Android: The succinctly-named News is a powerful app for staying on top of the latest developments in the world.
Upon launching the app, you’ll be presented with a list of top headlines from Google News and the Holo-themed top navigation will let you switch between different verticals. You can also create custom searches that will populate alongside the default topics. Turn your device sideways, and the interface will switch to a handy two-column layout, which tablet owners will surely appreciate.
Tapping on a story will present you with a full-width photo and a few sentences from the article. Unfortunately, to see the entire story you’ll need to open it in a web browser, or send it to a read-it-later service. The app has an experimental full text feature powered by ViewText.org, but it didn’t seem to work particularly well in my testing.
Luckily, News redeems itself with a fantastic home screen widget. Each widget you place will focus on a single vertical or custom search, and will cycle through the topic’s top photos and headlines. Some of the photos appear low-res, but it’s hardly noticeable if you don’t increase the widget’s default size.
Though it has a few limitations, News is a great interface for sifting through the thousands of articles indexed on Google News every day, and it’s available for free on Google Play.
News [Google Play via Android.AppStorm]
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