[Update: Newsprint 1.1 is out now, and though it does address the issues I raised in this review, the app still isn't fast enough for users to abandon the default Google Reader web app.]

Google Reader has been my main portal to the web for a while now, and although no newcomer has usurped the Greader web app ‘s throne on my iPhone, I ‘m always up for trying something new.
Newsprint from HashBang Industries is the new feed reader on the block, and the App Store screenshots show a very promising UI that frames RSS quite nicely. Unfortunately, the app suffers from some serious speed and stuttering problems, and it seems like I ‘ll have to wait for version 1.1 (the devs say it ‘s coming soon) to really get any real reading done.

[Note: mouse over an image to see its title, click on it to pop up the gallery]

Google Reading
Setting Newsprint up to help you with Google Reader is just a matter of entering your account details into the in-app settings. Your Greader feeds are then imported into Newsprint and laid out in order (alphabetical, manual, newest first, highest unread count) so that the main screen of Newsprint is one giant list. Atop the list are the usual suspects: overview, starred and shared items, as well as a dedicated search button (although I ‘m surprised this one isn ‘t right at the top as it is within the feed view).

Feeds
The actual feed reader UI reminds me of an amalgamation of Tweetie and Things, though it is still a gorgeous and original design. It’s also worth noting that the whole UI is landscape capable in 1.0 — something that other apps can take several updates just to implement.

There are toggles for showing all feeds, or just the unread ones, as well as a button to mark everything as read. If you want even more control, you can tap on the Edit button and manage feed items much like you do e-mails in the Mail app. There is one strange inconsistency, though: the edit button is not available in Overview mode, which is the view that shows all of your feed items in one gigantic list. This means that the only way to mark items as read is by viewing them one by one, or pressing the ominous “mark all as read” button.

Swiping on an item within a feed will bring up a slick little menu with options to act on it (star it, share it, etc.). This same set of controls is also offered on the bottom bar when viewing an individual item in detail, and moving to the next or previous item will slide the content neatly into place on the screen. Very slick.

There are some issues with reading (the font is too small, images aren ‘t resized, and sometimes they stick around when loading the next item), but for the most part Newsprint is flexible enough to let you simply skim your feeds, or read items in full.

Too Slow
Folder support is scheduled for version 1.1 and I ‘m fine with waiting for that, but Newsprint simply takes far too long to load and refresh feeds, and scrolling actually gave me a bit of a headache because of the screen stuttering. I ‘ve tried fiddling with the app settings and turning all of the image caching options off and specified for each of my 41 feeds to save only 25 articles, but none of that worked out. Newsprint 1.0 doesn ‘t seem to be an app that you can just load up and use, and even leaving the iPhone alone for a good four or five minutes to let things load doesn’t seem to be enough. Suffice it to say that this is a serious problem for the app, and it ‘s simply not enjoyable to use in this state.

Conclusion
None of the iPhone RSS readers I ‘ve tried or read about are reported to be particularly fast, but Newsprint is just achingly slow right now. I did e-mail my concerns to the developer and he got back to me quickly, stating that speed fixes and folders were a priority in an upcoming update, so I ‘ll post an update when 1.1 hits the App Store. It ‘s just a pity that the first version of Newsprint is hampered by such severe speed problems, because it really is the best looking RSS app I ‘ve seen thus far.

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Newsprint is available for $4.99 on the App Store.

The app was provided by HashBang Industries for review on Just Another iPhone Blog. For further information regarding our site’s review policies, please see the “About” page.

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