December 3, 2010

Google Reader for Android

Google Reader's mobile web app works really well and it has a great interface, so there aren't many reasons to create a native application for Google Reader. The main issue is that the application doesn't work offline, but this is a feature that could be easily implemented.

Instead of improving the mobile web app, Google decided to release a native Android app for Google Reader. The application supports multiple accounts, synchronizes your subscriptions and works offline. It also lets you search your feeds -- a feature that's inexplicably missing from the mobile web app.


Google Reader for Android uses infinite scrolling, has bigger touch areas, it integrates with the operating system's "send to" actions and has a neat trick in the settings that lets you navigate between articles using your phone's volume keys.

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26 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 3, 2010 at 8:42 AM

    Yes, what happened to all the HTML5 offline stuff? Google killed Gears, and then utterly failed to replace it.

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  2. ggDecember 3, 2010 at 8:42 AM

    This app is excellent. I wish the developers would move the 'Mark All As Read" to the bottom of the window. On the HTC Evo, you need to hit Menu to click. Also, when you Mark As As Read, it does not advance you back to the Feeds list like the web app. You need to hit the back arrow. Navigation on the bottom of the window would make this a killer app.

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  3. hongjunDecember 3, 2010 at 8:43 AM

    "Blogger following" not working on Google Reader for Android though.

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  4. AnonymousDecember 3, 2010 at 8:45 AM

    FYI you can search via their mobile html interface as well.

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  5. UnknownDecember 3, 2010 at 8:52 AM

    Great app.

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  6. tingDecember 3, 2010 at 9:52 AM

    It's true as the earlier poster said, you can search on the web app.
    One main feature missing from the Reader app is being able to download files e.g mp3s in podcast feeds which you can do in the web app.
    Nice to be able to read image alt text.

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  7. AnonymousDecember 3, 2010 at 10:13 AM

    I love this new application. The one thing that I have found so far that I dislike is that the web app will launch links in the mobile web page, where this app launches links in the full web page. Anyway to have this app launch links to articles in the mobile web site by default?

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  8. Tony LukasavageDecember 3, 2010 at 12:00 PM

    I've been waiting for this app to come out for a while. Looks great!

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  9. StevenDecember 3, 2010 at 2:49 PM

    All I wanted was a "Share" plugin for the browser. This giant app is the only way I know to provide it, so I spent hours yesterday getting apps2card working since my Milestone XT720 has almost no app space and is stuck at 2.1.

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  10. MichaelDecember 3, 2010 at 3:58 PM

    This is terrific. Shame though it came two days after I paid for a third-party reader app.

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  11. AnonymousDecember 3, 2010 at 5:54 PM

    Another interesting tidbit: Enabling favicons in the Android app enables them in the full web version of Google Reader! Neat!

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  12. A SDecember 3, 2010 at 7:08 PM

    The Google Reader app doesn't have the same 'Keep unread' checkbox behavior as the Web version for Android or Desktop. In the Web version of Google Reader for Android or the Desktop version, if you mark an item as 'Keep Unread', and then you click on the 'Mark all as read' button, Google Reader will mark everything as read except your 'Keep unread' items. In other words, the 'Keep unread' checkbox overrides the 'Mark all as read' button. This behavior was very convenient and it is missing in the Google Reader app for Android.

    Another very annoying navigation weakness - when you click through to read items, the only way to return back to the home page is to click on the back button. I wish there was a menu button for returning to the Google Reader home page from any where in the app.

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  13. AnonymousDecember 3, 2010 at 8:07 PM

    Its not available in Malaysia android market. Are we not good readers or what?!!!

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  14. UnknownDecember 4, 2010 at 8:25 AM

    Not available in Egypt android market too. I have to use paid apps market enabler on a rooted device to download it. That's odd...

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  15. jasonDecember 4, 2010 at 4:56 PM

    no sync for offline reading like other 3rd part apps

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  16. AnonymousDecember 5, 2010 at 7:12 PM

    has been using huge amounts of cpu/battery/autosync time; autosync icon is showing for a couple of minutes after startup - even though the app doesn't seem to store articles for offline reading.
    my account has 100s of feeds and 1000s of posts - no other reading app does that.
    uninstalled, waiting for update.

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  17. AnonymousDecember 6, 2010 at 5:53 AM

    It won't connect to sync for me most of the time. This may be related to the other issues I'm having looking at any secure websites or checking my exchange email.

    I'm in Ireland (eMobile) on Galaxy S running 2.2.

    Unfortunately I'm going to have to stick with NewsRob for the time being.

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  18. RobDecember 7, 2010 at 4:50 AM

    Is this app only available in specific countries? Why? It's free, isn't it? What is the point of restricting it? And if it is restricted, why not say so in the announcement (http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2010/11/android-google-reader-app-is-here.html), to stop the rest of us wasting our time looking for it?

    This seems to be yet another example of Google forgetting that anyone outside the US exists.

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  19. AnonymousDecember 8, 2010 at 12:39 AM

    has been using huge amounts of cpu/battery/autosync time.had to uninstall as battery dies every night.

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  20. JonoDecember 10, 2010 at 4:14 PM

    CPU usage is bad, uninstalling for now. Why is CPU being used when nothing going on in background?

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  21. AnonymousJanuary 5, 2011 at 6:50 AM

    It's slow. That can be improved over time I guess.

    The main function missing is the ability to choose which subscriptions to exclude.

    For example, I group (or label) my subscriptions, but one label is that of things I would rather browse at leisure.

    I want to view only my 'not at leisure' subscriptions via mobile - but I end up with having to scroll through masses of things I'd rather not view via mobile, but only would rather view when I'm at my PC with the time and a full screen.

    Come on Google - it's not rocket science, as they say !

    Thanks

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  22. AnonymousJanuary 14, 2011 at 10:38 PM

    Can the reader app notify when unread things are detected? I can use a "google notifier" third party app for that but it requires my login info and I'm not supplying that to anyone..

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  23. UnknownJanuary 28, 2011 at 2:49 PM

    I would love for it to remember the place I was at in an article when I close the application.

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  24. AnonymousMay 24, 2011 at 3:01 PM

    I can't get the google reader app on the motorola Defy to show images for the Lamebook feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/Lamebook). Any suggestions?

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  25. AnonymousDecember 12, 2011 at 8:33 PM

    I really enjoy the Google Reader app, but it's podcast support is atrocious.

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  26. UnknownFebruary 16, 2018 at 4:00 AM

    looking for new ebook reader app, Bookhungama is best option. Download for FREE!!!
    Avalable for Android and ios.

    ReplyDelete

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