News360 for Tablets. A Visually Stunning News Aggregator with Unique Methods to Discover News
by Jonathan Lonczak
Jun 21, 2011 8:12 AM –
Install
News360 for Tablets is a next-generation news aggregator, that gives you all sides of every story (there’s also a phone version). It aggregates more than 1500 different news sources around the web to bring you news stories in a concise and useful stream. The semantic analysis technology behind News360 allows you to get background information and dossiers about all the companies, people and locations that make the news, and to personalize the news for your location, and create feeds based on your specific interests.
Price: Free
Tested on: Motorola Xoom
Content Rating: Medium Maturity
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Feature rich international news reader!
- Presents the news in a unique 360 degree view with the use of alternative sources!
- 360 degree view allows you to read up on topics that you may have never looked at before!
- Easy to add new topics of interest with “My Stories”!
- Seamless transitions from RSS to web article!
- News widget optimized for Android 3.0 Honeycomb!
- Free!
Cons
- Does not support Blogs or independent news feeds only major syndicates.
- Only works on Android 3.0 Honeycomb.
Features:
News360 is an excellent worldwide news aggregate for the Android 3.0 Honeycomb platform. News360 offers a unique presentation of the news and features alternative news sources, 360 degree view, a widget for Android 3.0 Honeycomb, customizable topics of interest, and an option for only local news articles based on your GPS.
When you load up News360 you will see the application in “stories” view. Stories view allows the user to see all the categories of news that have been programmed in to the application, and allows the user to scroll through the articles on a specific topic on the right side of the screen. When you select a story of interest the application will load up a preview of that particular news feed along with alternative sources.
One of the primary features of News360 is the way that it presents alternative sources for each news article. Recently I was reading an article on a Black Mamba getting lose in a town in New York and killing the owner that was holding it captive. While reading this article News360 presented me with alternative sources for the same story from CBS, Daily Mail, Gothamist, UPI, KYFI AM, Twitter, and 15 other alternatives. This feature of News360 is incredibly useful because it allows you to see the news that interests you on the sources that you trust the most. If you don’t appreciate the political twist that a certain news company gives to an article just switch to another provider and keep reading the same story.
When you want to read a full article in News360 all you need to do is drag the preview of the web page up and it will display the news article full screen. The transition of the news from a preview to full screen is smooth and visually appealing. The integration with the original site of the news article is more seamless on News360 then on any of it’s competitors I have used; such as Newsr, Taptu, and Pulse News Reader.
Another great feature of News360 is it’s 360 degree view. This view displays the primary image for each article that is listed under your various news topics and slowly has them scroll across the screen. When you see an image of interest all you have to do is click on it in order to pull up the article and start reading. I like to use this feature to discover unique interesting news that I wouldn’t have found on my own, because it would not be located in one of my normal topics of interest. Using this feature is how I discovered the Black Mamba story I recently mentioned. Who would have ever thought of a Black Mamba being kept as a pet in the United States?
News 360 also allows you to customize your news topics to your particular interests. By clicking on “My Stories” you can type in various topics that interest you and add them to your main news list. Once you have added a topic to your news list, News360 will begin searching for news on that topic from various news sources around the globe. News360 can also display news that is only local to your location by clicking on the local tab in the top right of the news screen.
Finally, News360 has it’s own widget for Android 3.0 Honeycomb. This widget allows you to choose one of your news topics and display it as a scrollable news widget on your home screen similar to the CNN widget. The difference between the CNN widget and the News360 widget is that News360 is a very large widget and is displayed in portrait mode; while CNN is medium in size and is displayed in landscape.
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News360 Main Screen
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News360 Main 2
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News360 Article View
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News360 Article View 2
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News360 360 Degree View
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News360 My Stories
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News 360 Source View
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News 360 Widget
Usefulness:
News360 is extremely useful at finding news articles on topics that interest you in English from around the globe. With News360 I am able to read the daily news in Thailand without having to use an English language translator. Instead News360 finds the news for me, already in English.
I also think that News360 is extremely useful for reading up on political news, because it allows you to read the news from different sources and get all the various points of view on a single topic. For someone who prefers to get a well rounded picture of a specific topic this application is essential because it finds all the news for you on a single subject. You just need to read through it.
The one thing that people should be aware of about News360 is that it is a news only reader. It does not pull it’s news feeds from Blogs or other independent news sources. Instead News360 only pulls it’s articles from major news companies from across the globe. So this application cannot fully replace readers like Newsr, Taptu, or Pulse News Reader.
Ease of Use:
News360 is probably the easiest news reader I have used. There is no external set up for Google News Reader, there is no need to add in your own custom feeds, instead you just type in the topics that interest you and News360 shows you the news. Nothing could be simpler than that.
Frequently Used:
I use News360 daily. I like to use News360 to follow political news, local news, and international news. I use Taptu and Tech Buzz Widget to follow Android and Tech news worldwide. I feel that News360 does the best job at giving international news in a readable language from all points of view.
Interface:
The interface for News360 is the most polished I have used in a news reader. It has more “WOW Factor” then Pulse News Reader, Taptu, and Newsr combined. What makes this application so refined is it’s attention to smooth transitions from RSS feed to news articles, it’s 360 view, and it’s easy to use “My Stories” interface.
I love the way News360 transitions from the RSS feed of an article to the actual web page with the full story. The transition is smooth and seamless. It never appears like you are leaving the native application and going to an external site. When you want to exit the site and go back to scanning through News 360 to hide the browser pane is just as simple as bringing it up. Just slide it back down to the bottom of the page and it disappears bringing News360 back in full force.
I also love the 360 degree view because it is unique and clean, but visually appealing. I have never seen another application take this view to the news and allow you to choose news stories solely based on the images of their headlines. I like it because of the “WOW Factor,” but also because it forces me to read about topics I may have normally ignored.
Finally, the “My Stories” page is easy to use and customize with the topics you are interested in. I also like it because it shows what topics are currently trending and allows you to select from them the ones that may interest you.
Tags:
Android App,
Android Apps,
Android Tablet Apps,
AndroidTapp.com App Review,
International News,
Motorola XOOM Apps,
News,
News360,
News360 for Tablets,
Political News,
XOOM Apps
Categorised in: News & Weather
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