Time Magazine has launched an official Android app that lets you access much of the information available on the Time web site on your mobile phone. It’s available as a free download from the Android Market, but for some reason it’s rather difficult to find the official Time app by searching, so you’re best off scanning the barcode to the right with your phone’s camera to go directly to the download page.
Stories are broken up into sections including Latest, Most Read, Politics, U.S., World, Business, and Photos, to name just a few. There’s also a Videos section with links to Time.com video features.
The stories are formatted for a small screen and the overall user interface is attractive if not always intuitive (sometimes you use an on-screen arrow to go back a page, and sometimes you use your phone’s dedicated back button). You can also hit the Menu key to pull up additional options, allowing you to save a story, adjust the text size, email the link or share it over Twitter or Facebook, or download a story for offline reading.
The offline function is pretty awesome, and it’s something I wish more web-based news apps would add.
The only real problem I’ve found with the Time app is that I think it’s supposed to be ad-supported, but the ads aren’t showing up correctly. Instead, I keep running into a small bar at the bottom of some screens and the top of others that says “web page not available.” I have a feeling it won’t be too long before this problem is fixed.
via OMG Android
