By our estimation Channel 4 is home to the UK’s best news bulletin – no presenters pretending they want to shag one another, the self-discipline to wait for the facts rather than report speculation, a world view which extends beyond the US and a commitment to produce a high quality product – and it’s now available on your iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.
We’ve been playing with the app since it launched in mid-July and in that time our initial high regard for it has only increased.
The app replicates the distinctive look of the TV show and its website and includes access to written news, blogs, galleries special reports and the ability to catch-up with individual reports from each of the past 7 days worth of bulletins.
Text content is presented on nice, clear, easy to read screens and you can change the size of fonts if you wish. Unlike certain other news apps, the C4 one includes both blogs and the ability to comment on them – no corners cut here!
There is a mild annoyance with the catch-up videos – rotate the app while they’re playing and they pause until the app responds to the movement. If you’re watching in fullscreen and rotate, the video reverts to the small window when the app rights itself. It’s a mild flaw and the only one we’ve spotted.
If the app came with an annual subscription of around £60 quid we’d say it represented fantastic value for mobile access to the best of British TV news.
Thanks to generosity of Channel 4 the app is free so you can keep up with the major events of the day without the ‘Gold Blend couple’ shenanigans which have sadly rendered the BBC News Channel unwatchable.
If you only have space for one news app, make it this one.
