Recommended Free RSS reader? - General Questions and Answers

I'm looking for an RSS feed reader. Downloading feed content to view offline is useful but I would also appreciate a download-on-view option as my data plan (or lack of one) makes internet services quite expensive. It has to be free, and a standalone application (no one-application-to-do-everything sort of thing).
Any suggestions?
I'm on HTC Hermes, with a qvga screen.

Related

Does anyone still use AvantGo?

I've noticed on several forums no one talks much about it anymore. I used to use with an older PPC. I was thinking of using it on my Wizard. But if there is something better, let me know. http://www.avantgo.com/frontdoor/index.html
Still using it. New version works like a charm under WM5.
What do you use it for? I use mobiReader.
hanmin said:
What do you use it for? I use mobiReader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct me if i'm wrong but mobireader is an ebook reader while AvantGo is a purveyor of internet-based content. So this is why i use it for.
When I used to use AvantGo, it was basically a prefetch of all sorts of information and websites such as Foxnews, CNN, ESPN, Movies, Sports, etc. It allowed you to get the latest information in active sync and then you can view all the information offline on your PPC. Assuming as above posted it works with WM5 now.
i prefer RSS readers nowadays...
not restricted to avantgo content sites.
Do RSS readers allow you to read offline as well? I don't know, i haven't used these types of tools before.
One advantage of Avantgo, which I used to use (on Axim X30) was upload driving maps from (mapquest.com) and sync to my PPC.
s-one said:
When I used to use AvantGo, it was basically a prefetch of all sorts of information and websites such as Foxnews, CNN, ESPN, Movies, Sports, etc. It allowed you to get the latest information in active sync and then you can view all the information offline on your PPC. Assuming as above posted it works with WM5 now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm.. mobiReader does relatively the same thing too, but it runs on XML or RSS. Choices are much less I guess, but the interface and layout are nicely done. In my opinion is better than AvantGo, for news reading and stuff. But, (as my questions on the post above), if you were to consider fetching web contents to be view/refer later, will need AvantGo then.
RSS readers....
...are pretty good compliments to Avantgo, for me anyways. I would like to use Avantgo on my Universal instead of my old Axim, but hadn't had a chance to install the newest version. The previous version messed up screen layout completely. pRSSreader does cache content. So Avantgo is NOT the only caching news reader. But only certain sites, like Slashdot and metacritics, are friendly at offline content. I can never get any of the Yahoo sports to work. RSS is great for lots of funnies (like Dilbert and Peanuts) though. pRSSreader and Adobe are by far the most used apps for reading so far. pRSSreader might also be good at certain podcasts sites, like Engadget, since the podcast comes as an enclosure, but I haven't really used that feature since I only go over a slower T-Mo UK UMTS line right now, instead of WiFi.

PDF on PDA: a pain in the...?

