A6.Times - New RSS Reader for your Smartphone

[Mike Temporale]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.alien6tech.com/timesSpDescription.aspx' target='_blank'>http://www.alien6tech.com/timesSpDescription.aspx</a><br /><br /></div><i>"A6.Times for Smartphone is a user friendly electronic newspaper for your Windows Mobile Smartphone device that supports all known Web content syndication formats and versions (RSS, Atom, RDF). A6.Times sets itself apart from other similar software with a spectacular user interface that organizes information into sections, just like a traditional newspaper does."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Temporale-20060719-a6Times2.png" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Temporale-20060719-a6Times1.png" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br />A6.Times is a new RSS reader for your Smartphone. Like the quote says, it is very nice to look at. They must have spent a lot of time getting the visual elements just right on this. There's a 14 day trial version available on their website. If you do try it, please share your thoughts with us. I'd like to know what you think of this reader. It sure is nice to look at. :)

[zilla31]

i've been playing with this today and i gotta say i'm really impressed so far. finally a GOOD rss reader for the SP (newsbreak doesn't quite cut it for me and isn't nearly as user friendly IMO).

[encece]

That's a nice looking app. I need to try it.
Newsbreak has almost always worked well for me...but this is much more asthetically pleasing. I'm all about good looking apps.

[zilla31]

def give it a try.... i mean i don't want to hate on Newsbreak since it's served me fairly well so far too but this new app is just a different RSS exp (you'll get what i'm saying when you try it). it's not perfect but more of what i was looking for in an SP feed reader :)

[scottb]

Like others, I've been using NewsBreak for a while. I tried A.6 and found it pretty to the eye, but a little "clunky" for me to use. Also, it seems very sluggish comapred to NB. A.6 is installed on my SD card, so that might have something to do with it.

I find the font to be less than sharp to me--maybe it's the newsprint background. I like the feature in NB to "Mark All Read"--if it's not in bold, I won't look back at it again. I did not see this feature in A.6. This means they always show as new unless I visit each headline.

Navigation, though slightly lacking in NB SP version, was a little confusing to me in A.6. I wasn't really sure where I was going when pressing left or right. I probably didn't give it quite enough useage to figure it out completely. When browsing a section, down seemed to go either a half page or full page depending on the content. Right seemed to go a full page each time. From the section list, left and right went somewhere--not sure where.

Lastly, I found the Front Page concept a little confusing too. If I'm going to browse my news by sections, why do I need the Front Page? It seems all it does is browse my sections.

Of course, YMMV, but I find the simplicity of NB a bit more appealing to me.

[zilla31]

scottb - one thing you might want to try (i did) is changing the font to "large" in a.6. i too found the default a bit painful. as far as the "mark all read" i'm missing that feature BIG TIME in a.6 since i left NB. still kind of hoping that it's there somewhere or has to be on the short list for new features (isn't that a must for feed readers?).

[alien6]

Hello everyone,

Many thanks to everyone here for evaluating A6.Times. I hope I can answer a few of your questions:

1) Font size: zilla31 was right, you can change the font size. But for user friendliness we will set the default font size to the bigger one in the coming update... and let the myopic users (like myself) guess you can change it.

2) The "Mark All" menu item: you guessed what our next update (in 2 weeks) will include, guys. Our non-smartphone version allows the user to click on the red icon in the headlines to mark it as "browsed", but we did not translate it to the SP version, our apologies. Meanwhile, please note that a news will mark itself as "browsed" if you browse it entirely in the news pages.

3) Navigation: A6.Times must be read just like a newspaper, by "turning" the pages from left to right. In fact a user could read the whole newspaper this way, without using shortcuts. The order is quite similar to a standard newspaper: Frontpage-Section Guide-Section 1-Section 2...-About. Then each section subdivides in news sources.

The up-down keys will go to the previous/next selectable item in the newspaper section you are in.

4) Font Page: some users, as scottb and some people at Alien6, are not so fond of the Front Page. But other people, as several Alien6 customers and Yours Truly, use it most of the time. It's a question of taste. It also helps give that "newspaper look" that is specific to A6.Times.


That's it for now! I hope I gave useful answers. I urge you to, please, keep sending us your feedback. A6.Times is a young product, but we are resolutely committed to making it one of the best RSS readers -- on everything called Windows Mobile.

Have a great weekend everyone,

Jean Le Moignan
Alien6 Technologies

[scottb]

scottb - one thing you might want to try (i did) is changing the font to "large" in a.6. i too found the default a bit painful. as far as the "mark all read" i'm missing that feature BIG TIME in a.6 since i left NB. still kind of hoping that it's there somewhere or has to be on the short list for new features (isn't that a must for feed readers?).

