FT.com Mobile Product Review: Part 2
Jinfo Blog

By Jane Heath

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Introduction

The FT has three versions of its FT.com website: http://m.ft.com, the new iPhone app, and the FT Mobile Newsreader. Part 1 looked at the objectives and uses of the products. Part 2 will go into more detail about access and features.


FT Mobile web site
Getting started

Sites:

• http://m.ft.com
• www.ft.com (for advanced handsets - automatically selected).

Content, look and feel

Content is from the RSS feeds on the main web site. The display is linear to allow for easy browsing and stories are displayed with the headline and first few lines. There is a search box at the top of every screen:





The Markets news section can be found just below the headline news. If you are a registered user of www.ft.com and have set up your own portfolio read-only access is available on http://m.ft.com.


Search and navigation

The menus to link to other sections of the FT appear right at the bottom of the initial screen, below all the news pages. It would be good to see a link to menus immediately below the search box at the top of the page

The search facility is a simple text search with no filtering or sorting options. Results are from the last 30 days and are delivered in reverse date order (with no option to sort by relevance). There are thus differences in search results on mobile and on the main site.


iPhone application
Getting started

This can be accessed from an iPhone or an iPod touch. You will need to download the application from the iTunes app store. The app is free to download and the usual metered model of FT.com applies (access to the first 10 articles each month is free once you register, any more and you're invited to subscribe).


Content, look and feel




An extensive range of FT.com sections is available and users can also see read-only versions of their personalised content from the web site. Podcasts are currently audio only, but video will be in the next release. The major business news stories are updated in line with the web site but I found that some sections (particularly Management and Arts and Leisure) did not have recent articles. 


Search and navigation

The features of the iPhone have been exploited to create excellent navigation and display features. Unlike the Mobile site the FT iPhone app does have useful menus for the various FT sections at the top of the screen, and you slide across to see the full range. In Markets data you get a clear, decent-sized chart if you turn the phone sideways, and by tapping the screen you can select a different time frame, compare a company against indices, or add or change indicators.




In Search there are again there are no sorting and filtering options, although recent searches are saved.

In general navigation and searching are fairly intuitive but help screens might be useful.


FT Mobile Newsreader

For Blackberries or phones which support Java MIDP2 applications (go to the FT web site for a list). You need to download the Newsreader (instructions found at http://www.ft.com/help/mobile).

This product also gives you access to FT.com content. You can personalise the content you receive in the 'My FT' tab, based on your browsing history and interests.



Conclusion/VIP view

The FT mobile products are an excellent way of keeping up-to-date with news while out and about. The designs have been thought through and are thus well adapted for mobile devices, rather than simply attempting to replicate the web site. For look and feel and ease of use I preferred them to the other services I looked at, while for content the FT is clearly a pre-eminent provider of daily business news as well as being good for general news.

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