I am slowly becoming more and more of a Google convert and the reason is exactly the one they were hoping for.My first RSS reader was actually called RSS reader and located at rssreader.com. A while back I decided to use a hosted RSS reader so I could have access to my feeds anywhere. I decided the Google Reader didn’t have the good looks of PageFlakes so I went with the latter.
What I found is that in exchange for the much nicer interface, PageFlakes can bog down my entire browser and sometimes my computer. Of course I have dozens of feeds on a page which I am sure is a big part of the problem.
Still, I liked the PageFlakes interface (and still do). But when I started using the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet I found PageFlakes didn’t run. Then I tried to open this attractive reader on my phone and again, no luck.
All the while whenever I used Google on my phone I saw plugs (advertising messages) for Google Reader. I even clicked on it a few times and the one feed I had in the reader came up and was very readable on the phone.
So it was just a matter of time before I had no choice but to switch over to Google Reader so I could have access to my favorite news sources on the go.
There are a few other reasons I like the Google reader as well. The service has a statistics function allowing you to track which information sources you seem to click on more than others. This is a good tool as it allows you to stop subscribing to feeds that you don’t read.
The last is Google Gears. I haven’t heard much about Gears lately but the software allows a service like Google Reader to work offline by simulating a backend web browser. You click a button on your reader just before you go offline and the latest 2,000 feeds are downloaded to your computer.
I wonder if Gears will soon be available for cell phones as well.
Sadly Google Reader doesn’t look so great on the Nokia N800 for some reason. Perhaps I need to play around with the settings a bit.
Still, Google Reader allows you to export (and import) your feeds as an OPML file meaning if the built-in and highly attractive Nokia reader could import feeds, I would be all set.
Google has successfully captured yet another convert to its mobile strategy through its dizzying and ever-expanding array of services which all seem to be adaptable to the majority of mobile devices. I alluded to this in the first sentence of this story – saying this is exactly what Google is hoping for. While the Google Reader is far from perfect, it is more adaptable than PageFlakes and many other readers… So for now it will be my new RSS reader choice.
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