A few months ago, I wrote about the iPhone optimized version of Google Reader and how pleasantly surprised I was with its features and interface on my S60 browser, compared to the ordinary mobile-optimized version. I have been using it ever since, and although I was still quite impressed with it, I faced two annoying problems. The first one is that the number of unread items was quite messed up: it would give me 512 unread items in a folder, but when opened, I’d only find 94 for example, and sometimes it did the opposite. The second one is that there was no possibility to mark all items as read in a certain folder, I had to go through each item individually, open it and close it for it to be marked as read.
Well, I’m glad to say that Google has now finally solved these matters. Google Reader now works like a charm and here are the improvements that have been implemented ever since I wrote about it the first time:
- No more issue between the shown number of unread items and the real number: everything is accurate, like on the desktop.
- “Mark all items as read” option has been removed from the main page and added to each folder and to each subscription individually.
- Staring items is now easier, with the star sign visible next to each one, click it and it turns yellow.
- Sharing items offers now more options, with the ability to share, share with a note and email.
- The settings have also improved with the ability to set any folder as your home page.
- There’s now an “Add a subscription” link on the home page that allows you to type in any RSS feed address, to search for feeds by entering keywords or to subscribe to feed bundles offered by Google.
Here are a few screenshots of the new features taken on my N82.
Mark all as read and staring items (left) and Add subscription (right)
Subscription search or bundle (left) and results for “Symbian-Guru” search (right)
Options for sharing (left) and Setting the start page (right)
There’s no doubt about it for me now, Google Reader has almost 90% of the usual desktop version’s features, and 100% of the features that I use. Did you ever try the iPhone optimized version of Google Reader on your S60 handset? What do you think of it? What other features do you miss from the desktop versions?
