After years of waiting and being a subject of a marketing stunt by Huawei, the ABC has finally released an Android app for its iView service. However, it won’t be available on all Android devices initially.
According to the Google Play listing, the ABC iView app will only work for the following: Samsung Galaxy S2, S3, S4, Note and Note 2; the LG Nexus 4; the HTC One; the Sony Xperia Z; the Samsung Galaxy Tab, Tab 2, Note and Tab 3 tablets; the Nexus 7 and 10; and the Sony Xperia Tablet Z. The ABC says the reason why it is only releasing the app on these devices in order “to provide an acceptable level of app performance and stability”.
Like the iOS app, users will be able to catch-up on programming from the ABC’s line of channels, and will be able to watch a live stream of ABC News 24. It will also include closed captioning and, coming soon, parental controls.
The design is exactly similar to the upcoming redesign to the desktop version, which was available as a beta to select iView users. I was lucky enough to try out the beta, but unfortunately was forbidden to share any screenshots of the new design. But its safe to say that what you see on the Android app will likely be on the upcoming beta.
Now, how long before the pressure from Windows Phone users will get the ABC to make an iView app for them?
You can download the app from the Google Play store.