The BBC have announced the Android BBC News app is now available for large Android tablets like the Samsung Galaxy  Tab. The app has been available for a while for smaller devices and now the new version is optimized for the large display with the current smartphone version for the smaller 7.1 inch tablets.  The app has been developed inhouse by the BBC and they say they are working on widgets and adding live TV to the app.

Screenshot of News app, with story on right hand side

 

I’m delighted to announce that BBC News app for Android is now available for large tablet devices. The app is available to download from the Android Market in the UK.

BBC Worldwide will soon be launching an international version of the app for audiences around the world.

This follows the success of the BBC News app for Android smartphones, which has been downloaded more than three million times globally since launching last year

This latest version, developed by our in-house team, gives an optimised experience for larger tablets – on devices running Android’s Honeycomb 3.0 operating system and above. (Smaller 7.1-inch tablets will continue to receive the smartphone app).

It offers a simple way of navigating through the key news sections in both landscape and portrait mode.

You can personalise these to suit your interests; we’ve made it easy to share stories and the app also provides On Demand video within stories, in both 3G and wi-fi.

We’ll be offering the News Channel live in a later release. We’re also working on homescreen widgets.

Growing numbers of people are accessing BBC News on mobiles and tablets. In an average week, the BBC News sites and apps are visited by around 9.7m users worldwide on mobile and tablet devices. That represents about 26% of the total.

The BBC News product development team will be working on further mobile and tablet improvements over the coming year.

Thanks for your continued comments and star ratings. Please let us know what you think of the Android tablet app underneath this post, or via the #bbcapps hashtag.

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