Some Thoughts Regarding RSS Programs for the Pocket PC

[klanum]

Thought I'd post this for fun. I'd been looking for a replacement for my Journal Bar with the expansion pack. I liked JB's today plugin screen and my own custom RSS feeds where it downloaded the entire article and web page format for offline reading. Having just upgraded my IPAQ hx 4705 to WM5 and issues like there always is with JB, I couldn't get it working at all after several days of trying.

So...I decided to looking to replacing it with a weather and rss reader with a today plugin. I use iLauncher and PocketBreeze (PB), really enjoy them. I looked at PocketWeather from SBSH since they also make PB and it would fit into the PB window, allowing me a larger overall PB screen real estate. Overall I like it and will like purchase that one.

Next my next task was finding the right RSS reader for me. I already owned Newbreak for the last year or so and it was okay. The newer version did seem a little more stable on WM5 but it was just missing something. I decided to go ahead and download trials of the following:

- Egress
- NewsBreak (already owned)
- PocketRSS
- pRSSreader
- SmartRss

I wasn't really looking for a free one so I limited to those "retail" programs based on lots of feedback at PocketGear/Handango as well as PocketPC Magazine.

I installed them to my CF and after playing around for the last day or so, here are my initial thoughts:

Egress - Not bad as I liked the speed of it and overall display. The today plugin was okay as well since it would rotate thru the various waiting rss feeds. Definitely an option.

NewsBreak - As I said, I have used this for a while now and I have been somewhat satisfied but would always go back to my JB for the majority of the RSS reading. The today plugin is really lacking as it only showed the number of messages and not a sample of what's new or any of the other features some of the other programs offered on their today plugin.

PocketRSS - Now this seemed to be pretty fast overall. Not sure if it has to do with the fact it stores all the items in a database or not but it was pretty good. While I didn't like the look of some of the display screens when using the product, it wasn't bad either. THE BIG THING, I really liked how it integrated into PB overall and how it worked from the today screen. This was a real big plus to me!

pRSSreader - This seemed to be a decent program, not too heavy on the memory demand, overall size or speed was really surprising. I think it had the best formatting of the RSS feed download and was truer to the original of all the RSS programs. The today plugin was decent too, small footprint, rotated thru the various RSS feeds waiting to be read. This all put it high on the list.

SmartRSS - This one had a lot of good reviews but I had some issues with this one. The demo was not full functioning because it would not let me change/save the settings therefore I couldn't tweak it so my assessment might not be fair. The reader did a good job formatting the download which I found differed on each program. The today screen plugin was strange in that it would take up half the screen from top to bottom yet only need to display on maybe three or four lines like the other programs. Don't know if that was a setting issue or in conflict with the other plugins in use. Bottomline, I just didn't care much for it, no "warm and fuzzy" here!

So which one have I chosen? Well...none yet but I have to say that I am leaning strongly to PocketRSS at the moment. Besides the DB approach, I really like the integration with PocketBreeze. It gives me more screen overall for PocketBreeze plus the functions seem really good too. I haven't used the podcast download function yet but plan to try that soon. I plan to play around some more over the next week before plucking down the bucks.

If you have any feedback or other thoughts I should consider, please let me know. It has been fun playing with them but I am sure some of you have much more experience in this area than I. I have also posted a poll if you are so inclined to do so.

Kent


PS. Below are some screen shots of each of the programs viewing the same RSS feed, some shots of the today plugins in action as well as how the integration of PocketRSS looks within the PocketBreeze window.


