BBC News – iPhone App of the Week
This is a regular feature of the blog looking at the various iPhone and iPad Apps available. Some of the apps will be useful for those involved in learning technologies, others will be useful in improving the way in which you work, whilst a few will be just plain fun! Some will be free, others will cost a little and one or two will be what some will think is quite expensive. Though called iPhone App of the Week, most of these apps will work on the iPod touch or the iPad, some will be iPad only apps.
This week’s App is BBC News
Get the latest, breaking news from the BBC and our global network of journalists.
By downloading the BBC News app you can view:
- News stories by geographical region
- News by category including business, technology, entertainment and sport
- News in other languages including Spanish, Russian and Arabic
- Video including one minute news summaries to keep you informed on the go
- You can also personalise the app to suit your interests and download content for offline browsing
Free
The BBC News website is a wonderful resource and place for news on the web. The mobile version is okay too. Both versions do work on the iPhone and the iPad.
However the BBC News website does rely on Flash for video. The obvious solution would be, as other news providers have, build an App.
So the BBC did build a BBC News App for the iPhone and the iPad…
However…
UK media companies complained, so the BBC Trust said that the BBC News App would not be available in the UK, but they could make it available overseas!
Eventually after much deliberation and consultation the BBC Trust said that yes the App could be made available in the UK. Yay!
So what about the App itself?
Basically it is similar to the website, the news is divided into sections.
The advantage over the website is that any video is in h.264 format so it plays! Not all the news and video though on the main BBC website is easy to find on the App though.
The user interface is much more iPhone like than the website so making it much quicker and easier to use.
This is a really good App, just a pity that it wasn’t available in the UK for so long…