gReader (updated)

App Name: gReader
Price: Free (with ads, $5.49 for Pro)
Platform: Android 2.1+
Avg. Score:  9/10 (updated) (explained below)

Update: I updated the scoring system slightly while Sean and I were talking about his review so please reread the paragraph below marked "(Updated)".

Next up, gReader, not to be confused with Google's "Reader" app, though it is also an rss/atom feed viewer. I mentioned in my Google Reader review that I was never really satisfied with it or with using a browser and Google's Reader web app, so I decided to switch to gReader and have really enjoyed it!

gReader has the same basic features that the Google Reader app has, so I recommend reading that review first as I'm mostly going to cover the areas where I feel gReader excels over the official Google Reader app.

I mentioned this in my Google Reader review, but in case you didn't see it I'll go over this again. Google's app Reader and gReader are what is called an RSS Feed Viewer. What this means is that if you "follow" my blog (or any other website), all new articles will automatically be added to the list of unread articles. This is especially useful for me so that I can follow my many tech sites (like Engadget, Geek.com, Techcrunch, etc.) and only have to go to one place and I can see the list of new articles from them all. I also never miss an article because they stay in my list until I mark them as read.

The first major feature that gReader has is the ability to cache (download) your feeds. While Google Reader can do this too I have found that gReader, combined with Instapaper, does a much better job at removing the fluff and leaving you with just the article text, but more on that later.

To the left you see the articles list view (click the image to see a larger version). By long tapping on an article in the list you will get a popup menu with the option to "Save page", the green arrow pointing down (above the title of the first article) appears next to all articles that are "saved". This allows you to cache your feeds in the morning via WiFi and then not use any of your allotted mobile data to read them later on in the day. There is also "Save pages until here" which is great for downloading a bunch of articles at once, but I only recommend using "Save pages until here" over WiFi as it will likely be slow and can use up a good bit of your mobile allotment.

(Update) One thing I forgot to mention, gReader allows you to manage your feeds directly from the app, no need to go to the Google Reader website to add or remove feeds, change feed names or assign them to folders. Also with the folders, you can exclude folders from updating. I use this so that image based feeds are only synced to my tablet and the rest only to my phone.

The second major feature, and I believe the biggest area where gReader surpasses Google Reader is in it's ability to "mobilize" your feeds. What this means is gReader uses a web app (Instapaper by default) to take a copy of the article and strip off all the extra junk (such as the ads and other stuff that you would see around the article on the normal website) so that all that you are left with a the article content and it's pictures.

Below you see the three article view options (cached, web, and feed). Cached is the downloaded and mobilized version, Web is the full article either on the desktop or (if available) the mobile site, and Feed is the article in "pure rss form". As you can see the cached version is very nice for just reading the article, but you may lose some images.

(Updated) Before I wrap things up I'd like to say that I am going to start giving each app I review a score based on a scale of 1-10, 1 being horrible and 10 being the best I've seen, and I've seen more than my fair share of apps (last count I had about 100 on both of my main devices). The scores will be based on Appearance, Execution, Features, Reliability and Usability, and then an average of these will be placed above with the app description and pricing.

• Appearance: 6/10. Like most Android apps it lacks the "pretty" interface that is so common in iOS apps.
• Execution: 10/10. gReader does an excellent job of taking the articles from your favorite sites and putting them in front of you in one place where it's easy to manage, read and even share the content.
• Features: 10/10. I found gReader had all the features I've wanted, many I didn't even know I wanted until I sat down and thought about what I would use them for.
• Reliability: 9/10. I don't remember ever having it crash, but the UI can lag a lot if your feeds are synchronizing in the background while you scroll through the list.
• Usability: 8/10. The only reason it is that low because there are so many settings that many less tech savvy users will have a hard time sorting through them all.

All in all a gReader is a great app and I can honestly say it is one I use many times a day and that I highly recommend it.

~ The Geeky Farmer ~

PS - I hope you all enjoy the new article format and that you find it easier to get the information you want out of all my ramblings!