to justify paying nearly $20 per month for the Kindle. Of course, the real comparison can begin when the NYT reveals paywall and app subscription pricing plans. Assuming the prices aren’t too far apart, the iPad app wins hands down. It’s tempting to dismiss the hyperbole of media companies when they pin their hopes for regaining their lost print readership and ad dollars on devices like the iPad. But after a first taste of this NYT app update, these hopes almost seem justified.