Egress:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/4398/Egress.jpg


NewsBreak

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/4398/Newsbreak.jpg


PocketRSS

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/4398/PocketRSS.jpg


pRSSreader

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/4398/pRSSreader.jpg


SmartRss

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/4398/SmartRss.jpg


Today Plugins 1 (Top to Bottom: Egress, PocketRSS, pRSSreader and NewBreak)

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/4398/Today1.jpg


Today Plugins 2 (SmartRss)

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/4398/Today2.jpg


PocketRSS (Views Within PocketBreeze Screen)

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/4398/PB4.jpg

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/4398/PB5.jpg


PocketRSS (Settings Accessible From PocketBreeze Screen)

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/4398/PB2.jpg

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/4398/PB3.jpg

[GSmith]

I'm very surprized you didn't try FeederReader. It has a ton of features and is extremely configurable (some of my users say it is more configurable than any other RSS reader).

It can pull down any enclosure, has integrated file management, and lets you read, download, and listen all at the same time.

Greg Smith
Author, FeederReader - Pocket PC *direct* RSS text, audio, video, podcasts
www.FeederReader.com - Download on the Road

[klanum]

Greg....To be honest, I don't remember why FeederReader didn't come up on the radar in my initial search. I'll download it, add it to my search and give it a shot too. Thanks for the headsup!

[doc]

It seems that you didn't like JB because you couldn't get it installed right on WM5. I use the RSS part of JB pretty extensively on my WM5 device and it works just fine. I'll admit that trying to get the licensed versioned installed can be a chore, but it was also a same chore on previous OS.

The only gripe I have about JB's RSS is that you're limited to 14 feeds.

[klanum]

Doc, I heartily agree with you that JB works well (when it works) and while the RSS limit is low, this was enough for me in my daily readings. It also was an impressive app for those non-PDA types to see all that information on display on the Today screen, understanding then what a PPC might do for them. But back to the RSS limit issue with 14...I don't know how people get things done if they actually read all that they subscribe to unless they are jobless, laying there bedridden or in jail killing time! :wink:

My problem with JB has always been issues of installing/reinstalling JB after hard resets in all my IPAQ's over the years and I did just about everything on this last one. Installed Expansion Pack first, then JB and vice versa, installed on device/SD/CF and so on. I cleared the JB format, deleted content, updated via Activesync and WIFI, just about every combination you can think of. I even searched their support forum top to bottom, the FAQ's and couldn't find anything to help.

It just got to be a pain for me because it seemed each time something different would get it to work and I ran out of ideas after a couple days in this case. Short of going and doing lots of troubleshooting documentation for the developer, that got me searching for something better with all the great developers and ideas for the "better mousetrap". Besides time is money and I have better things to do with it than fix something that belongs to someone else when a new package with possibly better features is still relatively low pricewise to my time spent.

[GSmith]

I don't know how people get things done if they actually read all that they subscribe to unless they are jobless, laying there bedridden or in jail killing time! :wink:

There are different styles of reading RSS feeds. One style, called River Of News, is that you don't read ALL the feeds, you only read what you have time for, and let the others expire.

FeederReader allows you to read everything you download, but you can also set it up for the River Of News style of reading. That is the way that I have it set up. I have to, I am testing with 1300+ feeds within FeederReader (on the Pocket PC!) and you're right: there's no way I can read it all.

That'd be another poll I'd like to see: what's your aggregator, how many feeds do you have in it, and do you want more?

Greg Smith
Author, FeederReader - Pocket PC *direct* RSS text, audio, video, podcasts
www.FeederReader.com - Download on the Road

[doc]

I'm definitely a "River of News" kind of RSS feed reader. In my desktop I have 242 feeds that I like to watch the subjects as they're posted. I don't read every single one of them. If the subject/description looks interesting I bookmark it for reading later, or read it right then if I have time.

Onfolio is a perfect RSS reader when used in this manner. Unfortunately it's just for tablets and desktops. The whole Onfolio package is pretty spendy since it does quite a bit more, but once the trial expires the Firefox plug-in and reader still work fine.

[xdalaw]

Klanum-

I own and have used almost all of the feed-readers you've listed above. I mainly use NewsBreak, with Egress as my installed "backup" reader.

