Ever since I got my iPhone, there’s been one website that I’ve been using almost constantly, and I think it’s about time I give it a highlight on PeacefulTech.  The website ( or more correctly: web application ) that has me so thrilled is Google Reader.  It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Google’s online tools, and this is just another example of how Google hits a home run.

NOTE:  If you don’t know what news feeds or RSS feeds are, stay tuned for an article explaining them in detail very soon.

The simple definition of a news (RSS) feed is a set of headlines from a website that allow you to quickly see two things:

1. What’s been added to the website
2. A quick summary of each item added

This is important because it allows you to see an overview of what’s new without having to visit the website unless you see something that interests you.

What is Google Reader?

Google Reader is a website with built-in news reader capabilities.  You tell it what news feeds you want to read, and it collects them all together for you.  You can browse all your news together, or one feed at a time.  It’s looks a little like Gmail and is just as fast.

So why is Google Reader so great?  I thought you’d never ask.

Google Reader Is Fast

There’s many different ways to build a web application like Google Reader, but not every way will result in a fast, responsive site.  This is one thing that Google absolutely does as well as anyone.  Their design is very simple, and maybe a little plain, but their applications for the most part are as fast as anything else out there.  This is important to people on mobile devices as I’ll write about later.

Google Reader is convenient

Don’t know the the exact address of the news feed you want to read?  No problem, just click the "Add Subscription" link, and type in the address of the website it comes from.  Google Reader will find the newsfeed for you and add it to your list.

Google Reader on the iPhone

Shortly after the iPhone was released, Google created a special version of Google Reader just for the iPhone.  This, in my opinion, made Google Reader the "killer app" ( a geek term for the perfect program ) for the iPhone.  It reformats your news feeds into a format that looks and works great on the iPhone screen.  Because of this, and the fact that it’s super fast, I can catch up on headlines from 6 different websites and blogs in just a few minutes.

Speed

It’s worth mentioning in this context again how fast Google Reader is on the iPhone.  This is extra important because as some of you well know, the iPhone uses the AT&T Edge network for internet access when there’s no Wi-Fi available.  Edge is slow.  Really slow.  Think dial-up speed.  Then divide by two.  It’s that slow.  Google reader is BLAZING fast even on Edge.

Reformatted content

When you do see a headline that you like, past experience with the Edge network will make you think twice about clicking it on the iPhone.  Because as I mentioned before, Edge is slow.  Once you click on a link in Google Reader, you’re jumping off the fast track and into the slow lane of the internet.  However, the good engineers at Google managed to extend their speedy application to the websites you’re reading news from.  It will retrieve the page you’re clicking to, and display it in a format much like the rest of the news headlines.  It’s much faster than going to the website, and Google gets a big "Well done" for adding this feature from iPhone/Edge users like myself.

Switchable Interface

Need to add another newsfeed while on your iPhone? No worries, just scroll to the bottom of the page, and click "Classic".  This will switch you back to the normal Google Reader view temporarily so you can add more newsfeeds.  Reloading the page will take you back to the iPhone version.

The Bottom Line

Google Reader on my iPhone allows me to have the best of both worlds.  Staying informed without spending much time doing it.  The last thing I want to do is spend half an hour on my phone when I could be doing something else.  I no longer have to choose between reading headlines and having time for more important things.  Google Reader lets me have both. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 at 2:10 pm and is filed under Google Products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.