Thirst Review

Part personal newspaper, part social networking hub, Thirst is the latest in a plethora of apps keen to offer only the news that its users want to see. It's easy to browse and uncovers some news stories that I probably wouldn't have thought to seek out otherwise.

Sign up is a choice of email based or through Twitter or Facebook. It takes seconds to arrange and content is immediately available. The Newspaper and Explore sections are the main source of content here, with it easy to navigate. The Newspaper section offers a number of core and popular subjects at the moment, such as stories on Obama, Oscar Pistorius and the latest announcements revolving around the possibility of a new PlayStation. In each case, tap an interesting subject and a selection of news stories can be browsed from various important sources, as well as the option of viewing media such as videos or images.

The Explore section offers similar but organized according to category, such as Politics, Business, Movies, Tech and Gaming. It's possible to search, too, for more exact topics of interest rather than solely those that are currently popular across the world. In each case, it's quick to do and results quickly multiply, although I did find crashing issues a mild problem at times.

A social networking side to Thirst emerges, alongside such content, with it possible to discuss stories through the apps and add input or likes, as well as the chance to follow likeminded individuals and see what they're checking out. It's not the focus of the app but it's a nice bonus and can provide some interesting insight.

News aggregation is a heavily populated genre in the App Store but Thirst does enough to make it one of the better titles to recommend. It might not revolutionize, but its attractive layout and array of quality publications that it links to, makes it worthwhile checking out at regular intervals.