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Welcome back everybody, for the fourth edition of Feed Reader Fridays here at BBGeeks.com. Every Friday we will be bringing you a new review of a BlackBerry based RSS reader, in the hopes that we may ultimately help you decide which feed reader will suit your needs most.
This week we will be taking a look at the NewsFlash RSS reader published by TwistSoft.
The NewsFlash RSS reader carries a $9.50 USD price tag but is available for trial download
Requirements
In order to install the NewsFlash software on your BlackBerry you will have to have a BlackBerry OS of 4.0 or higher.
Overview
The NewsFlash RSS reader for BlackBerry is an easy to use application which makes it effortless to stay on top of the latest events happening around the world. Whether your interests skew towards the business/financial side of things, or you prefer to take in some more light hearted news (entertainment/sports), this reader will serve up content for you on a regular basis.
Features and Functionality
Preloaded feed content:
When you choose to download the NewsFlash software, you will be pleased to find a significant amount of preloaded content available upon first use. In total you will find 30 bookmarks linked to the supplied RSS feeds from very prominent news sources including:
- Yahoo
- Washington Post
- New York Times
- Reuters
- Discovery Channel
- BBC
- MSNBC
Having this content available is great for new users who are just becoming familiar with the concept of RSS. For those who are already familiar, they may wish to remove the included feeds to make rom for their own specific list.
Categorization of feed content:
The NewsFlash software allows for the categorization of various feed content. You are given the option of separating your feeds into one of the following categories:
- Business
- Entertainment
- Health and Fitness
- Sports
- Technology
- Top Stories
- Travel
- Others
Having the ability to keep your feeds split up under different categories is helpful when you have a large number of feeds to sort through.
Creating custom news feeds:
If you do not find the specific content that you desire in the preloaded list of feeds, have no fear. NewsFlash allows you to generate custom RSS feeds based on keywords entered into MSN or Yahoo News search. Simply type in a keyword and tell NewsFlash to send you all related articles that include that word.
Feed type support:
The NewsFlash RSS reader supports various feed publication formats. This includes both RSS and ATOM feeds as well as RDF formats.
Adding and removing RSS feeds:
You have the option to remove any of the preloaded RSS feeds at any time. This only requires a few clicks. Similarly, you can add a new feed just as easily. If you already have a list of feeds you visit regularly, you have the option of saving the list as an OPML file and importing it directly into the BlackBerry NewsFlash RSS reader.
Whichever method you choose to use to add news content, it will be an easily completed process.
Feed reading:
The content available through the NewsFlash RSS reader is easily digested on the go. Upon first glance you will see the list of categories described above. A click on any of these category headings will drill down to present the available feeds in that category. Once you have decided which feed to read, click once more to view the headlines of each news item available. One more click on a news headline and you will be presented with an abstract description of the chosen article. The complete article can be read via your BlackBerry default browser.
Offline reading:
If you are an individual who spends time in areas where internet access is limited, but would still like to keep up to speed with the latest news, then offline viewing is essential. Offline viewing basicly means that the various feed headlines and article descriptions are cached on your BlackBerry so that you can read them at your convenience. Simply select a feed or story and mark it for reading offline.
Share a news story with a friend:
The NewsFlash RSS reader makes it easy to share articles and news stories with friends. Simply click on the desired news headline in your feeds list and in the menu choose “send to friend”. The URL for the selected article will then be sent to your friends inbox. Alternately you can use this functionality to make note of interesting articles and forward the full text to your own email.
My Opinion
Overall, if you are just looking for a simple way to read some of the more popular news content, or are just looking to get a feel for RSS reading, the NewsFlash RSS reader will definitely suit your needs. With an affordable price tag you can’t really go wrong.
Welcome to the world of RSS. Enjoy your feed reading!
