Sky Sports News iPad App Review
Written by John Thompson on August 29, 2010 · Filed under Review, Software
With the new football season now well and truly under way, fans all over the country are keeping a keen eye on transfer stories before the window closes at the end of the month. What better place to do so than Sky Sports News? Especially now that the channel is now available in high definition through your Sky HD box.
However, it is now more accessible than ever with its appearance on the App Store for both the Apple iPad and iPhone. Care to take a look? Keep reading to check out our review of Sky Sports News iPad app!
When I saw the Sky Sports News app on the iPad for the first time, I was blown away by the design. The layout of the application makes checking the headlines really easy. Although I will be using the application predominantly for the football news and live football scores, there is a whole host of other options available that you can access from the tabs at the top of the app. These options include all of the sports generally covered by Sky, including Cricket, Rugby, Golf and F1.
When you select a sport to focus on, you’re given all the latest news, stats, and other information related to your chosen sport. If you choose to view the football news, for example, you will also be able to see the latest league table, live scores, and latest results from your chosen league (by default, it displays the English Premier League, but you can choose from other competitions and leagues too).
If you tap on any of these pieces of information, such as the league, or latest results, it will pan out to the main area of the display so that you can have a better view with more detail, making really good use of the iPad’s 9.7″ display.
When you aren’t viewing any information such as the league table, the main area of the application is taken up by all the latest news. Again, the layout here is near perfect. The latest 16 stories are all available to view, with a scrolling selection giving you more information at the top of the news area, and links to all of the stories made available via thumbnails below.
When you tap on a story, it will pan out to give you a full view so you can easily read the content. There are navigation buttons on the top of this screen that allow you to go back to the main news area, or flick between the previous and next posts available. Reading the selected article is a breeze, as you can scroll through the text to read all the information. There is also some “more news” highlights at the bottom.
Another really impressive inclusion here was the embedded video in some of the articles which are available to read. To play a video, you simply tap the play icon, and it will start playing in the container at the top of the page, allowing you to still interact with and read the rest of the post. If you want to go full screen, simply pinch out on the screen, and the video will go full screen, perfectly formatted for the iPad’s display.
Also, from main screen of the app, you can click the top left section to view the Sky Sports News live video feed, however this will then actually open up the Sky Mobile TV iPad app, where you then need to be a Sky Mobile TV subscriber to actually view it.
A shame you can’t watch the channel from within the app for free, but understandable given Sky are now treating Sky Sports News as more of a premium channel with its recent removal from Freeview, however that said, you can still listen to ‘Sky Sports News Radio’ live from within the iPad app.
To conclude, I simply can’t fault this application in the slightest. It is without a doubt the most comprehensive sports news application available, and it’s incredibly easy to navigate and use. If you’re a sports fan, the Sky Sports News iPad app should be the first thing you install when you buy your iPad. If you haven’t already used the app, you can download it for free from the UK App Store.
