I’ve been contemplating whether it’s been worthwhile to mention the updates to the Podcast app. It’s been painted lime green and you can now search for podcasts using the RSS url, and that’s about all that’s changed. I hear can the slow-clap starting now… But I feel it might be worthwhile talking about it a little more. The frugal side of me enjoys using this app quite a bit. It’s more or less like the video store, except everything is free! You see, now we’re talking! There are video and audio podcasts which you can subscribe to and download much like apps in App World. Again, like the BlackBerry App World, it’s a slightly laggy when scrolling and navigating around, which is definitely something RIM needs to improve for a few of these native apps. With the rumored ubiquitous implementation of the Cascades UI engine in all the other native apps in OS 3.0, it seems like improving the experience is on RIM’s To-Do List. If the experience within the app is great, people are simply more likely to use it. There are many podcasts to choose from and I’ve never been disappointed with the selection before (about 4,500 channels). Downloads happen quick and you can play them right from the Podcasts app.
There are Featured, Categories, Downloads and My Podcasts tabs, allowing for easy navigation. The search bar at the top right works well in helping you find a channel quick. If you’re out-side the range of Wi-Fi, your downloads will show up as “Failedâ€. Pressing the red “X†deletes the podcast.
Of course it’s not the blockbuster content from a Video Store, or better than satellite radio, but it’s a nice offering which I use quite a bit. However, other platforms have podcast apps that are about on par, since there’s been no true innovation going on here. Overall, despite being a solid podcast app which I enjoy very much, OS 2.0 really didn’t bring too much to the table in terms of updates. But it does look better and work well, which is two thumbs up in my opinion.
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