News is important; it’s how we keep up to date with what’s happening in the world, and follow our interests. Google News is one of many tools I use to keep up to date with what’s going on, and we know that our readership at Ausdroid does, too.
Google News is already available in more than 120 countries, and in about half as many languages. But this isn’t enough for Google, which has announced changes to the service to make sure it’s available (and works well) on all phones big and small, powerful and not, and whether your cellular coverage is good, bad, or terrible.
Starting today, Google News will offer four core features that meet the needs of users who are using a lighter connection, including those with Android (Go Edition)phones:
- When applicable, videos in the app will open in YouTube Go, ensuring that it’s delivered in a lightweight yet clear format. Videos won’t auto-play, saving precious data.
- Newscasts (previews of a story) will adapt to become more text-focused, saving you data.
- Images are compressed and can be fully loaded with just a tap. Videos and gifs will also not auto-play. Plus, less data will be cached and saved on your device.
- Many articles can be saved for consuming in offline mode, easily downloaded over Wi-Fi for reading later.
Better yet, these features will turn on automatically—no need to toggle on a setting or make sure you’re in the right mode.
These features will roll out over the coming weeks to users around the world, ensuring that everyone has access to the news that matters most to them.
This is a welcome change. But the news articles that are showing on my screens are mostly a couple of days old and stay on my screen even I have read them a day ago. The refresh rate is horrible.