After the demise of Google Reader, many apps tried to take its place. From all of them, one stands out from the crowd by having a great web app and Android app as well as a API cloned from the original Reader API so other sites can keep functioning as usual. I’m obviously talking about Feedly.
The team just released version 17 of the Android app with a few interesting bits along with it. Let’s get the big stuff out of the way: Android KitKat optimization. We have no idea what that means and the Feedly team hasn’t made any clarifications about it so we can’t know if they actually know something or they’re just trying to get some extra press. Something to be noted is the fact that on the blog post announcement of the update, the team thanks the Android and Chrome teams for their “coaching” so there’s that.
Another optimization was made for the Galaxy Gear and while I don’t think there’s room for an RSS reader on a smartwatch, someone might find it useful. The Galaxy Gear is still very limited in the market, not only because it’s new but because it can only work with a Note 3 or a Note 10.1 2014 which makes the Gear a device a little hard to find.
It’s a long list of improvements including integration of the new Facebook SDK, better fonts and visual design, better scrolling, enhanced feed search and a new widget.
The widget still displays just one story at a time so it won’t be replacing things like HTC’s BlinkFeed any time soon. It did get a makeover with more emphasis on the image and a cleaner look. A new discover section has also been added which should help find new feeds easier.
One of Feedly’s weakest points on Android has always been startup time so it’s nice to see them working on it with a 300% faster start time.
If you haven’t tried Feedly yet I strongly recommend it, there’s a reason it has over 80,000 5 star reviews in the Play Store. If you’re using it, then go get the update.