Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review
AP Mobile updated but still falls short
The AP News [App Store] iPhone/iPod touch app that rolled out ugly earlier in the week has updated to version 2.01 and fixed that nasty problem that wouldn't let you run the app reliably if you had the previous AP Mobile app already on your phone. That has been fixed, but the app still suffers from more bugs than the centerfield lights at a night baseball game. When you update to the latest version you will likely lose all your preferences, and as we reported, setting preferences is no small task.
The AP still insists on showing you a front page that wastes 1/3 of its space with a large photo and video icon. Usually, people come to a news app to read the news, but that concept seems lost on the AP. The result of this bad design decision is that only 3 stories show up on the front page, which is not as good as the New York Times app (4), the Bloomberg News app (5), or ABC News (4). Actually, most of the news apps have too much non-essential garbage on the main pages. I'd kinda like to read the news.
I think the AP app scrolling of long stories is still jerky, and some stories display a picture at the top which is so large it takes the whole screen and you can't read any of the story without scrolling.
Also, stories tend to repeat. In my local list of stories, I saw the same story 3 times. Clearly, that shouldn't happen in a well-written app.
All lists of stories must be viewed in portrait orientation, but you can read them in landscape mode, which means constantly switching back and forth between screen types if you want the stories in landscape format. Don't try this if you have vertigo.
The AP app is free, so one hates to complain, but frankly the previous version was easier on the eyes, less buggy, and organized in a way many news junkies would prefer to read the news.
Sometimes "progress" is anything but.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
lanejasper69 said 8:48PM on 5-31-2009
YES, the scrolling STILL sucks! it jumps all over the board, the clips (placeholders) at the top do occupy much of the screen, basically this is a perfect write-up. I use mobile AP, but it really does need MUCH improvement. I didn't see a feature to write a comment any longer (which hasn't worked since the very first version of the app a year or more ago), only to submit a story which I haven't tried yet. the font size needs to be adjustable as well as the option to turn off or on menu images, as they are big and if you have more than one topic set in the prefs (which are horrendous) you can only see 2 stories at a time basically, unless you hit the "more..." button. This APP still needs much improvement. It'll get the job done most of the time, but it's more bloated and clunkier than a detroit oil burner!
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imode said 8:36PM on 6-01-2009
don't know why it isn't available in Canada... I was able to download from the Australian iTunes store. Maybe it's only in select countries. Doesn't matter, still sucks. Slow, takes up too much screen real estate. Scrolling is strange.
emjohnst said 12:01AM on 6-02-2009
The Canadian Press app is available from the Canadian iTunes store, and is basically the same app, just with CP branding.
Andre said 9:08PM on 5-31-2009
It matters not. The app is apparently not available to us Canadians.
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Ken said 11:24PM on 5-31-2009
I am still using 1.1.1 and won't update until either it doesn't work anymore or 2.0 is cleaned up. 1.1.1 was the last version without ads and it works beautifully and is nice and clean.
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backpackingnerd said 12:20AM on 6-01-2009
I would have to agree with Mr. Martin. I saw the update and promptly downloaded it thinking it was just another set of bug fixes. I was wrong. I had to go back using time machine, find the old version, delete the update, and reinstall v1.5.1. For such a large news provider, I fail to understand why they can't get a decent designer for their app.
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Nikax said 1:03AM on 6-01-2009
I agree with the criticism of the app, the 1.5 version had to be whacked and reinstalled regularly as it became slower and slower, and the 2.x version is a bloated mess. But really, the worst part is that the AP news is so poorly written and tends to focus on crime reporting. I'll take NY Times and BBC News for content any day, and both have excellent iPhone apps available for free.
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backpackingnerd said 1:09AM on 6-01-2009
@Nikax,
Which app are you using for reading BBC news?
Nikax said 5:41PM on 6-02-2009
backpackingnerd, I use BBCReader. You do have to empty the cache occasionally to get it to update.
Thomas said 1:46AM on 6-01-2009
The AP is becoming is becoming a right-wing mouthpiece anyway. I've removed them from all my feeds, and I wouldn't allow them on my iPhone.
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SpinThis! said 9:50AM on 6-01-2009
So you're telling me a free app sucks? OK, fair enough, but can't TUAW review apps we can't try ourselves?
Second, why not write the developer and voice your concerns (if you haven't already)? A blog post like this has a chance to reach lots of people, yet, you offer nothing for readers to help fix the situation—at least offer a link or contact info and tell readers to write to the developer(s). Seems like people just like the vent.
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Cale said 2:38PM on 6-01-2009
Wish I had known this was coming before I upgraded. The original Mobile News app did everything right.
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mark said 3:57PM on 6-01-2009
Furthermore, there's the stupid, red AP logo and the words "Associated Press" listed on *every* article. (See the screenshot accompanying this article.)
Must we battle that visual clutter on every single line? I don't think users are likely to forget what app they've launched. Couldn't the logo and name be placed within the actual body of the articles, instead of on every line of a *list* of articles?
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
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