After a couple weeks of using Google Reader, I have dubbed it my new RSS Reader. From the keyword based navigation, to the shared RSS item feature, Google Reader is a winner. The keyboard shortcuts are phenomenal! There are also some nice “little” touches that I really like. For instance, if you choose to view your news in the “expanded view” (or river of news) format, as you scroll down, some automagic ajax goodness marks items as read as you scroll down. You gotta try this. The interface is also well done. Google listened to my feedback after their horrible first pass at a RSS reader and went with a more traditional layout. Combined with the keyboard shortcuts that are available, this layout is flexible enough for the beginner and the “expert” user.

I would say Google Reader is near perfect had it not been for one glaring flaw: Search. Yup, Google Reader does not have a search feature. It’s really ironic that the top search engine company builds a RSS reader and doesn’t include search. There are some other flaws as well. During peak prime time hours, Google Reader’s speed slows down a bit. It behaves a lot like Gmail during these times. The documentation needs a bit of work as well. In some screens, it uses both “tags” and “folders” to denote containers for subscriptions. This could confuse a lot of us who are not familiar with tagging. The email article feature seems to be broken on Firefox RC2 on Mac OS X, but this could be attributed to my browser and not Google Reader.

Overall, I would say Google Reader is a successful sophomore release. If I were to score the first iteration of Google Reader, I would give it a 4/10. This gem, would easily score a 9/10 in my book. What say you?

Related posts:

• google rss reader
• Google Reader Shared Notes Feature
• FriendFeed Replaces Google Reader? Maybe
• Official Google Buzz Buttons Available
• google desktop released – with new features

Post written by Bwana