G2Reader

When Google announced it would flip the death switch on Google Reader on July 1, I furiously scoured the RSS feed reader scene to find the best replacement service available. Not long after I landed on G2Reader (free), the search was over. I continued my search, testing several more options, but none ticked all the boxes G2Reader did.

G2Reader is a Web-based RSS feed reader that requires little more than an email and password signup. A big selling point for me is that you can import your Google Reader feeds from the Google Takeout data (for instructions on how to get it, see Get Organized:?Get Off Google Reader). Some other services require you connect them directly to your Google account, which won't work after Google shuts down Reader and didn't necessarily feel very secure to me, especially when an unknown company with no privacy policy or terms of service is behind the app. Maybe that sounds far-fetched, but it was in fact my experience with both Feedly and FeedsBundle.

G2Reader very closely resembles Google Reader in layout and function, although the design is much more stylized than Google Reader's ever was. It's smart and clean, yet simple.

Upon importing data from Google Reader (which you can do via the file called subscriptions.xml that comes in your Google Takeout data), G2Reader keeps all your feed organization intact, so you don't have to muck around moving feeds back into folders and such. G2Reader brought over my Google Alerts, too, and they appear to be updating. That's huge. We'll see if they continue to update correctly after July 1, but for the time being, G2Reader was the only RSS feed reader that correctly imported and implemented my Google Alerts.

One of my favorite features in G2Reader is you can save a list of key words that the app will always highlight for you in the posts that show up in your feed. There's even an API key for your feeds, should you want to do a little programming to extend what your G2Reader feeds can do for you and where you access them.

And, perhaps most impressive of all, G2Reader is available in seven languages: English, Spanish, French, Mandarin (Taiwan/traditional), Russian, Czech, and Slovak. I have friends all over the world who often ask me for software recommendations, and while plenty of them speak and read in English, it's not always their language of choice. Kudos to the tiny G2Reader team for making the app accessible to as many global users as possible.

G2Reader even has some sharing capabilities built in, although not to the extent of The Old Reader, which mimic's Google Reader pre-2011, with the ability to follow other users and be followed in turn. In G2Reader, you can click to open any post to tweet, share on Facebook, or post the link to the post on Google+. If you're looking for real social features, sign up for The Old Reader. It's nearly as impressive as G2Reader in other capacities, too.

There's really only one qualm[a qualm is a doubt the user might have, not a flaw in the app] that might affect whether you think as highly as G2Reader as I do. Updates can lag a little. If you use an RSS reader to monitor breaking news, the latency issue could make G2Reader a no-go. But if, like me, you use it to keep an eye on overall trends or to follow blogs more casually, the speed at which it delivers content isn't a serious issue.

If you're more of a DIY person, definitely explore Commafeed, a source for building your own RSS feed reader that you can host yourself. It's very good, except a little sluggish. We also looked at?TinyTiny RSS, an open-source platform for building your own private RSS feed reader, but found it painfully slow.

G2Reader doesn't have any mobile apps just yet, although according to the team, an Android app is underway. That's a great sign. I'm happy to see a small and dedicated team expanding its service because it gives me hope that other improvements (like speed) could be on the way, too. G2Reader is my new RSS feed reader of choice and an Editors' Choice here at PCMag.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/KyoRXopw3PU/0,2817,2420820,00.asp

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