Posted on Wednesday, October 24th, 2012 by Danny Davies
Frustrated with news apps on your phone? Find it too difficult to read long, wordy articles on the go? Enter Circa, a news app that redefines how news is produced, delivered and consumed on your phone…
When something comes along and trumpets itself boldly as a “revolution” or as “redefining” something as massive as the way we consume news on our mobile phones, I am always sceptical at first. It means I’m inclined to really give something the runaround before I send out a review gushing with praise.
And well folks, on this occasion, having spent a solid news consuming session on Circa (instead of my usual ten minutes with the Times…), I have to say that Circa really is an innovative reimagination of news for your mobile…
Circa has been created to address the problem of news content produced for internet websites being stuffed into mobile devices in a way that makes that content unreadable. Rather than shoehorning existing content into a new environment, Circa’s team of editors and mobile designers have been working hard to create a genuinely mobile-first news experience.
Instead of articles, Circa presents news as a collection of details about a story: the facts, stats, quotes, pictures, maps, and more. Each story on Circa takes the most important details you’d find in traditional articles, and breaks them down into individual chunks of information that are much easier to consume.
The details, or points, are presented in an interface that works a little like the flash cards so it’s easy – and actually quite fun – to swipe through and read a whole story in less than a minute. You can also ‘follow’ a story to keep track of all the updates for any individual story you care about.
So, the big question… Should you give up your mobile New York Times subscription for Circa? Well it depends on what you’re looking for! If you want an app that will give you the news and interesting editorial and opinion on the news, Circa isn’t for you…
Let’s make no qualms about it, Circa gives you the bare stories in little bite sized chunks, and does that brilliantly. But if you’re looking for opinionated journalism this ain’t it. If however you’re just looking for, well, the news, Circa is both free and fun to swipe your way through.
Circa is a news app developed by journalists and some genius mobile designers. The way it presents news is innovative and feels extremely natural to read. Despite being curated by editors, it’s more a summary of what’s going on than editorial, but the way you can keep track of stories you’re interested in, with content quickly added to a story as new details emerge, Circa really is an interesting, new way to read news on your mobile phone.
