Feedly (Android)

With Google Reader set to go away very soon, Feedly might be your best bet as an app that lets you access your RSS feeds while on the go. It looks great, works well, and even features two-way syncing with Google Reader. Also, according to its developers, Feedly will offer a seamless transition once Google's service officially bites the dust.

The first thing you'll notice about Feedly is that, for an RSS reader, it's pretty darn attractive. While Google Reader offers a decidedly basic design, mostly made up of lists and text, Feedly offers a much more polished experience. Its bright colors, clean lines, and sans-serif typefaces make up an overall modern look and feel. And because Feedly uses big images and creative layouts, using the app can feel almost like reading a magazine. So, if you don't mind something that's little more visually arresting than your everyday RSS reader, Feedly is as good a choice as any. That said, if you're a maniac for text-based lists, then this might not be the app for you.

To get started using Feedly, you can log in with a Google account of your choice. You can either type one into the field or select any of the accounts that are connected to your Android device. If you're an existing Google Reader user, all of your RSS subscriptions, folders, and starred posts will automatically be imported. If not, then you'll have to start by giving Feedly a few sites to subscribe to.

Subscribing to sites
Using the Explore panel on the right side of the screen, you can either search for a specific site or browse through different collections of sites based on categories and interests. These collections are curated by Feedly to make it easy for newbies to find sources worth subscribing to. For instance, there are curated collections for Gaming, Business, Design, Gardening, and Lifestyle, as well as featured Etsy sites, YouTube channels, and Vimeo channels. To subscribe to any of the listed sites, all you have to do is hit the "+" sign and categorize it. What the Feedly app is missing here is the option to subscribe to entire categories at once. The desktop browser-based version of Feedly lets you do this, but for some reason the mobile app doesn't.

Feedly's curated collections offer an assortment of interesting sites to get you started.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jaymar Cabebe/CNET)

Another thing I find disappointing about the Feedly app is that you can't reorganize subscriptions. It doesn't let you rename categories or move items between categories. It only lets you delete items or, of course, add new ones.

Reading feeds
When it comes to content, Feedly offers a magazine-style layout and a tiled Card layout, both of which make use of large images. In fact, even Feedly's most basic layout option, List, features thumbnail images that make it more attractive than Google Reader's layout. If that's not enough, you can customize the app's appearance with two different themes, five font styles, and four font sizes.