The good news is that the BBC has finally released an official BBC News app for Android. The bad news is that unlike[itunes link=”http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bbc-news/id364147881?mt=8&uo=4″ title=”bbc news” text=” the networks’ iOS app”] which is available internationally, the BBC News app for Android is only available to UK residents at the moment. The (other) good news is that an international version is on the way.
If you happen to be one of the folks who can download the app, you can read the latest stories, view full-screen articles and videos, sort stories by subject, and even personalize your homescreen using the edit function to add or remove categories.
BBC News is available for Android 1.6 and up, but if you happen to have be running Android 2.2 or later with support for Adobe Flash you can also watch live streams of the BBC News channel. My guess is that’s the reason the app isn’t available outside of the UK yet. The lisense fee paid by British television viewers funds the BBC, so you typically have to be in the UK to view live content from the network.
My guess is that when the international version of the app hits the Android Market, live streaming won’t be an option.
