I’ve been a longtime NetNewsWire user and lover, but since I really started reading feeds on my mobile device, I’ve been searching for a way to keep my reading locations in sync easily. NetNewsWire can sync through Newsgator (which I use) but Newsgator mobile sucks compared to Bloglines and … Google Reader.
I was actually happily reading through Bloglines but in the last week or so, I’ve been actively using Google Reader because the new release is really pretty great! Bloglines has a few annoying features which have yet to be addressed and with a few minimal tweaks has actually been the exact same product since before the Ask acquisition.
Google Reader enables full reading, saving, tagging and navigating with the keyboard which I really dig. You can even call up a specific feed with a keyboard shortcut.
The main thing I really like over Bloglines is that I can click on a full folder without worrying that my full list of feeds will get marked as read before I’ve had a chance to actually read them. Bloglines has yet to address this and for me is actually a critical difference.
The obvious advantage to a web based reader is that you can access things from anywhere you have a connection and from any web enabled device. There is no sync – state is just maintained. Of course, the key disadvantage is that you can’t do any reading while on a plane, which I’ve certainly done in the past, but in my current gig, I am traveling more by car and use a Sprint EVDO card when on the go, so I’ve got access pretty much anywhere I need from my laptop … not too mention my E61.
The mobile reader can definitely use a few tweaks but is amazingly efficient for reading. You have less control than you do from Bloglines, but I can live with the differences for now. There’s a small list being compiled by the Google Reader Group for what changes would be appreciated.
Lifehacker and TUAW have made similar moves and are worth reading for perspective as well.
Technorati Tags: Google Reader, Bloglines, NetNewsWire, Newsgator, Sync, E61, Mobile
I never use Bloglines since it uses a lot of data with my rather large rss-list. And since I have to pay for data used, this is not an option. I only added my favourites to the built-in reader and that works for me 😀
My issue is that I’d like to maintain state / sync with my laptop and the built-in reader does not do that since it’s really a standalone reader… also my RSS subscription list is about 600 feeds which makes it quite challenging for the device to deal with.