I began using Bloglines about 4 years ago and, unlike many of my colleagues, I didn’t upgrade to Google Reader as my primary RSS reader. Is Bloglines all that great? Probably not; but if you’ve ever saved posts for future reference, you might understand my reluctance to lose hundreds of archived posts to experiment with other readers.
With the purchase of my 3G’s a few years ago, I had hoped to have the ability to reach both new and old posts I’d saved in Bloglines. I’d read many of the convincing arguments from my colleagues here over which RSS readers were “best” for the iPhone, so when mBloglines came across the wire as a potential app to review, I raised my virtual hand!
Unfortunately, I have regretted it. This app has a marginally appealing design with a red/white/blue color scheme doesn’t match that Bloglines. Unread subscriptions are on the opening screen with a number of unread items (no number of saved items).
When opening an unread item in a subscription, there are share options – Email link or summary, Share via Twitter or Facebook, Instapaper or ReaditLater. There are no save options, and no “mark as unread.”
The “Back” button is required to move back left to the list of unread items, and most annoyingly, you have to press an additional button to “Mark all as read” without the ability to leave some unread. In other words, tapping on an item and reading it doesn’t automatically mark it as read, and there’s no ability to tag certain threads read while leaving others unread. It’s all or nothing.
An additional irritant is that a manual sync is required to remove the read subscriptions from the main list! Simply going “back” to the list of subscriptions doesn’t automatically update the read items: you have to force the app to sync.
I suppose that would be manageable … if it consistently worked. But often it doesn’t. One unread item even displayed in what appeared to be Greek! Even when many of my older Bloglines threads were read, they show back up as unread (and honestly this could be a Bloglines issue and not an app issue). Those who ranked this app in iTunes complained of the same issue: marking items read doesn’t ensure they won’t display again.
Like many blogs who use partial feeds, our own blog doesn’t display beyond the “Read More” and the way to continue reading is to utilize the in-app browser. Even in attempting to read a post through that below-average browser, some sites aren’t displayed accurately (such as iClarified), and landscape mode is absent.
Even if mBloglines is free, I think the mobile version of Bloglines in Safari a far better way to enjoy the service.
—–
mBloglines is currently available for free in the App Store.
The app was recommended by the developer for review on Just Another iPhone Blog. For further information regarding our site ‘s review policies, please see the ‘About ‘ page.
Continue reading:
- Everything New Apple Just Announced (Septembe
- Apple Watch Pre-Order
- Apple Research Kit launches with 5 Apps
- Apple TV now only $69
TAGS: iPhone RSS apps
