Finding myself with some down time this holiday weekend, I decided to peruse my often overlooked, but immensely handy On Sale app. As I mentioned in a previous column, On Sale is a free application that provides a running list of those apps on sale at any given time. Low and behold, On Sale delivered once again with NewsRoom. If you have any interest in news apps, and more specifically a news aggregate or feeder app, you will want to check out NewsRoom. I suggest not delaying because this is no ordinary sale; this is a price slashing with a limited time reduction from $4.99 to a mere $0.99!
NewsRoom is an incredibly helpful app for anyone from the news junkie to the casual reader, and everyone in between. Why? Because NewsRoom is an ultra-efficient, highly customizable (and not to mention super aesthetic) one-stop resource for quick and seamless news coverage from multiple websites of your choosing. Meaning, you get exactly what you want from only the sources you want - whether its full in-depth stories from dozens of media outlets or overview headlines from just a specialized few.
Upon opening NewsRoom, you can select as many sites as you want to track by tapping the plus sign at the top right corner. You have the option of choosing from featured sites as well finding other sites through the search function or by typing in the URL. Once added, an icon for the site will appear on the app's home screen, visible and ready for each and every time you open the app.
The greatest feature of NewsRoom is how effortless it is to get the news once you have it set to your specifications. Just tap on a news source icon from your home screen and get an instant feed of current stories from that site. The stories appear in a one-by-one snapshot view, with a headline and the first few lines of the associated article. You can browse through each new story snapshot by flicking left to right. Viewing the full story is as easy as tapping on the snapshot screen. From the full view, you can also open the story up in your web browser or email it. Other features of the app include the ability to set notification messages and star articles, which creates a direct access link to the story for later use.
For any webOS user, navigating the interface is extremely intuitive and graceful. In just a few minutes, I can browse up-to-the-minute news from all of the sources I rely on without the pain or wasted time of going to multiple websites or apps and clicking through various menus. Not only easy to use, but easy on the eyes, NewsRoom is well worth it for anyone with a need to know.
(Image via webOSroundup)
