Although they already have the Microsoft News app which is available on Windows 10, Android, and iOS, this past week the company released an app to Android users called Hummingbird.

There were no announcements on company blogs or through social media to let everyone know about the apps availability but it was discovered and written about across multiple tech blogs in the last 24 hours or so.

That means the only information we have to work with is the app description from the Google Play store listing for Hummingbird:

Hummingbird uses the latest AI and search technology to help you locate stories and videos on topics you care about and from sources you trust on the web. You set it up with just a few taps.

It’s smart – The more you use Hummingbird, the better it gets at searching and locating stories from across the web that you’ll like—and avoiding ones you won’t.

It’s informed – Stay up to date on the latest search results in news and sports from a variety of sources on the web, plus get results related to your interests and hobbies, such as fashion, food, and DIY. And you get all that in one place.

It’s fun – When you need a break, check out the latest viral videos in search.

It’s simple – Just tap topics to add them to your personalized feed.

Pretty standard fare for a news app and setup is straight forward as you can see in the screenshots gallery below. One item of note, it seems you can choose to sign in with your Microsoft Account, LinkedIn Account, or simply skip those and just use the app without being signed in at all.

I suspect this is a project from Microsoft research folks or maybe the Garage but there is no confirmation of that in the store listing right now.

In the interim, it seems like a well laid out app and I am going to give it a run for my daily news feed and see how it does over the next few weeks.

Hummingbird Android News App Screenshots