Stop the presses! AP News for iPhone is a mess
My, my. Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The Associated Press has updated the AP News app for the iPhone and iPod touch. They took a mildly aggravating program and turned it into a mass of bugs, freezes and GUI mistakes.Let's start from the beginning. The iTunes store notified me that AP News 2.0 was available. Great idea. The older version wasn't too stable. I did the update, and it started asking questions, like 'where was I?' so the local news would kick in. I answered the question and went to the next screen. Lockup. I force-quit the app, and tried again. Blank screen, followed by a slow return to the iPhone home screen. Tried again. Same result. And so on.
Deleted the app, and then reloaded it again. Got past the location screen, and then was presented with endless options to configure the news I wanted. If the iPhone screen didn't scroll, this list would have extended all the way to the floor. I'll bet I missed some important news while I was fiddling with that screen.
Anyway, it's up and running. The GUI is not improved. Instead of getting the top national news stories I get a mixture of national, local, wacky and other stuff that it defaults to. I liked the old way where I got a whole scrollable screen of top national news. Now I get 2 stories before the other stuff shows up. You can change this setting, but no more than 5 stories in any category. Not exactly a tribute to free choice.
There are a lot of new features, mostly about customizing this app. You can now see stories in landscape mode, but here's a good one. The story lists won't work in landscape, only the individual stories, so you are constantly changing the orientation of the phone. You can localize the app to crash in Spanish or French, which I guess is an improvement. It also says there are major increases to stability. Really? This thing is a bug-fest.
Amazingly, the AP support page notes that many people will have trouble installing the app, and to download it again with WiFi. Hey, how about making a proper installer so I don't have to do that? Gee whiz.
I don't think the people who developed this app have much of an idea about how people consume news, or how to make a simple and useful interface for controlling it. Judging from the reviews this new app is getting, it might be time for the AP to go back to the drawing board and start again.
Frankly, if you like this update, it will be news to the rest of us.
Share
Source: http://blog.apnews.com/
Categories
My, my. Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The Associated Press has updated the AP News app for the iPhone and iPod...
Add a Comment
May I suggest you check out the Thomson Reuters app. I really think it is one of the best news apps out there.
May 29 2009 at 9:14 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI dropped the app because of the stupid hat icon has no background rounded square - get with the program AP!
May 28 2009 at 1:21 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyJeez, a bit harsh aren't we? I actually prefer the new version. You completely overlook the new weather feature and ignore how easy it is to customize your Front Page. And unlike a lot of websites, AP actually researches and posts breaking news, not just copying news from other sites. Do a bit of homework before slamming someone...better yet, try to do a better job yourself and then talk.
May 28 2009 at 12:33 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThe AP IS copied news from other sources!
May 28 2009 at 1:57 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHoly crap -
At least 1.x was somewhat passable.
Check out the LA Times app to see what a true horror is when a newspaper attempts the iPhone.
Seriously - as one commenter said, it makes you wonder why they don't just list the real name of the editor on the masthead: Triceratops.
Same thing happened to me. I deleted it.
May 27 2009 at 8:24 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyNewsflash:AP news is a mess, iPhone app or not.
May 27 2009 at 8:03 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWhat you fail to understand is that the app was made for 3.0. I'm running 3.0, and it is working great. Blame apple for making backwards compatibility a bitch. And expect more of this in the coming months, as apple is encouraging devs to resubmit their apps with 3.0 compatibility.
May 27 2009 at 6:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI had all the same problems, and yes even rebooting didn't solve it for me. This is the case of rushing something out the door with little or no QA testing.
As for the "flexibility" of the new interface, it would be better if the new interface didn't jump all over the place when you try to scroll.
The weather page looks like a Java app from 1991 and putting the weather on the top of the page may be fine, except the app is already slow to update and now heres one more thing it has to pull down.
The Icon looks like it was designed by a 4 year old. There are little single pixel white lines around the black icon an that drives me nuts.
As for the 3.0 folks, yippie for you if you love the app -- but why the AP would feel like pushing an interim release to screw the other 98% of its user base is beyond me.
Hope they didn't like the Ad revenues they were getting because fron the looks of it there are a lot of people deleting the App.
I hate to go to the USA Today app since the articles seem a bit more dumbed down (if that is even possible) but I cant stand AP 2.0
Oh and though I'm in the great ol USA -- way to screw the Canuks.
This app is trying to do to much. A lot of us just want a quick list of National news. Unfortunately there is NO WAY to make the app do this now. Yay for flexibility.
Off to delete this turd.
The canada app store now has rebranded AP News as CP mobile (Canadian Press), and they are charging $2.99. Original AP News is now gone :(
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=317165493&mt=8
I gave up on the AP app. Constant crashes, etc. For an example of a very elegant news app (french only) try Cyberpresse.
This is the company that wrote the app:
http://www.os.ca/anglais/accueil.php
Hot Apps on TUAW
Deals of the Day
more deals- Philips Fidelio Primo Speaker Dock for iPhone / iPod for $320 + $6 s&h
- miFrame Picture Frame Dock for iPad for $64 + $8 s&h
- Refurb Apple iPod nano 8GB MP3 Player for $99 + free shipping, 16GB for $119
- Hannspree Apple-Shaped 28" 1080p LCD HDTV for $270 + free shipping
- Philips wOOx Alarm Clock Radio for Apple iPod / iPhone for $60 + free shipping
- iWatchz Elemetal Collection Bracelet for iPod nano for $75 + free shipping
Software Updates
more updates- EFI Firmware Update brings Lion Internet Recovery to 2010-model Macs
- OS X Lion 10.7.3 released with Safari 5.1.3, Wi-Fi bug fix
- Aperture updated to 3.2.2, addresses Photo Stream issue
- Apple updates Keynote to address Lion issues
- Google Search app gets new look on iPad
- Apple releases Apple TV Software Update 4.4.3
Featured Stories
more stories
Popular Stories
TUAW (or The Unofficial Apple Weblog) is a website devoted to tips, reviews, news, analysis and opinion on everything Apple.
32 Comments