The Guardian launches free Android app

The Guardian has finally launched an Android-friendly version of its mobile application, which is now available to download for free.

Unsurprisingly, the app enables you to read the latest news, sport, and reviews from the Guardian, as well as enabling one-touch access to the publication’s podcasts, videos and photo galleries.

The Guardian for Android also delivers a customizable homescreen where you can place your ‘favourite’ topics, be it footballs news or the phone-hacking scandal. Your custom homepage can be downloaded daily at a specific time that you set, which is then stored on your phone for reading offline.

Subhajit Banerjee, editor of The Guardian’s mobile website explains: “If you like football, you could do away with the usual mix of news and sport and instead see the top five stories from our Premier League page followed by the latest from your favourite team and then Barry Glendenning’s most recent posts”

“This level of customisation has also influenced the offline reading options. Rather than manually selecting what you want to download, there is one button that allows you to download your homescreen and your favourites. Alternatively, you can schedule this download to take place at a certain time each day – for example via Wi-Fi before you leave the house and go offline.”

The Guardian for Android is compatible with devices running Android 1.6 and above, and is available to download from the Android Market.

[Source: The Guardian]