I am a news junkie; one of those people whose web browser is constantly pointing to some news-related site.  Which makes sense, given the fact that I graduated from journalism school (many moons ago).  So, you can imagine that I have tried just about every mobile news app around…on three platforms (Windows Mobile, iPhone,and Palm Pre). 

One of my favorite apps for finding the latest news is the AP Mobile News Network (on the Pre, it is called the essential global news network, but it is the same app), which was originally introduced on the iPhone.  It is a great app, which relies on the Associated Press for its news.  For the record, the Associated Press is where newspapers go to get the news.  It was one of the first apps i sought after I started using the Palm Pre, and I was thrilled to find it in the App Catalog.

When you start, you will arrive at My Front Page, which is the main portal into the program.  This screen gives you the most recent headlines in several different categories.  The great thing here is that it is fully customizable with dozens of general and specific categories from which you can choose.  Just choose which categories to display and they will appear on your My Front Page. 

The really cool thing about My Front Page is the push notifications.  Not only can you receive push notifications of your selected categories, but you can also activate or deactivate them by category.  So, if all you want is the baseball news, you can get that pushed straight out to you, without worrying about getting an update telling you who got voted off the latest episode of Survivor.

Now, I will say that I was not wild about finding ads on top of the My Front Page, but I thought the developers did a really nice job of making these ads as unobtrusive as possible.   As you can see, the ad rests on top of the screen, where it does not interfere with the news feeds.

To navigate through the program, just tap on the article you want to read.  if you want to see more articles in a specific category, tap the more button next to that category, or head over to the category view (above) to view all of the entries in that category.

Of course, if you are looking for articles relating to a specific subject, you can do a keyword search from any screen.  This means you can do a general search, a search within a specific category, or even search for certain words within the article you are currently reading.

What I really liked about the app, though — aside from simply having all the latest news in the Palm of my hand — was the convenience of accessing the news. In addition to the full articles in a mobile optimized format, this app also gives you full color photos, as well as videos. 

Finally, I know one of the biggest features I use when reading an article online is share it with my friends.  The AP Mobile News Network has you covered there as well.  You can share via email, SMS, or Twitter.  I was a little disappointed not to find an option to post an article on Facebook, and I do hope this will be added in a future release.

Bottom line: Who needs a newspaper when you have an app like this on your phone?