Google Reader for Android

RATING:
3 out of 5

PRICE:
FREE

TASTY:
The world’s premier RSS aggregation service is now available via a standalone reader app on your Android device.

BUMMER:
Font is super-huge, and with no ability to force to app to store its messaging cache on your SD card, your phone’s onboard storage will quickly be overwhelmed.

COOL:
Be sure to head into settings and turn on the ability to use your volume key to scroll between items. Nice touch, Google!

SIMILAR APPS IN THE MARKETPLACE:
A Good Reader
NewsRob
FeedSquares
Greed
Pulse News Reader
ReaderScope

Google’s first release of its official RSS client is an excellent start, but there’s plenty of room for improvement.

For starters, Reader does an admirable job of displaying your Reader feeds on your Android device. Especially if you’re getting up in years and could use some reading glasses; the standard font is super-huge and there to stay. The app’s light color scheme is also easy on the eyes, and its ability to browse by individual feeds or categories is a welcome approach.

Add in multiple Google account support, controls for reading all entries vs. only those that are unread, direct access to starred items, and a super-simple integration of finding items shared by those you follow and Reader starts to look like a worthy competitor to its Marketplace cousins.

That said, the current version does have a fatal flaw for heavy RSS users: no ability to force to app to store its messaging cache on your SD card means your phone’s onboard storage will quickly be overwhelmed. We’ll likely see Google address this and other issues in an upcoming update.

That said, if your RSS feed list is relatively small (like mine) you’ll likely not encounter any show stopping issues.

Be sure to head into settings and turn on the ability to use your volume key to scroll between items. You may also press and hold on folders of content or items to rename them, unsubscribe, and more. The Share feature makes sending interesting content to specific people or groups of followers no sweat at all.

Read all of my Apple iPad and Google Android application reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech.