Newsy takes a different approach to delivering the latest news content over the net. Their unique method of compiling the same news story from many different sources gives you all angles and aspects of each story through various news agencies. The site has an easy to use interface and it is simple to search out the story you are looking for. Overall the site is quite impressive, the news delivery is great and the site is free to subscribe to. Lets take a look at the mobile app offered through the Android Marketplace.
“Since the release of our iPhone app last year, we recognize the mobile
demand for quickly digestible video news,” said Jim Spencer, president of
Newsy.com. “With the launch of the Newsy Android App, we’re now able to
bring that superior experience to a much wider audience.”
I had a chance over the past few days to install and try out the Newsy App on my MyTouch running on Tmobile. I assumed the playback would be choppy and pixellated much like my YouTube videos over 3G. To my surprise, the video clips were pretty smooth and solid, with little to no skipping or stuttering audio.
The application is extremely basic and simple, but completely effective in delivering the content. The application only runs in landscape and switches right to it upon startup. Here’s a few snaps of the basic features and layout of the application.
A very simple interface gives you the option to search for the story or scroll through the clips and find what you are looking for
When you select a news clip, you get a small highlight of the topic and other user ratings.
During playback, simply tap the screen to bring up the timeline where you can move the slider to jump ahead or behind.
After watching the clip you have a few options. You can share, comment, check sources, or simply play it over again. Your share choices are Twitter, Facebook and through E-mail
Newsy does a great job compiling the latest news and cutting it down to short clips giving you the whole story in a just a few minutes. I like the cascading windows and the ease of use through the touchscreen interface. On my Mytouch, the scrolling windows were sometimes laggy, but I had no problems viewing the video content over 3G and WiFi. The news clips are short and sweet with various agency’s coverage and newsy’s own dialog explaining the story. A great little program that delivers the up to date news and footage. Best of all, its free.
What I liked:
- simple but appealing interface
- videos play well on 1.6 based android device
- quick and easy to find out the latest breaking news
What I would like to see improved:
- Options to tag and save video for later viewing from within the program
- Faster cascading through the video clip selections (probably not a problem on a Nexus One or comparable)
- add most viewed or most popular button similar to the website
Via Newsy.com
Scan here to grab the app from the marketplace!