After trying all sorts of pdf readers, I come close to the conclusion that reading pdf documents on a PDA is not practical at all and even irrealistic.
Due mainly to the fact that one cannot view an entire page with a readable font size without having to scroll sideways.
I end up converting pdf to lit.
Please, give opinion and eventually solutions.
Thanks all, and take care
Come on folks, just a few words about your experience with pdf...
donno i read a book as pdf once
on my pda
only had to scroll down not sideways
depend on the doc in question really i suppose
pref lit though because of bookmarks and cleartype
and not being as much a res hog as acrobat reader which i used at the time
VGA a requirement
I use an older version of Adobe reader on a VGA screen. My eyes are still good enough that I can zoom out, get a full page on the screen, and still read it. I have read an entire book this way. I am sure there are better ways to do it on a PDA. But my goal is to be able to grab a document off of the web and read it as I travel. If there is going to be conversion between formats, it would have to take place on the PDA.
That being said, it is still easier to read a word or text document than a PDF. But if you have the screen resolution and size to work with, PDF's are not impossible.
Thanks folks, that was my impression.
Answers
There are ways to improve PDF experiance. Using reflow when creating PDFs (available as an option when saving PDFs from OpenOffice, for example) greatly improves things.
Anothr good option is Repligo - you can print / convert PDFs to that format. It uses less space, documents open faster and look better (less jagged fonts).
Believe me, PDFs are annoying even in actual, desktop environments. >_>
That said, I'm using Foxit for the PPC. It loads 15MB++ files faster than Adobe, follows the original PDF format faithfully (doesn't try to rearrange like idiotic Clearvue), yet it is a standalone program that requires no installation.
That said, PDF reading is only for devices with a big screen. Definitely bigger than a Mini, let alone an Atom. Otherwise, at a big enough text to be legible, scrolling to the side is necessary - and that tends to lag a bit with bigger PDFs for devices with only 64MB of RAM or less.
I have train skeds and the Tokyo Metro Map plus a crap load more pdf files
that I use on my X01HT and yes you do have to scroll both ways but I mean
have you seen the detail of the Tokyo Metro Map?!?
It works for me. I actually like it.
Plus I get 'really cool' nods from Japanese when they see me looking
through the Tokyo Metro map on my X01HT because most of them
use the low tech pocket paper fold out.
Yes, I am a gaijin otaku and proud of it!!!
imexp then big pictures makes pdf useless on pda's as they can move the text to scale but in there is a picture in the middle they cant really handle scaling the picture down to match the width of the pda screen
I think converting to repligo is the most elegant solution since images are conserved...but it is not free
Otherwise, if pics are not important, converting to text then to lit and using microsoft reader is an acceptable free solution.
To "AquiEsta!": why don't you use the excellent "metro" freeware?
You can use the free xpdf (pocketpdf). It at least has better zoom functions then adobe and it has the option to read pdf as text files with associated functions. You lose pictures but pure textfiles are a breaze to read...
elio said:
I think converting to repligo is the most elegant solution since images are conserved...but it is not free
Otherwise, if pics are not important, converting to text then to lit and using microsoft reader is an acceptable free solution.
To "AquiEsta!": why don't you use the excellent "metro" freeware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't know such a thing existed. Where would I find that? In English
would be great too!
Thanks
AquiEsta! said:
I didn't know such a thing existed. Where would I find that? In English
would be great too!
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://nanika.net/Metro/
You will love it
elio said:
http://nanika.net/Metro/
You will love it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"more than 350 cities covered now"... I'm already in love with it because
I travel a lot and this hopefully will save me time and advils.
THANK YOU!!!
off I go to set it up...
Adobe Reader for PPC 2 works with my HTC Athena/Advantage VGA screen without legibility problems using its reflow function which wraps the text to your screen - no sideways scrolling needed.
Even if your documents were not prepared specifically for this Active Sync will do the necessary conversion when you transfer the docs from your PC (turn it on in file settings). If you bypass ActiveSync your reflow button gets greyed out.
For documents like maps you can switch to sideways scrolling whenever you want.
My only gripe is that the characters are a little fuzzy, so I'm looking for a fix for this.
UPDATE: fuzzy characters fixed:
Switch resolution to 95 dpi using RealVGA before opening Adobe Reader. Now works as it was meant to. Only downside is the the resolution switch involves a reset.
For reading articles and such offline I use ScrapBook (a Firefox extension) to capture the page/selection and delete ads/sidebars and then 'Save Page as...' and copy the html and corresponding images folder to my SD card. It's a pain but it's the best solution that I could find.
I use Mobipocket Reader to do the conversion and reading, it's free and works well for me www.mobipocket.com
For PDFs Picel Browser, and Foxit Reader for Windows Mobile are pretty good.
I second the picsel reader. http://www.picselpowered.com
Don't let the number of Cons over Pros put you off.
Even with these problems I still use it on a daily basis, and preferred to buy it over using free alternatives like Adobe.
Proof that mobile apps don't have to look like clunky old windows apps.
Pro
Excellent rendering of PDF files
Fine control over zoom, can use a gesture (tap & drag)
Cons
Out of memory errors with just a few other apps running
Remembers last document opened, but not page
No Search
No way of jumping to a page
pdemoore said:
I second the picsel reader. http://www.picselpowered.com
Don't let the number of Cons over Pros put you off.
Even with these problems I still use it on a daily basis, and preferred to buy it over using free alternatives like Adobe.
Proof that mobile apps don't have to look like clunky old windows apps.
Pro
Excellent rendering of PDF files
Fine control over zoom, can use a gesture (tap & drag)
Cons
Out of memory errors with just a few other apps running
Remembers last document opened, but not page
No Search
No way of jumping to a page
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I back this as well, it is bar far, THEE most impressive on a PDA.
It has no rendering lag, making it the fastest PDF reader on WM.
I would only recommend that VGA users view PDFs, QVGA isn't practical.

RSS Hub and deletions

Hi all,
just have a quick question regarding RSS Hub... it seems as if it downloads ONLY
the current articles in the feed and deletes the existing cache. Does anyone know
if it's possible to have it just ADD the new articles and keep the old ones?
//Nik
Opera mini does the same way. It looks like cell's limited memory may not quite suitable for Unlimited thesis(pictures). DIY=Ctrl+c~Ctrl+v
Well, I actually think that it's a "problem" with RSS Hub just downloading current articles after deleting the local cache instead of just adding the new articles. I know other softwares that does what I want but they don't handle Podcasts as well
//Nik
Solved this by using Egress instead...
//Nik

Killer-apps or essential software for Windows Mobile?

