Newsy: Multisource Video News

The Story

If you like to keep abreast of current happenings, Newsy promises to deliver bite-size video news morsels direct to your Android with professionally-produced, snappy clips highlighting the news from the cream of the world’s news agencies. Newsy claims not to be a news aggregator. But we’d argue that’s exactly what it is.

The Experience

The app itself launches with a news carousel that shows thumbnails of each story with a snapshot headline beneath each clip. Pick your vid and you’re presented with a more detailed story description, plus the option to view a transcript of the video, rather than put your connection under unnecessary strain streaming the thing. Particularly handy when you’re on the move. You can also hit the ‘sources’ tab to view the media owners that Newsy has referenced in its story. Tap one of them and you’re redirected to the external media owner’s story, which is generous, not to mention handy.

You can also share content to Facebook and Twitter and leave a comment if you’re particularly moved to do so. If we have one criticism of the content it’s that it’s heavily US-biased, which is no real surprise, but does make finding relevant UK stories a little tricky. The content is there, however, provided you’re prepared to search for it.

When it works, it’s excellent. It does have a tendency to lock up with the message ‘loading’ appearing on the screen for minutes rather than seconds before new content appears, though. It’s understandable given the sheer volume of video contained in the app, but it’s not ideal.

We admire the concept and, for the most part, it’s well executed. If we could get a more UK-friendly mix of news, and that news was delivered without Newsy spluttering a little too often, we’d rate this app very highly indeed. As it is, 8 isn’t a bad score is it?

And if, somehow, you’re still in the dark, check out the video below.