Channel 4 News Android App for Award-Wining UK News Station
by Paul Wilks
Nov 23, 2011 10:02 AM –
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Channel 4 News is the app associated with the UK news program. Channel 4 News is generally very well received in the UK and has won awards for it’s coverage. There is a wide choice of news apps in the market, so how does this compare?
Price: Free
Tested on: HTC Desire HD
Content Rating: Everyone
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Nice UI!
- Easy to use!
- Lots of content!
- Catch up feature!
Cons
- Occasional lag.
- Lacks other features such as customizations or the ability to save favourites.
Features:
Channel 4 News has recently released their Android app which endeavours to help fans of the TV programme to keep up to date with their news service. On first appearance, it looks incredibly polished- the UI is great; bold colours, clear tabs and navigation and the whole app just has a very finished presentation.
Because of the navigation framework the app is very easy to use. It lets you enter a story in a particular category, for example ‘Headlines’, then you can flick through each story by sweeping your finger across, giving it a newspapery feel to it. A few of the better news apps do this, but it’s good to see as it means users do not have to go back to the menu to access the next story. The problem here however is that there is occasional lag. Usage sometimes feels a bit jumpy and it should be smoother.
Within the app there is also access to the supporting website’s blogs. These are easily found and accessed, and are a great addition to the already rich content. Perhaps the stand-out feature in the Channel 4 News app is the Catch up section. It presents a series of videos, directly from the main news programme, which lets you quickly absorb the main stories. It’s a superb function and one that would work well with other news apps such as BBC News.
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Channel 4 News – Splash screen
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Channel 4 News – Main menu
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Channel 4 News – Story view (1)
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Channel 4 News – Story view (2)
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Channel 4 News – Blogs (1)
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Channel 4 News – Blogs (2)
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Channel 4 News – Catch Up
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Channel 4 News – Categories
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Channel 4 News – Smaller font size view
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Channel 4 News – Increased font size
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Channel 4 News – More
Usefulness:
For big news readers and fans of the Channel 4 News show, this is brilliant app for keeping up to date with their content. It lacks some features which would make it more useful and user friendly, but for a first release, it’s a great start.
Ease of Use:
The app occasionally suffers from lag, but with simple and effective navigation it’s quite easy to use.
Frequently Used:
The app updates quite frequently (although not as frequently perhaps as other apps such as The Guardian and The Independent) so it’s something you might want to use on a daily basis.
Interface:
The interface looks very rich and is usually responsive. There is a bit of lag but not enough for it to put potential users off.