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BBC News iphone app to launch today

Someone should have patented the "pull down to refresh" UI.. as BBC are now using it in their apps!

would have made a killing :)

How do I refresh the stories in the app?

You can refresh the stories in the app by pulling down and releasing the app main screen. You can do this by pressing and holding on the main screen and dragging the screen down with your finger and releasing it. You will see a loading icon appear on the screen while the app is refreshing.
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From the FAQ's page
 
taffowl said:
true, at least the videos might now be playable. The ipad demo looks slick.
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For info, the BBC said they would support iOS video playback on their website later this year. They weren't able to roll it out with the new website redesign....
 
tibi08 said:
Sounds good, although to be honest the website itself is fine on Safari.
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Since they redesigned the website (to much criticism!), I've found that Mobile Safari can't cope with the new front page layout and doesn't display the whole page as a starting point, just the left hand side of it. God knows how the BBC web designers managed that.

Anyway, I think the more significant nugget of information in the article is that an iPlayer app is finally on the way!
 
Now launched on the app store:

bbc_news1.jpg


bbc_news2.jpg
 
Just downloaded it. About time this got released (although there's some seriously pixelly text and graphics going on. You'd think they could have included high res graphic elements for the retina display!)
IMG_0147.png

Nice responsible message about data charges too!
 
wow I just installed this and it's really good. The layout is great, it's really easy to navigate through so far.
I wish they included high res images for iphone 4 though. Apart from that's it's great, better than many other news apps which you have to pay for.
 
Hmm....they've enabled rotation for all four sides, so you can hold the iphone with the home button at the top. I know some iPad apps do this, but iPhone apps usually don't. I suppose it gives you an extra option!
 
Is anyone else having problems finding this in the App Store on their handset? I can't find it...
 
Finding the BBC News app

I found it a little difficult to find but if you type "BBC News" (without
the quotation marks) the app will appear towards the bottom of a list.

It is there :)
 
is the ipad app the same one you could get on the US stores months ago?

if so, it's slow and clunky... unless this version has been updated and improved a LOT, i will stick with my RSS feeds
 
Thx. Got it. Weird how when you type in BBC it doesn't show up, but type in BBC News then press Search & it's way down the page. Thought the Search auto facility normally worked better than that?
 
to be fair to the BBC i think this app has been ready for a long time, it was just waiting ages to be approved by the BBC Trust...

So back then the iPhone 4 with it's high res screen was totally unknown, and more recently why bother doing the higher res updates to an app that you didn't even know for sure would be approved.

Hopefully now that it's available an update to support iphone 4 will be forthcoming!
 
Nice little app. Just downloaded it onto my pad and phone.

Its only a matter of time before they start charging for this level of service.
 
zeeflyboy said:
to be fair to the BBC i think this app has been ready for a long time, it was just waiting ages to be approved by the BBC Trust...

So back then the iPhone 4 with it's high res screen was totally unknown, and more recently why bother doing the higher res updates to an app that you didn't even know for sure would be approved.

Hopefully now that it's available an update to support iphone 4 will be forthcoming!
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Correct - it's been available outside the UK for a while. I've had the iPad version for a couple of months.
 
Finally we can now get BBC video on iPhone and iPad. They have been sitting on this app for a while as the iPad version (on which the iPad part is based) has been out in the US for some time (crazy world isn't it?! ;)).

But will they deliver updates? I hope we will get some speed improvements and also an update for the retina display. They even allow some video playback over 3G (as iPlayer is WIFI only), although maybe they're allowed to do that now that O2 has started creating data caps on its iPhone plans.

Haven't tried on the iPad yet but it will be worth it for the videos. As soon as the main website is updated with HTML5 videos later this year I will be able to drop it and go back to the website.
 
I've been using this via US app store for a while, I was surprised that we didn't have it in the UK store considerin they a UK based company but hey nice to finally see it in the UK store
 
wrkactjob said:
Nice little app. Just downloaded it onto my pad and phone.

Its only a matter of time before they start charging for this level of service.
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They wouldn't be able to do that in the UK for BBC constitutional issues, those same issues that meant it took so long to even get this app in the UK despite the rest of the world having it! Because the BBC gets funded by the license fee, it can't do anything that might be seen as outside its remit or competing with others in the UK as this would be deemed to be taking advantage of its unique position. Overseas, it doesn't matter because there the BBC has to stand on its own two financial legs.
 
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