Google Reader

The long-awaited Reader is an extremely user-friendly and efficient means of accessing Google content

Free Simple but great service from Google 


Google hasn't exactly been the quickest at delivering its own applications to Android Market, which isn't a business model that makes much sense. Thankfully, it is slowly but surely offering its content in app form. Since Android's beginning, third-party apps have (clumsily) filled a hole but now Google is finally fighting back.

Google Reader for Android is a simple, but great service. It's an app that works best if you are already using the full-fat version of Reader. Once you sync it with your account, you'll get to grips with the app faster than a Mike Tyson knockout.

It doesn't take long, either, to syrc your accounts up. It took about a minute for us to download the app and then a further 60 seconds to put in our account details.

The look is very simple. There's a list of choices. All Items is at the top and underneath is the Starred Items. This is followed by Your Stuff, People You Know and Explore.

Explore is an interesting option, as it offers up RSS feeds you haven't signed up for and these are similarin theme to your existing ones.

For some reason all feeds are tacked on at the bottom. It's good that they are there but looks clumsy.

As there are no fancy graphics to slow the app down, Reader is very
speedy. And speed is of the essence, when you want your RSS feeds to come through.

When it comes to settings, there area number of things that you can toggle. These include the ability to subscribe, search your RSS and  Google Reader has had a recent update which adds some interesting new features.

Once you sync it with your account you'll get to grips with it faster than a Mike Tyson knockout

even sort the feeds by dragging and dropping.

 The best of these is the ability to add a Google Reader widget to your home screen. This enables you to have unread feeds come up, or a simple news ticker. This is a great addition to what is already a decent app.

The only small-ish problem is that you will have to have an Android 2.2 handset to be able to use the widget-style features.

The Reader application for Android has been a long-time coming, and now it is here it is pretty much everything you could ask for from a news reader. Better late than never, then.