With a $3.99 price tag, mobile Google Reader iReadG should provide a plethora of features that make it a perfect companion to web-based Google Reader functions. In some instances, iReadG does just that, although a few problem areas hold the app back from reaching its potential.
First, the good: iReadG makes it very easy to read your RSS feed offline. You can add the app quickly to ReadItLater to enable offline reading. You can also quickly email, Facebook, or tweet anything in iReadG.
Reading stories out of the reader is easy, as well, as websites are auto-fit to avoid constant left-to-right scrolling.
Security buffs should also appreciate the ability to view the reader pages with encrypted https technology, thus avoiding the possibility of being compromised when sharing large public wireless networks.
It’s not all good news for iReadG, though. Much of the app runs surprisingly slow, even on a healthy wireless network. For instance, there’s a button on the app to see stories that friends have posted to share on their readers that doesn’t ever seem to populate. Similarly, loading feeds with stories posted more than a day ago is a bit painful. While the app provides the option to show more results, tapping the button to do so doesn’t seem to populate new stories that the web-based Google Reader displays easily.
There is also a “Play” function of iReadG that’s slow, or unable, to populate. I’m not sure what the feature does, as I was never able to get it to load. It’s issues like these that make that $3.99 price seem like far too much. While the offline-reading and general RSS features in iReadG work admirably, there’s a good portion of features here that just don’t feel like they’re up to par with the rest of the package.
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