Looking for an RSS reader for the iPad? Perhaps one of these will work for you. While all of these are functional, personally, the winner for me is Currents because I need to access the latest feeds offline. But if you have unlimited 3G access, then go crazy! Please add our RSS or Atom RSS.

>>>

Free
Category: News
Released: Dec 08, 2011
Version: 1.0.0.938
Size: 9.3 MB
Seller: Google Mobile
© 2011 Google, Inc

GOOGLE CURRENTS
google.com/producer/currents

I’ve been playing around with Google’s Currents iPad app. This just came out a few days ago and is their answer to Flipboard (see my thoughts on Flipboard for the iPad below).

So my thoughts on Currents is that I believe that Google just is NOT GOOD at design. The ‘newspaper’ layout is alright, but I wish I had more control over its setting – for instance, set the font to a different size.

Links to youtube videos will automatically show up in the article, the article is a folded in the middle layout (wish maybe there was a light line to separate to the two side, because as a creature of habit, I will read left to right, despite the break).

I think eventually, Currents will become “good enough” for me to ditch paying for a subscription to the Daily. At the moment, paying $60 a year for a daily newspaper/magazine is worth it for what I need it to do for me (keeping me updated on the events of the day on my breaks).

As for the Currents, I will say that it’s easy to setup and add my own RSS. I added W♥M right away and that worked out just fine.

Good: Offline is automatic and downloads are done in the background. Syncing up images takes longer to download, but it’s worth it when you’re in an offline area.

Bad: Requires a Google login. Sure, we all have a google account, so the sting isn’t that painful (plus your library will sync across platform, so if you’re using Currents on Android, it will remember what you’re reading). Also, it crashes a lot. Also, it’s UGLY.

Free
Category: News
Released: Dec 08, 2011
Version: 1.7.1
Size: 8.6 MB
Seller: Flipboard, Inc.
© 2010-2011 Flipboard Inc.

FLIPBOARD
flipboard.com

People are calling this the “social magazine” and it finally came out on the iPhone and iPod Touch this month. Also rolled out is an updated version to their iPad edition.

What I immediately like is that it looks good. Their “partners” have custom RSS and setup, making it look even better and prettier on the iPad.

Adding W♥M’s RSS is a bit of a hassle, it found our twitter account right away, but finding the typepad website was a no-go. I had to manually type in the full address.

Offline access can be done via instapaper or Read it Later, but this requires you to open up the article and flagging it to read later. This is cumbersome, why isn’t there a “download all” option?

Good: It looks pretty, oh so pretty. It’s fast. They have an eye for design, unlike Google.

Bad: Offline reading is annoying, it requires an external additional login and you have to manually find articles to flag for offline.

Free
Category: News
Updated: Oct 21, 2011
Version: 2.6
Size: 5.2 MB
Seller: Alphonso Labs Inc
© 2011 Alphonso Labs Inc.

PULSE
pulse.me

Pulse kind of disappeared in the background, despite having won the Apple Design Award for 2011.

Their goal is to make news reading “fun and engaging”, which, unfortunately means “social”, which equals: you need a Facebook account. Sure, most of us have a FB account, but I’m not looking to share what I have read, I have spent too much time deleting social news in my timeline. So, yeah, I don’t trust and I don’t use any FB plugin whenever it’s offered.

While they want you to create a login for a “.me” account, I found that I can still click on ‘save’ without having to register.

Good: Gridlike design, good use of images. Retains original RSS format, which is a plus for me (as it does not randomly remove tables and CSS).

Bad: Relies too much on images, feeds without images looks AWFUL. Does not offer a “newspaper” layout. Like Flipboard, you need to open a page individual for offline saving, no “download all” option.