Thanks. Actually, that's the first thing I looked for and I did change the font to the larger size. It just didn't look that crisp to me--almost like it was forcing ClearType, which I don't care for. I always turn it off whenever I can.

@alien6,
Thanks for addressing the comments here. I'm sure some of these will help improve the product.

[alien6]

Hi scottb,

I really want to understand what you mean. I would appreciate if you sent a screenshot at [email protected].

Many thanks,


JLM

[encece]

How do I import OPML files? It tells me there is none in the ImportExport folder. (There was no importexport folder). SO I created it and moved my OPML file there. It still didnt see it.

[alien6]

Hello encece,

You are right, the installer fails to create the ImportExport folder. Thank you for reporting the problem.

Please export your news sources in an OPML file (menu item "Export Opml File...") and name it, say, "abc".

Then, if you try to import again, you should see file "abc". And since the export creates the ImportExport folder where it should be, you should have no problem finding where eveything is in the Explorer.

[encece]

Got that working just fine. I was also confused in that there are two A6 directories created when installed. One in the root of the StorageCard and one under Program Files of the storage card.

One usability note that keeps driving me nuts is when I hit the back button, it takes me totally out of the program, no matter where in the program I am. I'd expect it to take me to a previous screen or to a higher level. For example: hitting BACK in StoryView brings you to headlines. Hitting BACK in headlines brings you to Sections.

Navigation currently isn't the easiest...but it may just take some getting used to. I wont give up until I thoroughly try it out. Remember...Newsbreak is my most used program.

[Mike Temporale]

Remember...Newsbreak is my most used program.

Wow! Is it really? I'm still not big on RSS on the mobile platform. I need it to sync with my desktop RSS so I don't waste time re-reading the same stories.

[scottb]

Hi scottb,

I really want to understand what you mean. I would appreciate if you sent a screenshot at [email protected].

Many thanks,

JLM

Sent! The screen shot is much larger than the Q screen, so it actually looks pretty good. It's probably a combination of the narrow font and my aging eyes, but it just does not look completely in focus to me. I use NewsBreak all the time and that font seems a little easier to read to me. Thanks.

[encece]

Remember...Newsbreak is my most used program.

Wow! Is it really? I'm still not big on RSS on the mobile platform. I need it to sync with my desktop RSS so I don't waste time re-reading the same stories.

It sure is. I have it sync every hour and check world news, local news and WindowsMobile news all day long. It's right next to email as my most used app. I dont use RSS on my PC. I just browse the full sites from my favorites category "Daily Surf".

If you ask me, RSS was made for the mobile platform. Much like AvantGo used to be in the old days. I can check my daily websites without time consuming mobile web surfing.

I look at the headlines and read what I want. Mark all as read (Which A6 doesn't seem to have) and move on until the next time I get the opportunity to read thru again.

[alien6]

Hello scott,

Thank you for the screenshot and your help. We'll try and come up with an additional font mode, where we might use a bold font or a bigger font. We'll try to squeeze it in the coming update, if possible.

[alien6]

Hello encece,

The BACK key use is a very interesting suggestion indeed. I thank everyone here for their high-quality feedback. That's what we need to make sure A6.Times becomes a winner.

[Mike Temporale]

It sure is. I have it sync every hour and check world news, local news and WindowsMobile news all day long. It's right next to email as my most used app. I dont use RSS on my PC. I just browse the full sites from my favorites category "Daily Surf".

Sounds like our needs are very different. I use it to help locate interesting mobile and Windows Mobile news items from almost 300 different feeds. If I was using it more as a casual consumer, I would only have a handful of feeds from my favourite sites and then I wouldn't really care about keeping things in sync or even using a desktop client.

[bshpmark]

I tried A6 Times on my T-Mobile SDA. I tried it for several days but finally deleted it. I had two categories set up: Technology and News. I had 4 news sources and 5 technology sources. Whenever I refreshed the newspaper it took 4 minutes and 30 seconds to refresh. That was ridiculous. I agree with the other poster who said it was hard difficult to navigate. I don't mind reading it like a newspaper but I would like to be able to immediately get to the page with all of the sources listed so that I can choose which one I want to look such as MSNBC or Reuters. I had to fumble around and eventually after several key presses by hit and miss could make my way back.

I wish when people make apps for our phones they would include a help file that you could read on the phone. Most apps are fairly intuitive but some you need some help on. Some of the other news readers out there are much better in my opinion. I won't be paying money for this one.

Mark