Tuesday 17 July 2012

BBC News App for Asus Nexus 7 Tablet

** Update #1 - 19th July, 2012 **
I notice that the BBC news app is now showing up in the Play store, however, it is not optimised for the tablet. In fact, it is the mobile version of the application which is perfectly functional but not as nice of a user experience. I've opted to stick with tablet optimised version for now, which can be downloaded below. Feel free to try both out, one will simply install over the other. The official version is available here.
**

You will find the BBC News app link below. Nexus 7 can run the BBC News app, however a search of the UK Google Play store will reveal that the app is incompatible with the Nexus 7. I'm sure the BBC will update the app's compatibility shortly, rendering this post pointless when it does, but in the meantime this post will provide details on how to get the BBC News app on your shiny new Nexus 7. Note, this is the tablet version of the app, so is optimised for tablet layouts.

You will need to allow downloads from 3rd party locations. That is enter Settings, Security, then check the option to allow installs from Unknown Sources.

Download the APK from here. Open the APK and accept the install.

As you can see, it looks pretty good. Videos can be played using a 3rd party app, such as MX Player.

screenshot showing the app in landscape mode
in landscape  mode

5 comments:

  1. How do u do it? The video just don't appear on the app....

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  2. Hi Charles. Do you have MX Player installed? If not, try getting that (linked in the article) as it is free from Google Play. I believe the BBC app shows videos as streaming sources, so when you click on a video, your tablet will attempt to match that request with an app that can stream video. I'm not sure what happens if it can't find any suitable app, but obviously the video won't play.

    If you do already have MX Player installed, what video are you trying to view? I'll have a look on my tablet and see if it works for me.

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  3. Any chance of a similarly fixed version of BBC news 2.0? Seeing the update prompt every time I open google play is becoming a drag.

    That said, thanks for posting this at all, the Beeb's insistence on treating the Nexus 7 as a "large phone" is straight up moronic. You fixed my single biggest gripe with the device :)

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  4. a quick note by the way - I've tried using a backup of the app from another, older tablet. Unfortunately, the Beeb use a hybrid app that displays fine on the other tablet, but on the nexus 7 it still insists on using the phone layout. Even with the latest update.

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