App Review: Flux (A Google News Reader)

There are already tons of Google Reader apps for WP7. Does this one stand a chance? Yes!

If you’re looking for a free (or $1.99 too) Google Reader app that loads extremely fast, caches article data and images, and has a perfectly functioning live tile, Flux is a great choice.

One of the most important things about a news reader app is the ability to quickly open the app, go to your articles, and start reading. Flux makes this extremely fast, since you can open your news list while the app is still syncing changes! And all the images are cached, so things load extra fast.

Another important factor is reading the articles themselves. Flux has a preview, mobilized, and original view right in the same pivot menu, so it’s easy to switch between all three.

The Live Tile is also an essential factor, and Flux’s tile always works perfectly. It never has random glitches like some apps did, and always accurately represents how many new articles you have to read.

Finally, a reader app also has to have a great interface. Flux doesn’t have the greatest main screen I’ve ever seen, but the content views with your articles (where you’ll actually spend time in the app) are great. They show you the title, an icon image, and a quick snippet of the first part of the article. The interface is also very snappy, and allows you to do things like marking everything as read with one click. The status bar does unfortunately overlay on a lot of the text headers, but that’s the only real issue I could find with the app.

Overall, Flux is one of the fastest and best Google Reader apps out there!

Title: Flux
Price: $1.99 or FREE trial
Publisher: edonistart