The Definitive Guide to Mobile RSS Readers

I use Google Reader because of the syncronised experience, and since I use Gmail as well, I stay logged in to both services at the same time.

What I like is that I never see the same news item twice - if I've already read it on the PC, it does not appear on the mobile and vice versa.

This allows me to quickly read the news anywhere I am, without being bothered by having to remember which items I have already read.

I guess Bloglines works the same way.

Sorry don't see the point of RSS, with all the effort put into reducing the web to fit a mobile screen browser why bother with it?

The point of RSS is that with a reader I can skip through all the stories on a HUNDRED different web sites in a couple of minutes. And it's utterly addictive.

RSS lets you see the latest news headlines from lots of sites at once. It saves you the bother of having to visit each site individually.

For example, if you wanted to see the latest news from the BBC, ITN, Reuters and CNN, instead of visiting all four sites every day you could subscribe to their RSS feeds and browse through a single list of headlines.

As Steve pointed out, RSS can scale up to much larger numbers of websites if need be. It would be impractical to visit hundreds of sites every day just to check if they have anything interesting on them, but you could quite easily subscribe to hundreds of sites' RSS feeds, so any news from them will appear on your personal feed.

I'm Google Reader until I die
I'm Google Reader until I die
I know I am I'm sure I am
I'm Google Reader until I die

What I really want for my phone is an RSS client that notifies me of new stories on my selected feeds, without having to specifically open the client and browse for them. Integration with the Active Standby screen would be superb for this, although I understand that this isn't feasible in the current S60 OS (i'm using N95).

I gave a big thumbs-up to Bloglines Mobile in a rundown of web mobilizers:

http://acurrie.wordpress.com/2007/11...zer-smackdown/

I haven't heard of Mippin before, though -- will have to check that out!

Have always used Google Reader on the desktop and I've categorised my favourites feeds using Tags. Having tried the mobile version I gave up because it initially showed me all feeds but I've just tried it again and managed to select my Daily News tag. Just what I wanted.

It also offers the option to read posts in full or mobile format. I think I'll be sticking to Google Reader.

Also, I have to agree, I wish the built in Web Feeds option was in the standard menu instead of being hidden away. I couldn't be bothered to set it up in the browser but I would've tried it if I'd seen an icon in the main menu....

An option not mentioned here is Opera Mini and it's built in RSS reader. It's actualy very good

I love google reader...if google launched a standalone app for offline browsing then i would be in heaven....

Personally I've been a long time MobiPocket e-news user, but then I'm sure people here remember my enthusiasm for MobiPocket anyway. Yeah it's offline only, but I can sync easilly when I connect my phone to the PC in the morning (though I wish the E90 came with a cradle like the 9500), and as I work in places with no wi-fi coverage I can read my news through the day.

Pennas, interestingly that's exactly what Nokia's Internet Tablets do, they have a RSS headline viewer on the desktop (you can remove it if you want, but it's there by default).

I'm a RSS addict. I use free Snarfer on my PC and Opera Mini 4 on my N95. I haven't used new Opera Mini 4 so far, since version 3 was very annoying and feeds were removed frecuently and I had to subscribe to the feeds every time there was a server problem. I'm currently looking for a nice mobile reader to stay connected, but still I don't get used to read in such a small screen.

I love to use my old Palm TX to read offline news every morning using Avantgo, and don't like the symbian version of Avantgo since there are lots of problems to syncronize (I believe I have not reached the first successful sync in several attempts)...

And for those who have not entered the RSS world, it is the best tool to read news quickly and at the moment it is published.

Armando.

I like AvantGo too - it can load in rss feeds to whatever link depth you need, for offline viewing. Do any of the readers function as a podcast downloader as well as an rss text reader?

I am surprised no-one has mentioned Resco News (offline reader) until now. As the publishers themselves admit, it is not perfect, but it does the job.
What I look for most in an RSS reader is manageability
a) opml support
b) Categorizing feeds
b) storing excerpts offline
c) marking read/unread
d) subscribing/unsubscribing/re-subscribing
e) expiring (and optionally removing) old stories

Compared against this list, resco news is quite a decent rss reader.

It also comes with a list of predefined feeds to choose from, if you wish to do so.
Plus the fact that all feed urls are stored locally, so resco does not hold any of my personal data at all. I don't like to let others know what I am subscribed to. Not that I am reading anything scandalous (I mostly subscribe to sites like this one). It is just that I am not comfortable with the idea of sharing my personal data. I don't use bloglines, google reader or opera mini for the same reasons.

Cons:
a) memory intensive
b) a bit slow to start up depending on the number of feeds
c) manual updates are run in the foreground - so while I am updating my 70+ feeds , I cant read any of the offline articles. (This is the only real complaint that I have - if they fix this then I will never look at anything else)
d) connects directly to feed urls AFAIK (not proxy based) , so I dont think there is any data transfer optimization possible.
e) has the left soft key mapped to exit. Remember, this is an app that could take 30 seconds or more to initialize. I hit this key accidentally about once a fortnight. Very irritating.
f) I couldn't get it to work over a wap access point. I had to use a "full internet" access point . So I guess it is probably making a socket connection . i dont know about other places, but in india , "full internet" access is a separate service and it is much more expensive than wap access.
g) Only excerpts are shown inside the app, full stories are shown in the browser. But this doesnt bother me , so I am not sure if I should call this a con. You can choose the browser to use (Web, Services or Opera Mobile if installed). Maybe it supports more browsers, but I dont know.

I know this cons list might turn away some people, but as I said before, my focus is on manageability and on not sharing personal information, so Resco News is the one for me.

In my post about Resco news above, I have said
"has the left soft key mapped to exit".

That should have been "right soft key"

Sorry about that.

Google Reader for me, and I agree with the above commenter, if they had a native (not java) version of Google Reader and Gmail app I'd be in heaven, they are already making the right steps with Google Maps

there's another option you don't talk about : rss2mail !

for example via sendmerss.com or rssfwd.com

this way, all my rss feeds reach my email inbox, and my email client with imap enables me to read or forward my feeds, and thanks to imap the read/unread/deleted status is preserved if i read from my desktop pc or my mobile email reader! and i'm sure not to miss any feed that way!
to me it's just perfect! the only drawback is there's a little delay in feeds you received because or sendmerss or rssfwd processing all feeds. but it's definitely my way of reading rss feeds!

Response to pennas: I wanted the same thing - automatic RSS notification on my phone (for non-frequent stuff like blogs). As you point out it cant be done but my workaround is to go to rssfwd.com and enter your required feed and it will send the new posts/items/articles to you via email. Just need to have automatic email retrieval on.

Is there a program for my 6120c that can synchronize automatically with the RSS feeds downloaded to my computer? I am right now using Opera but would read the RSS in the morning on my mobile phone. Cheers Steve

i really enjoy reading RSS feed on my N95 nokia and i can recommend you one feed to subscribe

http://feeds.feedburner.com/Symbianfreeware

Best Regards