iNews: The Bug Free gReader iPhone App

Of all of the iPhone apps that I have purchased, beta tested, or inherited from Apple, iNews is probably the first bug free app that I have encountered.

Created by Gudang Data Informatika (from Indonesia), iNews is yet another gReader app that follows the “keep it simple” mentality, sporting bare bone features such as starring articles, landscape mode and emailing your favorite posts to your friends.

Even though the app was not as powerful as Byline (or even the mighty Feeds app), iNews did have a few features that I did enjoy.

The Good

One feature about iNews that really stood out to me was the slideshow option.

What makes this feature really interesting is that it allows you to skim over a post without having to constantly swipe, tap or slide your thumb across the iScreen.

The slideshow feature automatically scrolls through your recent news items (which could be useful for those on the road, parents or anyone else whose hands are constantly full).

Another item I enjoyed was the ability to seamlessly hide or display images on posts, which can be helpful if one has a very weak signal.

Last but not least if you ever close out of iNews (say to answer a phone call), iNews brings up the feed you were at last instead of relaunching you at the default screen (a feature desperately needed by most gReader apps on iTunes).

The Bad

While I did not encounter any bugs while using iNews, there were a few things I did not enjoy, the first was the inability to share a gReader feed, not even with a note/comment.

I also did not enjoy the whole “river of news” layout, as it made it harder to keep track of select bloggers within a certain niche (especially those who were following the iBuzz yesterday).

Although I did enjoy the fact that iNews allowed me to select which blogs/sites I wanted to subscribe from Google Reader, I wish there was a “select all” button, as check marking each feed became tedious (especially when one is following 400 plus feeds!).

Note: Other features comparing iNews against its gReader rivals can be seen by clicking here.

Conclusion

While power users will not enjoy iNews due to its lack of features (at least currently), those new to the realm of RSS will probably enjoy this app.

Priced at $4, iNews may seem to be expensive compared to its feature rich rivals (like Feeds), although if users are looking for an app that does not frequently crash when syncing feeds, then iNews may be the app for you.