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Local News, Weather and More
Price: FREE
DEVELOPER'S DESCRIPTION
Local News, Weather & More is the first application for Android to offer local news, weather, and other content from news outlets around the US. Over 220 cities available with: -News -Weather w/ maps -Sports -Flights -Horoscopes -Lottery -Local cheap gas prices In some areas: -News video -Slideshows -School Closings
OVERVIEW
This review is going to be a little bit different, in that in a way, it covers a range of applications offered by this developer. LSN, Inc. is providing a platform for local televsion stations to bring their website content to the Android. You can access this by either downloading this main application or by choosing one of the many applications directly named for local tv station affiliates. The content is going to vary somewhat based on what each station provides.
USER INTERFACE
In the general application, when first downloaded, you'll be promted to choose a location by city and state. When you choose, the application basically becomes whichever local television station app is available (for instance, Washington DC becomes the app "WBAL TV Maryland"). The front page of the app will then load (shown in sceenshot). Tabs across the top offer access to content, which can vary depending on what is provided by the station, but usually includes news (the first selected tab), weather, sometimes traffic, videos, sports, and "more."
One (seemingly) consistent feature of the app(s) I've found particularly helpful is weather. The weather piece has the ability to change the precise location of the weather focus. This is done using the small "target" symbol next to "Weather for (city name)" on the weather page. When you hit this button, a menu appears giving the option of inputting a different zip code for the weather which can be helpful if you're in an outlying suburb of a major city. The problem with it is the button is awfully small and difficult to hit precisely, and sometimes you find yourself mistakenly switching back to the news tab.
From the main page, the phone's hard menu button gives you "refresh" and "options." In the general app, the "options" allows you to change your city, and tracks the cities you've "visited." (If you download a specifically named application for your local television station, you will not have the "change city" option.) It also allows you by email to "tell a friend" or "contact the developer." If you're inside a story from the main page, the menu button will also include a "main view" virtual button to return you to the main page. Although the menu button isn't put to extensive use in the app, I never got the feeling that this app was some straight iPhone port.
CONTENT
As I've stated, content can vary greatly depending on what each tv station provides from their website. For instance, Philadelphia's 6abc provides tabs for news, videos, weather (their rather extensive Accu-weather), traffic and "more" (which includes local gas prices, flight tracker and lottery), while their front page is packed with latest news, local news, national news, business/finance, consumer news, bizarre news, health check, politics, parenting, "saving with ABC" and special reports. Touching one of these headlines will take you into the story. Changing cities, other stations I've sampled aren't always as extensive. Buffalo, New York, for example, trades the video and traffic tabs for sports and movies.
CONCLUSION
I've found this a very useful application, both in the general version and my "local affiliate version" that I've downloaded. I think the general version would be very helpful for someone who travels frequently. One could "tune in" to the local news and weather (and possibly traffic) for their destination for any impact to their travel plans, or keep tabs on news "back home" while away.
Price: FREE
DEVELOPER'S DESCRIPTION
Local News, Weather & More is the first application for Android to offer local news, weather, and other content from news outlets around the US. Over 220 cities available with: -News -Weather w/ maps -Sports -Flights -Horoscopes -Lottery -Local cheap gas prices In some areas: -News video -Slideshows -School Closings
OVERVIEW
This review is going to be a little bit different, in that in a way, it covers a range of applications offered by this developer. LSN, Inc. is providing a platform for local televsion stations to bring their website content to the Android. You can access this by either downloading this main application or by choosing one of the many applications directly named for local tv station affiliates. The content is going to vary somewhat based on what each station provides.
USER INTERFACE
In the general application, when first downloaded, you'll be promted to choose a location by city and state. When you choose, the application basically becomes whichever local television station app is available (for instance, Washington DC becomes the app "WBAL TV Maryland"). The front page of the app will then load (shown in sceenshot). Tabs across the top offer access to content, which can vary depending on what is provided by the station, but usually includes news (the first selected tab), weather, sometimes traffic, videos, sports, and "more."
One (seemingly) consistent feature of the app(s) I've found particularly helpful is weather. The weather piece has the ability to change the precise location of the weather focus. This is done using the small "target" symbol next to "Weather for (city name)" on the weather page. When you hit this button, a menu appears giving the option of inputting a different zip code for the weather which can be helpful if you're in an outlying suburb of a major city. The problem with it is the button is awfully small and difficult to hit precisely, and sometimes you find yourself mistakenly switching back to the news tab.
From the main page, the phone's hard menu button gives you "refresh" and "options." In the general app, the "options" allows you to change your city, and tracks the cities you've "visited." (If you download a specifically named application for your local television station, you will not have the "change city" option.) It also allows you by email to "tell a friend" or "contact the developer." If you're inside a story from the main page, the menu button will also include a "main view" virtual button to return you to the main page. Although the menu button isn't put to extensive use in the app, I never got the feeling that this app was some straight iPhone port.
CONTENT
As I've stated, content can vary greatly depending on what each tv station provides from their website. For instance, Philadelphia's 6abc provides tabs for news, videos, weather (their rather extensive Accu-weather), traffic and "more" (which includes local gas prices, flight tracker and lottery), while their front page is packed with latest news, local news, national news, business/finance, consumer news, bizarre news, health check, politics, parenting, "saving with ABC" and special reports. Touching one of these headlines will take you into the story. Changing cities, other stations I've sampled aren't always as extensive. Buffalo, New York, for example, trades the video and traffic tabs for sports and movies.
CONCLUSION
I've found this a very useful application, both in the general version and my "local affiliate version" that I've downloaded. I think the general version would be very helpful for someone who travels frequently. One could "tune in" to the local news and weather (and possibly traffic) for their destination for any impact to their travel plans, or keep tabs on news "back home" while away.
