The Globe News for Android Users, By Android Users

May 10, 2012 Pivotal Labs

As one of Canada’s national newspapers, the Globe and Mail is Canada’s authoritative source for news, commentary and analysis. Since the launch of the iOS and BlackBerry apps, we’ve heard Android users loud and clear demanding the highly acclaimed news app to be made available for Android devices as well. The Globe and Mail has once again partnered with Xtreme Labs to bring the best news reading experience to the Android OS. The application was designed to provide the same Globe and Mail mobile experience but this time with the Android convention/paradigm in mind.

To ensure that we created the best user experience possible, this app was built alongside a beta group of Android users. Their feedback was invaluable to the development process, allowing us to avoid common Android UX pitfalls. After reading through the feedback from the beta testers, it helped us to understand the features in demand and helped us prioritize features much better.

Besides the seamlessly integrated reading experience, the Globe News content is updated throughout the day as the news becomes available. Similar to the iOS and BB, the Globe News Android application has several features that readers have come to expect. For example, now you can:

 

  • Custom curate your content

In this day and age, everything is customizable. From salads, to phone plans, to your car; the standard is that you should get what you want, how you want it. With Globe News for Android, it is no different. When we say that it was developed to be “the app that provides the best news reading experience”, we meant it. Users can customize the application based on their preferences. The app allows users to curate the home screen content by adding/removing and reordering the content sections. Users can also adjust the font size of the headlines as well as the article content that suits your need.

 

  • Offline reading for users on-the-go

Gone are the days where you have to wait for an above ground subway station to retrieve your next article. For those of you who commute, or for those early morning business flights, the news is now accessible offline. Users can now select any of the major content sections they wish to read later on, press save, and all article content from the selected sections would be downloaded in advance. Users can either choose to manually fetch for offline content or configure a setting to enable the device to automatically download the content at any specified time. The device will only automatically download content if the device is connected via WIFI to prevent eating away your 3G data usage.

 

Want to get it? “Globe News” is now available as a free download in Google Play for all devices running Android 2.2 and up:

 

Globe News Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.theglobeandmail.headliner

Globe News iPhone and iPad
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/the-globe-and-mail-news/id429228415

Globe News BlackBerry and PlayBook
appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/39629/?lang=en

About the Author

Biography

Previous
Getting image data from a CarrierWave uploader into RMagick
Getting image data from a CarrierWave uploader into RMagick

Carrierwave has an RMagick module that offers a handy manipulate! method that takes a block where you can m...

Next
How GOV.UK keeps calm and carries on with Tracker
How GOV.UK keeps calm and carries on with Tracker

The courageous folk working on the GOV.UK website (an experimental ‘beta’ replacement for Directgov and...

×

Subscribe to our Newsletter

!
Thank you!
Error - something went wrong!