Google Reader: Your RSS feeds in one place

The beauty of the Internet is that you can keep updated without having to waste paper. Sure, there’s something about being able to feel a magazine or newspaper in your hands, but if you want to help Mother Earth, going paperless is the way to go. There are a number of ways to get the newest information. You can stalk certain websites like Android Authority to get your fix on the latest in Android news or keep updated on what’s happening around the world by visiting CNN. Checking these websites individually can be tiring though, and it can waste precious time. Be good to yourself and go the way of RSS feeds which allow you to check all the latest updates in one place.

It wasn’t too long ago that Flipboard landed on Android but if you weren’t all that impressed or if you’re looking for options, there’s Feedly. You might be familiar with its web version, but the Feedly website isn’t the only place where you can read your RSS updates. The mobile app for the Feedly service has been recently updated, bringing such changes as a better UI and new features.

For the uninitiated, Feedly turns your Google Feed into a magazine. It definitely made going through hundreds of RSS updates a whole lot easier and more entertaining to go through.

To use the Feedly app, you can opt to log in with your Google account and access your Google Reader items. If you don’t have a Google account, you can skip over logging in with your Google account and just jump to adding some of your favorite sites to the app. You can categorize them either by Feedly’s suggested categories or you can make one of your own. This allows you to organize your reading material for when you’re just in the mood to get updated on technology or when you want to kick back and soak in some references for your living room redecoration project.

To start viewing your RSS feeds, tap on the Menu icon in the upper left corner and tap Today, Latest or any of the categories you have.

Feedly’s strength over the standard RSS reader is that it turns, say, Android Authority’s newest articles into an attractive magazine view. You’ll see a thumbnail of the article’s feature image, the article’s title and the first few words of the article. Swipe right to left to move to the next page of updates and swipe left to right to move backwards.

If an article catches your eye, tap on it. Feedly then shows you the reader-friendly version of the article, stripped of annoyances like ads, and with black text against an off white background. The text is big enough to be read at a comfortable distance. If you find a lot of articles that you want to read but you just don’t have the time, don’t worry. You can tap the bookmark icon in the upper right corner of the screen and save your article for reading later. You can access these saved articles on the Saved for Later item on the Menu.

Sharing an interesting article is also easy using Feedly. Tap the options icon in the upper right corner and you can share your finding with Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and more.

One small snag I ran into was that multi-part articles, such as our Best new Android games (mid-September edition), had trouble displaying the links to the next parts. You will need to view the original article to see them. This may not be that much of an inconvenience to readers but it does go to show that Feedly was optimized for one-page articles.

Feedly is a free app but it isn’t cluttered with ads. You can focus on reading your RSS feeds without accidentally tapping an obtrusive ad. Download Feedly – Google Reader | RSS from the Google Play Store today.

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