Google Currents

When Google’s Currents news and magazine reader was released late last year, I thought it one of the most visually attractive apps ever to come out of Mountain View. Looks aside, though, there was a lot wrong with it, not least the time it took to sync. A recent update claims to have fixed that and added a host of new features …

[cs94njw]

Had a look at this recently, and was a bit depressed at the range of magazines (admittedly was looking for free stuff). Found TomsHardware, great! Turned out I'd found the Spanish edition, WTF!? (I'm based in the UK.)

Will take another look and try that Globe button.

[Rupert Stubbs]

Nice - but still fugly compared to similar iPad apps

Have a look at Flipboard or Zite on the iPad, and then at Currents - there really is no comparison.

Currents has some nice features - the translation one, certainly - but in terms of polish and attention to detail it is merely workmanlike to me.

[Steve Evans]

Re: Nice - but still fugly compared to similar iPad apps

Everything is so nice and shiny within the distortion field isn't it.

I value useful features such as translation over a pretty icon any day.

[JDX]

Re: Nice - but still fugly compared to similar iPad apps

Not to mention the distortion field affecting losers who simply can't accept anyone could think differently to them unless they are mentally challenged.

[Mick Stranahan]

Nice

Tried this when it was new and like the reviewer says it was dog slow. Will give it a another chance this evening.

[Anonymous Coward]

Leaps and bounds

Indeed this application has come a long way, it may not have the fancy transition effects etc of Flipboard on my iPad but for consumption of media it is nice. Be it on a tablet or phone.

I know people will always compare against iPad offerings as it is the reference standard, but once you get past the flippy effects, it is still the same text your reading at the end of the day! :)

[Rupert Stubbs]

Re: Leaps and bounds

It's not so much the effects that make the difference (though they add to the sense of interacting with the text), but the clarity and readability that the iOS apps bring to the text.

[Bakunin]

Re: Leaps and bounds

I tend to "interact" with the text by reading it. It kind of stops at that.

[censored]

Big flaw...

It doesn't seem to remember which stories you've read and which you haven't, and there's no indication on an icon that there are unread stories

[Steve Evans]

Translating the Grauniad?

Blimee, that's one impressive translation engine if it can handle the Grauniad!

[Irongut]

I tried this last week but wasn't very impressed. I don't really read traditional newspapers any more (except when travelling by plane) and if I did I'd buy the dead tree version. The Google Currents versions of everything seemed to be lacking in articles and the articles that were there were short. I didn't try the translate feature but if it uses Google Translate then it's more of a negative than a plus point.

[Ian Entwistle]

running on a Galaxy note the fonts are HUGE even when set to smallest setting.

[BristolBachelor]

Yes, but do you then find that the reg (with it's fixed width page) renders text with a line spacing of ~2mm on the note?

[dotslash]

where's the register?

If currents had the register on it then it would be even greater.

[Jack Klein]

Great, especially since the update, but Meh for the UI

I have used Currents since day one, mostly on my original 7" Galaxy Tab (still Froyo). The increased speed of the latest update has improved it tremendously.

And yes, it is very attractive, but there are things to complain about with the UI...

The average Android phone screen size in the "developed world" is almost certainly over 4", like my old 4.1" Galaxy S, not to mention my new Galaxy Note at 5.3" and my 7" tab. So Android apps, other than maybe games and video players, that always hide the notification/status bar with no option to show it are just plain rude.

The 2-dimensional gray UI controls may have a trendy look, but they are a disaster. There is absolutely no visual feedback when they're pressed. On older, single core processors (like my tab), it can take several seconds for the "pick a destination" window to show up when you press the "Share" gizmo. But there's no visual change or highlight on the widget, so you sit there looking at the screen waiting, wondering if you actually hit the thing, or just missed it this time. Extremely user unfriendly.

And then there's the "Share" windows itself. Currents is one of a number of apps that ignore the system settings and default sharing app, and pops up its own list. I've installed the excellent "Andmade Share" and set it as the default sharing app. Most (well-behaved) apps use it. Ill-behaved apps, including Currents, show their own shafe window with Andmade as just one of the choices.

When you're looking for available news feeds, and scrolling through the list available in a catagory, there's no scroll bar with thumb to give you any idea of the size of the list, or your relative position in it.

I use currents daily, but I'd like it much better if they'd smarten up the UI by addressing issues like this.

And why isn't there a feed available from The Register???

[dotslash]

Re: Great, especially since the update, but Meh for the UI

"The average Android phone screen size in the "developed world" is almost certainly over 4", like my old 4.1" Galaxy S, not to mention my new Galaxy Note at 5.3" and my 7" tab."

No, just no...

But yes for a register feed, RSS feeds are looking dated now.

[Nev]

Bloat

Large app,

Appears to caches editions to internal memory, not SD card.

Uninstalled.

[David Beck]

Re: Bloat

Me too, installed, went to settings to move the app to SD, found that not only the app but also the data were in the phone memory and not movable. Uninstalled. Never actually tried the app, if the developer is so arrogant , stupid or lazy as to demand all of the primary memory for their use, I'm not interested.

[Wortel]

Currents would be more useful of it could be installed on a wider variety of devices. Devices it does not like receive a warning stating the service is not available in your language, even if the locale is set to English.

And as others already stated, it is slow and the topics are limited.

Needs work: 45%