BBC News Review

By Robert Leedham April 04, 2012 at 20:35 pm

WHAT IS IT?

The BBC News app brings all the best content from the BBC News website to your smartphone. Divided into sliding rows of content, which are sorted by category, simply click on the picture and headline to read the story or watch the video. With a fast, customisable home page and a breaking news ticker, the BBC News app is a great way to keep up to date.

WHAT'S IT LIKE?

The BBC may have taken its time getting its apps on to smartphones but it’s now making full use of the platform with some brilliantly simple but content-packed applications. BBC News is the ideal way for any news addict to get their fix, updating constantly with news stories, pictures and videos, covering the wide range of content you’d expect on the BBC website.

The layout of the app is clear and simple. Three rows of stories, each with a big picture and headline, sit below the scrolling ticker bar for breaking news. Each row can slide left and right, independently of the other rows, allowing you to scroll through the selection of stories in each topic. Click on a story to read, then swipe left or right for the next story. It’s easy to use and fast to respond to commands.

You can edit the order of topics, too, pushing your favourite subjects to the top of the page, though you’ll have to settle for ‘sport’ not ‘football’, for example. Refresh the content at the touch of a button, share stories with friends via email or over social media and even bookmark to your homepage a live icon that will update with news from your chosen topic.

The cherry on the cake is the ability to watch live coverage of the BBC News channel. You’ll need an Android 2.2 or later smartphone with Flash support but then live coverage, over 3G or Wi-Fi, is at your fingertips.

For live news, sport and more, with stories and video, and even live TV, it’s a whole-hearted recommendation for the BBC News for Android app, with the iPad/iPhone lagging slightly behind and Blackberry not quite up there with either.