[HTC Sensation] Kurisu87:
I have decided to do a few reviews to fill the void in my day, these reviews will be exclusive to the sensation XDA forum, but feel free to repost wherever, though credit where credit is due ;)

Todays review is for Minimal reader pro, I simple but beautiful looking rss reader for your android home screen.

I have personally tried a lot of the rss readers on the market in order to find something that suited my simplistic taste. Minimal Reader is a home screen widget that is just that, minimalistic and simple.

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Setup

This widget took literally seconds to set up, this is mainly due to its link to Google Reader which allows the importation of RSS feeds saved to the google service, selecting a feed is as simple as checking a tick box and selecting done, with that you are good to go. Minimal Reader also has the ability to add RSS links to the home screen on the fly yet these ‘New’ links are not saved to Google Reader which is a bit of a bummer if for some reason you remove the widget containing a new ‘unsaved’ feed, expect a visit back to the site to reclaim your RSS link. This is an area that I personally think could be improved by allowing the user to add links to Google reader for future use.

Visuals and Interface

Visually the widget is pleasing, with two built in styles Dark Glass and Light Glass, both looking good on the default sense launcher. There are several options that edit the look and feel of the widget which can be done on the fly. ‘Text with buttons and arrows, text with arrows and text only’

Text with buttons and arrows gives you a visual indication on where to press (obviously) for settings and refresh and also displays the arrows to flip between pages. Text and arrows displays the feed and the page arrows, and text only…. Well you get the idea.

Using text only, for the first time I though, Woah! I cant refresh move pages ect, but, these options are still available. Using ‘text only’ clicking where the icons are, have the desired effect. Tops left refresh feed, bottom left Settings top right page up, bottom right page down…… and for those pesky lefties… these buttons can be flipped…. NICE

The Popup feature of this app (which is just as customizable as the main app) is one of the features I like most. Unlike most of the apps where the clicked link will open in the phones web browser, Minimal readers opens the link in a convenient pop up box, allowing you to read the whole article (feed permitting of course) from the home screen. From this pop up you can open in a web browser, share to social networks and add to favourites.

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Foot Print

I have 2, 2x2 widgets running on my home screen using a manual refresh,. At current they leaving a 0.99mb footprint, not bad yet being a total noob in the area of Memory management I am happy to be corrected.

Verdict

I feel there are things in this widget that could be work on, the main aspect of that is adding links into Google Reader, in future versions the developer will be adding a ’Scrolling’ feature which would make the widget much more like a news ticker. I personally feel this would be a welcome addition giving the phones home screen some life.

I would defiantly give the free version a try, and see how things look for your phone it’s a very nice looking easy to use RSS ready with plenty of features!

That concludes my first review for you guys, constructive criticism is welcomed, don’t forget to say thanks is you found this review useful

Credit androidzoom.com for images