Newshunt is a news aggregator app that delivers all the news you need from your specific region and language and it does so rather well. The developers of the app have given the app a no-frills user interface, and in their attempt, they may have over simplified an app that has the potential to be so much more. Read our full review to find out whether this app deserves space on your smart device or not.
Features
NewsHunt is essentially a news reader app that collates all the news sources in one place. The app sources content from publications in India, Africa and Bangladesh pulling news from more than 85 publications spread across 11 languages, including big name sources like Hindustan times and Deccan Chronicle. Besides categorizing publications by languages and topics, it is easy to assume that NewsHunt doesn’t deliver news on a particular topic, say such as “technology.” However, that is actually not the case. The app shows news from all sections of whatever publication you choose, regardless of topics. For example, if you choose to read the latest from Hindustan Times, you can browse all the sections of the newspaper, including technology.
User Interface
When we got the app for review, it was on its first build, the user interface for which, we felt was average. However, during the course of our review, the app was updated to the latest version, which brought a completely revamped UI and new publications. This review, is therefore based on the updated version of the app as that is what is now available across all compatible platforms.
The “flat” design is becoming a trend across most iOS apps nowadays, with Nokia Here sort of kicking off the trend and Google running with it at an incredible pace. NewsHunt too employs the flat look for its user interface, and is extremely well designed with respect to navigation. The first time you launch the app, you get to select the country whose publications you would like to view, followed by the language of choice. We should mention here that selecting the “language” isn’t going to translate all publications into that particular language, but instead, the app will only show news sources that are printed in the selected language. This is a nice way to shortlist your news sources if you’re only looking for relevant publications.
The user interface is absolutely minimal, with the Country label up top (you can click on this to change the country source) and a settings toggle on the top right, which doesn’t really have any actual settings to alter. What’s also missing is the option to mark certain publications as our “favourites,” which we found rather disappointing. A way to club all our sources into one place would have been really great. What the app offers in lieu is a “Recent” tab, which lists all the newspaper you have accessed recently, but this will also house publications that you might have opened “just to see what’s in there,” which isn’t exactly like having a “favourites” tab.
Country Selection | Categories | Newspaper Choices | Choices 2 | Dropdown |
The Reading Experience
The app is essentially one which delivers content that must be read. If you’re using this app on a phone (as against on a tablet), you’ve got a relatively smaller screen to work with and reading text on a small screen can be quite a pain. NewsHunt addresses that issue with the option to toggle between four font sizes that will offer you adequately large font. If reading black text on white background bothers you (it bothers us especially at night, when reading with the lights off), you can toggle between a choice of white, black, blue and sepia tones backgrounds, while adjusting the text colour accordingly. The app also uses a vertical scrolling for reading text, which happens to be incredibly smooth. We tested the app on an iPhone 4 with its storage capacity maxed out and even so, scrolling was butter smooth.
NewsHunt, continuing in tradition of almost every other reading based app, offers the ability to share individual news article from any source within the app to social networking sites, which makes sharing any relevant piece of news rather efficient.
Article List | Recent | Sharing | Text Options | Settings |
Conclusion
NewsHunt is an incredibly simple app, that delivers content with absolutely no frills. The app is so minimalistic, that event he settings tab doesn’t really offer any “settings” to alter. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, seeing as how little the app needs modifying, but it would be nice if we could, for example, set “black background” as default in settings rather than having to do it from the article page. The app may not offer a lot of extra bells and whistles, but it sure offers one comprehensive reading experience. The way we see it, if you like getting your news from multiple sources, you won’t be carrying a large stack of newspapers into the bathroom anymore. NewsHunt is all you need. Did we mention it’s available on Android, Blackberry, iOS, Symbian 40 and even for Java devices, for free. You can download your relevant version of the app by clicking here if you’re browsing from your mobile device or by directly going to www.newshunt.com.
