The Samsung News app is now available here in the UK, offering a curated news experience for smartphones and tablets somewhat akin to Apple News, but without the need for a paid subscription.
After initially launching in the US and Canada in 2023, Samsung News has finally arrived in the UK. It will manifest as an update to the existing Samsung Free app, which until now has offered a more general spread of free multimedia content.
Samsung promises free access to “a full spectrum of news from a range of diverse publications” from the new app, all without the appearance of that dreaded paywall screen.
Stories will be curated from established publications such as Sky News, Sky Sports Daily Mail, The Standard, The Independent, Mirror, Business Insider, Reuters, Metro, Indy 100, and OK. Samsung News will also pull in content from local news outlets.
Samsung News features
As you’d expect from such a curated news service, you’ll be able to customise your feeds with preferred topics covering the likes of politics, business, sports, and entertainment.
You’ll also be able to select three of 12 regions for that local news flavour: London, South East, South West, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, North West, North East, Yorkshire & Humbar, East Midlands, West Midlands, and East of England.
Samsung News will also supply Morning and Evening Briefings for a bespoke news roundup early and late in the day. Subject Spotlights, meanwhile, promise a deeper dive into hot topics with a range of perspectives.
The company promises that Samsung News is “designed to work in harmony with the Samsung Galaxy ecosystem”, though it doesn’t specify what that might mean other than that it will be capable of “adapting to users’ preferences and offering an intuitive reading experience”.
Samsung
Samsung’s editorial approach
The topic of balanced news coverage is a bit of a thorny topic in both the US and UK right now, so Samsung assures us it has established an editorial committee made up of experienced editors to adhere to the strict strict editorial guidelines in both countries.
This committee will also be tasked with ensuring a politically neutral outlook with a diverse range of opinions.
It seems keen to stress the human touch in these important editorial decisions, which seems smart amidst fears of AI misinformation in the wider news space.
Samsung says that it commenced rolling out Samsung News as an update to the Samsung Free app from 31 March. All other Samsung users should be able to download it directly from the Samsung Galaxy Store now.
The company has had a troubled few weeks in terms of software rollouts, with One UI 7 proving to be a tricky customer on older Galaxy phones. This Samsung News announcement will doubtless be taken as a welcome software win for the company.
Author: Jon Mundy, Contributor, Tech Advisor
Jon is a freelance journalist who got his start covering mobile games at the dawn of the App Store. He has since covered everything from smart home tech and laptops to food and culture, but always seems to return to his fascination with smartphones.
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