I find Newsbreak to be the fastest and cleanest to use when I want to quickly see how many new items I have in my different feeds. This is a very personal preference, I know, but for me, I like that summary view best. Unfortunately, the today screen plug-in is pretty worthless for me.

I like Egress also, but think its a little slower than Newsbreak, and I don't like the fact that you can't quickly see how many new items you have in each feed. The today screen plug-in is ok, although I'd prefer more data than it shows.

PocketRSS has the best today screen plug-in, IMHO, but the regular reader is awful. Slow and ugly, I've also had problems with corrupted databases many times over the past couple of years. I don't currently use it and I don't think it's been updated since the Summer of '05. That being said, when/if it is updated, I will try it again, as the plug-in is great, the integration with PocketBreeze is handy, and the developer was helpful in trying to work-out my past problems.

-- Andrew

p.s. I also like you taste in feeds. I have a bunch of similar Conservative feeds I enjoy. I'm not sure if you read Powerlineblog.com, but it has a good feed as well. I'm adding Hugh Hewett as we speak. :D

[klanum]

Andrew,

Thanks for the feedback! I agree that NewBreak does seem speedier than most on the downloads. I'm going back and forth on if its real important to be on the today screen but since I'm replacing JB with one of these, that may make the NewsBreak as my backup with its weak today plugin.

On PocketRSS, I am still playing with it and that whole DB may not be the best thing as first thought. Still trying to figure that out. I agree with you also on the overall look of the reader itself and slowness but on the later, just upgraded to WM5 on the hx4705 and it's slow by itself...that's another story. I do still come back to that PB interface but don't know if that's enough.

I am trying out FeederReader now, thanks for the heads up Greg :wink:. Not bad so far but I haven't had the time to put it through a good look yet since real life keeps interferring.

Thanks again for the feedback!
Kent

PS. Yep, I am part of that vast right-wing conspiracy. I found the OPML file for those sites at: http://red-america.toptensources.com/TopTenSources/Default.aspx.

[christak]

I use FeederReader (not on your list) and find it to be better for my needs than the current version of PocketRSS (which I also own)... FeederReader's configurable options are super...

As far as PocketRSS is concerned, I preferred the previous (less bloated) version of PocketRSS over the current offering...
8)

[Ilium Software]

As a product manager I love this sort of discussion. It really helps to highlight exactly what people are looking for in a product! (And thanks for such an excellent start for the discussion Klanum!)

At Ilium Software we place a lot of value on the ideas, comments, and requests we get from customers. I've already made a note about the today screen plug-in. Another popular request is the option to pull the full article for off-line reading.

Please feel free to me email any gripes, ideas, or comments you have. I'd love to hear them!

Marc Tassin
Ilium Software
--------------------
marc @ iliumsoft.com
+1 (734) 973-9388
---------------------
http://www.iliumsoft.com

[tabenate]

I'm surprised not many people are voting for pRSSreader, especially as it's the only free app on the list.

I haven't tried any readers except for pRSS & PocketRSS and though
I'd say PocketRSS has a nicer layout, I'm happy enough with pRSS and it's price is the clincher.

[klanum]

Still playing around with them all. It seems each has its own strenghts and weaknesses, something you like and some things you don't. I will play with one and then another one seems to do something else that I like to do and I'll switch to that one. Think I'll just need to make myself a list of have and wants, then go through the steps of being more methodical. That's the great thing about the PPC, there's so many options to us that it's like being a kid in a candy store. :lol:

Marc - I do appreciate the acknowledgement of the interest the topic. I am a former head of Product Development for a telecom years ago and these types of discussions are indeed great to get feedback. I agree that the NewBreak needs a stronger today plugin whether integrated with a SBSH PocketBreeze/SPB Diary or standalone and the downloading of extended data on specific feeds would be a welcome addition too. The only other thing I am seeing (and haven't really tried yet) is the whole podcast thing. That seems to be here now and only growing. Regardless, thanks for letting us know you're watching these types of discussions!