Gadgetory

hello again ladies and gentlemen I'm Joe Hindy the android authority app guide are you big into reading the news but you're kind of tired of reading articles all day long a new application called Newsbeat may be able to fix that and in this video we're going to check it out okay so what does this app actually do it's a news aggregator not unlike RSS you tell it your interests and what publications you like and it will fetch news from sources that report on that kind of news what's interesting is that while you do get the option to read the articles you also get the option to listen to them that's right this app will read you the news in a news radio style format so you don't have to read it yourself the voices aren't perfect but they are pretty good they even have voice inflections to make themselves sound more real some who have used the application already have stated preferences between the male and female voice but frankly both of them are about equal there is still that robotic tone every now and again especially when they try to pronounce difficult words or people's names but they do well it's sounding real enough to where it isn't distracting when listening to the news newsbeat goes the whole nine yards to make it sound like a radio show when you open the app it'll greet you by name if you have your name entered into the application it'll then give you your local traffic rundown sometimes which i thought was a nice touch it then proceeds to read the news articles back to back until there are none left when it reads news articles it'll state the source and the author in a manner you'd expect a radio host to do of course you still do have the option to read the news if you so choose you can pause at any time and scroll through the articles on your own if you prefer the only real issue we found where a lack of sources it seems to take more from local publications and worldwide news sources so you don't get too many options when it comes to where it reads the news from the design is pretty decent it's not overly colorful but it is easy to navigate so no one should have any problems figuring out where to go or how to use the app there is a hamburger menu on the left side where you can check out the app preferences or get the news articles have two interfaces you can look at them one at a time or you can use the second interface to swipe through them if you prefer it was a little laggy here and there but not so much to make the appt unpleasant once the voices start to read the news there will be a notification that pops up you can swipe it away without interrupting the voices but it apparently comes back after a short time which can get annoying if you're OCD about keeping your notification drawer cleared out in the notifications there are skip buttons as well as a pause in a play button so you can skip the news or pause it if you have to ok so here's what we liked about Newsbeat this app is just a great idea reading article after article can be tedious and trying to keep up with the news all day that way can be tiresome and frustrating with this you turn it on connect some headphones or a speaker if you want to and let some robot people read you the news it's much less stressful on your eyes as well since you don't have to stare it a little screen to read it if you don't want to the voices are actually really good as mentioned there are moments when they sound blatantly robotic and you never shake the knowledge that they are fake voices but they read the news so you don't have to and they do it pretty well this includes small things like pronunciations that a lot of robot voices usually screw up Newsbeat strings together the intro when you open the application the local news and each story in the flavor of a radio show this includes short music bursts between stories and specific phrasing that you'd hear a radio show host make the male and female voices also interchange occasionally giving the illusion of multiple hosts these aesthetics are purely atmospheric and not really functional but it makes the whole thing sound coherent and it makes the experience more enjoyable lastly the app content is fairly customizable while the sources are seriously lacking you still get to choose what topics you see if you have no interest in say politics then it won't read you any political news ok and here's what we didn't like so much this app seriously needs more sources we assume they'll be adding more as time goes but for the time being there aren't all that many places to draw news from so don't expect to be able to follow your favorite blogs like android authority just yet while the topics are customizable they aren't totally customizable for example I like hockey but I dislike pretty much every other sports I can have the app deliver sports news but not specifically hockey news so it'll read me a bunch of football free agency signings and some baseball news that I don't care about before it'll actually read me the columbus blue jackets game recap that's just one example there are plenty of others the playback controls notifications etc are a little wonky sometimes clearing out the notification usually results in it coming right back a few minutes later and the apt has started reading articles on its own when a story hits the news feed it's not terrible but some more control over the controls would have been nice overall if you're into RSS and reading the news then this app presents a unique premise that is difficult to pass up it's not difficult to read while on a subway or a train but if you're driving or walking it's more convenient to listen to the news rather than to try to read it and this app shines in those kinds of situations that said we wish there were more sources that's really the only weakness that newsbeat has and unfortunately it's a pretty bad weakness to have we're sure they're gonna add more eventually but until then you're stuck with the biggest dogs in the media who don't always do the best reporting on things even so the app is wonderfully done and we recommend you give it a shot if only to see if you like it once again I'm Joe Hindy the android authority app guy don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and if you want to follow android authority myself for the rest of our awesome youtube team you can find our social media links in the video description below if you're hanging out for a minute we have a couple of awesome videos for you to watch right over there including my review of link bubble as well as joshifer gaara's and darcy la cabeza coverage of the Oppo find 7 release events finally don't forget to check out the written companion in the video description below for all of the download links as always thank you for watching and have a wonderful day