News Apps Roundup: ABC News stakes their claim.

Today we see a new contender enter the ring, going toe-to-toe with the excellent AP Mobile News Network (full review here): ABC News.

I will say up front that your preference between these two apps will really depend on how you like to ingest your daily news: AP Mobile News Network is the iPhone equivalent of a newspaper and ABC News is the equivalent of broadcast news.

Video news loads quickly and is neatly packaged.

When opening the app, this different approach is immediately obvious.  Instead of seeing a list of simple headlines, you'll find a tab titled "Videos". Previously, I have expressed my distaste for video news on the iPhone (it takes too much time and doesn't allow for adequate multi-tasking), but I must admit that the ABC guys have done a good job.

On a wi-fi network, the lag time for videos is almost non-existent.  The video isn't the greatest quality, but I think speed is more important for watching news on a mobile device.  Also, the first video is always a time-stamped "News Update" video, updating you on the latest headlines in just a few minutes.  Very nice.

ABC News stories are first-party and aren't pulled from the AP as Pocket Express's news is.

Moving onto the "Stories" tab, you'll find a list of headlines.  All of them--as far as I can tell--are written by ABC reporters and not pulled from the AP feed like Pocket Express.  It's nice to have a little variety.

There is also a tab for "Pictures," but I don't really see the need.  I think ABC just wanted a third option across their top menu.

Across the bottom, you can move between several bottom-tabs, from "Top News" to "Local News."  You can also watch segments from ABC's broadcast shows (very spiffy), see news alerts, and even check the weather in a well-done and sophisticated weather app.  "Weather" includes radar, weather news, and a brief forecast but no extended forecast.  With ABC News you can also bookmark and share stories just like with AP Mobile News Network.  Overall, the app is fantastic.  Let's move on to the bad, shall we?

The "Local News" bottom-tab is abysmal.  Unless you live in one of the ten cities available, there is no local news at all.  The "Local News" bottom tab just takes up space.  Terrible design.

Also, there is no way to choose between different categories within the news tabs.  I can't look at only political news, only US News, or only international news.  This is a huge problem for me.

The "Weather" bottom-tab is well organized but lacks an extended forcast.

Also also, the sheer lack of headlines is shocking.  In the headlines section, there are only eight headlines right now, and I can't find an option to get more.  Very disappointing for real news junkies.

So, overall, the app really is like broadcast news; it is more for a passive news fan than an active news junkie.  Everything is designed for users to sit back and quickly get a dose of what ABC has deemed the most important national and international headlines of the day.  A lot of people like to get their news this way, but I prefer a little more choice.  I prefer an application that provides hundreds of stories on a daily basis and sorts them according to category, even providing a user feedback option so people can decide which stories are most interesting (I'm looking at you, AP).

I must, however, commend the "Videos" tab of the ABC News app.  The news brief is very well-done, and if this is what you're coming to ABC for then this will not steer you wrong.  As I said, it's a question of taste, and I prefer AP Mobile News Network.