Tag Archives: Google Reader App

Feedly: The Google Reader Savior

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So now that the plug has officially been pulled on Google Reader the world is looking for a replacement to keep all of their feeds in one convenient place. The front runner, and also the app that has seen membership increase ten fold since the reader announcement, Feedly. Feedly is by far superior in so many ways to reader how we it keeps things just as organized and similar to reader for the die hard fans. Right off the bat when launching the app for the first time,  the user is able to log in using your Google account which will then sync all of your feeds to Feedly. All folders and data transfer over as well. Feedly has what I love about pulse as well, a companion website. Not only can it be accessed from your you one or tablet, but online as well, just like reader. Feedly also has multiple different views, one like reader, and one that is mosaic (similar to the pulse layout). Overall Feedly has gone above and beyond to make the loss of reader a little easier. Interface is great and always improving. Syncing with Google is easy and stories are super easy to find. Social media integration is equipped as well. I could talk for awhile about it but try it this weekend and see for yourself if it’s the app you’ve been searching for. I would ultimately have to agree that it is the best replacement for stock Google Reader. It’s almost enough to persuade me to leave Pulse, my favorite, not quite. It’s a great app and it is available cross platform at the whopping price of absolutely nothing. It’s a free app, so why not give it a go? Feedly is great and it is an overall great alternative to Google Reader. I would even go as far as to stretch and say that Feedly goes above and beyond the Google Reader Experience.

Check out the video back when Feedly was released in 2011.

 

Grab it on the Play Store or Apple App Store, also check it out online at feedly.com

Feed your mind with Feedly, you won’t be disappointed.

-AJ

Google Reader- Grandfather of Mobile News Reading

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Showing the beginning of these mobile apps is the beginning of showing what else is capable for those wanting to get the most out of their few minutes of free time a day used to catch up on things. The first app I will examine is the official Google Reader app. Now I know I previously stated that Reader is not really my favorite but I want to show almost the bare minimum before moving on to better alternatives. Here is the home screen of the Google Reader app on the Android OS. This app is not specifically cross compatible with the iPhone, but Reader is easily available through a browser window. If using Reader on the computer it’s easy to sync your Google account with the Reader mobile app and begin reading all the stories you’ve missed. Now to go into some pros and cons of this baseline performer. Some positives are the mobile accessibility on Android app and iPhone browser.  Syncing is a breeze and adding new sources and feeds is made simple. Integration with sharing stories, i.e. Facebook and Twitter, is made relatively easy. Some not so positive features would have to be its looks and ability to expand. The reader mobile app looks almost exactly like the desktop browser site. This is a good, clean looking app but it could look better. Sources include only small favicons, and scrolling through stories can be difficult because they all look similar, just a bunch of text. Granted this is the important aspect of the news reading but many feeds contain updates with images and video. This app is good for the Google Reader fanatic with plenty of exceptions. But don’t let the stories build up because Reader will always have that unread count just taunting you with how many stories you’re behind on. Overall I would give the Google Reader app a solid B-. It integrates okay with social media and presents stories at a very baseline simplistic approach. As far as professionalism go it’s hard to match. However, many (like myself), are using these apps sporadically throughout the day like say when waiting for lunch to arrive. There are plenty of alternatives to meet everyone’s interface and news reading needs. Now that news comes to the user it’s all a matter of packaging it into something that looks good and works well. Google Reader began something good, other apps have simply taken it a little further.

Find the Google Reader mobile app through the Google Play Store for Android or reader.google.com for iOS devices.

-AJ