Glimpse RSS Reader for the BlackBerry PlayBook from Teiga is the one app that will single-handedly change the way people use their device. Since I got my PlayBook, maybe about a week ago, I’ve been shuffling through BlackBerry App World just to find a good base of apps I can start off with and build upon later once developers start shipping off more apps into App World.
Well today I really stumbled upon a gem. I am HUGE on RSS feeds – I mean RSS is truly the newspaper of the 21st Century, on steroids. Queue the download – Glimpse for BlackBerry PlayBook.
First Impressions
Upon first opening this thing, it comes pre-loaded with 2 default RSS feeds – BlackBerry Cool and Engadget. I think this is important to point out because most of the RSS readers I have used on the PlayBook (or my BlackBerry phone for that matter) usually don’t come pre-loaded with feeds. What this does for the app is gives you something to look at when you first pop it open. After all, first impressions are everything, and this being a very visual app – it establishes a very strong selling point.
It is a really sleek UI built to draw you into each news story. Boxes with pictures and the title of the article fill the screen and make it really easy to see into the article before you tap to read. The articles are blended from all the different sources and arranged by time and date – so now you have a real visual way of seeing who has posted/sourced an article first. I am a very visual guy, so I love this idea and it makes it really easy for me to browse articles and find separate out the ones I would like to read first and then work my way through the list.
Features
First the home screen offers only two options, “Update Now” and “Add Feed”. Along with that you get an awesome feature I don’t think I can ever get tired of – Search Filter! This gives you the ability to search within all your subscribed feeds for a particular phrase or term. Search Filter is somewhat slow in terms of actually recognizing text input and searching, but it is really useful for separating articles. Kind of a trade off there…
Tapping the “Add Feed” (RSS) icon in the upper right hand corner send you to a search screen with two more options. The RSS icon returns here as the “My Subscribed Feeds” button, and the icon on the left is the search icon which refreshes the search options – I don’t really see the need for this button aside from the fact that it brings you back to your search options if you tap the “My Subscribed Feeds” icon.
The search is awesome, it’s instant, so there is not need to hit “Return”. Once you’ve searched, subscribing is as easy as checking the box right next to the feed name and you’re set. So if you want to be either really general or really specific in terms of your search criteria, adding feeds shouldn’t take longer than 5-10 seconds per feed including search. The best part about this is that you can keep searching and adding feeds, once the box is checked it is added to your subscriptions and remains there – you don’t have to hit Done.
Returning back to the home screen via the Cancel or Done buttons is another story as it usually takes 10-15 seconds (be careful not to press several times as that will send you into a loop as both Cancel/Done buttons are above the “Add Feed” button – design flaw).
To remove a feed in the Add Feed menu simply hit the RSS icon in the top right corner (notice the icons in subscribed feeds change to a circle with a line through it) and hit the icon next to the subscribed feed. You’ll noticed a line is drawn through the feed, that’s how you know it’s deleted. To complete the process tap “Done” and it vanishes from your list.
No Google Reader integration yet, but one thing I did notice was in the App World listing they mentioned they are going to add Google Reader integration. In my opinion, since they make it so easy to add feeds, this app could go without it and I’d remain completely satisfied.
Once you tap on an article the screen splits, separating the row from which the article was selected and the article slides open right below, allowing for more browsing through the thumbnails after you’re done – no need to hit a back button or anything. Once the article loads four options pop up:
- Text Size (Small/Medium/Large)
- Open via Webpage
- Send to Facebook
- Send to Twitter
Then you can basically just tap the same article thumbnail to close the article and continue browsing.
Something that stood out about this app was the ability to open the article from the source webpage. The developers actually built in a browser so that it doesn’t call up the native PlayBook browser. Instead, it opens up the Glimpse browser (which is what I’m calling it since I don’t know what else to call it) and then gives you the option of sending the article to the PlayBook browser for further viewing.
Admitedly, that’s kind of a long process, and the article doesn’t exactly load quickly in the Glimpse browser, but it works.
Bugs
Not many to report, but one I did notice was that if you keep it idle it duplicates the posts in your news feed. This is easily fixed by hitting refresh, or “Update Now”.
Suggestions
- Separate options for in-app browser or native PlayBook browser viewing
- Timed refresh option
- Auto refresh option
- Invert color option for article viewing
- Ability to custom sort articles by dragging and dropping, or other sortable options
- Ability to separate feeds by source (in the future – although I really like the mingling of articles and pictures and such on the home screen)
- Different heading for “Add Feed” screen
- Transition animations
Conclusion
If you do RSS and need a great reader for the PlayBook Glimpse is probably the sleekest RSS reader in BlackBerry App World. With bold visual qualities this app is really something unique, even though it lacks animations. I think for a new app it will grow into something really able to harness the true power and ability of the PlayBook Tablet OS.
If you end up getting this app, let us know what you think and feel free to leave a comment below. Don’t forget to follow @BBerryEmpire and also @teiga_research & @glimpse_app for more updates and just to show your support!