If you would recommended three, or even more, pieces of software for my Windows Mobile device, what would those be?
Bing -- powerful, versatile, and easy to use. Tons of info at your fingertips. Come in VERY handy for me more times than I can count.
Evernote -- taking notes isn't very useful if you can't find them later or forget to look at them. Using Evernote on my PPC and desktop means my info is always available in a quick, searchable way. Also very handy for taking photos of things I want to remember (like a magazine article) and making sure it's accessible on my desktop. OneNote is decent as well, but I prefer the way Evernote works on PPC (and being 100% free is a bonus too).
Skyfire -- there's no shortage of decent web browsers on WM, but Skyfire's ability to handle pretty much any site you throw at it makes it really useful.
Also, it's not really a program per se, but an Exchange-synced calendar and contacts list is, I think, a HUGE must-have. I use Google Sync, and having my calendar pushed both ways makes it 10x more useful than any USB-sync system ever was for me.
Opera Mobile
Advance config
Live messenger
for mention just some of them
It will depend on wich ROM are you running: wm 5, 6, 6.1 or 6.5
My faves...
Google Maps, like it love it. Complete app and comes in handy everday.
Opera- Used to use skyfire, till i got a wvga phone. Skyfire is terrible on wvga phone.
Vito Communications suite- This will cost you about $25 but I honestly couldn't function with out this setup. Winterface, funcontacts, SMS-chat are all amazing beautiful programs, ridiculously fluid and add a new higher level of clean fluidity to windows mobile. depending on the phone, I'd upgrade to an extremely light ROM and put this bad boy on right away and call it a day.
ThumbCal- if you've ever used winmo calendar you know. This is extremely finger friendly...amazing app.
s2p- windows media player is old and outdated...s2p is funtimes, finger friendly although very iphoney...if you're looking for the complete package
Kinoma play- total package app. nuff said
s2v or image viewer 0.9- s2v is iphoney but an awesome picture viewer. Image viewer is a lesser known picture viewer but doesn't skimp on the quality. Has an smooth feel an i think uses opengl..not sure though.
Quickmenu- not too sure if this fits your liking especially with what htc has done in making changes to the start button, but I have havent uses my phone in years with out quick menu. its a do all app that can be a launcher and task manager...my personal must have
WKtask, e-natives, taskfacade- no personal preference here since what I really want would be something similar to the PRE, but wktask is non obtrusive, e-natives is more HTC menu like, taskfacade is more graphical. whatever you like.
I could go on for a while here...but there are some of my faves with alternatives...its what i love most about winmo, the only reason I wont leave, so much customization
typo said:
Bing -- powerful, versatile, and easy to use. Tons of info at your fingertips. Come in VERY handy for me more times than I can count.
Evernote -- taking notes isn't very useful if you can't find them later or forget to look at them. Using Evernote on my PPC and desktop means my info is always available in a quick, searchable way. Also very handy for taking photos of things I want to remember (like a magazine article) and making sure it's accessible on my desktop. OneNote is decent as well, but I prefer the way Evernote works on PPC (and being 100% free is a bonus too).
Skyfire -- there's no shortage of decent web browsers on WM, but Skyfire's ability to handle pretty much any site you throw at it makes it really useful.
Also, it's not really a program per se, but an Exchange-synced calendar and contacts list is, I think, a HUGE must-have. I use Google Sync, and having my calendar pushed both ways makes it 10x more useful than any USB-sync system ever was for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im with you on Skyfire but the must have is Total Commander
SK Tools. Best 16 bucks you can spend.

Windows RT: App recommendations

I am switching from an Android tablet to a Windows RT one. I am looking for apps that can replace the following:
Cam Scanner: It processes the pictures it takes so that they are look better if they are documents.
ezPDF: None of the PDF apps in the stores has capabilities like this. I specially miss seeing the PDF's Table of Contents
Browser with tabbed browsing, even if it's based on IE 10
Google Maps: public transportation directions. G Maps and gMaps are inflexible. The former has fixed times to depart, has mediocre pinch to zoom, and does not manage location very well. The latter (gMaps) does not find routes too many times, and freezes. Neither allow to pick mode of transportation (like bus, train, etc.), best route/less walking etc.
Tile with battery meter that when clicked shows stats of what processes are using the battery and for how long
Offline maps and directions. I use CoPilot GPS in Android
Could you suggest good replacements?
Thanks to your recommendation.
I will test ezPDF.
I looked for nice stand-alone RSS reader in market, and my conclusion was wien rss reader.
It was perfect except shortage of article storage and performance in list mode.

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