The BBC was given the go-ahead to launch its iPhone and iPad apps in the UK today, after its BBC Trust watchdog body decided that doing so was indeed in the public interest and wasn’t likely to unfairly CRUSH the opposition. How nice of it.
More interesting for us lot is confirmation from BBC tech overlord Eric Huggers that BBC News & Sport apps will come to BlackBerry and, yes, Android, “later in the year.” Here’s his full quote, taken from the BBC’s own news blog.
“We know that increasing numbers of you want to access BBC output on-the-go and the rapid growth of internet-connected mobiles and smartphones in the market means we can cost-effectively provide our content and services on these devices, and this is a really important way for us to deliver online services in the future. Today we begin with our News App becoming available for the Apple iPhone, and soon it will come to Blackberry and Android phones in addition to other devices later in the year“
And here’s the iPhone version of the app, for illustrative purposes:
Not amazingly useful what with there being numerous apps that already do a great job of republishing the BBC’s various RSS feeds in a variety of apps and widgets for us, but it’ll be nice to see what it can do in terms of spending time polishing up a nice user interface.
Link via Cnet.
Motorola’s latest flagship dual-core Android monster is a massive, original powerhouse, that’s a big improvement on previous MOTOBLUR mobiles – but still isn’t a total winner.
A slim and glamorous phone from Sony Ericsson, with the sharpest display around. It’s no powerhouse and the screen’s not the biggest out there, but we don’t mind. Because it’s cute.
LG’s first glasses-free 3D phone is a heavy, fat monster, with a clever 3D effect that works rather well. As a smartphone, though, it’s heavy and underwhelming.
A very shiny thing from Sony Ericsson, with a 3.7″ screen and Android 2.3.3 inside. But is it exciting enough to win fans in today’s spec-obsessed market? Can man live on one core alone?
INQ’s Android phone is an interesting “boutique” piece of hardware, packed with unique interface customisations that go far beyond the headline Facebook integration. We like it a lot.
k0zmic
/ July 24, 2010I hope there’s an official iPlayer app. I don’t mind TVCatchup but a native app would be nice.
Jameson
/ July 24, 2010There is – but you need Android 2.2 and Flash to make it work.
k0zmic
/ July 26, 2010That’s the problem. Only 3% of phones have 2.2. Most won’t even get it in the near future, it would be a better solution just to create an app for maybe 1.6 +.